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Achille Grassi (16 February 1456 – 22 November 1523) was an Italian Roman Catholic bishop and cardinal.
Achille Grassi was born in Bologna on 16 February 1456, the son of Baldassarre Grassi, a Bolognese patrician, and Orsina Bocchi.[1]
He attended the University of Bologna, becoming a doctor of both laws in 1478.[1] He was also a canon of the cathedral chapterofBologna Cathedral.[1]
He then traveled to Rome, joining his uncle Antonio, who was an auditor of the Roman Rota.[1] When his uncle died in 1491, Pope Innocent VIII appointed him an auditor of the Roman Rota.[1] In 1503, he became a chaplainofPope Julius II.[1] The pope also named him rector of San Clemente, San Giovanni in Persiceto.[1] He then became a Referendary in the Roman Curia.[1]
He was consecrated as a bishop in Rome by Pope Julius II on 13 February 1506.[1] The next day, he was elected Bishop of Città di Castello.[1] He occupied this see until 1516, when he resigned in favor of Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, the future Pope Clement VII.[1]
In 1507, the pope sent him and Cardinal Antonio Pallavicini GentiliasnunciostoLouis XII of France, who was then in Genoa, to encourage him to make peace with Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor.[1] In 1508, after Giovanni II Bentivoglio's plot to poison the pope was discovered, Grassi was despatched to the Kingdom of France to ask Louis XII to withdraw his protection of Bentivoglio; Bishop Grassi was successful in carrying out this mission.[1] In 1509, he was nuncio to Switzerland, especially Bern to acquire soldiers for use in the War of the League of Cambrai.[1] In 1510, he was nuncio to the Emperor, Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary, and Sigismund I the Old asking for troops to use against the Ottoman Empire and addressing other issues facing the Kingdom of Poland.[1]
Pope Julius II made him a cardinal priest in the consistory of 10 March 1511.[1] He received the red hat on 13 March 1511 and the titular churchofSan Sisto Vecchio on 17 March 1511.[1]
On 30 May 1511 he was transferred to the see of Bologna; he occupied this see until 8 January 1518, when he resigned in favor of Cardinal Giulio de' Medici.[1] He remained administrator of the see for the rest of his life.
He participated in the papal conclave of 1513 that elected Pope Leo X.[1] In November 1514, the new pope named him legate extraordinary to the Kingdom of England.[1] He opted for the titular church of Santa Maria in Trastevere on 6 July 1517.[1] He was Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals from 1517 to 8 January 1518.[1] He was named also bishopofPomesania on 9 August 1521; he occupied this see until his death.[1]
He participated in both the papal conclave of 1521-22 that elected Pope Adrian VI and the papal conclave of 1523 that elected Pope Clement VII.[1]
He died in Rome on 22 November 1523, three days after the election of Pope Clement VII.[1] He was buried in Santa Maria in Trastevere.[1]
Catholicism
Italy
