Girolamo Grimaldi-Cavalleroni (1597 - 1685) was a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and Archbishop of Aix. Grimaldi was the son of Giacomo Grimaldi a senator of Genoa, and his wife Girolama di Agostino de' Mari.He was born at Genoa in Italy on August 20, 1597, a member of the noble Grimaldi family.

Early Life

He was sent to Rome for his education, and entered the Church probably under the patronage of his uncle Domenico Grimaldi, Archbishop of Avignon. In 1621 he was appointed Vice-legate of Viterbo, and in 1626 on the death of Cardinal Odoardo Farnese he became governor of the province. From April 26, 1628 until March 1632 he was governor of Rome. He then became Papal Nuncio extraordinary to the court of Ferdinand II of Austria. In 1634 he was appointed governor of the city of Perugia, and then governor of the duchy of Urbino.

Episcopate

Aged 43 in 1641 he was appointed Titular Archbishop of Seleucia in Isauria that same year he was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to France.

Cardinalate

In 1643 he was made a cardinal, and in 1648 Archbishop of Aix - a position he held until his death on November 4, 1685. His political scheming to achieve his meteoric rise has led to him being referred to as an alter ego of Mazarin. Ironically, while never achieving the political power and fame of Mazarin, Grimaldi had been Mazarin's principal consecrator.

Grimaldi was a patron of the writer Jean Cabassut the French theologian and priest who accompanied him to Rome, and it was Grimaldi who encouraged Cabassut to enlarge his work "Notitia Conciliorum" and publish it under the title "Notitia ecclesiastica historiarum, conciliorum et canonum invicem collatorum" in 1680.

Grimaldi is considered today to have been a strong protector of the interests of France, and to have dealt well the running of the archdiocese. In the summer of 1649 he dealt strongly with an insurrection between two groups of monks, having the protesters driven from the monasteries without waiting for the permission of the Pope to arrive from Rome.

During his incumbency of the archbishopric over a twenty year period he built an episcopal palace at vast expense in the town of Puyricard, which is today known as the Château Grimaldi.

Cardinal Grimaldi-Cavalleroni died in Aix at age of 88. He is buried in the metropolitan cathedral of Aix.

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