Arezzo, Scipione Burali D

Arezzo, Scipione Burali D'

an Italian cardinal, was born at Atri, near Gaeta, in 1511. He studied law, received the degree of doctor at. Bologna, and met with so great success as advocate at Naples that Charles V appointed him, in 1550, member of the collateral council of the kingdom of Naples. In 1557 he retired to a monastery of the Order of the Theatines, where he took the name of Brother Paul. His talents and services were not, however, overlooked, for in 1562 Philip I[ appointed him to the archiepiscopal see of Brindisi, which honor he declined. Several bishoprics were successively offered him, but he persisted in his refusal of them. Two years after, delegated by the city of Naples, he undertook a difficult mission in Spain; he went to protest against an attempt of Philip II to introduce the Spanish Inquisition into Italy. His success greatly augmented his popularity among the Neapolitans. He was immediately called to Rome, where he occupied successively different ecclesiastical positions until 1568, when he was made bishop of Placentia. In 1570 he was made cardinal, and in 1576 the pope made him archbishop of Naples, where he died in 1578, and was interred in the Theatine Church of St. Paul. His testament and a letter in Latin upon the motives which prompted him to refuse the see of Brindisi are found in his biography published by Bagatta, a brother of his order (Verona, 1698). See Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, s.v.