Andreas and Marcus Cornaro

this is part 32 in a series on Daniel Farlati’s Illyricum Sacrum.

Andreas succeeded Bernard Zanne as Bishop of Spalato in 1514. He came from the Cornaro family (lt. Cornelius). Farlati says that his father was Giorgio Cornaro (it. Giorgio Corner), a prominant Venetian whose sister Catherine became Queen of Cyprus. This would have made Andreas the brother of Cardinal Francesco Cornaro.

Andreas would not arrive in Spalato until 1527. In 1535 He saw a need for correction among the clergy and wrote a set of decrees. Farlati publishes them in full. Many of the rules deal with the clerics, how they should dress and how they should conduct themselves. Notably, Andreas banned clerics from playing Chess and games of chance. He forbid them from wearing Turkish Dolamas, a cheap and popular garmet of the time, to set themselves apart from the Ottoman’s who were frequently conducting incursions in to Croatia.

Andreas attended the Council of Trent. He died in Rome, aged 81. He was buried in Santa Maria sopra Minerva with the following Epitaph:

Andreas Cornelius Archiepiscopus Spalatensis
Georgii Cornelii Catharinae Cypri Reginae
fratris filius, vita egressus anno aetatis
LXXXXI. hic situs est.

He was succeeded by his nephew, Marcus in 1563. Marcus lived in Rome and, having little desire to go to Spalato, passed his duties on to Aloysius in 1566.