SFONDRATI, FAMIGLIA. – Attested in Cremona in the 13th–14th centuries. It became famous in the 16th century with FRANCESCO, born in Cremona on 26 October 1493, died there on 31 July 1550.
He graduated in law at Pavia in 1520 and taught at Padua, Pavia, Bologna, Rome, and Turin. He held public offices, particularly under Charles V, who made him count of the Riviera di Lecco on 23 October 1537. After his wife Anna Visconti died (20 November 1538), he entered the clerical state and was appointed by Paul III referendary of the Segnatura and then bishop of Sarno on 12 October 1543, and subsequently archbishop of Amalfi on 27 October 1544. Meanwhile, in November 1543, he was sent as nuncio to Charles V concerning a peace with France that would open the way to the Council and to the security of Europe. Created cardinal on 19 December 1544, he returned to the Curia and was among the zealous proponents of ecclesiastical reform and a member of the Inquisition. When relations between Paul III and Charles V worsened because of the transfer of the Council from Trent to Bologna and the military events in Germany, the cardinal left Rome on 22 April 1547 as legate to the Emperor; with him he also had to negotiate English affairs after the death of King Henry VIII; the complications that had arisen in Lombardy from the assassination
of Pier Luigi Farnese; and the matter of the Interim of Augsburg (v. IV), which was to regulate relations with the Protestants in Germany and appeared prejudicial to the rights of Catholicism, while satisfying neither of the two opposing parties. The cardinal, who had attempted to prevent its publication, was recalled on 10 June 1548 and left Germany. He had been given the administration of the diocese of Capaccio on 23 March 1547 and retained it until 9 November 1549, when he received the diocese of Cremona.
Francesco’s sons were NICCOLÒ, who became pope under the name of Gregory XIV (v.) for a few months, and PAOLO, who married Sigismonda d’Este and continued the family; he was a senator of Milan and predeceased his brother in 1587. Four daughters, together with their aunt Giulia, were nuns among the Angeliche in Milan, renowned for their great virtue. The S. family was always bound to the Barnabites by a close friendship. Paolo’s son was PAOLO CAMILLO (he is also found under the name Emilio), born in 1561; his uncle Gregory XIV created him cardinal on 19 December 1590 and wished to have him near him as secretary of state. In his youth he had been a regular member of the circle that gathered around s. Filippo Neri, but later he showed himself eager to enrich himself and his family, also abusing the confidence placed in him by his papal uncle. On 13 September he received the bishopric of Cremona and died on 14 February 1618. His brothers had hastened to Rome with him: ERCOLE, duke of Montemarciano, general of the Church, who fought for the League in France; and FRANCESCO, general of the galleys and marquis of Montafia (1591).
Renata Orazi Ausenda
CELESTINO acquired greater fame in the following century: a cardinal and Benedictine theologian, born in Milan on 11 January 1644 and died in Rome on 4 September 1696. At the age of twelve he entered the Benedictine school at Rorsbach. After several years of teaching, he was elected bishop of Novara (1686) and became prince-abbot of S. Gallo on 16 April 1687. He was created cardinal by Innocent XII on 12 December 1695. He vigorously defended the prerogatives of the Apostolic See in several works: Tractatus regaliae (S. Gallo 1682); Regale sacerdotium Romano Pontifici asserum et quatuor propositionibus gallicani cleri explicatum (there 1684), under the pseudonym Eugenius Lombardus; and the continuation Gallia vindicata (there 1688), in which he drew upon the testimony of the Gallican Church itself; Legatio Marchionis Lavardini eiusque cum Innocentio XI dissidium (there 1688), defending the negative attitude of the Holy See toward the French request for the right of asylum for the Roman embassy quarter. His principal and, in a certain sense, famous work is Nodus praedestinationis ex sacris litteris, doctrinaque sanctorum Augustini et Thomae, quantum homini licet, dissolutus (posthumous, Rome 1697), Molinism (v.) of a distinctly Lessian character, with entirely original lines of thought concerning the state (regarded as exceedingly happy) of children who died without Baptism and a certain kind of impeccability (ex ignorantia Dei invincibili) among infidels. The work, violently attacked from several quarters, especially by Bossuet, was defended by Cardinal Gabrielli and escaped every condemnation.
CARLO FILIPPO entered the Barnabites, was a friend of Cosimo III of Tuscany, and on 12 July 1677 was appointed bishop of Volterra. He died on 11 May 1680 in a reputation for holiness (O. Premoli, St. d. Barnabiti, II, Rome 1913, p. 350).
The family became extinct in the 18th century with Colonel CARLO, and the properties passed to the Serbelloni and the Barbiano-Belgioioso families (L. Castano, Mons. Nicolò S. ecc., Turin 1939, p. 8). Renata Orazi Ausenda