Cardinal Ranuccio Farnese (11 August 1530 – 29 October 1565) was an Italian prelate and a grandson of Pope Paul III (Alessandro Farnese). He held various prestigious and lucrative offices in the Church, including Cardinal-Deacon^[1] of Santa Lucia in Selci (1545) and Cardinal-Bishop of Sabina (1565).^[2] At the age of 15 he was created a cardinal by his grandfather the pope,^[1] which gained him the nickname Il Cardinalino ("Little Cardinal"). At the age of 16 he was appointed Titular Patriarch of Constantinople.^[1]

Origins

Ranuccio Farnese was born in Valentano, the third son of Pier Luigi Farnese, the legitimated eldest of the three natural sons of Pope Paul III. His eldest brother was Cardinal Alessandro Farnese and his middle brother was Ottavio Farnese, Duke of Parma.

Career

At the age of 12 he was made Prior of the Church of San Giovanni di Malta in Venice, an important property of the Knights of Malta. He was also Administrator of the Archdiocese of Naples, and was granted several bishoprics. Farnese was twice the titular Latin Patriarch of Constantinople, from 1546 to 1550 and 1554?-1565. Farnese was patron to Federico Commandino, an important translator of ancient Greek mathematical works.

Death and burial

He died in 1565, aged 35, and was buried in the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran in Rome (of which he had been appointed Archpriest in 1547^[1]) where survives his mural monument^[3] inscribed in Latin as follows: Ranutio Farnesio Pauli III Pont(ifici) Max(imi) Nepoti Episcopo Cardinali Sabinensi Majori Poenitentiar Huius Ecclesiae Archipresbytero ("To Ranuccio Farnese, "nephew" (i.e. grandson) of Paul III, Pontifex Maximus, Bishop-Cardinal of Sabina, Major Penitentiary (i.e. of the Apostolic Penitentiary^[1]), Archpriest of this Church"). Above is shown his coat of arms: Farnese with a chief of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem (Knights of Malta), borne as a prior of that order. His arms also survive sculpted on a white marble shield above the main entrance of the Palazzo Farnese in Rome, to the left of the famous larger shield of his grandfather Pope Paul III, sculpted by Michelangelo.