Fausto Poli (Usigni, Feb. 17, 1581 - Orvieto, Oct. 7, 1653) was a Roman Catholic prelate. As a young man he went to Rome and was soon noticed by Maffeo Barberini, a cleric of the Apostolic Chamber and a fellow Umbrian from nearby Spoleto, soon to become Pope under the name of Urban VIII. In 1632 he was made Majordomo and Prefect of the Lateran palace, in which posts he was responsible for supervising church and court ceremonial. In 1633 he was consecrated titular archbishop of Amasia in partibus. The site of Orvieto is an Etruscan acropolis. ... Location within Italy The Roman Colosseum Rome (Italian and Latin: Roma) is the capital city of Italy and of its Latium region. ... Umbria is a mountainous region of central Italy, in the valley of the river Tiber. ... Spoleto (Latin: Spoletium), 42°44′ N 12°44′ E, an ancient town in the Italian province of Perugia in east central Umbria, at 385 meters (1391 ft) above sea-level on a foothill of the Apennines. ... Urban VIII, né Maffeo Barberini (April 1568 - July 29, 1644) was pope from 1623-1644. ... Amasia was a town is Asia Minor, once the capital of the kings of Pontus. ...

As private secretary to Pope Urban, among his most valuable services was that of purchasing old works of art, or commissioning new works, for that inveterate collector; among the artists he encouraged was Claude Lorrain. He was rewarded at the end of Urban's pontificate by being raised to the purple as cardinal priest of S. Crisogono on Aug. 31, 1643. He was appointed bishop of Orvieto in 1644. Seaport by Claude Lorrain Claude Lorrain (Lorraine, c1604 - Rome, November 23, 1682) was a French painter considered to be one of the greatest landscape painters. ...

Thruout his life, he remained very devoted to his home town and region. In addition to beautifying Usigni, he was instrumental in developing iron mines in the area, and he was also so greatly devoted to Rita of Cascia (beatified by Urban in 1627), adorning her church in that town and promoting her cult, that he is often considered to have been the main force in establishing her present cult and popularity. The second edition (1652) of Girolamo de Ghetti's Breve Racconto della Vita e Miracoli della B. Rita da Cascia is dedicated to him. Saint Rita (1381 – May 22, 1457) was born at Roccaporena near Cascia in the Diocese of Spoleto (Spoleto), Italy. ...

Fausto Cardinal Poli was buried according to his wishes in the Chapel of the Guardian Angel in his titular church S. Crisogono.

External links

• Cardinal Poli biographical sketch (http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1643.htm#Poli)
• The Usigni pages (http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Umbria/Perugia/Poggiodomo/Usigni/home.html) of Thayer's Gazetteer of Umbria contain further information on Cardinal Poli
• Tomb and bust in S. Crisogono (http://rubens.anu.edu.au/htdocs/bycountry/italy/rome/popolo/pics/0104/P10491.JPG)