Silvio Antoniani

Silvio Antoniani (31 December 1540, Rome - 16 August 1603, Rome) was a musician, canon lawyer, writer on education, priest and cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, who spent most of his career in the Roman Curia.

The son of a poor wool merchant, his talent with the lyre at a young age drew the attention of many patrons and led indirectly to his career in the Church.

Cardinal Otto Truchsess von Waldburg funded his education at a young age. Pope Julius III provided Antoniani with room and board at the Apostolic Palace. He met Ercole II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, who sponsored his studies at the University of Ferrara, where Antoniani earned a doctorate in civil and canon law in 1556, and was professor of classical literature.

After the death of the Duke of Ferrara, he returned to Rome. In 1563 Pope Pius IV appointed him to the chair of belles-lettres in Sapienza University, a position in which he worked with St Charles Borromeo, who made him his personal secretary. In 1566 he resigned the chair, and took up the study of theology under the direction of St Philip Neri and was ordained priest on 12 June 1568.

Pope Pius V named him Secretary of the College of Cardinals, a position he held for twenty-four years. Pope Sixtus V named him secretary of the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars. Clement VIII appointed him Secretary of Papal Briefs in 1593. Antoniano was also Master of the Papal Chamber and a Canon of the Basilica of Saint Peter.

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