Francesco Cattani di Diacceto was born on 2 September 1531 to Dionigi Cattani di Diacceto and Maria di Guglielmo Martini. His father was one of the thirteen children of the noted philosopher Francesco di Zanobi Cattani da Diacceto, sometimes dubbed "Il Vecchio" or "Il Pagonazzo" to distinguish him from his grandson. In 1546 Cattani became a canon of the Cathedral of Florence, and by 1558 was an apostolic pronotary. On the 11 August 1570 he was named Bishop of Fiesole, on the retirement of his uncle Angelo Cattani da Diacceto from that post. During the 25 years of his tenure he completed the construction, begun by his uncle, of the monastery of Santa Maria della Neve at Pratovecchio; restored the oratory of San Iacopo in Fiesole and the church of Santa Maria in Campo in Florence, and supervised the restoration of the Cathedral of Fiesole, giving the apse its present form. Cattani had studied civil law and theology, and as a young man had frequented the Accademia fiorentina. He was a prolific writer on religious topics. He attempted to collect and publish the works, in Latin and Italian, of his grandfather Francesco di Zanobi Cattani da Diacceto, and commissioned Benedetto Varchi to write his biography. This was published together with the Tre libri d’amore e un panegirico all’amore of the elder Cattani in Venice in 1561. Francesco Cattani di Diacceto died on 4 November 1595; he was buried in the Oratory of S. Jacopo in the Bishop's Palace of Fiesole.
Works
The published works of Francesco Cattani da Diacceto il Giovane include:
Gli uffici di S. Ambruogio vescouo di Milano: in volgar fiorentino. Fiorenza: Lorenzo Torrentino, 1558.
Homelie del reverendo m. Francesco Cattani da Diacetto Sopra la sequenza del corpo di Christo. Fiorenza,: appresso L. Torrentino, 1559.
L'Essamerone di S. Ambruogio tradotto in volgar Fiorentino per M. Francesco Cattani da Diacceto. Fiorenza: Lorenzo. Torrentino, 1560.
Discorso dell'autorità del Papa sopra 'l Concilio. Fiorenza: appresso i Giunti, 1562.
Instituzione spirituale de Messer Lodovico Blosio: Utilissima a coloro, che aspirano alla perfezzione della vita. Fiorenza: Giunti, 1562.
L'Essamerone del Reverendo M. Franceso Cattani da Diacceto. In Fiorenza: appresso Lorenzo Torrentino, 1563.
Discorso del reuerendo m. Francesco de Cattani da Diacceto... sopra la superstizzione dell'arte magica. In Fiorenza: appresso Valente Panizzi & Marco Peri, c. 1567
