Venerable Francesco Gonzaga

Francesco Gonzaga O.F.M. Obs. (died 2 March 1620) was a Roman Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Mantua (1593–1620), Apostolic Nuncio to France (1596–1599), Bishop of Pavia (1593), and Bishop of Cefalù (1587–1593). Annibale Gonzaga was born as the fifth son of Carlo Gonzaga, Marquis of Gazzuolo, Count of San Martino and his wife Emilia Cauzzi Gonzaga, natural daughter of Federico II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua by his lover Isabella Boschetti. After the death of his father in 1555, Annibale grew up under the care of his grand-uncles Ferrante and Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga. At the age of eleven, the cardinal sent him to Flanders to the court of Philip II of Spain to be initiated into a military career. Following the king to Spain, he went first to Toledo, and then Madrid where Gonzaga instead matured his religious vocation. Despite the opposition of his family, he decided to enter the Order of Friars Minor, taking the name "Francis". He was professed in May 1563. Having completed his studies in Alcalá and been ordained a priest in Toledo in 1570, he was appointed preacher, reader, confessor. The Minister General of the order called him back to Italy where he devoted himself to teaching theology. With the help of his brothers, he built a convent on the family lands in San Martino dall'Argine. In 1577 he was appointed provincial minister of the Veneto. In 1579, the general chapter of the Order held in Paris appointed him minister general: he wanted to resign, but the apostolic nuncio forced him to accept the office. He prescribed that the litany of the Virgin with the Oremus of the Immaculate Conception be sung every Saturday evening throughout the Order. He devoted himself to drafting new constitutions that would enable the friars to embrace the teachings of the Council of Trent. In eight years of governing he visited friaries in Italy, France, Spain, Flanders, and Germany.