Pierfrancesco Scarampi

{{Short description|Roman Catholic oratorian and papal envoy}}

{{Short description|Roman Catholic oratorian and papal envoy}}

{{One source|date=January 2024}}

{{One source|date=January 2024}}

'''Pierfrancesco Scarampi''' (1596 – October 14, 1656) was a [[Roman Catholic]] oratorian and papal envoy.

'''Pierfrancesco Scarampi''' (1596 – October 14, 1656) was a [[Roman Catholic]] oratorian and [[papal envoy]].

==Biography==

==Biography==

===Envoy to Ireland===

===Envoy to Ireland===

At the request of [[Luke Wadding]], the agent at Rome for the [[Irish Catholic Confederation]], [[Pope Urban VIII]] sent Scarampi to assist at the Supreme Council of the Confederation in 1643. Scarampi was well received by the Irish Catholics. Wherever he went he was met by the bishops, clergy, and nobility. He was received with military honours and firing of cannon. On his arrival in [[Kilkenny]], he immediately saw that the danger that threatened the existence of the Confederation was dissension amongst its members. He made an earnest appeal to the Council to avoid all dissension and to make no compromise with the enemies of their religion and country. [[Richard Bellings]], Secretary of the Council, addressed to Scarampi a statement of the reasons in favour of a [[cessation of hostilities]]. Scarampi immediately gave an answer showing why the war should be continued, and that the [[England|English]] desired the cessation of hostilities solely to relieve their present necessities.

At the request of [[Luke Wadding]], the agent at Rome for the [[Irish Catholic Confederation]], [[Pope Urban VIII]] sent Scarampi to assist at the Supreme Council of the Confederation in 1643. Scarampi was well received by the Irish Catholics. Wherever he went he was met by the bishops, clergy, and nobility. He was received with military honours and firing of cannon. On his arrival in [[Kilkenny]], he immediately saw that the danger that threatened the existence of the Confederation was dissension amongst its members. He made an earnest appeal to the Council to avoid all dissension and to make no compromise with the enemies of their religion and country. [[Richard Bellings]], Secretary of the Council, addressed to Scarampi a statement of the reasons to support of a [[cessation of hostilities]]. Scarampi immediately gave an answer arguing for a continuation of the war, and that the [[England|English]] desired the cessation of hostilities solely to relieve their present necessities.

The author of ''Contemporary History of Affairs in Ireland'' says that Scarampi was a "verie apt and understandinge man, and was receaved with much honour. This man in a shorte time became soe learned in the petegrees of the respective Irish families of Ireland, that it proved his witt and diligence, and allsoe soe well obsearved that all the proceedings of both ancient and recent Irish, that to an ince, he knewe whoe best and worst beheaved himself in the whole kingdome."

The author of ''Contemporary History of Affairs in Ireland'' says that Scarampi was a "verie apt and understandinge man, and was receaved with much honour. This man in a shorte time became soe learned in the petegrees of the respective Irish families of Ireland, that it proved his witt and diligence, and allsoe soe well obsearved that all the proceedings of both ancient and recent Irish, that to an ince, he knewe whoe best and worst beheaved himself in the whole kingdome."

The Supreme Council decided to supplicate the pope to raise Scarampi to the dignity of archbishop and Apostolic ''[[nuncio]]'', and the bishops of Ireland entreated him to accept the [[Archbishop of Tuam|Archbishopric of Tuam]], which was vacant at the time. He declined all honours and refused to walk under the canopy prepared for him in [[Waterford]]. He was present with the Confederate forces at the [[siege of Duncannon]], and when the fort was taken on the eve of [[St. Patrick's Day|St. Patrick]], he ordered a chapel to be immediately erected in honour of the saint and celebrated the first [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]].

The Supreme Council decided to supplicate the pope to raise Scarampi to the dignity of archbishop and Apostolic ''[[nuncio]]'', and the bishops of Ireland entreated him to accept the [[Archbishop of Tuam|Archbishopric of Tuam]], which was vacant at the time. He declined all the honours and refused to walk under the canopy prepared for him in [[Waterford]]. He was present with the Confederate forces at the [[siege of Duncannon]], and when the fort was taken on the eve of [[St. Patrick's Day|St. Patrick]], he ordered a chapel to be immediately erected in honour of the saint and celebrated the first [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]].

===Return to Rome===

===Return to Rome===

===Service in Rome, and death===

===Service in Rome, and death===

When the [[black plague]] broke out in Rome in 1656, he asked to be allowed to attend the sick in the [[lazaretto]]. He caught the sickness and died. By special permission, he was buried in the Basilica of [[Santi Nereo e Achilleo]] on the [[Appian Way]], the titular church of Cardinal Baronius. [[Pope Benedict XIV]] commanded the Master of the Sacred Palace to make known to the Fathers of the Oratory that the title of Venerable was to be given to Scarampi when writing about him and on his pictures.

When the [[black plague]] broke out in Rome in 1656, he asked to be allowed to attend the sick in the [[lazaretto]]. He caught the sickness and died. By special permission, he was buried in the Basilica of [[Santi Nereo e Achilleo]] on the [[Appian Way]], the titular church of Cardinal Baronius. [[Pope Benedict XIV]] commanded the Master of the Sacred Palace to make known to the Fathers of the Oratory that the title of [[Venerable]] was to be given to Scarampi when writing about him and on his pictures.

==References==

==References==