Marriage(s) and Relationships:Notes: Source: Leo van de Pas.
Ercole Gonzaga (Hercules.)
Cardinal; b. at Mantua, 23 November, 1505; d. 2 March, 1563. He was the
Son of the Marquess Francesco, and nephew of Cardinal Sigismondo Gonzaga
(1469-1525). He studied philosophy at Bologna under Pomponazzi, and later
took up theology. In 1520, or as some say, 1525, his uncle Sigismondo
renounced in his favour the See of Mantua; in 1527 his mother Isabella
brought him back from Rome the insignia of the cardinalate.
Notwithstanding his youth, he showed great zeal for church reform,
especially in his own diocese; and in this he received help and
encouragement from his friend Cardinal Giberti, Bishop of Verona. His
mode of life was stainless and a manuscript work of his, "Vitae
Christianae institutio", bears witness to his piety. He published a Latin
catechism for the use of the priests of his diocese and built the
diocesan seminary, thus carrying out reforms urged by the Council of
Trent, as his friends Contarini, Gilberti, Caraffa, and other bishops had
done or were doing, even before the council had assembled. His charity
was unbounded, and many young men of talent and genius had their
university expenses paid by him. The popes employed him on many
embassies, e.g. to Charles V in 1530. Because of his prudence and his
business-like methods, he was a favourite with the popes, with Charles V,
and Ferdinand I, and with the Kings of France, Francis I and Henry II.
From 1540 to 1556 he was guardian to the young sons of his brother
Federico II who had died, and in their name he governed the Dutchy of
Mantua. The elder of the boys, Francesco died in 1550 and was succeeded
by his brother Guglielmo. In the conclave of 1559 it was thought he would
certainly be made pope; but the cardinals would not choose as pope a
scion of a ruling house. In 1561 Pius VI named him legate to the Council
of Trent, for which he had from the beginning laboured by every means at
his command, moral and material. In its early stages, owing to the fact
that not a few considered he was in favour of Communion under both kinds,
he met with many difficuIties, and interested motives were attributed to
him. Nothing but the express wish of the pope could have persuaded him to
remain at his post, and the energy he displayed vvas unwearied. He
contracted fever at Trent, where he died, attended by Father Lainez. His
benefactions to the Jesuit college at Mantua and to the Monte di Pieta
were very great, and his letters are invaluable to the historian of that
period.
U. BENIGNI.
Transcribed by Joseph P. Thomas.
From the Catholic Encyclopedia.
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