Cardinal Protectors of Religious Institutions

Apart from being the protector of a geographical entity – a state, nation, region,
or town – a cardinal could also be protector of a religious institution. This might be an order, confraternity, orphanage, conservatory, or any other kind of organization residing under the Church’s aegis, for example a hospital. During the early modern period almost every religious order and autonomous congregation had its own protector, as De Luca noted in his treatise of 1680, so it was very common for a cardinal to invest such a position.1 This chapter describes the development of the protectorship of religious organizations and its impact on the status, influence, and networks of the early modern cardinal. Particular attention will be dedicated to religious orders, as this type constituted the example on which all other types of protectorships were modelled. Apart from the historical development of the function and its importance for the Church as a religious community – and for which it is clearly distinct from the national protectorships, whose loyalty at least in part was to a foreign sovereign – the main issue is also what was expected of a cardinal in this function.