Oliviero Carafa

Italian cardinal and diplomat (1430–1511)

Oliviero Carafa (10 March 1430 – 20 January 1511), in Latin Oliverius Carafa, was an Italian cardinal and diplomat of the Renaissance. Like the majority of his era's prelates, he displayed the lavish and conspicuous standard of living that was expected of a prince of the Church. In his career he set an example of conscientiousness for his contemporaries and mentored his relative, Giovanni Pietro Carafa, who became Pope Paul IV. Ordained by Bonifacio Colonna in 1476

He was born in Naples to an illustrious house, prominent in the military and administrative service of the House of Aragon. His father Francesco, son of Antonio Carafa, was lord of Torre del Greco, Portici and Resina. His mother Maria Origlia, as contemporaries often pointed out, was distantly related to Thomas Aquinas by way of her mother Anna Sanseverino. His uncle Diomede, in turn, was count of Maddaloni and a close ally to both Alfonso I and Ferrante I. Though he was elevated to the Archbishopric of Naples (18 November 1458) at a young age, his career was mainly that of a statesman rather than an ecclesiastic. He retained the powerful and lucrative position until 20 September 1484, but kept control of the see at the heart of the Regno by ceding the position to his brother Alessandro, retaining his right to resume it should his brother die, by a papal brief. When that eventuality happened (July 1503), he was archbishop once more, ceding the title to his nephew Bernardino, who died within months, and then to Vincenzo. "What emerges clearly from this complicated pattern of exchanged titles is that Carafa was determined to retain the prestigious and wealthy title of Naples within his family's control." Pope Paul II made him a cardinal of Santi Marcellino e Pietro on 18 September 1467, and Pope Sixtus IV appointed him legate to King Ferdinand of Naples in 1471. Carafa was also named by Sixtus admiral of the papal fleet, which captured Smyrna from the Ottoman Turks under his command. Carafa thus gained the reputation of an able military leader and the respect of Sixtus IV, who maintained him in his court despite his feud with Naples. In 1473 he was appointed protector of the teaching order of the Dominicans. In 1476, he succeeded Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia as bishop of Albano, which much upgraded his standing in the Roman Curia. In the conclave of 1484, Oliviero's name was discussed as a possible successor of Sixtus IV, but his firm adhesion to Ferdinand's interests prevented his candidature. After Innocent VIII's election, Oliviero resigned the see of Naples in favour of his brother, Alessandro Carafa, and was raised to the bishopric of Salamanca, in Spain, which he retained till 1494. During the turbulent reign of Innocent VIII (1484–1492), Carafa acted as an ambassador of Naples to the Holy See, succeeded well in conciliating his King with the Church and received the gratitude of the Roman clergy.

Carafa's income was estimated at 12,000 ducats a year. In Naples he brought the High Renaissance to the city in the richly decorated Succorpo in the crypt of the cathedral, designed to contain the relics of Saint Januarius in a sufficiently magnificent manner that it could serve also as his own mortuary chapel; it was commenced in 1497 and completed in 1508. In Rome he established himself in a palazzo of the Orsini in the Parione, where he may have employed Donato Bramante to remodel the structure, which was replaced in the late eighteenth century by Palazzo Braschi. Carafa was an intellectual patron of Renaissance humanists and assembled a great library that was resorted to by scholars. He carried on Torquemada's patronage of printing, at the first printing press in Italy, established by Torquemada at Subiaco. In his household his nephew Giampietro Carafa, later Pope Paul IV, received a thorough training in Latin, Greek and Hebrew. There in 1501 the battered Roman marble dubbed "Pasquino" by the Romans was unearthed, and set upon a pedestal at the corner of Piazza di Pasquino and Palazzo Braschi, on the west side of Piazza Navona. He devoted himself to the patronage of art and, as Cardinal Protector of the Dominican order from 1478, benefited generously the Dominican church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. Dedicated to the Virgin Annuciate and his patron Saint Thomas Aquinas, the chapel was accordingly organized about the theme of the Annunciation. To decorate the chapel, he hired Filippino Lippi in 1488; for the painter, who had made his reputation in Florence, it was his first large scale fresco. In the altarpiece, Lippi depicted his patron, kneeling, his lean, bony face, long sharp nose and narrow lips in profile, as Saint Thomas Aquinas presents Carafa to the Virgin Mary.