Giovanni di San Paolo (died ca. 1214) was a
Benedictine monk at
San Paolo fuori le Muri in
Rome. He was made
Cardinal-Deacon on
February 20,
1193, then
Cardinal Priest of
Santa Prisca in May 1193 and finally
Cardinal Bishop of Sabina at the end of
1204 (subscribed as bishop for the first time on
January 9, 1205). He is often referred to as a member of the powerful Roman
Colonna family, but modern scholars have established that this is based on the
falsehood from the beginning of 16th century. More likely he was nephew of Celestine III and member of the Bobone family. He studied medicine at Amalfi.
Giovanni ("John" in English) rose to influence in the
curia during the pontificate of
Pope Celestine III. According to
Roger of Hoveden, he was nominated by
Celestine III to succeed him in 1198, but appears to have received cardinal priesthood of Santa Prisca as a consolation prize from Celestine's successor
Innocent III; however, since he was actually appointed to that rank in 1193, this story seems to be inaccurate. Innocent employed him on many legatine missions to
Germany,
Spain,
Sicily, and
France. He was also
grand penitentiary.
In 1200 he was in France with Cardinal Octavian to deal with
Philip Augustus' divorce. From there Innocent sent him from there into
Languedoc to act as
papal legate to work for the suppression of the
Cathar heresy. He delivered a revised version of the
decretal Vergentis in senium, first issued by Innocent in March 1199 for
Viterbo in the
Papal States. The Languedocian version of the decretal was considerably less harsh, omitting a clause calling for the dispossession of the Catholic heirs of heretics. It was probably for his work in Languedoc that he was elevated to the
suburbicarian bishopric of Sabina in 1204.
He was the powerful friend of
Francis of Assisi and was instrumental in obtaining papal approval of the
Franciscan Rule. He died at Rome. He is remembered at
Amalfi for his munificence in building and endowing a spacious hospital there.
Sources
- Graham-Leigh, Elaine. The Southern French Nobility and the Albigensian Crusade. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2005. ISBN 1 84383 129 5
Category:BenedictinesCategory:Italian cardinalsCategory:Cardinal-bishops of SabinaCategory:Italian bishopsCategory:13th-century Roman Catholic bishopsCategory:13th-century Italian peopleCategory:Cardinal-nephewspl:Giovanni di San Paolo
