Lorenzana, Francisco Antonio de

LORENZANA, FRANCISCO ANTONIO DE. - Cardinal, b. at León (Spain), on 22 Sept. 1722, d. at Rome on 17 Apr. 1804. He was elected in 1765 bishop of Palencia, and the following year archbishop of Mexico, where he held the IV Provincial Council, whose acts he published in two volumes, together with those of the preceding councils; he founded the hospital of the Esposti, which he generously enriched with revenues. He also had published (1770) a collection of letters and reports of Fernando Cortés.

Appointed in 1772 archbishop of Toledo and primate of Spain, he rendered himself greatly deserving of the studies by the foundation of the archiepiscopal Library, by the publication of the works on the Toledan Fathers and on the Mozarabic liturgies, by the edition of the Gothic and Mozarabic Breviary, of the collection of all the councils of Spain, as well as of that of the writings of Martin León, of the acts of the Council of Trent and of the Roman Catechism. He founded at Toledo a house of charity, while at Ciudad Real he rebuilt the hospital and the church of the Fatebenefratelli. Pius VI created him cardinal in the Consistory of 30 March 1789 and assigned him the title of the SS. XII Apostoli. Charles IV king of Spain appointed him, in 1797, legate to the Pontiff, and at the death of Pius VI, which occurred at Valence on the Rhône, he had a very active part in the resolution to hold the Conclave at Venice and generously helped the cardinals for the expenses of the journey. Having renounced, in 1800, the archbishopric of Toledo, he settled at Rome and was among the founders of the Academy of Catholic Religion.

Mario de Camillis