A member of the
Spinola family, Filippo Spinola was born in
Genoa on 1 December 1535, the son of Agostino Spinola,
count of
Tassarolo, and Gironima
Albenga. After serving the government of
Genoa as a young man, Spinola moved to
Rome, was
ordained as a
subdeacon, and became a
Referendary of the
Apostolic Signatura. He later became a
domestic prelate of His Holiness. On 8 February 1566 he was elected
Bishop of Bisignano. He was
consecrated as a bishop in the Pauline chapel of the
Apostolic Palace by Cardinal Giambattista Cicada on 16 February 1566. On 9 March 1569 he was transferred to the
see of Nola.
Pope Gregory XIII made him a
cardinal priest in the
consistory of 12 December 1583. He received the
red hat and the
titular church of
Santa Sabina on 20 February 1584. He participated in the
papal conclave of 1585 that elected
Pope Sixtus V. The new pope named him administrator of the
see of Sora. On 13 May 1585 he was named
papal legate in
Perugia and
Umbria; he held this legation a second time in 1591. He was also legate in the
Duchy of Spoleto. He was also
Prefect of the
Sacred Congregation of Regulars, and Prefect of the pontifical
galleys. He participated in the
first papal conclave of 1590 that elected
Pope Urban VII; the
second papal conclave of 1590 that elected
Pope Gregory XIV; the
papal conclave of 1591 that elected
Pope Innocent IX; and the
papal conclave of 1592 that elected
Pope Clement VIII. He was a member of the cardinalate commission for
Germany and the
Kingdom of Hungary. When Cardinal
Ludovico Madruzzo was not in
Rome, Spinola served as
cardinal protector for the
Holy Roman Empire. He died in Rome on 20 August 1593 and was buried in his titular church of Santa Sabina. His remains were later transferred to Genoa. ==References==