[2] Ireneo Brasavola was born at Ferrara on about 1562 and he was educated by Francesco Maria II della Rovere, Duke of Urbino.
On 17 December 1578 in Bologna he entered in the Order of Friars Minor taking the religious name of Ireneo.
[3] He was appointed on 9 March 1617 by Pope Paul V, to the Bishopric of Castro,[2] a town North of Rome but ruled by Ranuccio I Farnese, Duke of Parma, protector of Brasavola.
The episcopal consecration followed on 15 January in Rome by the hands of Cardinal Bonifazio Bevilacqua Aldobrandini.
[3] Quaestio de primis, ac secundis intentionibus (Venice 1591), Quaestionum vniuersalium Ioan.