Stefano Borgia, an Italian cardinal and statesman, born at Velletri, Dec. 3, 1731, died in Lyons, Nov. 23, 1804. He was a generous patron of science, and made valuable collections of manuscripts, coins, and various antiquities. Having been made a member of the Etruscan academy of Cortona in 1750, he founded the celebrated museum of antiquities at Velletri. He was for some years governor of the duchy of Benevento, and by his sagacity preserved that province from the famine which ravaged the kingdom of Naples in 1764. In 1770 he became secretary of the propaganda, and during 18 years that he occupied that office was enabled greatly to enrich his collection of rare manuscripts and antiquities through the missionaries. Pius VI. named him a cardinal in 1789, and put under his care the institution of foundlings, and in 1797, when the revolutionary movement reached Rome, made him dictator of the city. Expelled by the Roman republicans, he retired to Venice, and afterward to Pisa, where he formed a small society of scientific men. He returned to Rome with Pius VII. in 1800, and devoted himself to reorganizing the papal government. He died while on a journey to Paris as companion of the pope.

Besides his valuable collections, he left several historical works of some merit.