LAUREO, VINCENZO. - Cardinal, b. at Tropea in Calabria on 28 March 1525, to Antonello and Raimonda Milliaris.
He studied at Padua and thence went to Rome, where he served successively with Cardinals Parisi, Gaddi, and Francesco di Tournon, with whom he went to France to the King of Navarre, whom he attended at his death; with Ippolito card. d'Este he returned to Rome in 1565. He was elected bishop of Mondovì by Pio V on 20 Jan. 1566, and on 29 Aug. 1566 he was sent as nuncio to Maria Stuarda, Queen of Scotland, but was unable to enter that kingdom because of the predominance of the Protestants. He was sent as nuncio to Poland in 1573 and was then accredited to King Stefano Báthory on 6 Nov. 1576; he succeeded in rendering effective assistance to the Sovereign in restoring Catholicism in the country (Pastor, IX, p. 674 sgg.). He remained in Poland until 1578. In Sept. 1580 he was sent as nuncio to Savoy to attend to the state of the country after the death of Emanuele Filiberto (30 Aug.), and he was there when, in Dec. 1583, he was created cardinal. In Oct. 1587 he resigned the see of Mondovì, which he could not govern owing to his many duties in the Curia, where he enjoyed great authority. A great friend of the Jesuits, he was protector of the Ministers of the Sick, whom he also benefited at his death. He died in Rome on 17 Dec. 1592 and was buried at S. Clemente.