Cardinal Spada. Oil painting by Guido Reni, c. 1631. Galleria Spada, Rome.

Bernardino Cardinal Spada (April 21, 1594 - November 10, 1661) was an Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and a great patron of the arts whose collection is housed in the Palazzo Spada in Rome. Autoportrait Abduction of Deianira, 1620-21 Guido Reni (November 4, 1575, Calvenzano di Vergato, near Bologna - August 18, 1642, Bologna) was a prominent Italian painter of high-Baroque style. ... April 21 is the 111th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (112th in leap years). ... Events February 27 - Henry IV is crowned King of France at Rheims. ... November 10 is the 314th day of the year (315th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 51 days remaining. ... 1661 (MDCLXI) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar). ... A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually a bishop, of the Roman Catholic Church, a member of the College of Cardinals which as a body elects a new pope. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Wycliffe Tyndale · Luther · Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      The Roman Catholic Church... Bernardino Cardinal Spada (April 21, 1594 – November 10, 1661) was a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and a great patron of the arts, whose collection may be seen at Palazzo Spada, Rome. ... Nickname: Motto: SPQR: Senatus Populusque Romanus Location of the city of Rome (yellow) within the Province of Rome (red) and region of Lazio (grey) Coordinates: Region Lazio Province Province of Rome Founded 21 April 753 BC Government  - Mayor Walter Veltroni Area  - City 1,285 km²  (580 sq mi)  - Urban 5...

Biography

Spada was born in Brisighella, current province of Ravenna (Romagna). Brisighella is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Ravenna in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about 45 km southeast of Bologna and about 40 km southwest of Ravenna. ... Ravenna (It. ... Emilia-Romagna is an administrative region of Northern Italy comprising the two historic regions of Emilia and Romagna. ...

His father was the rich merchant Paolo Spada (unrelated to the Spada family of ancient nobility) who had directed him early on to a career in the church. Bernardino studied law in Bologna, Perugia and Rome and received a doctorate. He served in the Papal Curia from 1617. In December 1623 he was appointed papal nuncio to the court of France, in preparation for which he was ordained titular archbishop of Damietta. He served as nuncio until 1627, when he became papal legate in Bologna. He was made a cardinal January 19, 1626 by Pope Urban VIII. When the plague epidemic hit Bologna in 1630/1631, he helped organize the health care system there. Bologna (IPA , from Latin Bononia, BulÃ¥ggna in Emiliano-Romagnolo) is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy, in the Pianura Padana, between the Po River and the Apennines, exactly between the Reno River and the Sàvena River. ... Location of Perugia in Italy Coordinates: Country Italy Region Umbria Province Province of Perugia Government  - Mayor Renato Locchi Area  - City 449 km²  (1,165 sq mi) Elevation 493 m (1,617. ... The Roman Curia is the administrative apparatus of the Holy See, coordinating and providing the necessary organisation for the correct functioning of the Roman Catholic Church and the achievement of its goals. ... Nuncio is an ecclesiastical diplomatic title, derived from the ancient Latin Nuntius, meaning any envoy. ... Bishop Richard Pates, current auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis and the Titular Bishop of Suacia. ... In Christianity, an archbishop is an elevated bishop. ... Damietta is a port in Dumyat, Egypt on the Mediterranean Sea at the Nile delta, about 200 kilometres north of Cairo. ... A papal Legate, from the Decretals of Boniface VIII (1294 to 1303). ... Bologna (IPA , from Latin Bononia, BulÃ¥ggna in Emiliano-Romagnolo) is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy, in the Pianura Padana, between the Po River and the Apennines, exactly between the Reno River and the Sàvena River. ... Pope Urban VIII (April 1568 – July 29, 1644), born Maffeo Barberini, was Pope from 1623 to 1644. ... The bubonic plague (more properly Bubonic Fever; a plague is an epidemic) is the best-known variant of the deadly infectious disease caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis. ...

From 1631 he served again in Rome, taking several influential positions in the Curia. He purchased what is now called the Palazzo Spada in 1632 and commissioned Francesco Borromini to modify it for him in a more Baroque style. The Roman Curia — usually called the Vatican — is the administrative apparatus of the Holy See, coordinating and providing the necessary organisation for the correct functioning of the Catholic Church and the achievement of its goals. ... Bernardino Cardinal Spada (April 21, 1594 – November 10, 1661) was a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and a great patron of the arts, whose collection may be seen at Palazzo Spada, Rome. ... Francesco Borromini (September 25, 1599 – August 3, 1667 in Rome) was a prominent and influential Baroque architect, and active in Rome and contemporary with the prolific papal architect and often rival, Gian Lorenzo Bernini. ... Adoration, by Peter Paul Rubens. ...

During the First War of Castro between the Vatican and the Duchy of Parma, he served as the main peace negotiator in 1643, together with his brother Virgilio Spada. Pope Innocent X, on whose orders the city of Castro was destroyed on September 2, 1649. ... The Duchy of Parma was created in 1545 from that part of the Duchy of Milan south of the Po River, as a fief for Pope Paul IIIs illegitimate son, Pier Luigi Farnese, centered around the city of Parma. ...

Bernardino Spada was successively Bishop of Albano, Frascati, Sabina and Palestrina. Albano is a suburbicarian see of the Roman Catholic Church, comprising seven towns in the Province of Rome. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Cardinal Bishop of Sabina is a role in the Roman Catholic church. ... Palestrina (ancient Praeneste) was and is a very ancient city of Latium (modern Lazio) 23 miles (37 km) east of Rome, and was reached by the Via Praenestina (see below). ...

He died in Rome in 1661 and was interred in the family grave in the church of San Girolamo della Carità.

Bernadino had supported the church careers of several of his family members. His great-nephew Fabrizio Spada became cardinal in 1675 and Cardinal Secretary of State in 1691. The Cardinal Secretary of State presides over the Vatican Secretariat of State, which is the oldest and most important dicastery of the Roman Curia. ...

External links and sources

• Biography of Bernardino Spada (German)
• Biography
• Catholic Hierarchy: Bernardino Cardinal Spada
• The Spada chapell in the church of San Girolamo della Carità, Rome

Books

• Arne Karsten: Kardinal Bernardino Spada; Eine Karriere im barocken Rom (German)