MAFFEI, BERNARDINO. - Cardinal, b. at Bergamo in 1514, d. at Rome on 1 Aug. 1553. He studied law at Padua and became secretary to Card. A. Farnese, with whom he remained even when the latter was elected pope (Paolo III), and he was entrusted with the education of the cardinal-nephew, Alessandro Farnese.
Appointed bishop of Massa Marittima (1547), then archbishop of Chieti (1549) and cardinal, he exercised decisive influence in the election of Giulio III (1550), under whom he worked actively for the reform of the conclave and of the Roman University. He composed an elegant Commentarium in Ciceronis epistolas and, the fruit of long research, published a substantial work, De inscriptionibus et imaginibus antiquorum numismatum.
BIBL.: P. Bonamici, De claris pontificum epistolarum scriptoribus, Rome 1753, p. 237; G. Tiraboschi, Storia della letteratura italiana, VII, II, Modena 1772, p. 214; Concilium Tridentinum, I, II, IV, X, Fribourg in Br. 1901-37, V. indice (contains M.'s correspondence with Marcello Cervini); Pastor, V-VI, V. indice. Piero Sannazzaro