Letter from Juan de Toledo, Bishop of Córdoba (1523 - 1537)

Letter from Juan de Toledo, Bishop of Córdoba (1523 - 1537)
son of Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo, Il Duke of Alba de Tormes, and his wife Isabel Pimentel. He took the Dominican habit at the Convent of San Esteban in Salamanca when he was seventeen years old. He professed on April 11, 1507. He was professor of Philosophy and Theology at the University of Salamanca. He was bishop of Córdoba (1523-1537), after which he moved to Rome where Pope Paul III elevated him to the rank of cardinal of San Pancracio in the consistory of December 20, 1538; He was appointed bishop of Burgos (1537-1550) and archbishop of Santiago de Compostela (1550-1553). In 1552 he was appointed inquisitor in Rome. He participated in the conclave of 1549-1550 in which Julius III was elected pope, and in the two conclaves of 1555 for the elections of Marcellus II and Paul IV. Pope Paul IV took him as a confessor. He died in Rome on September 15, 1557 at the age of 69. His remains were transferred to the convent of Salamanca and rest in the crypt below the main altar.