SANTACROCE PUBLICOLA, FAMILY. - Recalled as very ancient already in the 13th century in the registers of Innocent IV. They were created princes by Clement XI, who raised their fief of Oliveto to a duchy.
The most illustrious among the ecclesiastics was PROSPERO (b. 24 Sept. 1513, d. 8 Nov. 1589), auditor of the Rota, bishop of Chissamo (22 March 1548; he resigned it on 10 Dec. 1572). He was sent as nuncio to King Ferdinand (5 Apr. 1548–25 Apr. 1550); then he was nuncio in France in 1552–54, in Spain in 1560, and subsequently again in France (Oct. 1561–1566). Meanwhile, he was created cardinal on 12 March 1564 and was given the archbishopric of Arles in administration (17 June 1566), which he held until 15 March 1574. He discusses the civil conflicts he witnessed in his De civilibus Galliae dimensionibus commentariorum libri III, which cover the period from the death of Francesco I to 1562. ANTONIO, archbishop of Seleucia and nuncio in Poland, was created cardinal by Urbano VIII on 19 Nov. 1629; he became archbishop of Chieti (10 March 1631), then of Urbino (9 June 1639; he resigned in 1639). He died in Rome at the age of 43 on 25 Nov. 1541.
MARCELLO, referendary of the Segnatura, was created cardinal by Innocent X on 19 Feb. 1652 and then bishop of Tivoli on 14 Oct. 1652; he died in Rome on 19 Dec. 1674. Also worthy of mention is PIETRO, who at the beginning of the 16th century was governor of Castel S. Angelo, fought under Ferdinando il Cattolico in the Kingdom of Naples, and then served the Church under Leone X. The family became extinct with ANTONIO in the 19th century.