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Ludovico Simoneta (1561).

Education. He studied law under the guidance of Alessandro Tartagni, Bartolomeo Socino and Giason del Maino in Padua and Pavia and, although he did not receive his degree, it was at the Ticino University that he received his doctorate in utroque iure, both canon and civil law, before 1498, the year in which he appears among the noble Milanese jurisconsults.

Early life. Member of Collegio degli Avvocati of Milan, 1494. Went to Rome at the beginning of the 16th century. Consistorial lawyer, 1505. Auditor of the Sacred Roman Rota, 1511; its dean, 1523-1528.

Episcopate. Elected bishop of Pesaro, July 17, 1528.

Sacred orders. Received the subdiaconate and the diaconate on December 28, 1528 from Cardinal Agostino Spinola, bishop of Perugia.

Priesthood. Ordained, December 28, 1528, by Cardinal Agostino Spinola, bishop of Perugia. Consecrated bishop, September 14, 1529, chapel of S. Lorenzo in Piscibus, Rome, by Cardinal Agostino Spinola, assisted by Giovanni Battista Bonciani, bishop of Caserta, and by Tommaso Campeggio, bishop of Feltre. Pope Clement VII named him to replace Paolo Capizzuchi, who was absent from Rome, to study the cause of divorce of King Henry VIII of England; he opposed the divorce. Participated in the Fifth Lateran Council, 1512-1517.

Cardinalate. Created cardinal priest in the consistory of May 21, 1535; received the red hat and the title of S. Ciriaco alle Terme, May 31, 1535. Named bishop of Perugia, December 20, 1535. Together with another six cardinals, named member of a congregation for the celebration of a general council, April 8, 1536 . Named bishop of Lodi, August 4, 1536; resigned in favor of his nephew Giovanni Simoneta, June 20, 1537. Resigned the government of the diocese of Pesaro in favor of his nephew Ludovico Sermoneta, future cardinal, December 10, 1537. Opted for the title of S. Apollinare, November 28, 1537. Prefect of the Tribunal of the Apostolic Signature of Grace. Named with another eight cardinals to a commission to prepare a general council, January 7, 1538 . Appointed to the see of Sutri e Nepi, February 6, 1538 . Resigned the government of the see of Perugia, July 20, 1538. Mediated between Florence and Siena in the dispute for the control over Montepulciano and was able to make them arrive at an amicable solution. Legate, together with Cardinals Girolamo Aleander de Motta and Bonifacio Ferreri, to the Council of Vicenza, 1539. Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals, January 10, 1539.

Death. November 1 (or 2), 1539, Rome, after two days of agony. Buried in the church of SS. Trinità al Monte Pincio, Rome, where he had built a magnificent chapel in 1524.

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Margaret Beaufort, countess of Richmond and Derby, mother of future King Henry VII Tudor, 1497. Vice-chancellor of the University of Cambridge, 1501; its chancellor, 1504; re-elected annually for ten years and then, in 1514, appointed chancellor for life. Holder of the "Lady Margaret Chair" at the University of Cambridge, 1503. In 1504, King Henry VII nominated him bishop of Rochester and the Benedictine chapter approved his election.

Episcopate. Elected bishop of Rochester, October 14, 1504. Consecrated, November 24, 1504, at Lambeth Palace, Canterbury, by William Warham, archbishop of Canterbury, assisted by assisted by Richard Nykke, bishop of Norwich, and by William Smith, bishop of Lincoln. His episcopal motto was Faciam vos fieri piscatores hominum. Tutor of Prince Henry, future King Henry VIII. In 1505, he persuaded Margaret Beaufort to found Christ's College and St. John's College at Cambridge. After her death in 1509, he took over at St. John's, finalizing its establishment in 1511. Chaplain to King Henry VIII of England. Named one of the English representatives at the V Lateran Council in 1512; his journey to Rome had to be postponed, and finally never participated in the assembly. Invited Desiderius Erasmus to visit the University of Cambridge. Bishop Fisher began his work as a controversialist in the 1520's to combat Martin Luther's ideas. In 1521, he delivered the sermon at the public burning of Luther's writings in London. His books in Latin made him to be recognized as one of the leading theologians of Europe . In the House of Lords, he strongly opposed any state interference in church affairs and urged that the church should reform itself. In 1527, when the validity of the marriage between King Henry VIII and Queen Catherine of Aragón was first openly questioned, the king and Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, archbishop of York and pontifical legate in England, consulted Bishop Fisher. They sought his opinion because his prestige as a man of holy life and of great learning gave exceptional weight to his views. After studying the problem thoroughly he came to the conclusion that the papal dispensation was valid, and therefore that Henry and Catherine were man and wife in the eyes of the church. The bishop incurred the king's wrath when he defended Queen Catherine in 1529, later publishing his defense and preaching in London on the queen's behalf. In 1531, he vehemently opposed the granting to the king the title of "Supreme Head of the Church and Clergy of England" and subsequently repudiated the Supremacy Act of 1534.

In May, 1532, Sir Thomas More resigned the chancellorship, and in June, Bishop Fisher preached publicly against the divorce. In August, Archbishop William Warham of Canterbury, died, and Thomas Cranmer was at once nominated to the pope as his successor. In January, 1533, King Henry secretly married Anne Boleyn. Archbishop Cranmer's episcopal consecration took place in March of the same year, and, a week later, Bishop Fisher was arrested. In December 1533, the bishop fell seriously ill. Early in 1534, he was implicated in the cause against Elizabeth Barton, called the Nun of Kent, who had prophesied against the king, and was sentenced to be imprisoned at the king's pleasure, and to forfeit all his goods, although he was released on the payment of #300. In March 1534, the Act of Succession declared King Henry's marriage to Queen Catherine void and his marriage to Anne Boleyn as a valid one. On the following April 13, he was cited to appear at Lambeth to take the oath of compliance with the Act of Succession, but though he and Sir Thomas More were willing to admit the succession of the children of Henry and Anne Boleyn, both refused to declare the children of Catherine and the king illegitimate. Four days later, Bishop John Fisher and Sir Thomas More were committed to the Tower. They were kept apart. With the passage of the Act of Supremacy in November 1534, they both were again attainted of misprision of treason. The see of Rochester was declared vacant from January 2, 1535. The bishop was suffering from a serious illness and was clearly nearing his end. In spite of this, the king continued his relentless persecution of this aged man stricken by a fatal illness.

Cardinalate. Created cardinal priest in the consistory of May 21, 1535; received the title of S. Vitale, May 31, 1535. The pope hoped to save the newly created cardinal from his capital sentence but this enraged King Henry VIII and destroyed all hope for the bishop. The king prohibited that the cardinal's hat be brought into England and stated that he would send the bishop's head to Rome instead. The cardinal was called several times before councillors but refused to speak about the supremacy. In a conversation that was disguised as privileged, Sir Richard Rich, the solicitor general, reportedly tricked Bishop Fisher into confiding that the king was not and could not be supreme head of the Church of England . He was tried on June 17, 1535, condemned to be executed at Tyburn as a traitor, but the sentence was changed to decapitation at Tower Hill. Together with Thomas More, he was the most important Humanist of his time in England.

Death. June 22, 1535, at 10 a.m., executed by order of King Henry VIII at the Tower of London. He met death with a calm dignified courage which profoundly impressed all who were present. His body was treated with particular rancour, apparently on King Henry VIII's orders, being stripped and left on the scaffold until evening, when it was taken on pikes and thrown naked into a rough grave in the churchyard of All Hallows, Barking, also known as All-Hallows-by-the-Tower. There was no funeral prayer. A fortnight later, his body was laid beside that of Sir Thomas More in the chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula within the Tower of London. His head was stuck upon a pole on London Bridge, but its ruddy and lifelike appearance excited so much attention that, after a fortnight, it was thrown into the Thames, its place being taken by the head of Sir Thomas More, whose martyrdom, also at Tower Hill, occurred on July 6.

Sainthood. Beatified by Pope Leo XIII on December 29, 1886, together with fifty-four of the other English martyrs; and canonized by Pope Pius XI on May 19, 1935. His feast day is celebrated on July 9. In the same ceremonies was also beatified and canonized St. Thomas More.

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conclave of 1549-1550, which elected Pope Julius III. For three years, 1550-1553, he lived a quiet life in France; and finally was given another mission in Rome and resided in that city from 1553 until his death. Opted for the order of cardinal bishops and the suburbicarian see of Albano, February 28, 1550. Resigned the government of the see of Paris in favor of Eustache Du Bellay, March 16, 1551. Abbot commendatario of Fontaine-Daniel, 1552-1560. Opted for the suburbicarian see of Frascati, November 29, 1553. Opted for the suburbicarian see of Porto e Santa Rufina, December 11, 1553. Sub-dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals. Participated in the first conclave of 1555, which elected Pope Marcellus II. Participated in the second conclave of 1555, which elected Pope Paul IV. Opted for the suburbicarian see of Ostia e Velletri, proper of the dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals, May 29, 1555; King Henri II disapproved of the nomination and it brought the cardinal into more disgrace. Administrator of the see of Bordeaux again, February 15, 1559 until his death. Participated in the conclave of 1559, which elected Pope Pius IV; left the conclave early on December 25, 1559, before the final vote was taken; he knew that Cardinal Giovanni Angelo de' Medici would be elected within a few hours, and thought his vote was not necessary for the outcome. Together with his friend Guillaume Budé, persuaded King François I to found the Collège de France. Writer François Rabelais was his secretary and physician and the cardinal protected him in his debates with Parliament and La Sorbonne University. Also, he assisted other men of letters, such as Étienne Dolet and the poet Salmon Macrin. He was a tolerant man and protected the reformers. His correspondence is preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.

Death. February 16, 1560, at 1:30 p.m., after a long illness, in his Roman palace near the terme Diocleziane. Buried in the church of SS. Trinità al Monte Pincio, Rome. His obituary was read in the consistory of March 13, 1560.

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Innico Caracciolo, seniore (1666); Innico Caracciolo, iuniore (1715); Niccolò Caracciolo (1715); Giovanni Costanzio Caracciolo (1759); Diego Innico Caracciolo (1800); and Filippo Giudice Caracciolo, Orat. (1833).

Education. Studied in Milan under the tutelage of Cardinal Ascanio Maria Sforza.

Early life. Sent at an early age to Milan to the court of Cardinal Sforza. Ambassador of Milan in Rome, 1513. Protonotary apostolic, ca.1515. Orator of the duke of Milan to the Fifth Lateran Council in 1515. Nuncio of Pope Leo X before Emperor Maximilian in the Diet of Augsburg. In the Diet of Worms of 1520, together with Girolamo Aleandro, worked tirelessly in favor of the Catholic Religion and obtained the burning of the writings of Martin Luther. Imperial ambassador before King Henry VIII of England; mediated the peace between the two monarchs. He was named twice imperial ambassador before the Venetian Senate; obtained the formation of a league between the emperor and the senate. Papal nuncio before the imperial court, 1520-1523.

Sacred orders. (No information found).

Episcopate. Elected bishop of Catania, January 18 , 1524; resigned, July 24, 1524 in favor of his brother Scipione Caracciolo. Consecrated (no information found). Count of Vespolate, May 24, 1524. Named again bishop of Catania, November 29, 1529, after the death of his brother Bishop Scipione occurred on October 28, 1529; resigned, March 9, 1530 in favor of Ludovico Caracciolo. First count of Gallarate with Ferno, Samarate, Cassine, Verghera, Boladello, Fulpiata, Peveranzia, Arnate, Cedrate, Santo Stefano and Orgiono, July 13, 1530; received the imperial confirmation, June 10, 1536.

Cardinalate. Created cardinal deacon and reserved in pectore in the consistory of May 21, 1535; published in the consistory of May 31, 1535; received the red hat, November 12, 1535; and the deaconry of S. Maria in Aquiro, November 15, 1535. Together with Cardinals Agostino Trivulzio and Francisco Quiñones, named legate before Kings Ferdinand of the Romans and François I of France to preserve the peace, June 2, 1536. Named bishop of Catania for the third time after the death of Bishop Ludovico occurred on September 1, 1536; resigned, January 8, 1537 in favor of Nicola Maria Caracciolo . Governor of Milanesado, August 15, 1536 until his death.

Death. January 28 , 1538, Milan. Buried in the metropolitan cathedral of Milan. The recumbent effigy of the cardinal is above the epitaph .

Brethren of the Common Life, 1485; became acquainted there with Agricola, a "luminous" humanist, who would greatly influence his future orientation; school in Bar-le-Duc; after prolonged reluctance he joined the Augustinian Regular Canons in St Gregory's at Steyn, (the Classics, Latin and Greek); Collège de Montaigu, Paris, 1495 (theology); La Sorbonne University, until the summer of 1496; University of Cambridge, Cambridge, 1505 (doctorate in theology); University of Turin, Turin, 1506 (doctor of Divinity).

Early life. His mother died of the Plague in 1483 and he went back to Gouda, and then his father died the following year. His tutors sent him to Bar-le-Duc, where he felt he was wasting his time, and he returned to Gouda. Having discovered the richness of the library of the monks of Steyn, he joined the monastery and took his religious vows in 1488.

Priesthood. Ordained, April 25, 1492. Secretary to Henri de Bergis, bishop of Cambrai. In 1494 he finished writing Antibarbares, which is an anthem to humanism as opposed to the "barbarians", and a program for his whole life. Returned to Holland in 1496. He went back to Paris and lived there by giving private lessons; his pupils became his friends; at this time he wrote the Colloques; in 1498, he returned to Holland; he was reproached because his Parisian life was not in conformity with his ecclesiastical state but he did not mind; at this time, his friend Jacques Batt, secretary of the town of Bergen-op-Zoom, introduced him to Anne de Veere, protector of humanistes, who supported him in difficult times.The following year, 1499, he returned to Paris and fell sick; his English pupils William Blount and Lord Mountjoy took him to England; this visit was both physically and morally salutary for him; although he did not speak one word of English, he never needed to speak this language because Latin was enough for him to get to know in Greenswick all the English men of letters; even though he was only 32 years old, he was already celebrated like a humanist of great reputation. He set out again in 1500 first to Paris and then Orléans, where the best university of law was. Undoubtedly, he became acquainted there with Nicolas Bérault, lawyer and humanist, who would be the teacher of Louis de Berquin, his future translator and martyr. There he published the first version of his Adages, a collection of Latin proverbs which made his reputation in all of Europe and had multiple republications even while the author was alive; he increased the text throughout his life. In 1501 he arranged with the superior of his monastery to continue his studies for one more year. Thus, he went to Tournehem, where his friend Jacques Batt lived, and learned Greek. In the fall of 1501, he returned to France. The Plague spread throughout Europe in 1502 and his protector and friend Bishop Henri de Bergis died of it. He settled in Louvain where he worked on his first translations from the Greek. In 1504, he discovered a text of Lorenzo Valla, the great Italian humanist of the 15th century, which suggested corrections to be made to the Vulgate by comparison with the Greek text; the idea impassioned Erasmus; there he found the theoretical base for the work of de-dusting the old texts; he published the annotations of Valla, in a Parisian edition. Returning to England in 1505, he met through his friend Lord Mountjoy, John Colet, Thomas More, future chancellor of the kingdom and martyr, and other humanists of renown. He was registered with the faculty of theology of the University of Cambridge and worked on doctorate there. Also in Cambridge, André Ammonius, an Italian expatriate, became his closest confidant.

In 1506 his letters seem to indicate that he was suffering from depression and a dislike for life. However, in England he was about to make a career: a doctorate, ecclesiastical benefits, recognition and safety. He became the tutor of the children of Battista Boerio, physician of King Henry VII, who left for Florence with his family. On his way, Erasmus found his Parisian printer and he produced the edition of the translations of the Greek philosopher Lucien (120 to 180 after JC), a skeptic satirist and nonconformist, who would be put later in the index by La Sorbonne University ("lucianism" became a serious accusation); the translation of Euripides (480 to 406 front JC), the Greek playwright; Carmen de Senectute, reflexions on old age and death. In September of that year, he became doctor of Divinity in Turin. Then he went to Bologna where Pope Julius II made a triumphal entry at the head of his troops. This did not give Erasmus a positive image of the pope soldier, judging that it was not in his pontifical functions to make war. Erasmus expressed it in the Éloge de la Folie (1509) and in Julius Exclusus (1518), text that is credited to him, but that was not signed. In 1507 he went to Venice and became acquainted with Alde Manuce, the printer inventor of the pocket book and of a cast iron of great renown. In that city Erasmus met and worked with Hellenists Janus Lascaris, Marc Musurus and Aleandre. The following year, 1508, he published a new version of the Adages and was initiated in the Semitic languages, Hebrew and Aramaic, and translated Greek authors such as Seneca, Plutarch and Plato. He also visited Rome.

In 1509 Lord Mountjoy recalled him to England because the archbishop of Canterbury, William Warham, had promised to give Erasmus an ecclesiastical benefit. On the way, passing the Swiss Alps, he wrote Éloge de la Folie, book that he finished in England, and dedicated to Thomas More, his host. In 1511, in Paris, he worked on the editions of the Éloge de la Folie, and on the republication (one more) of the Adages. On August 24 of that year, he went back in England and fell ill. The archbishop granted him a rectorate and Erasmus transformed it into annual pension. Bishop John Fisher of Rochester, chancellor of the University of Cambridge and future martyr, induced Erasmus to visit Cambridge; he attributed to the bishop's protection that the study of Greek was allowed to proceed at Cambridge without the active difficulties that it had encountered at the University of Oxford. Again in France in 1514, he was called to the Netherlands by Servatius, the abbot of Steyn. He went to Germany, where he was celebrated by the German humanists. In Basle, he met Jean Froben, who would become his principal editor. In 1515, he went back to England for a short stay and then traveled to Basle, where he was proposed the charge of advising Duke Charles, who later would become Emperor Charles V. He accepted and wrote for this occasion in 1516 Institutio Principi Christiani. His translation of the New Testament also appeared and Pope Leo X accepted the dedication. King François I invited him in 1517 to go to France but Erasmus declined, undoubtedly being wary and informed by his friends of the rise of intolerance. To the institutional glory, he preferred his freedom. He went to England and then to the court of his former pupil and new king of Spain, Charles I, future emperor Charles V, who had to go to Spain. But Erasmus was not a man of the court. He prefered to remain in Northern Europe, and went to Louvain where he worked at the Collège de Lily; there he organized "trilingual college", which he saw as the humanist model of formation.

In 1518, Erasmus took the defense of Johannes Reuchlin, a great German humanist, attacked by the Inquisition in connection with his library, which contained books in Greek and Hebrew. The oppositions had found its day: Erasmus was criticized for his New Testament, and his initiative of the trilingual college is fought even in Louvain. Martin Luther wrote him a letter in 1519, asking support for the Reform. Erasmus refused and prefered to remain neutral. Erasmus became more and more criticized for not intervening against Luther and he asked for the protection of the pope. But from 1521 the Catholic party, with the pope at the head, requested Erasmus to defend their cause against Luther and his followers. He refused, and it had this prophetic word: "later it will be understood that it is not Luther whom I defend, but the peace of Christendom". He settled in Anderlecht, in the Netherlands, where he finally felt well and planned to remain definitively. Froben recalled him to Basle to proof read his third edition of the New Testament; he would not return again to his house of Anderlecht. He traveled to Brussels, Louvain, Antwerp, Maastricht, Coblentz, Mainz, Worms. In 1523 King François I invited him again to go to France and he again declined. The new Pope Adrian VI, a Dutch compatriot, and the Emperor, asked him to write against Luther, but he claimed his benevolent neutrality. But the ideas of Luther end up shocking the convictions of Erasmus, and in 1524 he published Libero Arbitrio, countering the Lutherans theses on predetermination. Luther retorted in 1526 with Servo Arbitrio and Erasmus answered him again with Hyperaspistes. The controversy completely separated Lutherans and Humanists. Some German friends of Erasmus moved away from him. With the publication of his Ciceronianus 1527, Erasmus upset part of the Christian humanists and created a conflict between the followers of Guillaume Budé, who was called the wisest man of France, and his. A controversy began with Noël Beda in 1528, where Beda "proved" that Erasmus was not a Christian. Erasmus left Basle in 1529 and went to Freiburg where he was very well received; there he completed the "Adages"; in 1531 he bought a house. In 1534, he wrote a treaty on the L'aimable concorde de l'Église and another on Preparation a la mort. In January 1535 he wrote to the pope to assure him of his attachment to the unity of the church. In Basle, he worked with Jérôme Froben, son of Jean, his publisher (dead in 1528).

Cardinalate. Pope Paul III wanted to create him cardinal but he declined because of age and poor health. He decided to go and settle in Basel and sold his house of Freiburg; he did not leave his room again and arranged his last businesses including his will and various donations. He hoped nevertheless to be able to set out again on a journey, and dreamed of his house of Anderlecht. Patient and weakened, he died surrounded by his friends. He is considered by many the leading figure of Humanism.

Death. July 12, 1536, Basel, Switzerland. The magistrates of Basel gave him a magnificent funeral, placed his body in the crypt of the cathedral and erected a statue in his honor in a public square of the city.

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