Francisco Desquivel

Francisco d'Esquivel or Desquivel (c. 1550[1] in Vitoria – 21 December 1624[2] in Cagliari) was a Spanish archbishop and a major figure in the history of Sardinia.

On his initiative and that of his predecessors, the city council and parliament, the University of Cagliari was set up via a papal bull of 1606 and a royal diploma of 1620.

[5] Desquivel responded by organizing archaeological excavations in 1614 in the areas where popular cults had sprung up around early Christian martyrs, particularly the Basilica of San Saturnino in Cagliari and at Sulci (Isola di Sant'Antioco).

At Cagliari he personally led excavations, which found a stone inscribed + S....INUM..., which was interpreted as 'sancti innumerabiles' or 'innumerable saints'.

To honour these relics Desquivel built a new crypt in Cagliari Cathedral, containing a Sanctuary of the Martyrs with three chapels dedicated to the Virgin Mary, Saturnino and Saint Lucifero, one of the city's first bishops and author of important works combatting heresy.