Internuncio Antonio Francesco Cirioli's correspondence with the Secretary of State on the eve of the General Sejm held in Warsaw in 1623 (part II)

Abstract

From the mid-16th century onwards, the Apostolic Nunciature in Poland was pro-parliamentary, anti-Turkish and counter-reformative. It should not come as a surprise that the preliminary instruction issued to nuncio Giovanni Battista Lacellotti to stay especially alert and secure the interest of the Catholic Church in Poland as well as care for Christian affairs during parliamentary sessions acquired particular significance. In early November 1622, by the appointment of cardinal Cosimo de Torres, under Gregory's XV papal brief of 3 December 1622, Antonio Francesco Cirioli became internuncio. A Bolognese by origin, Cirioli was and a Doctor of Laws and from 1621 an auditor of Cosimo de Torres's nunciature (to date completely absent from the literature of the subject). The office of the internuncio in Warsaw, to which he was appointed following his 13-month service as an auditor, was held by Cirioli for as many as twenty-three weeks, i.e. from 19 November 1622 to 29 April 1623.