Rodrigo de Castro Osorio (5 March 1523 – 20 September 1600) was a Spanish cardinal and churchman. He was Bishop of Zamora (1574–1578) and the Diocese of Cuenca (1578–1581), Archbishop of Seville, (1581–1600), a member of the Council of State of Spain and the Supreme Council of the Spanish Inquisition during the reign of Philip II of Spain. He was the Great-uncle of Pedro Fernández de Castro y Andrade, Conde de Lemos. He was closely linked to the city of Monforte de Lemos in Galicia, where he was the founder of the College of Our Lady of Antigua.
Contents
Travels and studies
Popularly known as Cardinal Rodrigo de Castro, he was a renaissance man, considered by many authors as the last great ecclesiastical prince. His birthplace is disputed, with some authors arguing that he was born in Valladolid in 1523.
He studied canon law at Salamanca, where his brother, Pedro de Castro Lemos, who later became bishop of Cuenca (1553–1561), was named cardinal on 15 December 1583, by Gregory XIII. His restless spirit led him to travel across Flanders, Portugal, France, Italy, and Germany (Farinelli indicates his last trip, made in 1598, two years before his death, was by order of Philip III of Spain, to receive the Archduchess Margaret of Austria, future queen of Spain. This is a manuscript in folio, a collection of Jesuit Alenda registered No 365: "quel Cardinal my Jornada Mr. made from Seville to Madrid and what they pass until they left for Valencia, Year 1598 ")