page_title: Alessandro Farnese (cardinal)
section_title: Benefices and income
hierarchical_section_title: Alessandro Farnese (cardinal) / Benefices and income
context_page_description: Alessandro Farnese, an Italian cardinal and diplomat and a great collector and patron of the arts, was the grandson of Pope Paul III, and the son of Pier Luigi Farnese, Duke of Parma, who was murdered in 1547. He should not be confused with his nephew, Alessandro Farnese, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, grandson of Emperor Charles V and great-grandson of Pope Paul III.
context_section_description: His grandfather, Pope Paul III, immediately named Alessandro Farnese Administrator of the Diocese of Parma (1 November 1534), allowing him to collect the episcopal income during the interregnum. Alessandro resigned on 13 August 1535, when Cardinal Guido Ascanio Sforza di Santa Fiora, another grandson of Paul III and only two years older than Alessandro, was named the new Administrator (enjoying his Parmesan income until he resigned in 1560).
  Farnese was appointed Administrator of Jaen, Spain, from 30 July 1535 until another Administrator, Cardinal Alessandro Cesarini, was appointed on 6 July 1537. He was Administrator of the Archdiocese of Avignon from 1535 to 1551.  and of the Diocese of Vizeu, Portugal (1547-1552).
  On 9 May 1536, the Emperor Charles V named Cardinal Farnese as the new Archbishop of Monreale in Sicily; his appointment was confirmed on 15 May 1536, by Pope Paul III. But Monreale was not a happy place, since the monks of the Cathedral of Monreale and the clergy of the diocese were in one squabble after another with each other. On 26 July 1549, the Pope was forced to intervene, in a letter in which he referred to the Cardinal under the title of perpetuus Administrator. A Vicar was appointed for the underage and absentee Archbishop, Msgr. Giovanni Antonio Fassari, titular Bishop of Christopolis in Greece; he was succeeded in 1546 by Pompeo Zambecari. In 1557, he was followed by Msgr. Giovanni Pietro Fortiguerra, Bishop of Cyrene in Libya., The Cardinal allowed the Jesuits to found a college in Monreale, and allowed the priests of the Society to work in the diocese. In 1568, Cardinal Farnese visited his diocese and held a synod.  He was accompanied by his librarian, the famous antiquarian and papal biographer, Onofrio Panvinio, who, unhappily, died at Palermo on 16 (?) March 1568.  The Cardinal continued to enjoy the income of the diocese until 1573, when he resigned the bishopric.
  On 17 June 1537, Farnese was appointed Administrator of the Diocese of Bitonto in the Kingdom of Naples on the resignation of Bishop Lopez de Alarcon; his administration ceased upon the appointment of a new bishop on 8 January 1538. He became Administrator of the Diocese of Massa Marittima on 15 November 1538, on the resignation of Bishop Hieronymus de Glanderonibus; since he was only eighteen, he was not canonically eligible to be the bishop, though he could—and did—collect the income of the bishop until a successor was appointed in April 1547.  On 16 July 1540, Farnese was named Administrator of the Diocese of Cavaillon in Provence, which he resigned one year later on 20 July 1541.  In 1549, his grandfather Pope Paul III died.
  He was Administrator of the Archdiocese of Tours from 28 April 1553, until Pope Julius III ordered the issue of bulls for Archbishop Simon de Mailly on 25 June 1554. In the case of Tours, the right of nomination belonged to the King of France, Henri II, whose daughter Diane had married Farnese's youngest brother Orazio in 1552. On 25 June 1554, the same day that his administration of Tours ceased, Farnese was appointed Administrator of the Diocese of Viviers, which lasted until the Pope approved King Henri's nomination of a new bishop on 12 November 1554.  He was likewise nominated by the King of France to be Administrator of the Diocese of Cahors, the appointment being approved by Pope Julius III on 12 November 1554; a new bishop was approved by Pope Paul IV on 7 May 1557, ending his appointment.   There had been two Conclaves in the interim, accounting probably for the length of his Administration of Cahors. In 1555, Cardinal Farnese was named Administrator of the Diocese of Spoleto, a post he held until a new bishop was appointed on 16 December 1562.  Cardinal Alessandro Farnese also served as Administrator of the Archdiocese of Benevento from 22 November 1556, until a new Archbishop was approved by Paul IV on 14 January 1558.  All of these appointments should be considered as opportunities for financial enrichment, not opportunities for service in vineyards of the Lord far from Rome. The various admini
caption: Titian's triple portrait, Pope Paul III and his Grandsons, depicts Alessandro at left.
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