NUMAI, CRISTOFORO. — Cardinal, born in Forlì to a noble family, the exact year of his birth is unknown; died in Ancona on 21 March 1528.
Having entered the Franciscan Friars Minor, he moved to Paris, where he earned a doctorate in theology at the Sorbonne and became counsellor to King Francis I and confessor to Queen Claudia. He served as Commissary (1512) and Vicar General (1514) of the Order; at the General Chapter convoked by Leo X to definitively resolve the legal status of the Conventuals and Observants (May 1517), he was elected Minister General of the entire Order, a position he held until July 1518. Created cardinal in July 1517, he accepted only at the Pope’s command. He was bishop of Altari and later also of Isernia (1522). He suffered greatly during the Sack of Rome in 1527. Humble and learned, he was renowned as a preacher.