Filippo Spinola

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.[1]

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.[1] He later became a domestic prelate of His Holiness.[1]

On 8 February 1566 he was elected Bishop of Bisignano.[1] He was consecrated as a bishop in the Pauline chapel of the Apostolic Palace by Cardinal Giambattista Cicada on 16 February 1566.[1] On 9 March 1569 he was transferred to the see of Nola.[1]

Pope Gregory XIII made him a cardinal priest in the consistory of 12 December 1583.[1] He received the red hat and the titular church of Santa Sabina on 20 February 1584.[1]

He participated in the papal conclave of 1585 that elected Pope Sixtus V.[1] The new pope named him administrator of the see of Sora.[1] On 13 May 1585 he was named papal legate in Perugia and Umbria; he held this legation a second time in 1591.[1] He was also legate in the Duchy of Spoleto.[1] He was also Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Regulars, and Prefect of the pontifical galleys.[1]

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.[1] He was a member of the cardinalate commission for Germany and the Kingdom of Hungary.[1] When Cardinal Ludovico Madruzzo was not in Rome, Spinola served as cardinal protector for the Holy Roman Empire.[1]

He died in Rome on 20 August 1593 and was buried in his titular church of Santa Sabina.[1] His remains were later transferred to Genoa.[1]