Enrique de Cardona y Enríquez

Enrique de Cardona y Enríquez was born in the County of Urgell in 1485, the son of Juan Folch de Cardona y Urgel, Duke of Cardona, and Aldonza Domínguez.[1] He began his career as a cleric in Urgell.[1]

In 1505, Ferdinand II of Aragon wanted to promote him to the see of Barcelona; he therefore forced archdeacon Luís Desplá, who had been elected by the cathedral chapter of Barcelona Cathedral, to retire.[1] The cathedral chapter elected Cardona on 18 April 1505; he received dispensation for not having reached the canonical age of 27.[1] On 23 January 1512 he was promoted to the metropolitan see of Monreale, though he continued to live in Barcelona.[1]

In 1522, he accompanied Pope Adrian VI from Spain to Rome.[1] He was made Prefect of the Castel Sant'Angelo on 24 September 1522.[1] He was a commissary and judge in the case of Cardinal Francesco Soderini, who was arrested on 28 April 1523.[1] He served as president of Sicily in 1526, where he repelled an Ottoman attack on the island, and launched several successful corsairs attack against the Ottoman occupation of the berbary coast.[1]

Pope Clement VII made him a cardinal priest in the consistory of 21 November 1527.[1] He received the red hat and the titular church of San Marcello al Corso on 24 November 1527.[1]

He died in Rome on 7 February 1530.[1] He is buried in Santa Maria in Monserrato degli Spagnoli.[1]

• Catholic Church in Spain