Paul Burali d’Arezzo

Blessed Paolo Burali d'Arezzo
Archbishop of Naples
Paolo Burali d'Arezzo
Church	Roman Catholic Church
Archdiocese	Naples
See	Naples
In office	19 September 1576 - 17 June 1578
Predecessor	Mario Carafa
Successor	Annibale de Capua
Other posts	Cardinal-Priest of Santa Pudenziana
Orders
Ordination	26 March 1558
Consecration	1 August 1568 by Scipione Rebiba
Created Cardinal	17 May 1570 by Pope Pius V
Rank	Cardinal-Priest
Personal details
Birth name	Scipione Burali d'Arezzo
Born	1511 Itri, Lazio, Papal States
Died	17 June 1578(1578-06-17) (aged 66–67) Torre del Greco, Kingdom of Naples
Buried	San Paolo Maggiore (Naples)
Previous post	Bishop of Piacenza (1568-1576)
Sainthood
Feast day	17 June
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church
Title as Saint	Blessed
Beatified	18 June 1772 Rome, Papal States by Pope Clement XIV
Attributes	Cardinal's attire Crucifix
Patronage	Diocese of Arezzo

Paolo Burali d'Arezzo (1511 – 17 June 1578) was an Italian priest of the Theatine Order, a bishop, and cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. His legal skills made him a prominent figure in the law courts of Naples, and then in the councils of government as a defender of the rights of citizens. He abandoned his career to pursue a calling to the religious state, where he became a leader in the Theatine Order. Pope Pius V elevated him to the cardinalate in 1570. He was considered as a candidate for the Papacy in 1572, but his stern character did not recommend him to the electors. The new Pope, Gregory XIII, then promoted him to be the Archbishop of Naples, where he served from 1576 to 1578. After his death he was recognized as a saintly man and worthy of official recognition by the Church.

Born in Itri, south of Rome, near Gaeta, in 1511, with the baptismal name of Scipione Burali d’Arezzo, he was the second son of Paolo Burali d’Arezzo and his wife Vittoria Olivares of Barcelona. The father Paolo was a bureaucrat, who was for a time in the service of King Ferdinand the Catholic, performed some diplomatic duties for Pope Clement VII, and was later a member of the entourage of Prospero Colonna, the Count of Fondi, Generalissimo of the Spanish armies, serving as Segretario Maggiore. When his wife died, Scipione's father Paolo became a priest. He subsequently became a chamberlain to Pope Clement VII (1521-1534), and served on diplomatic missions to the Emperor Charles V, King François I of France, and Duke Francesco Sforza of Milan.

When Scipione was 13 he entered the University of Salerno, and later studied law at Bologna, where he was a pupil of Ugo Buoncompagni. For about a decade Scipione worked as a lawyer in Naples, earning the nickname "Principe del foro napolitano – Prince of Neapolitan Rights," for his devotion to championing the people against their Spanish overlords, while acquiring a reputation for his legal knowledge, professionalism, and honesty. In 1548 he was named a member of the Royal Council, the principal advisory body to the viceroy, Pedro de Toledo. Scipione undertook many important tasks in this connection, defining the legal relationship between the crown and the nobles, clarifying the rights of the king and those of the pope within the kingdom, and so forth.