Alfonso Gesualdo

Italian Cardinal

Alfonso Gesualdo di Conza (20 October 1540 – 14 February 1603) was an Italian Cardinal starting in 1561. He was from Calitri, not far from Naples. His attendance at the papal conclave of 1565-1566 at the age of only 25 makes him one of the youngest Cardinals ever to participate in a papal election.^[1]

He was Archbishop of Conza in 1564, Bishop of Albano in 1583, Bishop of Frascati in 1587, Bishop of Porto e Santa Rufina in 1589, Bishop of Ostia in 1591, and Archbishop of Naples in 1596.

He was a patron of Sant'Andrea della Valle in Rome, the mother church of the Theatine Order.^[2] The composer Carlo Gesualdo was his nephew.

Episcopal succession

Episcopal succession of Alfonso Gesualdo

While bishop, he was the principal consecrator of:^[3]

Salvatore Caracciolo, Archbishop of Conza (1572);
Marcantonio Pescara, Archbishop of Conza (1574);
Silvio de Sainte-Croix, Archbishop of Arles (1574);
Ippolito Aldobrandini (seniore), Pope of Rome (1592);
Filippo Spinelli, Titular Bishop of Colossae and Coadjutor Bishop of Policastro (1592);
Marco Magnacervo, Bishop of Lucera (1593);
Vincenzo Giustiniani, Bishop of Gravina di Puglia (1593);
Basilio Pignatelli, Bishop of L'Aquila (1593);
Annibale D'Afflitto, Archbishop of Reggio Calabria (1593);
Cesare Del Pezzo, Bishop of Valva e Sulmona (1593);
Benedetto Mandina, Bishop of Caserta (1594); and
Juan de Castro, Archbishop of Taranto (1600).

Notes

^ Miranda, Salvator. 1998. "Consistory of February 26, 1561 (II)"
^ Marcia B. Hall, Rome (2005), p. 303.
^ "Alfonso Cardinal Gesualdo di Conza (Gonza)" Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved January 4, 2017