Gabriele Sforza

Gabriele Sforza
Archbishop of Milan
Church	Catholic Church
See	Milan
Appointed	20 June 1454
Term ended	12 September 1457
Predecessor	Timoteo Maffei
Successor	Carlo da Forlì
Orders
Consecration	28 July 1454 (Bishop) by Giovanni Castiglione
Personal details
Birth name	Carlo Sforza
Born	(1423-06-15)15 June 1423
Died	12 September 1457(1457-09-12) (aged 34) Milan
Buried	Santa Maria Incoronata, Milan

Gabriele Sforza (born Carlo Sforza, 1423–1457), was a member of the Augustinian Order who served as Archbishop of Milan from 1445 to his death in 1457.

Family

Family Tree of the House of Sforza

His father was Giacomo Muzio Attendolo, who had three marriages and sixteen children: one child with his first wife Antonia Salimbeni, three children with his second wife Caterina Alopo; two children (including Carlo) with his third wife Maria Marzani countess of Celano; and ten children with his mistresses Tamira di Cagli and Lucia Terzani da Marsciano. After earning his nickname on the battlefield, Attendolo changed his last name to Sforza ("Strong").

The most famous of Carlo's siblings was his brother Francesco I Sforza, who was the Duke of Milan from 1450-1466.

Biography

Carlo, born on 15 June 1423,^{[ 1]} spent the early part of his life serving in the military, but soon grew tired of the secular life. He preferred studying the scriptures to fighting on the battlefield. On 18 January 1442 he entered the Augustinian Monastery of San Salvatore di Selva di Lago located outside Siena. He received the sacrament of Holy Orders under Girolamo Buonsignori, the Prior of the Monastery, and took the name Gabriele di Cotignola or Gabriele Sforza as he is now known. At the Monastery he dedicated himself to his studies and wrote various religious epistles, orations, moral treatises, essays on the gospels and four books on Scholastic Theology. His achievements did not go unnoticed, and he was soon appointed to serve as a religious teacher at the Monastery.

His brother Francesco later obtained for him by Pope Nicholas V the appointment, on 20 June 1545, as Archbishop of Milan.^{[ 1]} Gabriele accepted unwillingly, and was consecrated bishop in the church of Santa Maria Incoronata on 28 July 1454 by Giovanni Castiglione bishop of Pavia.^{[ 1]}

In 1456 the Archbishop began paying pastoral visits to the parishes of the Archdiocese of Milan. In order to respond to the needs of his people, he urged his brother Francesco to build the Ospedale Maggiore, one of the first community hospitals in Europe.^{[ 1]}

Gabriele Sforza died on 12 September 1457 in Milan and was buried in the church of Santa Maria Incoronata, Milan, which his brother had commissioned. His funerary monument was created by Francesco Solari.^{[ 1]}

Because of his dedication to faith, Gabriele Sforza was sometime later considered as blessed, even if he had no liturgical memory.

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References