Bonifazio Bevilacqua Aldobrandini

In 1607, Pope Paul V appointed him Captain of the Curiasses and the Grand Duke of Tuscany Ferdinando I gave him the Leadership of the Helmets.

[1] Bonifazio was a “secret waiter” of Pope Gregory XIII in his youth, and received his doctorate in law at the University of Padua.

During the conclave of Pope Gregory XV, Bonifazio formed strong alliances on the side of the French against Cardinal Guido Bentivoglio and the Spanish.

Bonifazio had the sepulchral monument of Torquato Tasso built in the church of S. Onofrio al Gianicolo in memory of one of his closest and dearest friends.

[3] The Bevilacqua family exercised a tremendous amount of power within the Catholic Church through Cardinal Bonifacio and his aunt.

Francesco’s son, Niccolò, became Pope Gregory XIV on 5 December 1590 and the next year made his nephew Paolo Emilio Sfondrati a cardinal.

His son Neri, whose portrait is done in basso-relief by Simone di Betto in the church, was distinguished in the war of the Florentines against the Duke of Milan, Cosimo de' Medici.

During 1590–91, Salimbeni received commissions from Cardinal Bevilacqua to decorate Gesù and Santa Maria Maggiore churches in Rome.

Subsequently, Cardinal Bonifacio Bevilacqua commissioned Salimbeni to paint the Betrothal of the Virgin in the diocese’s seminary in Foligno while Bonifazio was governor.

Cardinal Bevilacqua was a supporter of the cult of the Name of Jesus instituted by Saint Bernardino and sanctioned by Pope Eugene IV in 1432.

This is a reference to the letter sent by Pope Clement VIII on 3 April 1598, granting Bonifacio with dispensation for not having reached the canonical age to accept his election by the College of Cardinals to the title of Patriarch of Constantinople.