SPINOLA, FAMILY. - One of the four major houses of Genoa. In the city it held power in the name of the Obertenghi marquises, whom it gradually replaced. Guido was consul between 1102 and 1121, and from him many branches descended, of which the principal were those of Lucoli and of S. Luca, where the Spinola had towers and houses. In the internal factions they sided with the Ghibellines against the Fieschi and Grimaldi, and around 1265-66 they established a diarchy with the Doria, sharing their fortunes in the subsequent struggles; they fought against Venice and then against Filippo Maria Visconti, supplying admirals and condottieri to the Republic. From among them were chosen biennial doges, senators, and ambassadors.
From the branch of S. Luca came AMBROGIO SPINOLA, regarded as the greatest man of arms of his age; b. in Genoa in 1569, he fought for Spain first in the Netherlands against Maurice of Nassau (1602-1609; then 1621-27), then in Italy in the war for the succession of Mantua, and was governor of Milan; d. at Castelnuovo Scrivia on 25 Sept. 1630.
To the Church the Spinola family gave illustrious prelates; first among them AGOSTINO, bishop of Perugia from 19 Dec. 1509 to 1529, when he resigned in favor of his brother CARLO; created cardinal on 3 May 1527 on the eve of the sack of Rome, he was appointed camerlengo on 8 June 1528; in 1529 he received the governance of the City in the absence of the Pope, whom he accompanied to Bologna in 1532; he held in administration the bishoprics of Savona (from 17 July 1528) and of Alatri (10 May 1535) until his death, which overtook him in the Curia on 18 Oct. 1537.
FILIPPO was referendary of the Signatura, bishop of Bisignano (8 Feb. 1566), then of Nola (9 March 1569), which he resigned when on 12 Dec. 1583 he was created cardinal, on the proposal of Emperor Rudolf II, and he adhered to the Spanish party; d. in Rome on 20 Aug. 1593.
ORAZIO, also of the Spanish party, from referendary was appointed archbishop of Genoa on 20 Dec. 1600, legate of Ferrara in 1606, was created cardinal on 11 Sept. 1606, and d. in Genoa on 24 June 1616 with a reputation for great severity.
AGOSTINO II, b. in Genoa, from apostolic protonotary was created cardinal deacon by Paul V on 11 Jan. 1621; he was subsequently bishop of Tortosa (5 March 1623), of Granada (7 Sept. 1626), archbishop of Compostela (23 Oct. 1630), of Seville (16 Jan. 1645), where he d. in Feb. 1649.
GIAN DOMENICO, auditor of the Camera, was created cardinal by Urban VIII on 19 Jan. 1626; archbishop of Acerenza and Matera on 13 Nov. 1630, then bishop of Luni-Sarzana (26 Apr. 1632), then of Mazara (1 Dec. 1636), where he d. on 11 Aug. 1646.
GIULIO, referendary of the Signatura, was appointed nuncio to Naples on 4 Oct. 1653, archbishop of Laodicea on 14 Jan. 1658, nuncio to the Emperor on 10 July 1665; created cardinal on 15 Feb. 1666, he was published only on 7 March 1667; bishop of Nepi and Sutri (on 2 June 1670), then of Lucca (8 Nov. 1677), he d. in the Curia in March 1691.
His nephew GIOVANNI BATTISTA, b. in Madrid on 21 Sept. 1615, was nuncio at Nijmegen, archbishop of Matera in 1648, then of Genoa in 1664, which he resigned when on 1 Sept. 1681 he was created cardinal of S. Cecilia by Innocent XI; he was still governor of Rome when, at the beginning of 1687, the controversies with France over the franchises of the French quarter intensified. He d. in Rome on 4 Jan. 1704. His nephew was NICCOLÒ, b. in Spain on 20 Feb. 1659, cleric of the Camera under Innocent XII, nuncio at Florence, then in Poland, auditor of the Camera, created cardinal by Clement XI on 16 Dec. 1715; d. in Rome on 12 Apr. 1735. A contemporary of his was GIORGIO, a Genoese, b. on 16 June 1667, vice-legate of Ferrara, governor of Civitavecchia, Viterbo and Perugia, inquisitor of Malta in 1703, commendator of S. Spirito, archbishop of Caesarea and nuncio at Barcelona from 1711-13, then at Vienna (1713-20), where he was during the war against the Turk in 1715-16; he was created cardinal by Clement XI on 29 Nov. 1719. Innocent XIII wanted him as Secretary of State; the French opposed his being so under Clement XII. He was legate at Bologna and d. in Rome on 17 Jan. 1739.
GIOVANNI BATTISTA II, b. in Genoa on 6 July 1681, cleric of the Camera in 1722, governor of Rome for six years, cardinal deacon of Clement XII on 28 Sept. 1733; d. bishop of Albano on 21 Aug. 1753.
GIROLAMO, b. in Genoa on 15 Oct. 1713; he was nuncio at Madrid, which he left after being created cardinal on 24 Sept. 1759, leaving written reports on the ecclesiastical conditions of that Kingdom. In the Conclave of 1775 he was tenaciously opposed by Vienna and Madrid. He d. in Rome on 22 July 1784.
UGO PIETRO, b. in Genoa on 23 June 1791; he was apostolic delegate at Macerata (1823-26), nuncio at Vienna, whence he returned after being created cardinal in July 1832. Legate at Bologna in 1833 and then in 1842-44, and on the occasion of the political tumults to repress which he constituted an extraordinary commission presided over by Colonel Freddi. He was then pro-datary until his death, which overtook him in Rome on 24 Jan. 1858 (E. Michel, in Div. Ris. naz., IV, Milan 1937, p. 332).
Bibliography
Pio Paschini
AGOSTINO, b. in Genoa in 1677; after completing his early education at the Collegio S. Giorgio of Novi Ligure of the Somaschi, he embraced its Rule, and soon occupied the most important offices in the Order, besides teaching philosophy and theology.
He was theologian of card. Giuseppe Renato Imperiale, legate to Charles III king of Spain; rector of the Clementine College of Rome and vice-procurator general in the Roman Curia. In 1716 he was elected bishop of Ajaccio and in 1722 translated to the see of Savona. He d. on 16 Oct. 1755. In 1718 he convoked the Synod at Ajaccio, in which he issued many wise laws. At Savona he firmly upheld ecclesiastical liberties, earning the praises of Benedict XIII; he reformed the Seminary, issuing the Constitutiones pro seminario episcopali (Milan 1738) modeled on those of St. Charles Borromeo, but rich in personal experience and sound contemporary criteria. For all the clergy he published various pastoral notifications, collected in the Monitum spirituale (ibid. 1740), tending above all to organize the teaching of Christian doctrine to children, the administration of the Sacraments, and the sanctification of feast days.
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CARLO, blessed. - Jesuit, missionary and martyr, b. in Genoa in 1564, from the branch of the Spinola of Tassarolo, d. at Nagasaki on 10 Sept. 1622.
Having entered the Order in 1564 and been sent to Japan in 1597, he managed to reach his goal only after seven years of adventures. Having arrived, in fact, at the Cape of Good Hope, a breakdown of the ship induced the captain to retrace the route toward Lisbon; but, attacked by English pirates, the travelers were taken to England. From there, Spinola managed to embark in disguise for Lisbon, whence, after a year of waiting, he set sail again and reached Japan in 1602. He labored there for 20 years in succession, with great success in conversions, until in 1618 he was arrested, under the anti-Christian edict of the Emperor Dailusama, and transported with other companions to the prisons of Omura. After 4 years of hardship and illness, he suffered the martyrdom of the stake at Nagasaki on the hill called that of the martyrs, where another company had preceded him in 1597. He was beatified, with 204 other Japanese martyrs. Feast on 11 Sept.
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(Int. Enc. Catt.)
He wrote the biography of Fr. Carlo S., martyr of the faith in Japan (Rome 1628), later beatified, of the venerable mother Maria Vittoria, foundress of the Order of the Annunziata (Genoa 1649), and of Fr. Sopranis, a Jesuit. But his fame is due above all to his books of meditations, especially on the life of Jesus, distributed for all the days of the year, from Advent to the feast of the Most Holy Trinity and from the Most Holy Trinity to the first Sunday of Advent (Genoa 1652, 1653), and on the feasts of Our Lady and of the principal saints of the whole year. The aforementioned meditations were later reduced to a compendium (Venice 1673) and enjoyed a wide circulation. A publication of his Lenten sermons was also made in Genoa in 1667, dedicated to the Empress Eleonora.
Bibliography
Arnaldo M. Lanz