Giacinto Centini

Basic information

Patronymic
Giovanni
Other names
Genre
Male
Place of origin
Ascoli, Papal States, Polesio
Date of birth
1597
Attributed date of birth
No
Age at the time of execution
38
Marital status
Married
Last occupation / Qualification
Nobleman
Previous occupations

Governor of Nereto

Religious status
Layperson
Religious order
Accusations

Proceedings

Start date
1633
End date
22 April 1635
Courts involved
Congregation of the Holy Office
Extradition
No
Other judges involved
Notes

Sentence

Court
Congregation of the Holy Office
Local judge
Sentence date
22 April 1635
Sentence place
Rome, Papal States, Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva
Crime category
Magic & witchcraft
List of crimes

Having performed various acts of sorcery to bring about the death of Pope Urban VIII through rituals involving a wax effigy, with the aim of securing the election of Cardinal Felice Centini to the papacy.

Reason for conviction
crimen laesae maiestatis divinae et humanae (papal bull Inscrutabilis Iudiciorum Dei 1/04/1631)
Accessory penalties
Seizur

Execution

Execution date
23 April 1635
Authority
Governor of Rome
Execution place
Rome, Papal States, Campo de' Fiori
Execution type
beheaded
In effigy
No
After death
No
Presence of doctors / surgeons
Unknown
Name of the doctors / surgeons
Presence of comforters
Yes
Name of the comforters
Arciconfraternita di San Giovanni Decollato
Presence of rebels / riots
No
Sacraments imparted
Unknown
Notes for execution

Sources

Letters
Local inquisitorial trials and documents
Decrees and acdf sources
Legal opinions consultations
Registers of the condemned
Other magistracies
Petitions
Confraternities
Medical treatises
Polemical histories and martyrologies
Theological and legal texts
Collections of sermons
Printed or manuscript notices and reports

Roma, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Sessoriano, ms. Sess. 270 (in M. Rosi, La congiura di Giacinto Centini contro Urbano VIII, pp. 366-369)

Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, mss. Vaticano Latino 7850; 8193; 8891

Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, mss. Urbinate Latino 1103; 1647; 1704; 1737

Venezia, Archizio di Stato, Senato. Dispacci Roma, filza 111, lettera del 28 aprile 1635

Venezia, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, It. XI, cod. 79 (=7231)

Chronicles

Roma, Biblioteca Casanatense, n. 1336, Theodoro Ameyden, Vitae et Elogia Summorum Pontif. et Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae cardinalium, suo aevo defunctorum ad Urbanum filium

Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, ms. Barberiniano Latino, 4735, Andrea Nicoletti, Della vita di papa Urbano ottavo e istoria del suo pontificato, vol. 6.

Travel diaries
Notarial acts and wills
Expense registers and economic documents
Memorial documents epitaphs etc
Iconography
Other

Related

Related persons
Diego Gucciolone, Cherubino Serafini
Bibliography

Benzoni Gino, Centini, Giacinto, in DBI, Vol. 23 (1979);

Carini Isidoro, Attentato di Giacinto Centini contro Urbano VIII, “Il Muratori” I/2 (1892), pp. 49 sgg;

Orano Domenico, Liberi pensatori bruciati in Roma dal XVI al XVIIII secolo, Roma, 1904;

Gori Fabio, Tre delle più famose esecuzioni capitali avvenute a Roma nei secoli XVI e XVII, “Archivio storico artistico archeologico e letterario della città e provincia di Roma”, vol. 1, Roma, 1875, pp. 340-364;

Rosi Michele, La congiura di Giacinto Centini contro Urbano VIII, “Archivio della Società romana di storia patria”, 22/3 (1899), pp. 347-371;

Visceglia Maria Antonietta, Attentare al corpo del papa: sortilegi e complotti politici durante il pontificato
di Urbano VIII, in Per Adriano Prosperi, vol. 3, Riti di passaggio, storie di giustizia, a cura di Vincenzo Lavenia, Giovanna Paolin, Pisa, Edizioni della Normale, 2011, pp. 243-257

Notes

Centini was the mother’s surname (Angela Centini, sister of the Cardinal Felice Centini).

The sentence was publicly pronounced in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Entry Author
Mario Sanseverino