Already a familiar of Sixtus V, he was appointed secretary of Memorials and seal-keeper of the Penitentiary (1585). On account of his charity and integrity of life he was made head of the Dataria (1587), appointed archbishop of Cosenza (September 1587), created cardinal (18 December 1587) and was much consulted by the Pope. He was also bishop of Frascati (24 January 1611) and of Porto (6 April 1620). Archpriest of St Peter’s and president of the Fabbrica, he supervised the works for the enlargement of the Vatican Basilica, according to the design of Maderno which he supported. A patron of artists and men of letters, among whom Tasso, he exercised his patronage in embellishments, restorations and constructions carried out in Rome (at S. Lorenzo in Lucina), Cosenza, Frascati and his native town.
PALLOTTA, Maria Assunta, Venerable. — Born at Force (Ascoli Piceno) on 20 August 1878, died at Tung-Eul-Ken on 5 April 1905.
After a laborious and pious childhood, she entered the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary on 5 May 1898 as a lay sister. Having asked for the missions of China to devote herself to the care of lepers, she set out in 1904, but was assigned to the care of an orphanage at Tung-Eul-Ken in northern Shan-si. Yet the following year she died there of typhus. Her profound interior life and exact observance earned her a reputation for sanctity; miraculous signs accompanied her death: a sweet fragrance emanating from her body, numerous conversions of pagans, and a good number of healings. Her tomb soon became a place of pilgrimage for Christians and pagans alike. The cause for her beatification was introduced in 1923.
C. Salotti, Shor M. A. P., Roma 1925.