Gregorio Barbarigo

Gregorio Giovanni Gaspare Barbarigo (16 September 1625 – 18 June 1697) was an Italian cardinal and is venerated as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the Bishop of Bergamo and later as the Bishop of Padua. Barbarigo was a frontrunner in both the 1689 and 1691 papal conclaves as he had distinguished himself for his diplomatic and scholastic service. He became noted as a scholar for his distinguished learning and as an able pastor for his careful attention to pastoral initiatives and frequent parish visitations.

Barbarigo's beatification was celebrated in 1761 under Pope Clement XIII, while Pope John XXIII canonized the late cardinal in 1960; the latter pope held Barbarigo as a great role model and fostered a devotion to him since the pope had hailed from Bergamo. His liturgical feast is on 17 June in the General Roman Calendar of 1960. On the General Roman Calendar of 1969, it is observed on 18 June.

Life Childhood and education Gregorio Giovanni Gaspare Barbarigo was born on 16 September 1625 in Venice as the eldest of four children to the nobles Giovanni Francesco Barbarigo (a senator) and Lucrezia Leoni (d. 19 March 1631 - plague). His father brought a cousin - Franchesina Lippomani - to look after the children after the death of his wife. His sister was Elena and his two brothers were Pietro and Antonio. He was a relative of the cardinal Marcantonio Barbarigo and the uncle of Cardinal Giovanni Francesco Barbarigo. He was also a relation of Cardinal Angelo Barbarigo. His ancestors included the two Venetian doges Marco Barbarigo and Agostino Barbarigo. There, he became acquainted with Archbishop Fabio Chigi (the future Pope Alexander VII) - the nuncio to Cologne and a participant in the negotiations.

In 1650, he was elected as a member of the Collegio dei Savi and initiated his political career which he did not find to be good for him. In the winter, in 1653, he went to Rome to ask the advice of Cardinal Chigi who recommended that he not retire as a hermit but follow the ecclesiastical career and begin obtaining a doctorate in law.

Priesthood and Bishop of Bergamo Barbarigo obtained a doctorate in "utroque iure" both canon law and civil law on 25 September 1655 and received his ordination to the priesthood on 21 December 1655 from the Cardinal Patriarch of Venice Gianfrancesco Morosini. His holiness was observed in his life enough to the point that the faithful started to press the competent ecclesial authorities to launch the process for sainthood with the informative phase of the investigation ending on 11 July 1716; the formal introduction to the cause came under Pope Innocent XIII on 3 July 1723. Pope Benedict XIV beatified Barbarigo on 20 September 1751. The future Pope John XXIII, while still only a priest, signed a petition in 1911 addressed to Pope Pius X requesting Barbarigo's cause go forward for the late cardinal to become a saint; Pius X did so on 28 February 1912 when he issued the decree to resume the cause.

John XXIII is said to have felt a close kinship with the late cardinal and was also said to have manifested a lifelong devotion to him and his work as a model and so included him in the General Roman Calendar of 1960 while assigning 17 June as the liturgical feast since 18 June was assigned to another. But the 1969 revision to the calendar saw the removal of his name which left his feast to a celebration in local calendars. His liturgical feast remains affixed at present to 18 June.

The Church of San Gregorio Barbarigo alle Tre Fontane in Rome is dedicated to him.