Paolo Emilio Sfondrati

Paolo Emilio Sfondrati was an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church who served as a trusted papal advisor, diplomat, bishop, and patron of the arts during the height of the Counter-Reformation. The nephew of Pope Gregory XIV, he rose swiftly through the ecclesiastical ranks, holding a series of influential posts including Cardinal-Priest of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, papal legate in Bologna, member of the Congregation of the Holy Office, and Cardinal-Bishop of Albano. His name is most enduringly associated with the rediscovery in 1599 of what were believed to be the relics of Saint Cecilia, an event that inspired a flourishing of devotional art and cemented his reputation as one of the most pious and generous churchmen of his generation. A close friend of Saint Philip Neri and a patron of Guido Reni and Stefano Maderno, Sfondrati embodied the union of aristocratic power, zealous reform, and artistic sensibility that characterised the Roman Curia at the turn of the seventeenth century.