Scipione Pannocchieschi d'Elci

Scipione Pannocchieschi d’Elci (28 June 1598 – 12 April 1670) was a Catholic cardinal who served as Apostolic Nuncio to the Republic of Venice and as Archbishop of Pisa.

Scipione Pannocchieschi d’Elci
Cardinal, Archbishop of Pisa
Church	Catholic Church
See	Archbishop of Pisa
Appointed	3 March 1636
Term ended	27 August 1663
Predecessor	Giuliano de' Medici
Successor	Francesco Pannocchieschi d’Elci
Other posts	Bishop of Pienza
Orders
Consecration	17 August 1631 (Bishop) by Luigi Cardinal Caetani
Created cardinal	29 April 1658 by Pope Alexander VII
Personal details
Born	June 28, 1598 Siena
Died	April 12, 1670 (aged 71) Rome
Buried	Basilica di Santa Sabina

Biography

Scipione Pannocchieschi d’Elci was born on 28 June 1598 in Siena, sixth son of a noble family.[1] From 1608 to 1618 he followed his father in Spain where he studied theology in the University of Alcalá. Returned in Tuscany he studied law and was appointed by Archduchess Maria Maddalena of Austria as tutor of her younger sons.[1]

He moved to Rome with his father in 1621 and from 1623 he took up a career in the administration of the Papal States: in 1624 he became referendary of the Tribunals of the Apostolic Signature, from 1627 for one year he was appointed governor of Spoleto, from 1628 for one year he was governor of Ancona and later of Fermo.[2]

Scipione Pannocchieschi d’Elci was ordained priest on 3 May 1629. On 28 July 1631 he was appointed as bishop of Pienza. The Episcopal consecration followed on 17 August in the private chapel of the Barberini in Rome by the hands of Luigi Caetani, Cardinal-Priest of Santa Pudenziana, with Tegrimus Tegrimi, Bishop of Assisi, and Giorgio Bolognetti, Bishop of Ascoli Satriano, serving as co-consecrators.[3][4] On 3 March 1636 he was promoted Archbishop of Pisa.[2]

Besides the pastoral cure of his diocese, he served Pope Innocent X as diplomat, being Apostolic Nuncio to the Republic of Venice from December 1646 to 1652. He later served as Nuncio to the Holy Roman Empire from 1652 to 1658.[5]

Scipione Pannocchieschi d’Elci was created Cardinal priest on 29 April 1658 with the title of Santa Sabina, having been already appointed cardinal in pectore on 9 April 1657.[6] On 8 June 1658 he was appointed vice-legate of Urbino till 1661.[2] As Archbishop of Pisa, Scipione Pannocchieschi d’Elci held two synods in 1639 and 1659, and visited his diocese two times in 1655 and 1662. He also restored and decorated some churches in the town and completed the works in the seminary using also his own money.[1]

He resigned as archbishop of Pisa in 1663 and moved to Rome, where he died on 12 April 1670 during the conclave of 1669-70, in which he was considered a possible candidate to the papacy. He was buried in the Basilica di Santa Sabina.[1]

References

1. Bigazzi, Francesco (2014). "Pannocchieschi d'Elci, Scipione". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (in Italian). 80. Treccani.
2. Weber, Christoph (1994). Legati e governatori dello Stato pontificio (1550-1809) (in Italian). Roma: Ministero per i beni culturali e ambientali, Ufficio centrale per i beni archivistici. pp. 116, 245, 387, 622. ISBN 8871250702.
3. Salvador Miranda. "Pannocchieschi d'Elci, Scipione". Retrieved 17 September 2016.
4. "Avviso di Roma" (August 20, 1631). Avvisi e Notizie dall'Estero, File: 138. Archivio di Stato di Modena.
5. Biaudet, Henry (1910). Les nonciatures apostoliques permanentes jusqu'en 1648. Helsinki. p. 278.
6. David Cheney. "Scipione Cardinal Pannocchieschi d'Elci". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. Retrieved 17 September 2016.