Altemps (Hohenems), Marcus Sittich d'

ALTEMPS (HOHENEMS), MARCUS SITTICH d'. - Cardinal, b. at Hohenems (Vorarlberg) in 1533, d. at Rome in 1595. A nephew on his mother's side of Card. G. A. de' Medici of Milan, the future Pius IV, he devoted himself at a very young age to the profession of arms, under the orders of his other uncle, the celebrated Gian Giacomo de' Medici, marquis of Marignano, and then of Cosimo I de' Medici. His uncle's election to the papacy marked the beginning of his fortune. Having come to Rome together with his elder brother, he was named count of the empire. An accident from which he escaped decided him to take holy orders. Bishop of Cassano in 1560, and, in the same year, extraordinary nuncio in Germany, cardinal and bishop of Constance in 1561, he was one of the five pontifical legates at the Council of Trent, at the end of the same year. This last appointment was much criticized, since he was a young man of twenty-eight and more experienced in arms than in theology. Although he had in the end been named legate in the Marches by his uncle and loaded with other benefices, he never held offices of importance in the Curia. He had the chapel of the Virgin built at S. Maria in Trastevere, where he had the Council of Trent commemorated, and there his body was entombed.

Luigi Michelini Tocci