AREZZO, Paolo d’ or Scipione Burali d’Arezzo, from a noble and ancient family ,was born at Atri, near Gaeta, 1511. He graduated from the University of Salerno in 1525 then from that of Bologna in 1536, he had the future Pope Gregory XII as professor. He practiced as a canonical lawyer in Naples for 12 years where his disinterestedness and his integrity made him universally respected. At the age of thirty-seven, he returned to his homeland to occupy himself there in the retreat of his own sanctification. He was since forced to return to Naples as royal adviser to the emperor Charles V in 1549. He made him a member of the collateral council of the kingdom of Naples.
A disgust for the world taking possession of him, he retired into a monastery of the Theatine order, and devoted himself entirely to devout meditation and the discharge of pious offices. He made his novitiate there with S. Andrew Avellino. He pronounced his vows in the hands of B. Marinoni on February 2, 1558. He took the name of Paolo (Paul) when entering the theatines in 1557.
He became in 1564 ambassador of Pope Pius IV at the court of Spain. Superior of the Roman house of the theatines, he worked with Saint Andrew Avellino. He was first nominated bishop of Piacenza in 1568; two years afterwards had a cardinal’s hat conferred upon him, with the title of Santa Pudenziana.
He made various establishments in Piacenza, he founded there, among other things, two houses, one for orphans, and the other for girls or penitent women. He held two synods, where he published regulations, which will be an eternal monument of his zeal for ecclesiastical discipline. He dedicated himself to putting into practice the reforms proposed by the Council of Trent. In this task he had the help of Saint Andrew Avellino. He founded the diocesan Council Seminary. He had the pain of seeing that the sacraments were almost no longer approached in that city, that the practices of piety were neglected there, that corruption had penetrated even into the sanctuary. He endeavoured to renew the clergy, for which he called on the Clerics Regular, Theatine, to assist him.
To remedy these abuses, he employed all the means that an enlightened zeal might suggest. But among these means, there was none more effective than his example. His fervour, his modesty, his affability, his gentleness, his love for simplicity, the rigor and the continuity of his penance, his alms, earned him the veneration and the trust of all the diocesans. He gave himself entirely to restoring ecclesiastical discipline and to confirm in faith the flock entrusted to him.
Gregory XIII transferred him from the seat of Piacenza to that of Naples,
He worked, as he had done in Piacenza, to reform the abuses that had crept into his new diocese. Card. Ascanio Filomarino, a century later, affirmed that Paolo Burali “put in his place the dignity and archiepiscopal jurisdiction with the strength and example of his sanctity of life and with the fearlessness that he showed on more than one occasion.” He published a catechism for priests in 1577. He died in Torre del Greco on the slopes of Vesuvius, on June 17, 1578, at the age of about sixty-seven. He was buried, as he had asked, in the common cemetery of the Theatines of St. Paul Major in Naples. Its virtues can be judged by the singular esteem that the Holy Pope Pius V, S. Charles Borromée, S. Philippe de Néri, S. Andrew Avellino, B. Marinoni had for him. He was beatified on May 13, 1772. The Theatines celebrate on June 17.