Your RDA of Irony

Eugene’s Latest Fixation

More Borgia musings….

If “Vatican Hill 90210” turns out to be popular, I wonder how Showtime will stretch the series out to ten or twenty years.  If I recall, the network extended “The Tudors” by giving Henry 47 wives.  (I think the last was Sophie Tucker–the series/dynasty always needed some Jewish humor.)  My guess is that Leonardo invents a time machine, so it turns out Silvio Berluscone is actually Alexander VI.  (Yes, our favorite Borgia was also Casanova and Giocomo Puccini.)

In the meantime, Showtime could have a commercial tie-in with Seven-Eleven or Dairy Queen.  Big Gulps or Blizzards could be served in chalices, each featuring a member of the Papal conclave of 1492.  Get the entire collection!

Rodrigo de Borja y Borja, bishop of Porto e Santa Rufina, administrator of Valencia, dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals. (Elected Pope Alexander VI)
Giuliano della Rovere, bishop of Ostia e Velletri, bishop of Bologna, administrator of Avignon.
Oliviero Carafa, bishop of Sabina, title of S. Eusebio in commendam, administrator of Salamanca.
Giovanni Battista Zeno, bishop of Frascati.
Giovanni Michiel, bishop of Palestrina, deaconry of S. Angelo in Pescheria in commendam.
Jorge da Costa, bishop of Albano, title of S. Lorenzo in Lucina in commendam, archbishop of Lisbon, Portugal.
Girolamo Basso della Rovere, title of S. Crisogono, bishop of Recanati e Macerata.
Raffaele Sansoni Riario, title of S. Lorenzo in Damaso.
Domenico della Rovere, title of S. Clemente, archbishop of Turin.
Paolo Fregoso, title of S. Sisto, archbishop of Genoa.
Giovanni de’ Conti, title of S. Vitale.
Giovanni Giacomo Schiaffinati, title of S. Cecilia, bishop of Parma.
Francesco Todeschini-Piccolomini, deacon of S. Eustachio, bishop of Siena.
Giovanni Battista Savelli, deacon of S. Nicola in Carcere Tulliano.
Giovanni Colonna, deacon of S. Maria in Aquiro.
Giovanni Battista Orsini, deacon of S. Maria Nuova.
Ascanio Maria Sforza Visconti, deacon of Ss. Vito e Modesto.
Lorenzo Cibo de’ Mari, title of S. Marco, archbishop of Benevento.
Ardicino della Porta, iuniore, title of Ss. Giovanni e Paolo, bishop of Aleria, Corsica.
Antoniotto Gentile Pallavicini, title of S. Prassede, bishop of Orense, Spain.
Maffeo Gherardo, O.S.B.Cam., title of Ss. Nereo ed Achilleo, patriarch of Venice.
Giovanni de’ Medici, deacon of S. Maria in Domnica.
Federico di Sanseverino, deacon of S. Teodoro.

This is the actual list, which I found on a fascinating (for me, anyway) website:  http://www2.fiu.edu/~mirandas/conclaves.htm

“The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church” ain’t exactly an objective title, but it is a comprehensive catalog of every papal enclave.  Just pick any papal election in the 12th, 15th and 19th centuries;  you’ll find the Orsini, Conti and Colonna families were producing a supply of cardinals.  (Since the 20th century, however, Italian aristocrats found it more lucrative to marry American heiresses.)

p.s.  Let’s not forget the historic significance of this day:  https://finermanworks.com/your_rda_of_irony/2009/04/05/how-to-lose-a-battle-in-a-spectacular-way/

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