### RIARIO SFORZA, SISTO
Cardinal. Born in Naples on 5 Nov. 1810, died there on 29 Sept. 1877. At the age of thirty-five he was appointed by Gregory XVI first Bishop of Aversa, then Archbishop of Naples, and was created cardinal on 19 Jan. 1846, with the title of S. Sabina.
A most zealous pastor of severe morals, he governed the archdiocese with a firm hand, aiming above all at the discipline and integrity of life among his clergy. He was equally firm in his political convictions, showing absolute loyalty to the reigning dynasty, so that in Sept. 1860 he left Naples in protest against the Garibaldian occupation. After a brief absence he returned to his see and engaged in numerous conflicts with the new government to defend the rights of the Church: the most bitter of these, arising from his prohibition of religious celebrations for the feast of the Statute, led to his expulsion from the city on 31 July 1861. From Civitavecchia he continued to govern the Neapolitan Church by means of vicars and pastoral documents until 1866, when he was able to resume personal governance, welcomed in Naples by indescribable demonstrations of popular affection.
His episcopal virtues shone brightly during the cholera epidemics of 1854–55 and 1873, when he devoted himself unstintingly to the care of the sick. He founded a library and a lyceum and promoted the construction of the new façade of the Cathedral. Particularly noteworthy is the judgment passed on him by Bonghi in his book *Pio IX e il Papa futuro*: though depicting him as “mediocre in mind and lacking in learning” (which is inaccurate) and classing him among the “intransigents,” the liberal historian is forced to acknowledge that Cardinal R. S. effectively prevented the secularization of Naples and saved “the principal parts of the religious edifice” (i.e., the imprescriptible rights of the Church) with a boldness superior to that of other prelates of his time.
### RIARIO, FAMILY
Portrait of Girolamo R. Detail of *The Temptations of Our Lord*. Fresco by S. Botticelli – Sistine Chapel.
(25 Sept. 1472) and of Spalato (from 28 Apr. 1473), the archbishoprics of Seville (from 25 June 1473) and Florence (from 20 July 1473), and the bishopric of Mende (from 3 Nov. 1473); he had relinquished that of Treviso in the same year. He also held numerous lucrative minor benefices granted by the Pope (cf. P. Paschini, *Leonello Chieregato*, Rome 1935, pp. 23 ff.).
With financial assistance from his brother, Girolamo sought to increase his power in the secular sphere. Created Count of Bosco by Galeazzo Maria Sforza, he married the latter’s natural daughter Caterina; the Pope invested him with the lordship of Imola, which he had redeemed from Galeazzo for 40,000 scudi, and obtained for him from Louis XI the county of Valentinois.
On 15 Dec. 1477 the Roman people granted him Roman citizenship, and Girolamo took up residence in the city as “Ecclesiae imperator,” governing it as he saw fit. To diminish the power of Lorenzo de’ Medici in Florence he took part in the Pazzi conspiracy and in the murder of Giuliano (26 Apr. 1478), and thus in the war that followed, as in other political contests of those years. Lord of Forlì on 4 Sept. 1480 and captain-general of the Church on 8 Sept., he sided with the Orsini against the Colonna, executing the protonotary Lorenzo, head of the latter house, on 30 June 1484. He was killed in Forlì on 14 Apr. 1488. His widow Caterina managed for a time to preserve the lordship for their son Ottaviano, until she was overthrown by Cesare Borgia.
### RAFAELE
Son of Valentina R., sister of Cardinal Pietro and wife of Antonio Sansoni; he is better known by the surname of the Riarios than by his patronymic. At seventeen he was created cardinal deacon of S. Giorgio by his great-uncle on 10 Dec. 1477.
He was staying with the Pazzi when the conspiracy against Lorenzo de’ Medici broke out in Apr. 1478 and ran the risk of losing his life in the subsequent reaction. He held in commendam the bishopric of Cuneo (from 13 Aug. 1479 to 1482) and the archbishopric of Pisa from 17 Sept. 1479.
### RIARIO SFORZA SISTO – RIBERA JUAN
Arnaldo Camino in Costa