Lorenzo Priuli (cardinal)

Lorenzo Priuli (1537–1600) was a Roman Catholic cardinal and Patriarch of Venice. Like many Venetian patriarchs, he was a lay member of the Venetian Senate, who was only ordained in 1590, at the age of 54, after he won the Senate's election to fill the patriarchy. Previously he had been a successful Venetian diplomat and governor.[1]

His Eminence Lorenzo Priuli
Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria in Traspontina Patriarch of Venice
Church	Catholic Church
Orders
Consecration	25 Jan 1591 by Marcello Acquaviva
Personal details
Born	1537 Venice, Italy
Died	26 Jan 1600 (age 63)

In the last centuries of the Republic of Venice (to 1797), exceptionally among Catholic bishops, the patriarch was elected by the Venetian Senate, who always chose a member of one of the hereditary patrician families of the city, and usually a layman who was only ordained to take up the patriarchate. The papacy obliged them to pass an examination in theology, though many evaded this.[2] Usually the new patriarch was a Venetian diplomat or administrator, as with Lorenzo Priuli in 1591 or Francesco Vendramin in 1608, though some were career clerics, who had usually been previously in positions in Rome, like Federico Cornaro in 1631.

Biography

He came from a senatorial family, and made his career as a successful Venetian diplomat, serving as ambassador to Spain, France, and the Holy See.[1] On 25 Jan 1591, he was consecrated bishop by Marcello Acquaviva, Archbishop of Otranto.[3][4] While bishop, he was the principal consecrator of Johann Walser, Titular Bishop of Belline and Auxiliary Bishop of Brixen (1592); and the principal co-consecrator of Ferdinando D'Avila, Bishop of Rethymo (1592).[4]

References

1. Ferraro, 28
2. Ferraro, 26-28
3. Miranda, Salvador. "PRIULI, Lorenzo (1537-1600)". The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. Florida International University. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
4. Cheney, David M. "Lorenzo Cardinal Priuli". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. Retrieved June 16, 2018. ^{[self-published]}

• Ferraro, Joanne M., Marriage Wars in Late Renaissance Venice, 2001, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0198033117, 9780198033110, google books