Summary
Ferdinando Ponzetti (1444–1527) was an Italian Roman Catholic bishop and cardinal.
Biography edit
Ferdinando Ponzetti was born in Florence in 1444, the son of a noble Neapolitan family.[1] He studied Christian theology, philosophy, Greek, Latin and medicine.[1]
He was the personal physician of Pope Innocent VIII.[1] He was then Lector of the Audience of lettere Contraddette.[1] He was an Apostolic Secretary under Pope Alexander VI and Pope Julius II.[1] He then joined the Apostolic Camera, serving as its dean, president, and treasurer in 1513.[1]
On 20 April 1517 he was elected Bishop of Molfetta.[1] He was consecrated as a bishop in the Vatican in camera superiore by Pope Leo X.[1]
Pope Leo X made him a cardinal priest in the consistory of 1 July 1517.[1] He received the red hat and the titular church of San Pancrazio.[1]
He resigned the administration of the see of Molfetta to his nephew Giacomo Ponzetta on 12 July 1518.[1] He participated in the papal conclave of 1521-22 that elected Pope Adrian VI.[1] On 22 December 1522 he was transferred to the see of Grosseto, occupying this see until resigning on 25 February 1527.[1] He participated in the papal conclave of 1523 that elected Pope Clement VII.[1] He lost all of his wealth during the Bourbon sack of Rome in 1526.[1]
Following mistreatment by imperial soldiers during the Sack of Rome (1527), he died in Rome on 9 September 1527.[1] He is buried in Santa Maria della Pace.[1]