Gesualdo was born in Naples in the later sixteenth century, the son of Michele Gesualdo and Maria Caracciolo. In 1609 he became a referendary of the Apostolic Signatura.[2]
On 25 June 1618, he was appointed by Pope Paul V as Titular Patriarch of Constantinople.[1] On 17 April 1621, he resigned as imperial nuncio.[1] He arrived in Bari on 19 March 1622 and dedicated himself full-time to his duties as Bishop of Bari. He held diocesan synods in 1624 and 1628.[2] He remained Titular Patriarch of Constantinople until his death on 27 January 1638.[1]
He died in Bari, where he was buried in the cathedral.
Episcopal succession
Episcopal succession of Ascanio Gesualdo
While bishop, he was the principal co-consecrator of:[1]
^Gesualdo's correspondence as nuncio in Brussels has been calendared in the Analecta Vaticano-Belgica, as Correspondance des nonces Gesualdo, Morra, Sanseverino avec la Secrétairerie d'Etat pontificale, 1615-1621, edited by L. Van Meerbeeck (Brussels, 1937).
