Alessandro Geraldini
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type =
| honorific-prefix = Most Reverend
| name = Alessandro Geraldini
| title = Bishop of Santo Domingo
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| church = Catholic Church
| archdiocese =
| diocese = Diocese of Santo Domingo
| see =
| term = 1516–1524
| predecessor = Francisco Garcia de Padilla
| successor = Luis de Figueroa
| ordination =
| ordained_by =
| consecration = 1496
| consecrated_by =
| rank =
| birth_date = 1455
| birth_place = Amelia, Italy
| death_date = March 8, 1524 (age 69)
| death_place = Santo Domingo
| previous_post = Bishop of Vulturara e Montecorvino (1496-1516)
| motto =
| coat_of_arms = Coat of Arms of Bishop Alejandro Geraldini.svg
| nationality =
}}
Alessandro Geraldini (also Gerardini or Gueraldini; 1455 – March 8, 1524) was a Renaissance humanist scholar at the Spanish court of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. He is known for his support of Christopher Columbus. He served as tutor to the royal children and later accompanied the Infanta Catharine of Aragon to England, as her confessor. He served as Bishop of Vulturara e Montecorvino (1496-1516);{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/hierarchiacathol02eubeuoft#page/270/2up|first=Konrad|last=Eubel|author-link=Konrad Eubel|title=Hierarchia catholica medii et recentioris aevi |volume=II|pages=271|date=1914|publisher=Libreria Regensbergiana|location=Münster|edition=second}} (in Latin) and in 1519, at 64 years of age, he traveled to the Spanish settlements in the New World, and became Bishop of Santo Domingo (1516-1524).{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/hierarchiacathol03eube#page/186/mode/2up|first=Konrad|last=Eubel|author-link=Konrad Eubel|title=Hierarchia catholica medii et recentioris aevi |volume=III|pages=187 note 2|date=1923|publisher=Libreria Regensbergiana|location=Münster|edition=second}} (in Latin)
Biography
Geraldini was born in Amelia, in the region of Umbria in Italy. As a young man, he went to Spain, where he served against the Portuguese in 1475/1476. He entered the Church and was entrusted with the education of the princesses of the royal family. While at court, he supported Columbus, who had come to present to the sovereigns of Castile and Aragon his plan for discovering a new road to India and the Far East.
In 1496, he was appointed by the King of Spain and confirmed by Pope Alexander VI as Bishop of Vulturara e Montecorvino.{{cite web|last=Cheney |first=David M.|title=Bishop Alejandro Geraldini (Gerardini, Gueraldini)|website=Catholic-Hierarchy.org|url=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bgeral.html|access-date=June 16, 2018}} Wikipedia:SPS{{Cite web|last=Chow |first=Gabriel|title=Bishop Alejandro Geraldini|publisher=GCatholic.org|url=http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/diocese/zdom0.htm#18484 |access-date=June 16, 2018}} Wikipedia:SPS
On November 23, 1516, he was nominated by the King of Spain and confirmed by Pope Leo X as Bishop of Santo Domingo and embarked at Seville. Geraldini wrote a great many works on theology, letters, poetry, a biography of Catharine of Aragon, treatises on politics and education, and an important account of his voyage to the Antilles. Geraldini served as Bishop of Santo Domigo until his death on March 8, 1524.
Geraldini attended one of the sessions of the Fifth Council of the Lateran in 1516, likely making him the first cleric from the Western Hemisphere to attend a Roman Catholic Ecumenical Council.Hefele, Hergenroether and Leclercq. Histoire des conciles, vol. VIII/1 (Paris, 1917), pp. 522-523
References
{{Reflist}}
External links and additional sources
- {{cite web|last=Cheney |first=David M.|title=Diocese of Vulturara e Montecorvino |website=Catholic-Hierarchy.org|url=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dv518.html |access-date=June 16, 2018}} (for Chronology of Bishops) Wikipedia:SPS
- {{Cite web|last=Chow |first=Gabriel|title=Titular Episcopal See of Vulturara (Italy) |website=GCatholic.org|url=http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/former/t1984.htm |access-date=June 16, 2018}} (for Chronology of Bishops) Wikipedia:SPS
- {{cite web|last=Cheney |first=David M.|title=Archdiocese of Santo Domingo |website=Catholic-Hierarchy.org|url=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dsndo.html |access-date=March 25, 2018}} (for Chronology of Bishops) Wikipedia:SPS
- {{Cite web|last=Chow |first=Gabriel|title=Metropolitan Archdiocese of Santo Domingo|website=GCatholic.org|url=http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/diocese/zdom0.htm |access-date=March 25, 2018}} (for Chronology of Bishops) Wikipedia:SPS
Further reading
- {{citation |last=Mattingly |first=Garett |author-link=Garrett Mattingly |title=Catherine of Aragon |year=1941 |publisher=Little, Brown & Company |location=Boston }}
- Petersohn, Jürgen, Amelia, Roma e Santo Domingo. Alessandro Geraldini e la sua famiglia alla luce di un convegno recente e di fonti contemporanee, in: Quellen und Forschungen aus italienischen Archiven und Bibliotheken, LXXVI (1996), pp. 253-273.
{{s-start}}
{{s-rel}}
{{succession box
|title = Bishop of Vulturara e Montecorvino
|before = None
|after = Vincenzo Sabbatini
|years = 1496-1516}}
{{succession box
|title = Bishop of Santo Domingo
|before = Francisco Garcia de Padilla
|after = Luis de Figueroa
|years = 1516-1524}}
{{s-end}}
{{Subject bar |portal1= Biography |portal2= Catholicism |portal3= Dominican Republic|portal4=Italy}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Geraldini, Alessandro}}
Category:16th-century Italian Roman Catholic bishops
Category:Roman Catholic archbishops of Santo Domingo
Category:People from the Province of Terni
Category:Italian Renaissance humanists
Category:Bishops appointed by Pope Alexander VI
Category:Bishops appointed by Pope Leo X