Massimiliano II Stampa
Massimiliano II Giovanni Stampa, 3rd marquess of Soncino was an Italian nobleman and writer of the Stampa family, also known after his profession as a Capuchin friar as frate or fra Ambrogio da Soncino.
Life
Early years
He was born in Milan to Isabella Rangoni. Via his mother he was descended from a famous family of condottieri and he also boasted links with the Bentivoglio family, lords of Bologna, and with the Malaspina family. His father's family, by contrast, was mainly made up of 'new men' from the duchy of Milan, where his uncle the 1st marquess had made his fortune.He succeeded his father's titles on his premature death in 1557. In Milan he married Marianna de Leyva, whose brother was father to the famous Virginia de Leyva. With her he had:
- Ermes II, 4th marquess of Soncino, married the noblewoman Elisabetta Barbò
- Cristiano Stampa, married the noblewoman Francesca Guasco; knight of the Order of Saint James of Compostela and origin of the Stampa di Montecastello line, died during the siege of Vercelli
- Giorgio, Carmelite friar known as Angelo di Gesù Maria
- Guido, Carmelite friar
- Luigi, knight of the Order of Saint James of Compostela
- Barbara, married Francesco Alciati
- Caterina, Discalced Carmelite nun
- Teresa, Discalced Carmelite nun
Religious conversion and mission to Algiers
He retired from public life after his wife's death, starting a period of profound religious meditation which also involved pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela and Jerusalem. In 1596 he arrived back in Soncino, where he decided to become a Capuchin friar at the monastery he had helped found only a few years earlier. He took the name of Fra Ambrogio and handed his title as marquess over to his son Ermes II. He also wrote much prose and poetry during this time as well as publishing poems and other works by his father. He then was then suddenly won over by the orders set up to free Christians enslaved by Ottoman and Barbary pirates in the Mediterranean. He asked his ordinary's permission to go to Suliman, the pasha of Algiers. He spent ten months on the mission before dying in Algiers, reported by Lancetti as dying "in the despot's arms, surrounded by the Christians whose faith he had so greatly revived".It only proved possible to repatriate his body in 1605 via the efforts of his son, who sailed to Algiers and then brought it back to Soncino by sea and land via Livorno, Genoa and Milan. It was buried in a magnificent mausoleum in the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in the city.