Lorenzo Imperiali

His Eminence Lorenzo Imperiali
Cardinal-Priest of San Crisogono
Church	Catholic Church
Personal details
Born	21 February 1612 Genoa,Italy
Died	21 September 1673 Rome,Italy

Lorenzo Imperiali(21 February 1612 - 21 September 1673) was anItalianCatholiccardinal.

Early life

Coat of arms of the Imperiali family

Imperiali was born inGenoaon 21 February 1612 to thepatricianImperiali familyof that city.

He went toRomeduring thepontificateofPope Urban VIIIand was appointed vice-legateinBolognaandgovernorofFanoandAscoli Piceno.During the absence of CardinalAntonio Barberinihe was appointed legate inFerrara.He was later appointedclericof theApostolic Chamber.

During theWars of Castro,Imperiali was appointed governor of those provinces of theState of Castrounder the control of thepapacyand was appointedcommissary-general of thepapalarmy.He was later sent byPope Innocent XtoFermoto put down theuprisingthat had cost the life of its governor in 1648.

Pope Innocent appointed Imperiali governor of Rome between 1653 and 1654.

Ecclesiastic career

Before appointing Imperiali governor, the pope elevated him to cardinal but the elevation was reservedin pectoreuntil Imperiali stepped down as governor in 1654; his cardinalate was published in theconsistoryof 2 March 1654 and he was appointedcardinal-priestof the Church ofSan Crisogono.

He participated in thepapal conclave of 1655which electedPope Alexander VII.

In 1660 he was again named governor of Rome by Pope Alexander, but in 1662 he fell victim to theCorsican Guard Affair.ContemporaryJohn Bargraverecounts that while he was governor,François,DukeofCréquyandambassadorofFrance,visited Rome with his wife. A grave misunderstanding led to the ambassador's wife'scoachbeing attacked andfired uponbypapaltroopsfrom theCorsican Guard.

As punishment, Imperiali was transferred aslegateto the newly created legation in the province of theMarche.Later he resigned his legation and went toParisto explain his conduct to KingLouis XIV of France.

Imperiali participated in thepapal conclave of 1667which electedPope Clement IXand theconclave of 1669-1670which electedPope Innocent XI.During theseconclaves,Imperiali was a senior member of theliberal movementSquadrone Volante.It is thought the group engineered the election of Giulio Rospigliosi as Pope Clement in 1667.

Imperiali died on 21 September 1673 in Rome and was buried in thechapelof SaintThomas of Villanovain theBasilica di Sant'Agostino.A grandson of his brother,Giuseppe Renato Imperiali(born 1651), who had lived in his household since 1662, would be named cardinal in 1690.