Political Appointment and Tridentine Reforms: Giannettino Doria, Cardinal Archbishop of Palermo (1608–1642)

Abstract

Exactly 450 years after the solemn closure of the Council of Trent on 4 December 1563, scholars from diverse regional, disciplinary and confessional backgrounds convened in Leuven to reflect upon the impact of this Council, not only in Europe but also beyond. Their conclusions are to be found in three impressive volumes. In particular, the second one analyzes the changes in local ecclesiastical life, initiated by bishops, orders and congregations, and the political strife and confessionalisation accompanying this reform process. Within this historiographical context, the aim of this chapter is to include the pastoral and reforming activities of Giannettino Doria, Cardinal from 1604 and Archbishop of Palermo from 1608 to 1642, the year of his death. Belonging to one of the most prestigious noble families of the Republic of Genoa and Cardinal of the “Spanish party”, in Sicily he played a prominent political role as head of the ecclesiastical chamber of Parliament, president of the Kingdom of Sicily (four times). Despite his political career, six major fields of the Archbishop’s pastoral action sharply emerge: discipline and training of the secular clergy, improvement of the seminary, reform of nunneries, control of the lay confraternities or sodalities, worship and liturgical reform, defence of ecclesiastical immunity.