Biographies > Ecclesiastical Personalities
Urbano VIII (Maffeo Barberini)
(1568-1644)
Born in Florence, he first attended the
Florentine schools recently opened by the Jesuits, and was then sent by his
mother to Rome to stay with his paternal uncle Francesco, Apostolic Protonotary, where he studied philosophy in the Roman
College. Starting in 1586, he studied law at the University of Pisa and was
awarded a degree in late March 1588. After completing his studies, he pursued
an ecclesiastical career, occupying many important posts. In 1606 Pope Paul V
(1552-1621, Pope since 1605) appointed him Cardinal, in 1608 Bishop of Spoleto
and in 1611 Legate to Bologna. He had close acquaintances in the Accademia dei Lincei and enthusiastically
shared the interest of Prince Federico Cesi
(1585-1630), founder of the Accademia, and many of
its members for the new discoveries of heavenly bodies made by Galileo Galilei (1564-1642). His election to the papacy, on 6
August 1623, was hailed with joy by the Accademia and
by Galileo, whose Il Saggiatore
[The Assayer] (Rome, 1623) was
dedicated to the Pope. Later, the attitude of Urbano
VIII changed. It was he, in fact, who took the initiative that led to the
prohibition of Galileo's Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi
del mondo [Dialogue
on the two Great World Systems] (Florence, 1632) and to the conviction of
the Pisan scientist in 1633.