OLIVA, ALESSANDRO. — Cardinal, born at Sassoferrato in 1407, died at Rome on 20 or 22 August 1463 in a reputation for holiness. He entered the Augustinian Hermits, among whom he held the principal offices, including that of Prior General in 1459. He was a renowned pacifying preacher and reformer, on account of which Pius II created him Cardinal of S. Susanna on 5 March 1460 and granted him in commendam the bishopric of Camerino on 16 November 1461. He left collections of sermons, ascetical treatises, and letters that remained unpublished.
BIBL.: M. Morici, Il card. A. O., predicatore quattrocentista, Firenze 1899; Pastor, II, p. 195 sq.; G. Galletti, L'eloquenza dalle origini al XVI sec., Milano 8, d., pp. 288-89 e 617; R. Elia, Una missione pacificatrice del card. A. O. nelle Marche, in Studia picena, 17 (1942), pp. 17-22.