Matteo Barberini was born in Florence by Antonio, a wealthy merchant, and Camilla Barbadori, the fifth of six children. He was baptized on April 5, 1568, but his date of birth is unknown. Originating in Barberino Val d'Elsa, the next pope ascendant had changed the original name of Tafani in Barberini, as well as the three horseflies present on the emblem in three bees. Maffeo was born in a stately home in the Piazza Santa Croce.
At the age of three he lost his father; therefore he took charge of his education his uncle Francesco Barberini, prothonotary apostolic. He studied in Florence and in Rome, the Jesuit College (Collegio Romano), where he graduated in law [1]. It was the second future pontiff to graduate in a Jesuit college. In 1589 he obtained his doctorate in civil and canon iure at the University of Pisa.
Three years earlier, April 7, 1586 he received the tonsure (ritual at the time preceding the reception of Holy Orders); June 24, 1592 he was ordained a deacon. He was ordained on 24 September 1604.
Dead uncle who, when young, had hosted in Rome, he inherited large fortune, with which he bought a prestigious building, furnishing it in an extremely lavish, on the Renaissance style, luxurious to the point to become the most prominent figure and important to the city.
His career in the Roman Curia was rapid: 20 October was already archbishop. In 1606 he obtained a cardinal.
Lover of Latin literature, was the author of verses, in Latin and Italian vernacular. The Latin verses were published during the pontificate in Bologna (second most important city of the Papal States) by Clemente Ferroni under the title Maphei Cardinalis Barberini poemata. A second edition was published in Rome in 1638.
Cardinal Barberini participated in two conclaves: that of 1621 and that of 1623, which saw him elected.
