Lelio Falconieri

{{short description|Catholic cardinal}}{{Infobox Christian leader | type = Cardinal | image = 1643 LELIUS FALCONERIUS - FALCONIERI LELIO.jpg | name = Lelio Falconieri | title = Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria del Popolo | church = Catholic Church | see = Santa Maria del Popolo | term = 31 August 1643 – 14 December 1648 | predecessor = Lelio Biscia | successor = Mario Theodoli | other_post = Secretary of the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars (1642-1648) | previous_post = Apostolic Nuncio to Flanders (1635-1637) Titular Archbishop of Thebae (1634-1643) | consecration = 10 December 1634 | consecrated_by = Giulio Cesare Sacchetti<ref name=CatHie>{{cite web|url=https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bfalconl.html|title=Lelio Cardinal Falconieri|website=Catholic-Hierarchy.org|access-date=2026-04-02}}</ref> | cardinal = 13 July 1643 | created_cardinal_by = Pope Urban VIII<ref name=CatHie /> | birth_date = {{birth year|1585}} | death_date = {{death date and age|1648|12|14|1585|df=y}} | birth_place = Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany | death_place = Viterbo, Papal States }}thumb|Monument to Cardinal Falconieri by Ercole Ferrata and Francesco Borromini in San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, Rome '''Lelio Falconieri''' (1585 – 14 December 1648) was an Italian Catholic Cardinal.<ref>[https://cardinals.fiu.edu/bios1643.htm S. Miranda:] Lelio Falconieri</ref>

==Family and early life== Falconieri was born in 1585 in Florence, the tenth of the thirteen children of Paolo Falconieri and his second wife Maddalena degli Albizzi. He was the brother of Don Orazio Falconieri who purchased the Villa Falconieri and commissioned Francesco Borromini to renovate it. Orazio later commissioned Borromini to renovate the church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini to build a Falconieri family chapel for the burial of the two brothers.<ref>''Borromini'' by Anthony Blunt (Harvard University Press, 1979)</ref> He studied law at the University of Perugia and went on to take a doctorate in canon and civil law from the University of Pisa.<ref>Matteo Sanfilippo, [https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/lelio-falconieri_%28Dizionario-Biografico%29/ Falconieri, Lelio], ''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani'', vol. 44 (1994).</ref>

At a young age he went to Rome and became an advocate at the Roman Curia and papal prelate during the pontificate of Pope Paul V. In 1619 he became Governor of San Severino and a referendary of the Tribunals of the Apostolic Signatura of Justice and of Grace. He became Governor of Spoleto (1621), Vice-governor of Benevento (1622) and Governor of the Campagne and Maritime Province (1622).

==Pontificate of Urban VIII== Maffeo Barberini was elected Pope Urban VIII at the Papal conclave of 1623 and during his pontificate, Falconieri became the relator of the Sacred Consulta and commissary general of Umbria and Romagna. In 1634 he was elected Titular Archbishop of Tebe and was consecrated on 10 December of that year at the church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini by Cardinal Giulio Cesare Sacchetti,<ref>Matteo Sanfilippo, [https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/lelio-falconieri_%28Dizionario-Biografico%29/ Falconieri, Lelio], ''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani'', vol. 44 (1994).</ref> brother of his sister-in-law Ottavia Sacchetti.<ref>''Ave Papa/Ave Papabile: the Sacchetti family, their art patronage, and political aspirations'' by Lilian H. Zirpolo (Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, 2005)</ref> Between 1635 and 1637 he was named papal nuncio to Flanders, but after being informed in Liège that the government of Philip IV of Spain opposed his appointment he returned to Rome on grounds of ill health. He was replaced by an acting nuncio, Richard Pauli-Stravius.

Pope Urban elevated Falconieri to cardinal in the consistory of 1643 and he was named Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria del Popolo later that year.

==Later life==

Falconieri participated in the Papal conclave of 1644, which elected Pope Urban's successor, Pope Innocent X.

Pope Innocent made him Legate in Bologna but after suffering a very serious illness in Florence Falconieri decided to return to Rome. He died on the way at Viterbo on 14 December 1648 and was buried in the church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini.

==References== {{reflist}}

{{s-start}} {{s-rel|ca}} {{succession box | before= Giuseppe Acquaviva |title= Titular Bishop of Tebe |after= Annibale Bentivoglio |years= 1634–1648}} {{succession box | before= Fabio Lagonissa| title= Papal nuncio to Flanders| after= Richard Pauli-Stravius (acting)| years=1635–1637}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Falconieri, Lelio}} Category:1585 births Category:1648 deaths Category:17th-century Italian cardinals Category:Cardinals created by Pope Urban VIII Category:Clergy from Florence Category:Latin archbishops of Thebes Category:Apostolic nuncios to Flanders