Cardinal-Infante Afonso of Portugal

Cardinal-Infante Afonso (23 April 1509–21 April 1540; ; ) was a Portuguese infante (prince), son of King Manuel I of Portugal and his wife Maria of Aragon. Because he was the fourth son, after the infantes John, Luís, and Ferdinand, he was assigned by his father to religious life, and he accumulated numerous ecclesiastical benefits even though he did not have the canonical age required to exercise these dignities. He was successively bishop of Guarda, cardinal, bishop of Viseu, bishop of Évora and finally archbishop of Lisbon. Life Afonso was born in Évora on 23 April 1509. He was educated at the Portuguese court; he studied humanities, Greek and Latin directed by two masters Aires de Figueiredo Barbosa and André de Resende. At only three years of age, in 1512, his father Manuel I tried to make him a cardinal; Pope Julius II refused because it was not in accordance with canonical laws, according to which one could not be created a cardinal under 30 years of age. He succeeded in having the pope appoint the young infante as apostolic protonotary in the kingdom of Portugal.