The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c24.19

v1.c24.19

The new missionary had been born at Montepulciano, Italy, in September, 1577 ², of a very noble family, related to Popes Julius III and Marcellus II and to the Cardinals Sforza and Bellarmino ³. Another of his illustrious relatives did perhaps greatly influence Roberto's career. This was his uncle and namesake, Cardinal Roberto de Nobili, who died some years before Roberto's birth, at the early age of 18 years ⁴. "Roberto de Nobili", says Pastor, "was a Cardinal upon whom the representatives of the Catholic reform party could rest their greatest hopes. Highly gifted from an intellectual point of view—he is said to have spoken Latin and Greek at ten years of age—he distinguished himself still more by his great piety. Like Aloysius of Gonzaga, whom he particularly resembles, he was scrupulously pure of heart. He could never do enough in his ascetic exercises; he fasted strictly, slept on a board, wore a hair-shirt, assisted at Mass every day, listened frequently to sermons, and often received Holy Communion, and from motives of humility would not allow his portrait to be painted. The dignity of the Cardinalate, which he had received from Julius III, was only used to assist the needy. He repeatedly thought of renouncing this dignity and of retiring into a religious order; but his confessor, the Jesuit Polanco, dissuaded him from this step. Assisted by him he died after a painful illness, with the most perfect resignation to the Divine Will, on January 18th, 1559. Men like Charles Borromeo, Bellarmino and Baronius venerated as a saint this Cardinal, who was so early called away to a better life¹.