Archbishop Ranuccio Scotti Douglas
Archbishop Ranuccio (Ranuzio) Scotti Douglas (born 19 Jul 1597, died
10 May 1659) was Bishop Emeritus of Borgo San Donnino.
Born in
Parma, he was appointed on 22 Mar 1627 Bishop of Borgo San Donnino,
in Sant’Andrea della Valle, Church, Roma, Italy, and installed on 30th
May..
On 20 May 1630
he was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Switzerland, from which he resigned
in 1639. On 7 Sep 1639 he
was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to France, resigning in 1641.
He
resigned as Bishop of Borgo San Donnino on 13 Mar 1650.
He was
still Bishop Emeritus of Borgo San Donnino at his death in 1659 in Piacenza.
He is buried in Santa Rita, Church, Piacenza.
| Scotti Douglas donated the altar to the sacred building greater, dictating two plaques to commemorate the event: I also wanted to make clear not only to those of Lucerne, but to posterity and foreigners (he left written in the aforementioned work Helvetia profana et sacra) my obligation towards God, His Holiness and the Mr. Cardinal Barberino, my benefactors, marking the marble of the main altar, remanufactured by me, with these notes of gratitude. On 7 September 1639 Scotti Douglas was transferred as extraordinary apostolic nuncio to Paris, where he entered into a friendly relationship with Cardinal Richelieu and had frequent official relations with him. Having returned to Italy after two years of staying in the French capital, he was appointed governor of the Marche, a position to which, given the war waged by connected princes against the Pope, that of general superintendent of the pontifical arms in the same province was added. On 6 August 1643 he was conferred the patriarchal dignity of the Vatican Basilica and, having concluded on 30 March 1644 the peace between Urban VIII and Odoardo Farnese, Duke of Parma for the Castro dispute, it was expected that Scotti Douglas, for the services rendered to the church , was elected cardinal. in this regard, Grassi recounts that, since eight positions in the Sacred College were vacant, Cardinal Antonio Barberini urged the pontiff to provide for the appointment of as many cardinals. But the Pope opposed it and postponed the provision until he died on 19 July 1644. In our opinion it was a way of getting rid of embarrassment about the awarding of the purple to Msgr. Scotti for the ties existing between his family and the Farnese, who fought against the Holy See in Castro's war (grassi). The new Pope Innocent To better dedicate himself to his new office, Scotti Douglas renounced (1650) the bishopric of Borgo San Donnino. In 1655 he founded a chaplaincy in the basilica of the Holy House of Loreto, endowing it with 1470 Roman scudi, with the burden of daily mass and leaving the right of patronage to his heirs. On 19 May 1657 he wanted to make a will, entrusting his last wishes to the Roman notary Giacomo Simonetti. Feeling old and tired, he renounced his onerous duties to retire to Piacenza to peacefully spend what he still had left to live. When he died four years later, he wanted to be buried in the Capuchin church in a mound bearing this short inscription previously dictated by himself: |
| |
| Hic jacet pulvis, cinis, nihil. subsequently his nephew Francesco, canon of the patriarchal basilica of St. Peter in Rome, had the following other gold-lettered plaque walled up, surmounted by the Scottish coat of arms, which began with those words and continued touching on the salient points of the life of Scotti Douglas: hic jacet pulvis cinis nihil idulla inscribi voluit his sepulcher Ranutius Scottius mar. Horatii f. ex mar. mon. alb. ep. burg. s. Don. ex modestia et virtute virtutes abierunt in coelum una cum anima et vivent in memoria posteritatis quas in Rom. cur. muner. probavit per annos xxxiv nuntius ab Urban viii ad Helvetios cum potestate de latere legates mox ad Lud. xiii Galliae reg. iii and tot. prov. Picenaepraefectus et armorum generalis gubernatur temporibus difficillimis annos iii sub Innocentio x et Alexandro vi supremae pontificiae domus magister quidem mortis nactus in patria post tot labores anno aetatis s.lxiv - hs mdclx - x mai comes franciscus Maria Scotus basilicae vat. princep. apostolor. can. et Alex vii cubicularius honorarius patruo beneficentissimo gr. an. mem. p. The plaque stood out on the right wall when entering the church from the main door, but in 1938, during the restoration work on the temple, it was removed and no longer put back on site.
SOURCES AND BIBL.: E. Grassi, Monsignor Ranuzio Scotti-Douglas Fidentine Bishop and Apostolic Nuncio. Biographical notes, Editrice La Giovane Montagna, Parma, 1940; L. Mensi, Biographical dictionary of the Piacentini, 1899, 411; Aurea Parma 4 1941, 144-152; D. Soresina, Fidentina diocesan encyclopedia, 1961, 140-144; P.Blet, Correspondance du Nonce en France Ranuccio Scotti (1639-1641), Rome, Paris, 1964. |
Comment:
• Update: The armorial dated Munich 1814 is
clearly not the subject of this article.
See also:
Footprints of the Douglas Scotti; A Scottish Warrior Journeys to
Piacenza in Northern Italy in 794 - The Douglas castles [pdf]
Douglas
Scotti of Vigoleno
For more on the Douglas Scotti families of Italy, see our
Italy portal.
Sources
Sources for this article include:
•
www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bscottir.html
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