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Popes
Julius III 1550-55
(GIAMMARIA CIOCCHI DEL MONTE).
Born at Rome, 10 September, 1487; died there, 23 March, 1555. He was the son of a famous Roman jurist, studied jurisprudence at Perugia and Siena, and theology under the Dominican, Ambrosius Catharinus. In 1512 he succeeded his uncle Antonio del Monte as Archbishop of Siponto (Manfredonia), and in 1520 as Bishop of Pavia, retaining, however, the administration of Siponto. Later he became vice-legate of Perugia, and under Clement VII was twice appointed prefect of Rome. After the Sack of Rome (1527) he was one of the hostages given by Clement VII to the Imperialists, and would have been killed by the imperial Landsknechte in the Campo di Fiori, had he not been secretly liberated by Cardinal Pompio Colonna. In 1534 he became legate of Bologna, the Romagna, Parma, and Piacenza. Pope Paul III created him Cardinal-Priest of SS. Vitalis, Gervasius, and Protasius on 22 December, 1536, and raised him to the dignity of cardinal-bishop with the Diocese of Palestrina on 5 October, 1543. As early as 1542 he had been entrusted with work preparatory to the convocation of the Council of Trent, and in a consistory held on 6 February, 1545, he was appointed first president of the council. In this capacity he opened the council at Trent on 13 December with a short oration (cf. Ehses, "Concilium Tridentinum", IV, Freiburg im Br., 1904, p. 516). At the council he represented the papal interests against Emperor Charles V, with whom he came in conflict on various occasions, especially when on 26 March, 1547, he transferred the Council to Bologna.
After the death of Paul III on 10 November, 1549, the forty-eight cardinals present in Rome entered the conclave on 29 November. They were divided into three factions: the Imperials, the French, and the adherents of Farnese. The friends of Farnese united with the Imperial party and proposed Reginald Pole and Juan de Toledo as their candidates. The French party rejected both and, though in the minority, they were strong enough to prevent the election of either candidate. The adherents of Farnese and the French party finally reached a compromise and agreed upon Cardinal del Monte, who was duly elected on 7 February, 1550, after a conclave of ten weeks, although the emperor had expressly excluded him from the list of candidates. The new pope took the name of Julius III. In fulfilment of promises made in the conclave, Julius restored Parma to Ottavio Farnese a few days after his accession. But, when Farnese applied to France for aid against the emperor, Julius allied himself with the emperor, declared Farnese deprived of his fief, and sent troops under the command of his nephew Giambattista del Monte to co-operate with Duke Gonzaga of Milan in the capture of Parma. In a Bull, dated 13 November, 1550, Julius transferred the council from Bologna back to Trent, and ordered that its sessions be resumed on 1 May, 1551, but he was compelled to suspend it again on 15 April, 1552, because the French bishops would take no part in it, and, to escape his enemies, the emperor had to flee from Innsbruck. The success of the French arms in Northern Italy also compelled Julius on 29 April, 1552, to make a truce with France, in which it was stipulated that Farnese was to remain in the peaceful possession of Parma for two years.
Discouraged at his failure as an ally of Charles V, the pope henceforth abstained from interfering in the political affairs of Italy. He withdrew to his luxurious palace, the Villa Giulia, which he had erected at the Porta del Popolo. Here he spent most of his time in ease and comfort, occasionally making a weak effort at reform in the Church by instituting a few committees of cardinals for reformatory purposes. He was a liberal supporter of the rising Jesuit Order, and at the instance of St. Ignatius issued the Bull of foundation for the Collegium Germanicum on 31 August, 1552, and granted it an annual subsidy. During his pontificate the Catholic religion was temporarily restored in England by Queen Mary, who succeeded Edward VI on the English throne in 1553. Julius sent Cardinal Reginald Pole as legate to England with extensive faculties to be used at his discretion in the interests of the Catholic restoration. In February, 1555, an embassy was sent by the English Parliament to Julius III to inform him of its unreserved submission to the papal supremacy, but the embassy was still on its journey when the pope died. Shortly before his death Julius III sent Cardinal Morone to represent the Catholic interest at the Religious Peace of Augsburg. At the beginning of his pontificate Julius III had the earnest desire to bring about a reform in the Church and with this intent he reopened the Council of Trent. That the council was again suspended was due to the force of circumstances. His inactivity during the last three years of his pontificate may have been caused by the frequent and severe attacks of the gout to which he was subject. The great blemish in his pontificate was nepotism. Shortly after his accession he bestowed the purple on his unworthy favourite Innocenzo del Monte, a youth of seventeen whom he had picked up on the streets of Parma some years previously, and who had been adopted by the pope's brother, Balduino. This act gave rise to some very disagreeable rumours concerning the pope's relation to Innocenzo. Julius was also extremely lavish in bestowing ecclesiastical dignities and benefices upon his relatives. ref. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08564a.htm
Marcellus II 1555
(MARCELLO CERVINI DEGLI SPANNOCHI)
Born 6 May, 1501, at Montepulciano in Tuscany; died 6 May, 1555, at Rome. His father, Ricardo Cervini, was Apostolic treasurer in the March of Ancona. After studying some time at Siena, he came to Rome, shortly after the accession of Clement VII, in 1523, to continue his studies, and through his purity of life and longing for knowledge gained the respect and friendship of many persons of high influence. Paul III, who had succeeded Clement VII in 1534, appointed him prothonotary apostolic and papal secretary. When, in 1538, Paul III entrusted his youthful nephew, Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, with practically the complete management of the temporal affairs of the Church, the prudent and virtuous Cervini was appointed the adviser and private secretary of the young and inexperienced cardinal and as such had a great influence in the papal curia. He accompanied Farnese on his various legations, and in order that he might take actual part in the consultations and negotiations between Farnese and the monarchs of Europe he was created cardinal-priest of the title of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, 19 December, 1539. He had already been appointed to the See of Nicastro, in addition to which he became administrator of the Diocese of Reggio the following year and that of Gubbio in 1544. In 1539 he accompanied Farnese on an important legation to Charles V of Germany and Francis I of France. The purpose of this legation was to induce the two monarchs to send the prelates of their countries to the intended General Council of the Church and to gain their assistance against Henry VIII of England and the Turks.
They had an audience with Francis I at Amiens on 9 February, 1540, and with the emperor at Ghent on the twenty-fourth of the same month, but their mission proved useless. They were already returning to Rome when Cervini received orders from the pope to stay as legate at the imperial court and to represent him at the Diet which the emperor wished to convene at Speyer. When, however, it became evident that the Protestants would be predominant at the Diet and had no desire to come to an understanding with the Catholics, the pope counteracted his order and sent no representative to the Diet which in the meantime had been transferred to Hagenau. In October, 1540, Cervini returned to Rome, not, however, before he had urgently requested the pope to send a representative to the intended Diet of Worms. In a consistory held at Rome on 6 February, 1545, he was appointed one of the three presidents of the Council of Trent. His two colleagues were Cardinals Giovanni Maria del Monte (afterwards Julius III) and Reginald Pole. On 13 March, 1545, he arrived at Trent. During the first period of the Council, i.e. from its opening session on 13 December, 1545, until its prorogation for an indefinite period at Bologna on 14 September, 1547, he fearlessly represented the interests of the pope and the Church against all opposition from the emperor, whose extreme hatred he in consequence incurred. In 1548 he succeeded Agostino Steuco as librarian of the Vatican with the title of "Bibliothecæ Apostolicæ Vaticanæ Protector". Under his protectorate the Vatican library was soon put in a flourishing condition. More than 500 Latin, Greek and Hebrew volumes were added, and new catalogues of the Greek and Latin manuscripts were prepared. As early as 1539 he had induced the pope to have printed at least the most valuable Greek manuscripts. Cervini's public activity was less prominent during the pontificate of Julius III (1550-5). He was replaced as president of the Council of Trent by Marcello Crescenzi in the hope that the emperor would give his support to the presidents of the Council.
After the death of Julius III (23 March, 1555), the cardinals present in Rome, 3 in number, entered the conclave on 4 April, and four days later Cardinal Marcello Cervini was elected pope, although the emperor had instructed his cardinals to prevent his election. Contrary to custom, Cervini, like Adrian VI, retained his old name of Marcello and was called Marcellus II. On the following day, 10 April, he was consecrated bishop, for, though he had administered the Dioceses of Nicastro, Reggio, and Gubbio, he had not yet received episcopal consecration. He was crowned pope on the same day, but without the customary solemnity, on account of the Lenten season. The new pope had been one of those cardinals who were desirous of an inner reform of the Church. While administrator of Reggio he undertook a thorough visitation of the diocese in 1543, and abolished abuses wherever they were found. Immediately upon his accession he took the work of reform in hand; he died after a reign of only 22 days, of a sickness resulting from overexertion during the pontifical functions of Holy Week and Easter. Palestrina entitled one of his famous polyphonic masses "Missa Papæ Marcelli" in his honour. This mass was not, however, as is often asserted, chanted in the presence of Marcellus II; it was not composed until after the death of this pope. ref. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09641a.htm
Paul IV 1555-59
(GIOVANNI PIETRO CARAFFA ).
Born near Benevento, 28 June, 1476; elected 23 May, 1555; died 18 Aug., 1559. The Caraffa were one of the most illustrious of the noble families of Naples, and had given distinguished scions to Church and State. The name of Cardinal Oliviero Caraffa recurs frequently in the history of the papacy during the days of the Renaissance. One of the great cardinal's merits was that of superintending the training of his young relative, Giovanni Pietro, whom he introduced to the papal Court in 1494, and in whose favour he resigned the See of Chieti (in Latin, Theate), from which word he was thenceforward known as Theatinus. Leo X sent him on an embassy to England and retained him for some years as nuncio in Spain. His residence in Spain served to accentuate that detestation of Spanish rule in his native land which characterized his public policy during his pontificate. From early childhood he led a blameless life; and that longing for asceticism which had prompted him to seek admission into the Dominican and the Camaldolese Orders asserted itself in 1524 when he persuaded Clement VII, though with difficulty, to accept the resignation of his benefices and permit him to enter the congregation of clerics regular founded by St. Cajetan, but popularly named "Theatines", after Caraffa, their first general. The young congregation suffered more than its share during the sack of Rome in 1527, and its few members retired to Venice. But the sharp intellect of Paul III had perceived the importance of the institute in his projected reform of the clergy, and he summoned the Theatines back to Rome. Caraffa was placed by the pontiff on the committee named to outline the project of reform of the papal Court; and on 22 Dec., 1536 he was created cardinal with the title of San Pancrazio. Later he was made Archbishop of Naples; but, owing to the emperor's distrust and fear of him, it was only with difficulty he could maintain his episcopal rights. Although Caraffa was highly educated and surpassed most of his contemporaries in the knowledge of Greek and Hebrew, still he remained throughout medieval in life and thought. His favourite author was St. Thomas Aquinas. The few opuscula which he found time to write were Scholastic in character. For the party of Pole, Contarini, and Morone he had the most heartfelt detestation; and his elevation boded them no happiness. Caraffa was the head and front of every effort made by Paul III in the interest of reform. He reorganized the Inquisition in Italy on papal lines and for a generation was the terror of misbelievers. How so austere a person could be chosen pope was a mystery to everyone, especially to himself. "I have never conferred a favour on a human being", he said. It is most likely that the octogenarian would have refused the dignity, were it not that the emperor's agent, Cardinal Mendoza, had pronounced decidedly that Charles would not permit Caraffa to be pope. This was to challenge every principle for which the aged cardinal had stood during his long career. He was elected in spite of the emperor, and for four years held aloft the banner of the independence of Italy. Historians seem to be unjust towards Paul IV. That unbending Italian patriot, born whilst Italy was "a lyre with four strings", Naples, Rome, Florence, and Venice, was certainly justified in using the prestige of the papacy to preserve some relics of liberty for his native country. The Austrian and Spanish Habsburgers treated Paul IV with studied contempt, and thus forced him to enter an alliance with France. Neither in the matter of the succession to the empire nor in the conclusion of the religious peace were the interests of the Holy See consulted in the slightest degree.
Paul IV elevated to the cardinalate his nephew Carlo Caraffa, a man utterly unworthy and without any ecclesiastical training, and enriched other relatives with benefices and estates taken from those who favoured the Spaniards. At the end of the unfortunate war with Philip II the aged pope lost faith in his nephews and banished them from the Court. Still more disastrous were his relations with England, which had been reconciled to Rome by Mary, and Cardinal Pole. Paul IV refused to sanction Pole's settlement in regard to the confiscated goods of the Church, and demanded restitution. Pole himself was relieved by the pontiff of his legatine office and ordered to come to Rome to stand before the Inquisition. Upon the death of Mary and Pole, he rejected Elizabeth's claim to the crown, on the ground that she was of illegitimate birth. His activity was more fruitful in the spiritual concerns of the Church. He could boast that no day passed without seeing a new decree of reform. He made the Inquisition a powerful engine of government, and was no respector of persons. The great Cardinal Morone was brought before the tribunal on suspicion of heresy and committed to prison. Paul established the hierarchy in the Netherlands and in the Orient.
The pontificate of Paul IV was a great disappointment. He who at the beginning was honoured by a public statue, lived to see it thrown down and mutilated by the hostile populace. He was buried in St. Peter's 19 Aug., 1559, and was later transferred to S. Maria sopra Minerva.
Pius IV 1559-65
(Giovanni Angelo Medici).
B. 31 March, 1499, at Milan; elected 26 December, 1559; d. in Rome 9 Dec., 1565. The Medici of Milan lived in humble circumstances and the proud Florentine house of the same name claimed no kindred with them until Cardinal Medici was seated on the papal throne. His father Bernardino had settled in Milan and gained his livelihood by farming the taxes. Bernardino had two enterprising sons, both able to rise in the world by different roads. The oldest, Giangiacomo, became a soldier of fortune and after an adventurous career received from the emperor the title of Marchese di Marignano. He commanded the imperial troops who conquered Siena. Giovanni Angelo was as successful with his books as his brother with his sword. He made his studies first at Pavia, then at Bologna, devoting himself to philosophy, medicine, and law, in the last mentioned branch taking the degree of doctor. He gained some reputation as a jurist. In his twenty-eighth year he determined to embrace the ecclesiastical state and seek his fortune in Rome. He arrived in the Eternal City, 26 Dec., 1527, just thirty-two years to a day before his election to the papacy. From Clement VII he obtained the office of prothonotary, and by his intelligence, industry, and trustworthiness commended himself to Paul III who entertained the greatest confidence in his integrity and ability and employed him in the governorship of many cities of the papal states. In the last year of Paul III's reign, Medici, whose brother had married an Orsini, sister to the pope's daughter-in-law, was created cardinal-priest with the title of S. Pudenziana. Julius III made him legate in Romagna and commander of the papal troops. The antipathy of Paul IV was rather to his advantage than otherwise; for in the reaction which followed the death of that morose pontiff all eyes finally settled on the man who in every respect was Paul's opposite. The conclave dragged along for over three months, when it was obvious that neither the French nor the Spanish-Austrian faction could win the election. Then, mainly through the exertions of Cardinal Farnese, the conclave by acclamation pronounced in favour of Medici. He was crowned 6 Jan., 1560, and took the name of Pius IV.
His first official act was to grant an amnesty to those who had outraged the memory of his predecessor, Paul IV; but he refused clemency to Pompeio Colonna, who had murdered his mother-in-law. "God forbid", he said, "that I should begin my pontificate with condoning a parricide." The enmity of Spain and the popular detestation of the Caraffas caused him to open a process against the relatives of Paul IV, as a result of which Cardinal Carlo Caraffa and his brother, to whom Paul had given the Duchy of Paliano, were condemned and executed. The sentence was afterwards declared unjust by St. Pius V and the memory of the victims vindicated and their estates restored. Cardinal Morone and other dignitaries whom Paul had imprisoned for suspicion of heresy were released.
Pius IV now devoted his undivided attention to the completion of the labours of the Council of Trent. He was luckier than his predecessors in the youth whom he created cardinal-nephew. This was St. Charles Borromeo, the glory of Milan and of the Universal Church in the sixteenth century. Pius had the satisfaction of seeing the close of the long-continued council and the triumph of the papacy over the antipapal tendencies which at times asserted themselves. His name is immortally connected with the "Profession of Faith", which must be sworn to by everyone holding an ecclesiastical office. The few years which remained to him after the close of the council were devoted to much needed improvements in Rome and the papal states. Unfortunately for his popularity, these works could not be perfected without the imposition of additional taxes. Amid the numerous embellishments with which his name is connected, one of the most useful was the founding of the pontifical printing-office for the issuing of books in all languages. He procured the necessary type and placed the institution under the able superintendence of Paul Minutius. In addition to the heavy expenses incurred in the fortification and embellishment of Rome, Pius was under obligation to contribute many hundred thousands of scudi to the support of the war against the Turks in Hungary.
The mildness of Pius IV in dealing with suspects of heresy, so different from the rigour of his predecessor, made many suspect his own orthodoxy. A fanatic named Benedetto Ascolti, "inspired by his guardian angel", made an attempt upon his life. A more formidable foe, the Roman fever, carried him off 9 Dec., 1565, with St. Philip Neri and St. Charles Borromeo at his pillow. He was buried first in St. Peter's, but 4 June, 1583, his remains were transferred to Michelangelo's great church of S. Maria degli Angeli, one of Pius's most magnificent structures. "Pius IV", says the fearless Muratori, "had faults (who is without them?); but they are as nothing compared with his many virtues. His memory shall ever remain in benediction for having brought to a glorious termination the Council of Trent; for having reformed all the Roman tribunals; for having maintained order and plenty in his dominion; for having promoted to the cardinalate men of great merit and rare literary ability; finally, for having avoided excess of love for his kindred, and enriched Rome by the building of so many fine edifices." ref. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12129a.htm
St. Pius V 1566-72
(MICHELE GHISLERI).
Born at Bosco, near Alexandria, Lombardy, 17 Jan., 1504 elected 7 Jan., 1566; died 1 May, 1572. Being of a poor though noble family his lot would have been to follow a trade, but he was taken in by the Dominicans of Voghera, where he received a good education and was trained in the way of solid and austere piety. He entered the order, was ordained in 1528, and taught theology and philosophy for sixteen years. In the meantime he was master of novices and was on several occasions elected prior of different houses of his order in which he strove to develop the practice of the monastic virtues and spread the spirit of the holy founder. He himself was an example to all. He fasted, did penance, passed long hours of the night in meditation and prayer, traveled on foot without a cloak in deep silence, or only speaking to his companions of the things of God. In 1556 he was made Bishop of Sutri by Paul IV. His zeal against heresy caused him to be selected as inquisitor of the faith in Milan and Lombardy, and in 1557 Paul II made him a cardinal and named him inquisitor general for all Christendom. In 1559 he was transferred to Mondovì, where he restored the purity of faith and discipline, gravely impaired by the wars of Piedmont. Frequently called to Rome, he displayed his unflinching zeal in all the affairs on which he was consulted. Thus he offered an insurmountable opposition to Pius IV when the latter wished to admit Ferdinand de' Medici, then only thirteen years old, into the Sacred College. Again it was he who defeated the project of Maximilian II, Emperor of Germany, to abolish ecclesiastical celibacy. On the death of Pius IV, he was, despite his tears and entreaties, elected pope, to the great joy of the whole Church.
He began his pontificate by giving large alms to the poor, instead of distributing his bounty at haphazard like his predecessors. As pontiff he practiced the virtues he had displayed as a monk and a bishop. His piety was not diminished, and, in spite of the heavy labours and anxieties of his office, he made at least two meditations a day on bended knees in presence of the Blessed Sacrament. In his charity he visited the hospitals, and sat by the bedside of the sick, consoling them and preparing them to die. He washed the feet of the poor, and embraced the lepers. It is related that an English nobleman was converted on seeing him kiss the feet of a beggar covered with ulcers. He was very austere and banished luxury from his court, raised the standard of morality, laboured with his intimate friend, St. Charles Borromeo, to reform the clergy, obliged his bishops to reside in their dioceses, and the cardinals to lead lives of simplicity and piety. He diminished public scandals by relegating prostitutes to distant quarters, and he forbade bull fights. He enforced the observance of the discipline of the Council of Trent, reformed the Cistercians, and supported the missions of the New World. In the Bull "In Coena Domini" he proclaimed the traditional principles of the Roman Church and the supremacy of the Holy See over the civil power.
But the great thought and the constant preoccupation of his pontificate seems to have been the struggle against the Protestants and the Turks. In Germany he supported the Catholics oppressed by the heretical princes. In France he encouraged the League by his counsels and with pecuniary aid. In the Low Countries he supported Spain. In England, finally, he excommunicated Elizabeth, embraced the cause of Mary Stuart, and wrote to console her in prison. In the ardour of his faith he did not hesitate to display severity against the dissidents when necessary, and to give a new impulse to the activity of the Inquisition, for which he has been blamed by certain historians who have exaggerated his conduct. Despite all representations on his behalf he condemned the writings of Baius, who ended by submitting.
He worked incessantly to unite the Christian princes against the hereditary enemy, the Turks. In the first year of his pontificate he had ordered a solemn jubilee, exhorting the faithful to penance and almsgiving to obtain the victory from God. He supported the Knights of Malta, sent money for the fortification of the free towns of Italy, furnished monthly contributions to the Christians of Hungary, and endeavoured especially to bring Maximilian, Philip II, and Charles I together for the defence of Christendom. In 1567 for the same purpose he collected from all convents one-tenth of their revenues. In 1570 when Solyman II attacked Cyprus, threatening all Christianity in the West, he never rested till he united the forces of Venice, Spain, and the Holy See. He sent his blessing to Don John of Austria, the commander-in-chief of the expedition, recommending him to leave behind all soldiers of evil life, and promising him the victory if he did so. He ordered public prayers, and increased his own supplications to heaven. On the day of the Battle of Lepanto, 7 Oct., 1571, he was working with the cardinals, when, suddenly, interrupting his work opening the window and looking at the sky, he cried out, "A truce to business; our great task at present is to thank God for the victory which He has just given the Christian army". He burst into tears when he heard of the victory, which dealt the Turkish power a blow from which it never recovered. In memory of this triumph he instituted for the first Sunday of October the feast of the Rosary, and added to the Litany of Loreto the supplication "Help of Christians". He was hoping to put an end to the power of Islam by forming a general alliance of the Italian cities Poland, France, and all Christian Europe, and had begun negotiations for this purpose when he died of gravel, repeating "O Lord, increase my sufferings and my patience!" He left the memory of a rare virtue and an unfailing and inflexible integrity. He was beatified by Clement X in 1672, and canonized by Clement XI in 1712. ref. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12130a.htm
Gregory XIII 1572-85
(UGO BUONCOMPAGNI).
Born at Bologna, 7 Jan., 1502; died at Rome, 10 April, 1585. He studied jurisprudence at the University of Bologna, from which he was graduated at an early age as doctor of canon and of civil law. Later, he taught jurisprudence at the same university, and had among his pupils the famous future cardinals, Alessandro Farnese, Cristoforo Madruzzi, Otto Truchsess von Waldburg, Reginald Pole, Carlo Borromeo, and Stanislaus Hosius. In 1539 he came to Rome at the request of Cardinal Parizzio, and Paul III appointed him judge of the Capitol, papal abbreviator, and referendary of both signatures. In 1545 the same pope sent him to the Council of Trent as one of his jurists. On his return to Rome he held various offices in the Roman Curia under Julius III (1550-1555), who also appointed him prolegate of the Campagna in 1555. Under Paul IV (1555-1559) he accompanied Cardinal Alfonso Caraffa on a papal mission to Philip II in Flanders, and upon his return was appointed Bishop of Viesti in 1558. Up to this time he had not been ordained a priest. In 1559 the newly-elected pope, Pius IV, sent him as his confidential deputy to the Council of Trent, where he remained till its conclusion in 1563. Shortly after his return to Rome, the same pope created him Cardinal Priest of San Sisto in 1564, and sent him as legate to Spain to investigate the case of Archbishop Bartolomé Carranza of Toledo, who had been suspected of heresy and imprisoned by the Inquisition. While in Spain he was appointed secretary of papal Briefs, and after the election of Pius V, 7 Jan., 1566, he returned to Rome to enter upon his new office. After the death of Pius V on 1 May, 1572, Ugo Buoncompagni was elected pope on 13 May, 1572, chiefly through the influence of Cardinal Antoine* Granvella, and took the name of Gregory XIII. At his election to the papal throne he had already completed his seventieth year, but was still strong and full of energy.
His youth was not stainless. While still at Bologna, a son, named Giacomo, was born to him of an unmarried woman. Even after entering the clerical state he was worldly-minded and fond of display. But from the time he became pope he followed in the footsteps of his holy predecessor, and was thoroughly imbued with the consciousness of the great responsibility connected with his exalted position. His election was greeted with joy by the Roman people, as well as by the foreign rulers. Emperor Maximilian II, the kings of France, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Poland, the Italian and other princes sent their representatives to Rome to tender their obedience to the newly-elected pontiff. At the first consistory he ordered the Constitution of Pius V, which forbade the alienation of church property, to be read publicly, and pledged himself to carry into execution the decrees of the Council of Trent. He at once appointed a committee of cardinals, consisting of Borromeo, Paleotti, Aldobrandini, and Arezzo, with instructions to find out and abolish all ecclesiastical abuses; decided that the cardinals who were at the head of dioceses were not exempt from the Tridentine decree of episcopal residence; designated a committee of cardinals to complete the Index of Forbidden Books, and appointed one day in each week for a public audience during which everyone had access to him. In order that only the most worthy persons might be vested with ecclesiastical dignities, he kept a list of commendable men in and out of Rome, on which he noted their virtues and faults that came to his notice. The same care he exercised in the appointment of cardinals. Thirty-four cardinals were appointed during his pontificate, and in their appointment he always had the had the welfare of the Church in view. He cannot be charged with nepotism. Two of his nephews, Filippo Buoncompagni and Filippo Vastavillano, he created cardinals because he considered them worthy of the dignity; but when a third one aspired after the purple, he did not even grant him an audience. His son Giacomo he appointed castellan of St. Angelo and gonfalonier of the Church, but refused him every higher dignity, although Venice enrolled him among its nobili and the King of Spain appointed him general of his army.
Like his holy predecessor, Gregory XIII spared no efforts to further an expedition against the Turks. With this purpose in view he sent special legates to Spain, France, Germany, Poland, and other countries, but the discord of the Christian princes among themselves, the peace concluded by the Venetians with the Turks, and the treaty effected by Spain with the Sultan, frustrated all his exertions in this direction.
For stemming the tide of Protestantism, which already had wrested entire nations from the bosom of the Church, Gregory XIII knew of no better means than a thorough training of the candidates for holy priesthood in Catholic philosophy and theology. He founded numerous colleges and seminaries at Rome and other suitable places and put most of them under the direction of the Jesuits. At least twenty-three such institutions of learning owe their existence or survival to the munificence of Gregory XIII. The first of these institutions that enjoyed the pope's liberality was the German College at Rome, which for lack of funds was in danger of being abandoned. In a Bull dated 6 August, 1573, he ordered that no less than one hundred students at a time from Germany and its northern borderland should be educated in the German College, and that it should have an annual income of 10,000 ducats, to be paid, as far as necessary, out of the papal treasury. In 1574 he gave the church and the palace of Sant' Apollinare to the institution, and in 1580 united the Hungarian college with it. The following Roman colleges were founded by Gregory XIII: the Greek college on 13 Jan., 1577; the college for neophytes, i.e. converted Jews and infidels, in 1577; the English college on 1 May, 1579; the Maronite college on 27 June, 1584. For the international Jesuit college (Collegium Romanum) he built in 1582 the large edifice known as the Collegio Romano which was occupied by the faculty and students of the Collegium Romanum (Gregorian University) until the Piedmontese Government declared it national property and expelled the Jesuits in 1870. Outside of Rome the following colleges were either founded or liberally endowed by Gregory XIII: the English college at Douai, the Scotch college at Pont-à-Mousson, the papal seminaries at Graz, Vienna, Olmutz, Prague, Colosvar, Fulda, Augsburg, Dillingen, Braunsberg, Milan, Loreto, Fribourg in Switzerland, and three schools in Japan. In these schools numerous missionaries were trained for the various countries where Protestantism had been made the state religion and for the missions among the pagans in China, India, and Japan. Thus Gregory XIII at least partly restored the old faith in England and the northern countries of Europe, supplied the Catholics in those countries with their necessary priests, and introduced Christianity into the pagan countries of Eastern Asia. Perhaps one of the happiest events during his pontificate was his arrival at Rome of four Japanese ambassadors on 22 March, 1585. They had been sent by the converted kings of Bungo, Arima, and Omura, in Japan, to thank the pope for the fatherly care he had shown their country by sending them Jesuit missionaries who had taught them the religion of Christ.
In order to safeguard the Catholic religion in Germany, he instituted a special Congregation of Cardinals for German affairs, the so-called Congregatio Germanica, which lasted from 1573-1578. To remain informed of the Catholic situation in that country and keep in closer contact with its rulers, he erected resident nunciatures at Vienna in 1581 and at Cologne in 1582. By his Bull "Provisionis nostrae" of 29 Jan., 1579, he confirmed the acts of his predecessor Pius V, condemning the errors of Baius, and at the same time he commissioned the Jesuit, Francis of Toledo, to demand the abjuration of Baius. In the religious orders Gregory XIII recognized a great power for the conversion of pagans, the repression of heresy and the maintenance of the Catholic religion. He was especially friendly towards the Jesuits, whose rapid spread during the pontificate was greatly due to his encouragement and financial assistance. Neither did he neglect the other orders. He approved the Congregation of the Oratory in 1574, the Barnabites in 1579, and the Discaleed Carmalites in 1580. The Premonstratensians he honoured by canonizing their founder, St. Norbert, in 1582.
Gregory XIII spared no efforts to restore the Catholic Faith in the countries that had become Protestant. In 1574 he sent the Polish Jesuit Warsiewicz to John III of Sweden in order to convert him to Catholicity. Being then unsuccessful, he sent another Jesuit, the Norwegian Lawrence Nielssen in 1576, who succeeded in converting the king on 6 May, 1578. The king, however, soon turned Protestant again from political motives. In 1581, Gregory XIII dispatched the Jesuit Antonio Possevino as nuncio to Russia, to mediate between Tsar Ivan IV and King Bathory of Poland. He not only brought about an amicable settlement between the two rulers, but also obtained for the Catholics of Russia the right to practice their religion openly. Gregory's efforts to procure religious liberty for the Catholics of England were without avail. The world knows of the atrocities committed by Queen Elizabeth on many Catholic missionaries and laymen. No blame, therefore, attaches to Gregory XIII for trying to depose the queen by force of arms. As early as 1578 he sent Thomas Stukeley with a ship and an army of 800 men to Ireland, but the treacherous Stukeley joined his forces with those of King Sebastian of Portugal against Emperor Abdulmelek of Morocco. Another papal expedition which sailed to Ireland in 1579 under the command of James Fitzmaurice, accompanied by Nicholas Sanders as papal nuncio, was equally unsuccessful. Gregory XIII had nothing whatever to do with the plot of Henry, Duke of Guise, and his brother, Charles, Duke of Mayenne, to assassinate the queen, and most probably knew nothing whatever about it (see Bellesheim, "Wilhelm Cardinal Allen", Mainz, 1885, p. 144).
Some historians have severely criticized Gregory XIII for ordering that the horrible massacre of the Huguenots on St. Bartholomew's Day in 1572 be celebrated in Rome by a "Te Deum" and other marks of rejoicing. In defence of Gregory XIII it must be stated that he had nothing whatever to do with the massacre itself, and that he as well as Salviati, his nuncio in Paris, were kept in ignorance concerning the intended slaughter. The pope indeed participated in the Roman festivities, but he was probably not acquainted with the circumstances of the Parisian horrors and, like other European rulers, had been informed that the Huguenots had been detected in a conspiracy to kill the king and the whole royal family, and had been thus punished for their treacherous designs. But even if Gregory XIII was aware of all the circumstances of the massacre (which has never been proven), it must be borne in mind that he did not rejoice at the bloodshed, but at the suppression of a political and religious rebellion. That Gregory XIII did not approve of the massacre, but detested the cruel act and shed tears when he was apprised of it, is expressly stated even by the apostate Gregario Leti in his "Vita di Sisto V" (Cologne, 1706), I, 431-4, anad by Beautome, a contemporary of Gregory XIII, in his "Vie de M. l'Amiralde Chastillon" (Complete works, The Hague, 1740, VIII, 196). The medal which Gregory XIII had struck in memory of the event bears his effigy on the obverse, which ion the reverse under the legend Vgonotiorum Strages (overthrow of the Huguenots) stands an angel with cross and drawn sword, killing the Huguenots.
No other act of Gregory XIII has gained for him a more lasting fame than his reform of the Julian calendar which was completed and introduced into most Catholic countries in 1578. Closely connected with the reform of the calendar is the emendation of the Roman martyrology which was ordered by Gregory XIII in the autumn of 1580. The emendation was to consist chiefly in the restoration of the original text of Usuard's martyrology, which was in common use at the time of Gregory XIII. He entrusted the learned Cardinal Sirleto with the difficult undertaking. The cardinal formed a committee, consisting of ten members, who assisted him in the work. The first edition of the new martyrology, which came out in 1582, was full of typographical errors; likewise the second edition of 1583. Both editions were suppressed by Gregory XIII, and in January, 1584, appeared a third and better edition under the title of "Martyrologium Romanum Gregorii XIII jussu editum" (Rome, 1583). In a brief, dated 14 January, 1584, Gregory XIII ordered that the new martyrology should supersede all others. Another great literary achievement of Gregory XIII is an official Roman edition of the Corpus juris canonici. Shortly after the conclusion of the Council of Trent, Pius IV had appointed a committee which was to bring out a critical edition of the Decree of Gratian. The committee was increased to thirty-five members (correctores Romani) by Pius V in 1566. Gregory XIII had been a member of it from the beginning. The work was finally completed in 1582. In the Briefs "Cum pro munere", dated 1 July, 1580, and "Emendationem", dated 2 June, 1582, Gregory XIII ordered that henceforth only the emended official text was to be used and that in the future no other text should be printed.
It has already been mentioned that Gregory XIII spent large sums for the erection of colleges and seminaries. No expense appeared too high to him, if only it was made for the benefit of the Catholic religion. For the education of poor candidates for the priesthood he spent two million sendi during his pontificate, and for the good of Catholicity he sent large sums of money to Malta, Austria, England, France, Spain, and the Netherlands. In Rome he built the magnificent Gregorian chapel in the church of St. Peter, and the Quirinal palace in 1580; a capacious granary in the Thermae of Diocletian in 1575, and fountains at the Piazza Navona, the Piazza del Pantheon, and the Piazza del Popolo. In recognition of his many improvements in Rome the senate and the people erected a statue in his honour on the Capitoline Hill, when he was still living.
The large sums of money spent in this manner necessarily reduced the papal treasury. Acting on the advice of Bonfigliuoto, the secretary of the Camera, he confiscated various baronial estates and castles, because some forgotten feudal liabilities to the papal treasury had not been paid, or because their present owners were not the rightful heirs. The barons were in continual fear lest some of their property would be wrested from them in this way. The result was that the aristocracy hated the papal government, and incited the peasantry to do the same. The papal influence over the aristocracy being thus weakened, the barons of the Romagna made war against each other, and a period of bloodshed ensued which Gregory XIII was helpless to prevent. Moreover, the imposition of port charges at Aneona and the levy of import taxes on Venetian goods by the papal government, crippled commerce to a considerable extent. The banditti who infested the Campagna were protected by the barons and the peasantry and became daily more bold. They were headed by young men of noble families, such as Alfonso Piccolomim, Roberto Malatesta, and others. Rome itself was filled with these outlaws, and the papal officers were always and everywhere in danger of life. Gregory was helpless against these lawless bands. Their suppression was finally effected by his rigorous successor, Sixtus V. ref. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07001b.htm
Sixtus V 1585-90
(FELICE PERETTI).
Born at Grottamare near Montalto, 13 December, 1521; elected 24 April, 1585; crowned 1 May, 1585; died in the Quirinal, 27 August, 1590. He belonged to a Dalmatian family which in the middle of the preceding century had fled to Italy from the Turks who were devastating Illyria and threatened to invade Dalmatia. His father was a gardener and it is said of Felice that, when a boy, he was a swineherd. At the age of nine he came to the Minorite convent at Montalto, where his uncle, Fra Salvatore, was a friar. Here he became a novice at the age of twelve. He was educated at Montalto, Ferrara, and Bologna and was ordained at Siena in 1547. The talented young priest gained a high reputation as a preacher. At Rome, where in 1552 he preached the Lenten sermons in the Church of Santi Apostoli, his successful preaching gained for him the friendship of very influential men, such as Cardinal Carpi, the protector of his order; the Cardinals Caraffa and Ghislieri, both of whom became popes; St. Philip Neri and St. Ignatius. He was successively appointed rector of his convent at Siena in 1550, of San Lorenzo at Naples in 1553, and of the convent of the Frari at Venice in 1556. A year later Pius IV appointed him also counselor to the Inquisition at Venice. His zeal and severity in the capacity of inquisitor displeased the Venetian Government, which demanded and obtained his recall in 1560. Having returned to Rome he was made counsellor to the Holy Office, professor at the Sapienza, and general procurator and vicar Apostolic of his order. In 1565 Pius IV designated him to accompany to Spain Cardinal Buoncompagni (afterwards Gregory XIII), who was to investigate a charge of heresy against Archbishop Carranza of Toledo. From this time dates the antipathy between Peretti and Buoncompagni, which declared itself more openly during the latter's pontificate (1572-85). Upon his return to Rome in 1566 Pius V created him Bishop of Sant' Agata dei Goti in the Kingdom of Naples and later chose him as his confessor. On 17 May, 1570, the same pope created him cardinal-priest with the titular Church of S. Simeone, which he afterwards exchanged for that of S. Girolamo dei Schiavoni. In 1571 he was transferred to the See of Fermo. He was popularly known as the Cardinal di Montalto. During the pontificate of Gregory XIII he withdrew from public affairs, devoting himself to study and to the collection of works of art, as far as his scanty means permitted. During this time he edited the works of St. Ambrose (Rome, 1579-1585) and erected a villa (now Villa Massimi) on the Esquiline.
Gregory XIII died on 10 April 1585, and after a conclave of four days Peretti was elected pope by "adoration" on 24 April, 1585. He took the name Sixtus V in memory of Sixtus IV, who had also been a Minorite. The legend that he entered the conclave on crutches, feigning the infirmities of old age, and upon his election exultantly thrust aside his crutches and appeared full of life and vigour has long been exploded; it may, however, have been invented as a symbol of his forced inactivity during the reign of Gregory XIII and the remarkable energy which he displayed during the five years of his pontificate. He was a born ruler and especially suited to stem the tide of disorder and lawlessness which had broken out towards the end of the reign of Gregory XIII. Having obtained the co-operation of the neighbouring states, he exterminated, often with excessive cruelty, the system of brigandage which had reached immense proportions and terrorized the whole of Italy. The number of bandits in and about Rome at the death of Gregory XIII has been variously estimated at from twelve to twenty-seven thousand, and in little more than two years after the accession of Sixtus V the Papal States had become the most secure country in Europe.
Of almost equal importance with the extermination of the bandits was, in the opinion of Sixtus V, the rearrangement of the papal finances. At his accession the papal exchequer was empty. Acting on his favourite principle that riches as well as severity are necessary for good government, he used every available means to replenish the state treasury. So successful was he in the accumulation of money that, despite his enormous expenditures for public buildings, he had shortly before his death deposited in the Castello di Sant' Angelo three million scudi in gold and one million six hundred thousand in silver. He did not consider that in the long run so much dead capital withdrawn from circulation was certain to impoverish the country and deal the death-blow to commerce and industry. To obtain such vast sums he economized everywhere, except in works of architecture; increased the number of salable public offices; imposed more taxes and extended the monti, or public loans, that had been instituted by Clement VII. Though extremely economical in other ways, Sixtus V spent immense sums in erection of public works. He built the Lateran Palace; completed the Quirinal; restored the Church of Santa Sabina on the Aventine; rebuilt the Church and Hospice of San Girolamo dei Schiavoni; enlarged and improved the Sapienza; founded the hospice for the poor near the Ponte Sisto; built and richly ornamented the Chapel of the Cradle in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore; completed the cupola of St. Peter's; raised the obelisks of the Vatican, of Santa Maria Maggiore, of the Lateran, and of Santa Maria del Popolo; restored the columns of Trajan and of Antoninus Pius, placing the statue of St. Peter on the former and that of St. Paul on the latter; erected the Vatican Library with its adjoining printing-office and that wing of the Vatican Palace which is inhabited by the pope; built many magnificent streets; erected various monasteries; and supplied Rome with water, the "Acqua Felice", which he brought to the city over a distance of twenty miles, partly under ground, partly on elevated aqueducts. At Bologna he founded the Collegio Montalto for fifty students from the March of Ancona.
Far-reaching were the reforms which Sixtus V introduced in the management of ecclesiastical affairs. On 3 Dec., 1586, he issued the Bull "Postquam verus", fixing the number of cardinals at seventy, namely, six cardinal-bishops, fifty cardinal-priests, and fourteen cardinal-deacons. Before his pontificate, ecclesiastical business was generally discharged by the pope in consistory with the cardinals. There were, indeed, a few permanent cardinalitial congregations, but the sphere of their competency was very limited. In his Bull "Immensa aeterni Dei", of 11 February, 1588, he established fifteen permanent congregations, some of which were concerned with spiritual, others with temporal affairs. They were the Congregations: (1) of the Inquisition; (2) of the Segnatura; (3) for the Establishment of Churches; (4) of Rites and Ceremonies; (5) of the Index of Forbidden Books; (6) of the Council of Trent (7); of the Regulars; (8) of the Bishops; (9) of the Vatican Press; (10) of the Annona, for the provisioning of Rome and the provinces; (11) of the Navy; (12) of the Public Welfare; (13) of the Sapienza; (14) of Roads, Bridges, and Waters; (15) of State Consultations. These congregations lessened the work of the pope, without in any way limiting his authority. The final decision belonged to the pope. In the creation of cardinals Sixtus V was, as a rule, guided by their good qualities. The only suspicion of nepotism with which he might be reproached was giving the purple to his fourteen-year-old grand-nephew Alessandro, who, however did honour to the Sacred College and never wielded an undue influence.
In 1588 he issued from the Vatican Press an edition of the Septuagint revised according to a Vatican manuscript His edition of the Vulgate, printed shortly before his death, was withdrawn from circulation on account of its many errors, corrected, and reissued in 1592 (see ROBERT BELLARMINE). Though a friend of the Jesuits, he objected to some of their rules and especially to the title "Society of Jesus". He was on the point of changing these when death overtook him. A statue which had been erected in his honour on the Capitol during his lifetime was torn down by the rabble immediately upon his death. (For his relations with the various temporal rulers and his attempts to stem the tide of Protestantism, see THE COUNTER-REFORMATION). ref. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14033a.htm
Urban VII 1590
Giambattista Castagna, born at Rome, 4 Aug., 1521; elected pope, 15 September, 1590; died at Rome, 27 September, 1590.
His father, Cosimo, was a Genoese nobleman; his mother, Costanza Ricci, was a Roman and sister of Cardinal Jacovazzi. He studied civil and canon law at various universities of Italy and graduated as doctor of both laws at Bologna. Soon after he became auditor of his uncle, Cardinal Girolamo Verallo, whom he accompanied as datary on a papal legation to France. On his return to Italy, Julius III made him referendary of the Segnatura di Giustizia and on 1 March, 1553, appointed him Archbishop of Rossano. He was ordained priest 30 March, and consecrated bishop by Cardinal Verallo, 4 April. Julius III sent him as governor to Fano in 1555, and under Paul IV he was for a short time Governor of Perugia and Umbria. During the reign of Pius IV he settled satisfactorily a long-standing boundary dispute between the inhabitants of Terni and Spoleto. From 1562 to 1563 he assisted at the Council of Trent, where he was made president of various congregations and manifested great prudence and learning. In 1565 he accompained the cardinal-legate Buoncompagni (afterwards Gregory XIII) to Spain, where he remained seven years as papal nuncio at the Court of Philip II. On his return to Italy he voluntarily resigned the archiepiscopal See of Rossano in January, 1573, and was sent by Gregory XIII as nuncio to Venice, whence he was transferred as governor to Bologna in 1577. A year later he was sent as legate extraordinary to Cologne, to represent Gregory XIII at the peace conference between Philip II and the United Provinces. Upon his return to Rome he was appointed Consultor of the Holy Office and the Ecclesiastical State. On 12 December, 1583, Gregory XIII created him cardinal priest with the titular Church of S. Marcello, and on 8 October, 1584, appointed him legate of Bologna. During the reign of Sixtus V (1585-90) he was highly influential. On 19 November, 1586, he became Inquisitor-General of the Holy Office.
Sixtus V having died 27 August, 1590, the cardinals, 54 in number, entered the conclave at the Vatican on 7 September, and elected Cardinal Castagna as pope on 15 September. The news of his election was a cause of universal joy. The new pontiff was not only highly esteemed for his piety and learning, he had also, in the many important and difficult positions which he filled as archbishop and cardinal, manifested extraordinary prudence and administrative ability. He chose the name Urban in order that this name, which in Latin signifies "kind", might be a continuous reminder to him to show kindness towards all his subjects. One of his first acts was to have a list made of all the poor in Rome that he might alleviate their needs. He also gave liberal alms to those cardinals whose income was insufficient, paid the debts of all the monts-de-piété in the Ecclesiastical State, and ordered the bakers of Rome to make larger loaves of bread and sell them cheaper, indemnifying their losses out of his own purse. Desirous of checking the luxury of the rich, he forbade his chamberlains to wear silk garments. In order to give occupation to the poor, he ordered the completion of the public works that had been commenced by his predecessor. He appointed a committee of cardinals, consisting of Paleotti, Fachinetti, Lancelotti, and Aldobrandini, for the reform of the Apostolic Datary. Strongly opposed to nepotism, he expressed his purpose never to appoint any of his relatives to an office in the Curia and forbade them to make use of the title "Excellence", which it was customary to give the nearest relatives of the pope. A few days after his election he became seriously ill. The faithful united in prayers for his recovery; public processions, expositions of the Blessed Sacrament, and other pious exercises were conducted. The pope confessed and communicated every day of his illness. He once expressed a desire to remove to the Quirinal, where the air was purer and more wholesome, but, when told that it was not customary for the pope to be seen in the city before his coronation, he remained in the Vatican. He died before the papal coronation could take place and was buried in the Vatican Basilica. On 22 September, 1606, his remains were transferred to the Church of S. Maria sopra Minerva, where a magnificent monument was erected in his honour. His temporal possessions, consisting of 30,000 scudi, he bequeathed to the Archconfraternity of the Annunciation to be used as dowries for poor girls. ref. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15218a.htm
Gregory XIV 1590-91
(NICCOLÒ SFONDRATI). Born at Somma, near Milan, 11 Feb., 1535; died at Rome, 15 Oct., 1591.
His father Francesco, a Milanese senator, had, after the death of his wife, been created cardinal by Pope Paul III, in 1544. Niccolò studied at the Universities of Perugia and Padua, was ordained priest, and then appointed Bishop of Cremona, in 1560. He participated in the sessions of the Council of Trent, 1561-1563, and was created Cardinal-Priest of Santa Cecilia by Gregory XIII on 12 December 1583. Urban VII having died on 27 September, 1590, Sfondrati was elected to succeed him on 5 December, 1590, after a protracted conclave of more than two months, and took the name of Gregory XIV. The new pope had not aspired to the tiara. Cardinal Montalto, who came to his cell to inform him that the Sacred College had agreed on his election, found him kneeling in prayer before a crucifix. When on the next day he was elected he burst into tears and said to the cardinals: "God forgive you! What have you done?" From his youth he had been a man of piety and mortification. Before entering the ecclesiastical state he was a constant companion of Charles Borromeo, and when cardinal, he was an intimate friend of Philip Neri whose holy life he strove to imitate.
As soon as he became pope, he gave his energetic support to the French League, and took active measures against Henry of Navarre, whom Sixtus V, in 1585, had declared a heretic and excluded from succession to the French throne. In accordance with the Salic law, after the death of Henry III in 1589, Henry of Navarre was to succeed to the French throne, but the prevalent idea of those times was that no Protestant could become King of France, which was for the most part Catholic. The nobles, moreover, threatened to rise up against the rule of Henry of Navarre unless he promised to become a Catholic. In order to reconcile the nobility and the people to his reign, Henry declared on 4 August, 1589, that he would become a Catholic and uphold the Catholic religion in France. When Gregory XIV became pope, Henry had not yet fulfilled his promise and gave little hope of doing it in the near future. The pope, therefore, decided to assist the French League in its efforts to depose Henry by force of arms and in this he was encouraged by Philip II of Spain. In his monitorial letter to the Council of Paris, 1 March, 1591, he renewed the sentence of excommunication against Henry, and ordered the clergy, nobles, judicial functionaries, and the Third Estate of France to renounce him, under pain of severe penalties. He also sent a monthly subsidy of 15,000 sendi to Paris, and dispatched his nephew Ercole Sfondrati to France at the head of the papal troops. In the midst of these operations against Henry, Gregory XIV died. after a short pontificate of 10 months and 10 days.
Gregory XIV created five cardinals, among whom was his nephew Paolo Camillo Sfondrati. He vainly tried to induce Philip Neri to accept the purple. On 21 September, 1591, he raised to the dignity of a religious order the Congregation of the Fathers of a Good Death (Clerici regulares ministrantes infirmis) founded by St. Camillus de Lellis. In his Bull "Cogit nos", dated 21 March, 1591, he forbade under pain of excommunication all bets concerning the election of a pope, the duration of a pontificate, or the creation of new cardinals. In a decree, dated 18 April, 1591, he ordered reparation to be made to the Indians of the Philippines by their conquerors wherever it was possible, and commanded under pain of excommunication that all Indian slaves in the islands should be set free. Gregory XIV also appointed a commission to revise the Sixtine Bible and another commission to continue the revision of the Pian Breviary. The former commission had its first session on 7 Feb., 1591, the latter on 21 April, 1591. Concerning these two commissions see Bäumer, "Geschichte des Breviers" (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1895), pp. 479-90.
Innocent IX 1591
(Giovanni Antonio Facchinetti)
Born at Bologna, 22 July, 1519; elected, 29 October, 1591; died at Rome, 30 December, 1591. After successful studies in jurisprudence in his native city he was graduated as doctor of law in 1544, and proceeded to Rome, where Cardinal Nicolò Ardinghelli chose him as his secretary. Later he entered the service of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, who appointed him his ecclesiastical representative at the head of the Archdiocese of Avignon and subsequently called him to the management of his affairs at Parma. In 1560 he was named Bishop of Nicastro in Calabria, and in 1562 was present at the Council of Trent. Sent as papal nuncio to Venice by Pius V in 1566, he greatly furthered the conclusion of that alliance (Pope, Venice, Spain) against the Turks which ultimately resulted in the victory of Lepanto (1571). In 1572 he returned to his diocese, but resigning his see he removed to Rome. In 1575 he was named Patriarch of Jerusalem, and on 12 December, 1583, created Cardinal-Priest of the Title of the Four Crowned Martyrs ‹ whence the frequent designation "Cardinal of Santiquattro". During the reign of the sickly Gregory XIV the burden of the papal administration rested on his shoulders, and on this pontiff's death the Spanish party raised Facchinetti to the papal chair. Mindful of the origin of his success, he supported, during his two months' pontificate, the cause of Philip II of Spain and the League against Henry IV of France. He prohibited the alienation of church property, and in a consistory held on 3 November, 1591, informed the cardinals of his intention of constituting a reserve fund to meet extraordinary expenses. Death, however, did not permit the realization of his vast schemes. He left numerous, though still unpublished, writings on theological and philosophical subjects: "Moralia quædam theologica", "Adversus Machiavellem", "De recta gubernandi ratione", etc. His bulls are printed in the "Bullarium Romanum", ed. Cocquelines, V, pt. I (Rome, 1751), 324-32. ref. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08020a.htm
Clement VIII 1592-1605
(IPPOLITO ALDOBRANDINI).
Born at Fano, March, 1536, of a distinguished Florentine family; died at Rome, 5 March, 1605. He was elected pope 30 January, 1592, after a stormy conclave graphically described by Ranke (Geschichte der römischen Päpste, 9th ed., II, 150 sqq.). In his youth he made excellent progress in jurisprudence under the direction of his father, an able jurist. Through the stages of consistorial advocate, auditor of the Rota and the Datary, he was advanced in 1585 to the dignity of Cardinal-Priest of the Title of St. Pancratius and was made grand penitentiary. He won the friendship of the Hapsburgs by his successful efforts, during a legation to Poland, to obtain the release of the imprisoned Archduke Maximilian, the defeated claimant to the Polish throne. During the conclave of 1592 he was the unwilling candidate of the compact minority of cardinals who were determined to deliver the Holy See from the prepotency of Philip II of Spain. His election was greeted with boundless enthusiasm by the Italians and by all who knew his character. He possessed all the qualifications needed in the Vicar of Christ. Blameless in morals from childhood, he had at an early period placed himself under the direction of St. Philip Neri, who for thirty years was his confessor. Upon Clement's elevation to the papacy, the aged saint gave over this important office to Baronius, whom the pope, notwithstanding his reluctance, created a cardinal, and to whom he made his confession every evening. The fervour with which he said his daily Mass filled all present with devotion. His long association with the Apostle of Rome caused him to imbibe the saint's spirit so thoroughly, that in him St. Philip himself might be said to have ascended the papal chair. Though vast political problems clamoured for solution, the pope first turned his attention to the more important spiritual interests of the Church. He made a personal visitation of all the churches and educational and charitable institutions of Rome, everywhere eliminating abuses and enforcing discipline. To him we owe the institution of the Forty Hours' Devotion. He founded at Rome the Collegio Clementino for the education of the sons of the richer classes, and augmented the number of national colleges in Rome by opening the Collegio Scozzese for the training of missionaries to Scotland. The "Bullarium Romanum" contains many important constitutions of Clement, notably one denouncing duelling and one providing for the inviolability of the States of the Church. He issued revised editions of the Vulgate (1598), the Breviary, the Missal, also the "Cæremoniale", and the "Pontificale".
The complicated situation in France presented no insuperable difficulties to two consummate statesmen like Henry of Navarre and Clement VIII. It was clear to Henry that, notwithstanding his victories, he could not peacefully retain the French Crown without adopting the Catholic Faith. He abjured Calvinism 25 July, 1593. It was equally clear to Pope Clement that it was his duty to brave the selfish hostility of Spain by acknowledging the legitimate claims of Henry, as soon as he convinced himself that the latter's conversion was something more than a political manoeuvre. In the autumn of 1595 he solemnly absolved Henry IV, thus putting an end to the thirty years' religious war in France and winning a powerful ally in his struggle to achieve the independence of Italy and of the Holy See. Henry's friendship was of essential importance to the pope two years later, when Alfonso II, Duke of Ferrara, died childless (27 Oct., 1597), and Pope Clement resolved to bring the stronghold of the Este dynasty under the immediate jurisdiction of the Church. Though Spain and the empire encouraged Alfonso's illegitimate cousin, Cesare d'Este, to withstand the pope, they were deterred from giving him aid by Henry's threats, and the papal army entered Ferrara almost unopposed. In 1598 Pope Clement won still more credit for the papacy by bringing about a definite treaty of peace between Spain and France in the Treaty of Vervins and between France and Savoy. He also lent valuable assistance in men and money to the emperor in his contest with the Turks in Hungary. He was as merciless as Sixtus V in crushing out brigandage and in punishing the lawlessness of the Roman nobility. He did not even spare the youthful patricide Beatrice Cenci, over whom so many tears have been shed. (Bertolotti, Francesco Cenci e la sua famiglia, Florence, 1879.) On 17 Feb., 1600, the apostate Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake on the Piazza dei Fiori. The jubilee of 1600 was a brilliant witness to the glories of the renovated papacy, three million pilgrims visiting the holy places. In 1595 was held the Synod of Brest, in Lithuania, by which a great part of the Ruthenian clergy and people were reunited to Rome (Likowski, Union zu Brest, 1094). Although Clement, in spite of constant fasting, was tortured with gout in feet and hands, his capacity for work was unlimited, and his powerful intellect grasped all the needs of the Church throughout the world. He entered personally into the minutest detail of every subject which came before him, e.g., in the divorce between Henry IV and Margaret of Valois, yet more in the great controversy on grace between the Jesuits and the Dominicans (see BAÑEZ, MOLINA). He was present at all the sessions of the Congregatio de auxiliis (q.v.), but wisely refrained from issuing a final decree on the question. Clement VIII died in his seventieth years after a pontificate of thirteen years. His remains repose in Santa Maria Maggiore, where the Borghesi, who succeed the Aldobrandini in the female line, erected a gorgeous monument to his memory.
Leo XI 1605
(ALESSANDRO OTTAVIANO DE' MEDICI).
Born at Florence in 1535; died at Rome 27 April, 1605, on the twenty-seventh day after his election to the papacy. His mother, Francesca Salviati, was a daughter of Giacomo Salviati and Lucrezia Medici, the latter being a sister of Leo X. From his boyhood he led a life of piety and always had an earnest desire to enter the ecclesiastical state, but could not obtain his mother's consent. After her death he was ordained priest and somewhat later Grand Duke Cosimo of Tuscany sent him as ambassador to Pius V, a position which he held for fifteen years. Gregory XIII made him Bishop of Pistoia in 1573, Archbishop of Florence in 1574, and cardinal in 1583. Clement VIII sent him, in 1596, as legate to France where he did good service for the Church in repressing the Huguenot influence at the court of Henry IV, and helping to restore the Catholic religion. On his return to Italy he was appointed prefect of the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars. In 1600 he became Bishop of the suburbicarian Diocese of Albano, whence he was transferred to Palestrina in 1602. Alessandro was an intimate friend of St. Philip Neri with whom he spent much time in spiritual conversation and whose advice he sought in all important matters. When Alessandro was Tuscan ambassador at the court of Pius V Philip predicted his election to the papacy.
On 14 March, 1605, eleven days after the death of Clement VIII, sixty-two cardinals entered the conclave. Prominent among the candidates for the papacy were the great historian Baronius and the famous Jesuit controversialist Bellarmine. But Aldobrandini, the leader of the Italian party among the cardinals, made common cause with the French party and brought about the election of Alessandro against the express wish of King Philip III of Spain. King Henry IV of France, who had learned to esteem Alessandro when papal legate at his court, and whose wife, Maria de' Medici was related to Alessandro, is said to have spent 300,000 écus in the promotion of Alessandro's candidacy. On 1 April, 1605, Alessandro ascended the papal throne as Leo XI, being then seventy years of age. He took sick immediately after his coronation. During his sickness he was importuned by many members of the Curia and by a few ambassadors from foreign courts to confer the cardinalate on one of his grandnephews, whom he had himself educated and whom he loved dearly, but he had such an aversion for nepotism that he firmly refused the request. When his confessor urged him to grant it, he dismissed him and sent for another confessor to prepare him for death. ref. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09166a.htm
Paul V 1605-21
(CAMILLO BORGHESE).
Born at Rome, 17 Sept., 1550; elected 16 May, 1605; died 28 Jan., 1621. Although proud to call himself, as we read on the façade of St. Peter's and on his epitaph, a Roman, Borghese was descended from a noble family of Siena which held important positions in that city, and claimed St. Catherine for a relative. Their removal to Rome was caused by the endless disturbances which made life in Siena unbearable. Camillo was carefully trained in jurisprudence at Perugia and Padua, and became a canonist of marked ability. He rose in the ecclesiastical career steadily, if not rapidly; in 1596 he was made cardinal by Clement VIII, and became Cardinal-Vicar of Rome. He held aloof from all parties and factions, devoting all his spare time to his law-books. In consequence, on the death of Leo XI, all eyes were centred on him, and he ascended the papal throne without engagement or obligation of any sort. His legal training was soon visible in all his words and actions. He knew nothing of compromises, and proceeded to rule the Church not from the standpoint of diplomacy but from the decretals. He conceived it his duty to maintain inviolate every right and claim advanced by his predecessors. This made his character at times assume a very stern and uncompromising aspect. His first public act was to send home to their sees the prelates and even the cardinals who were sojourning at Rome upon one or other pretext. The Council of Trent had declared it a grave sin for a bishop to be an absentee. That he was engaged in Rome doing the business of the Holy See made no difference. Paul was soon involved in controversy with various cities of Italy on matters concerning ecclesiastical jurisdiction and the relations between Church and State. The bitterest quarrel was with the proud Republic of Venice, which refused to acknowledge the exemption of the clergy from the jurisdiction of the civil courts and passed two laws obnoxious to the Roman Curia, the first forbidding the alienation of real property in favour of the clergy, the second demanding approval of the civil power for the building of new churches. Paul demanded the repeal of these anti-clerical ordinances, and insisted that two clerics who had been committed to prison should be surrendered to the ecclesiastical court. The dispute became daily more bitter and gradually developed into a broad discussion of the relative position of the Church and State. What gave the quarrel a European importance was the ability of the champions who entered the field on either side. For the claims of the Church stood Cardinals Baronius and Bellarmine; the cause of Venice was defended by the Servite Paolo Sarpi, a man of wonderful literary skill and a sworn enemy of the Roman Court. On 17 April, 1600, the pope pronounced sentence of excommunication against the doge, Senate, and Government collectively. He allowed a very short space for submission, after which he imposed an interdict on the city. The clergy had now to take sides for or against the pope. With the exception of the Jesuits, the Theatines, and the Capuchins, who were immediately expelled, the entire body of secular and regular clergy held with the Government and continued to hold services, notwithstanding the interdict. The festival of Corpus Christi was celebrated with unusual splendour, and Sarpi said Mass for the first time in years. The schism lasted about a year; and peace was patched up through the mediation of France and Spain. The Republic refused to repeal the obnoxious laws openly, but promised "to conduct itself with its accustomed piety". With these obscure words the pope was forced to be content; he removed the censures 22 March, 1607. The Theatines and Capuchins were permitted to return; an exception was made against the Jesuits.
The pope watched vigilantly over the interests of the Church in every nation. On 9 July, 1606, he wrote a friendly letter to James I of England to congratulate him on his accession to the throne, and referred with grief to the plot recently made against the life of the monarch. But he prays him not to make the innocent Catholics suffer for the crime of a few. He promises to exhort all the Catholics of the realm to be submissive and loyal to their sovereign in all things not opposed to the honour of God. Unfortunately the oath of allegiance James demanded of his subjects contained clauses to which no Catholic could in conscience subscribe. It was solemnly condemned in two Briefs, 22 Sept., 1606, and 23 Aug., 1607. This condemnation occasioned the bitter dissension between the party of the archpriest George Blackwell and the Catholics who submitted to the decision of the Holy See. In Austria the efforts of the pope were directed to healing the disputes among the Catholics and to giving moral and material aid to the Catholic Union. He survived the battle of Prague, which put an end to the short reign of the Calvinistic "winter-king".
Paul V was no more free from nepotism than the other pontiffs of that century. But if he seemed to show too many favours to his relatives, it must be said that they were capable men of blameless lives, and devoted their large revenues to the embellishment of Rome. Paul had the honour of putting the finishing touches to St. Peter's, which had been building for a century. He enriched the Vatican Library, was fond of art, and encouraged Guido Reni. He canonized St. Charles Borromeo and St. Frances of Rome. He beatified Sts. Ignatius Loyola, Francis Xavier, Philip Neri, Theresa the Carmelite, Louis Bertrand, Thomas of Villanova, and Isidore of Madrid. During his pontificate a large number of new institutes for education and charity added new lustre to religion. His remains were placed in the magnificent Borghese chapel in St. Mary Major's, where his monument is universally admired.
Gregory XV 1621-23
(ALESSANDRO LUDOVISI).
Born at Bologna, 9 or 15 January, 1554; died at Rome, 8 July, 1623. After completing the humanities and philosophy under Jesuit teachers, partly at the Roman and partly at the German College in Rome, he returned to Bologna to devote himself to the study of jurisprudence. After graduating at the University of Bologna in canon and civil law, he went back to Rome and was appointed judge of the Capitol by Gregory XIII. Clement VIII made him referendary of both signatures and member of the rota, and appointed him vicegerent in temporal affairs of Cardinal Vicar Rusticuccio. In 1612 Paul V appointed him Archbishop of Bologna, and sent him as nuncio to Savoy, to mediate between Duke Charles Emmanuel of Savoy and King Philip of Spain in their dispute concerning the Duchy of Monferrat. In 1616 the same pope created him Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria Transpontina. Henceforth Ludovisi remained at his see in Bologna until he came to Rome after the death of Pope Paul V to take part in the election of a new pope. On 9 February Ludovisi himself was elected successor of Paul V, chiefly through the influence of Cardinal Borghese, and took the name of Gregory XV. Although at his elevation to the papal throne he had already reached the age of 67 years and was, moreover, in a bad state of health, his pontificate of two years and five months was one of remarkable activity. He saw that he needed a strong and energetic man, in whom he could place implicit confidence, to assist him in the government of the Church. His nephew Ludovico Ludovisi, a young man of 25 years, seemed to him to be the right person and, at the risk of being charged with nepotism, he created him cardinal on the third day of his pontificate. On the same day, Orazio, a brother of the pope, was put at the head of the pontifical army. The future revealed that Gregory XV was not disappointed in his nephew. Ludovico, it is true, advanced the interests of his family in every possible way, but he also used his brilliant talents and his great influence for the welfare of the Church, and was sincerely devoted to the pope. Eleven cardinals in all were created by Gregory XV.
One of the most important pontifical acts of Gregory XV, affecting the inner affairs of the Church, was his new regulation concerning papal elections. In his Bull "Aeterni Patris" (15 Nov., 1621) he prescribes that in the future only three modes of papal election are to be allowed: scrutiny, compromise, and quasi-inspiration. His Bull "Decet Romanum Pontificem" (12 March, 1622) contains a ceremonial which regulates these three modes of election in every detail. The ordinary mode of election was to be election by scrutiny, which required that the vote be secret, that each cardinal give his vote to only one candidate and that no one vote for himself. Most of the papal elections during the sixteenth century were influenced by political conditions and by party considerations in the College of Cardinals. By introducing secrecy of vote Pope Gregory XV intended to abolish these abuses. The rules and ceremonies prescribed by Gregory XV are substantially the same as those that guide the papal elections of our day. Gregory XV took great interest in the Catholic missions in foreign countries. These missions had become so extensive and the missionary countries differed so greatly in language, manners, and civilization from the countries of Europe, that it was extremely difficult to keep a proper control over them. At the request of the Capuchin Girolamo da Narni and the Discalced Carmelite Dominicus a Jesu-Maria, the pope established on 6 January, 1622, a special congregation of cardinals who were to have supreme control over all foreign missions (Congregatio de Propaganda Fide). Gregory XIII and Clement VIII had already previously formed temporary congregations of cardinals to look after the interest of particular foreign missions, but Gregory XV was the first to erect a permanent congregation, whose sphere of activity should extend over all foreign missions (see PROPAGANDA). For particulars concerning the rights and duties of the new congregation see the Bull "Inscrutabili" of 22 June, 1622, in "Bullarium Romanum", XII, 690-3.
Both Gregory XV and his nephew Ludovico held the religious orders in high esteem, especially the Jesuits. On 12 March, 1622, he canonized Ignatius of Loyola, their founder, and Francis Xavier, their most successful missionary. He had already permitted them on 2 October, 1621, to recite the office and celebrate the mass in honour of the angelic youth Aloysius of Gonzaga. Other religious orders he honoured in the same way. On 12 March, 1622, he canonized Philip Neri, the founder of the Oratorians, and Theresa, the reformer of the Carmelites in Spain. In the same year he beatified Albertus Magnus, the great Dominican theologian, and permitted the feast and the office of Ambrogio Sansedoni, another Dominican, to be celebrated as that of a saint. On 18 April, 1622, he beatified the Spanish Minorite, Peter of Alcantara, and on 17 Feb., 1623, he ordered the feast of St. Bruno, the founder of the Carthusians, to be entered in the Roman Breviary. One layman, the Spanish husbandman Isidore, he canonized on 22 March, 1622. During his short pontificate he approved the famous Maurist Congregation of Bénédictines, the Congregation of the French Benedictine nuns of Calvary (Benedictines de Notre-Dame du Calvaire), the Theatine nuns and the Theatine recluses, the Congregation of Pious Workmen (Pii Operarii), the Priests of St. Briget in Belgium (Fratres novissimi Brigittini), and raised the Piarists and the Priests of the Mother of God (Clerici regulares Matria Dei) to the dignity of a religious order. On 18 March, 1621, he founded at Rome an international college for the Benedictines, the Collegium Gregorianum which was the cradle of the now famous international Benedictine college of St. Anselm. Before passing to the political achievements of Gregory XV, mention must be made of his Constitution "Omnipotentis Dei", issued against magicians and witches on 20 March, 1623. It is the last papal ordinance against witchcraft. Former punishments were lessened, and the death penalty was decreed only upon those who were proved to have entered into a compact with the devil, and to have committed homicide with his assistance.
The great activity which Gregory XV displayed in the inner management of the Church was equalled by his efficacious interposition in the politics of the world, whenever the interests of Catholicity were involved. He gave great financial assistance to Emperor Ferdinand II in regaining the Kingdom of Bohemia and the hereditary dominions of Austria. Gregory XV then sent Carlos Caraffa as nuncio to Vienna, to assist the emperor by his advice in his efforts to suppress Protestantism, especially in Bohemia and Moravia, where the Protestants considerably outnumbered the Catholics. To a great extent it was also due to the influence of Gregory XV that, at a meeting of princes at Ratisbon, the Palatinate and the electoral dignity attached to it were granted to Duke Maximilian of Bavaria in the early part of January, 1623. In order to effect this grant, the pope had previously sent the Capuchin Father Hyacinth, a skilled diplomat, to the imperial court at Vienna. The transfer of the Palatinate Electorate from a Protestant (Frederick V) to a Catholic was of great consequence, since it secured a Catholic majority in the supreme council of the empire. Out of gratitude to Pope Gregory XV, Maximilian presented him with the Palatinate library of Heidelberg, containing about 3500 manuscripts. Early in 1623 Gregory XV sent the Greek theologian Leo Allatius to transport the valuable collection to Rome, where it was put up as the "Gregoriana" in the Vatican Library. Thirty-nine of these manuscripts, which had come to Paris in 1797, were returned to Heidelberg at the Peace of Paris in 1815, and Pius VII returned 852 others as a gift in 1816.
The relations between England and the Roman See assumed a more friendly character during the pontificate of Gregory XV. For a time it seemed probable that, through the intended marriage of the Prince of Wales (afterwards King Charles I) with the Spanish Infanta Maria, Catholicity could be restored in England. Though the pope favored the marriage, it never took place. The treatment, however, of the Catholic subjects of James I became more tolerable and, to some extent at least, they enjoyed religious liberty. In France, the power of the Huguenots was on the decrease, owing to the influence of Gregory XV with King Louis XIII. Here the Capuchins, the Jesuits, and the Franciscans converted large numbers of heretics to Catholicity. Even in the Netherlands, that stronghold of Protestantism, a Catholic reaction set in, despite the fact that the Catholic priests were persecuted and expelled from the country.
The Catholic rulers respected the authority of Gregory XV, not only in religious affairs, but also in matters of a purely political nature. This was noticeable when an international dispute arose concerning the possession of the Valtelline (1620) the Spaniards occupied that district, while the Austrians took possession of the Grisons passes and were in close proximity to the Spaniards. The proximity of the two allied armies endangered the interests of France, Venice, and Savoy. These three powers, therefore, combined to compel the Austrians and Spaniards to evacuate the Valtelline, by force of arms if necessary. Upon request, Pope Gregory XV intervened by sending his brother Orazio at the head of the pontifical troops to take temporary possession of the Valtelline. After a little reluctance on the part of Archduke Leopold of Austria, the disputed territory with its fortresses was yielded to Orazio, and the impending war was thus averted. ref. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07004b.htm
Urban VIII 1623-44
Maffeo Barberini, born at Florence in April, 1568; elected pope, 6 August, 1623; died at Rome, 29 July, 1644.
His father Antonio Barberini, a Florentine nobleman, who died when Maffeo was only three years old, his mother, Camilla Barbadoro, brought him to Rome at an early age. He lived with his uncle, Francesco Barberini, who was then prothonotary Apostolic, and was educated at the Collegio Romano under the direction of the Jesuits. In 1589 he graduated from Pisa as Doctor of Laws, and returning to Rome he became abbreviator Apostolic and referendary of the Segnatura di Giustizia. In 1592 Clement VIII made him Governor of Fano, then prothonotary Apostolic, and in 1601 papal legate to France to present his felicitations to King Henry IV on the birth of the dauphin, the future King Louis XIII. In 1604 he was appointed Archbishop of Nazareth and sent as nuncio to Paris, where he became very influential with Henry IV. In recognition of his services in France, Paul V created him cardinal-priest, 11 September, 1606, with the titular Church of S. Pietro in Montorio, which he exchanged for that of S. Onofrio, 5 September, 1610. On 17 October, 1608, he was transferred to the See of Spoleto, where he convened a synod, completed the seminary, and built two other diocesan seminaries, at Spello and Visso. In 1617 Paul V made him legate of Bologna and prefect of the Segnatura di Giustizia. On 19 July, 1623, fifty-five cardinals entered conclave to elect a successor to Gregory XV; on 6 August Cardinal Maffeo Barberini received fifty votes. The new pope took the name of Urban VIII. Being attacked by the fever which was raging in Rome, he was obliged to postpone his coronation until 29 September. It is related that, before allowing himself to be vested in the pontifical robes, he prostrated himself before the altar, praying that God might let him die if his pontificate would not be for the good of the Church.
He began his reign by issuing on the very day of his election the Bulls of canonization of Philip Neri, Ignatius Loyola, and Francis Xavier, who had been canonized by Gregory XV. Urban himself canonized Elizabeth of Portugal, 25 May, 1625; and Andrew Corsini, 22 April, 1629. He beatified:
€ James of the Marches, a Minorite, 12 August, 1624;
€ Francis Borgia, a Jesuit, 23 November, 1624;
€ Andrew Avellino, 10 June, 1625;
€ Felix of Cantalice, a Minorite, 1 October, 1625;
€ Mary Magdalen de' Pazzi, 8 May, 1626;
€ Cajetan, the founder of the Theatines, 8 October, 1629;
€ John of God, 21 September, 1630; and
€ Josaphat Kuncevyc, 16 May, 1643.
He reserved the beatification of saints to the Holy See and in a Bull, dated 30 October, 1625, forbade the representation with the halo of sanctity of persons not beatified or canonized, the placing of lamps, tablets, etc., before their sepulchres, and the printing of their alleged miracles or revelations. In a later Bull, dated 13 September, 1642, he reduced the number of holy days of obligation to thirty-four, besides Sundays. Urban introduced many new offices into the Breviary. He composed the whole proper Office of St. Elizabeth and wrote the hymns, as they are in the Breviary, for the feasts of St. Martina, St. Hermenegild, and St. Elizabeth of Portugal. A book of poems, written by him before he became pope, was published during his pontificate under the title: "Maphei Cardinalis Barberini poemata" (Rome, 1637). In 1629 he appointed a committee for the reform of the Breviary. Their incomplete and often ill-advised corrections were approved by Urban, 19 September, 1631, and embodied in the official edition of the Roman Breviary which was issued the following year (see BREVIARY ‹ Reforms of the Breviary). In 1627 Urban gave the final shape to the celebrated Bull, "In Coena Domini." In 1634 he enjoined upon all ruling bishops, including cardinals, to observe the episcopal residence as decreed at the Council of Trent. During Urban's pontificate occurred the second trial and condemnation of Galileo by the Roman Inquisition. On 6 March, 1642, he issued the Bull, "In eminenti," condemning the "Augustinus" of Jansenius.
Urban was a great patron of Catholic foreign missions. He erected various dioceses and vicariates in pagan countries and encouraged the missionaries by word and financial assistance. He extended the sphere of activity for the Congregation of Propaganda, and in 1627 founded the Collegium Urbanum, whose object was the training of missionaries for foreign countries. For the Maronites he had already founded (1625) a college on Mount Lebanon. In order to increase the number of missionaries in China and Japan he opened these two countries to all missionaries in 1633, although Gregory XIII had given the Jesuits the exclusive right to those missions in 1585. In a Bull, dated 22 April, 1639, he strictly prohibited slavery of any kind among the Indians of Paraguay, Brazil, and the entire West Indies. In his efforts to restore Catholicism in England Urban had little success. In 1624 he sent Richard Smith as vicar Apostolic to that country, but the latter's imprudent insistence on exercising full episcopal authority in England and Scotland brought him into public conflict with the Jesuits and other missionaries of religious orders. The Government issued new hostile measures against the Catholics, and in 1631 Smith was obliged to flee. Three years later Urban sent Gregorio Panzani to England. Having gained greater liberty for the Catholics, he was succeeded in 1638 by George Conn, an Englishman, who had previously been secretary to Cardinal Francesco Barberini. Forced to return to Rome in 1639, on account of ill-health, he was replaced by Rossetti. Repeated requests made through him to the pope for financial aid in the war brewing between the king and Parliament were refused by Urban except on condition of the king's conversion. The ensuing war put an end to all negotiations. (See the letters of Panzani, Conn, and Rossetti to Cardinal Barberini in the Record Office Transcripts.) The religious orders found a zealous promoter in Urban. In 1628 he approved the Congregation of Our Saviour, a reformed branch of Augustinian canons, founded by Peter Fourier in 1609, and in 1632, the Lazarists or Priests of the Mission, a secular congregation founded by Vincent of Paul. He also approved the following sisterhoods: Canonesses of the Holy Sepulchre, 1631; Sisters of the Incarnation, 1633; Nuns of Our Lady of Nancy, 1634; and Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, 1642. The Jesuitesses, founded by the Englishwoman Mary Ward in 1609, he suppressed in 1631 for insubordination.
Urban's greatest fault was his excessive nepotism. Three days after his coronation he created Francesco Barberini, his nephew, cardinal; in 1627 he made him librarian of the Vatican; and in 1632 vice-chancellor. Francesco did not abuse his power. He built the large Barberini Palace and founded the famous Barberini Library which was acquired and made part of the Vatican Library by Leo XIII in 1902. Urban's nephew, Antonio Barberini, the Younger, was created cardinal in 1627, became camerlengo in 1638, then commander-in-chief of the papal troops. He was legate at Avignon and Urbino in 1633; at Bologna, Ferrara, and Romagna in 1641. Urban's brother Antonio, who was a Capuchin, received the Diocese of Senigaglia in 1625, was created cardinal in 1628, and later appointed grand penitentiary and librarian of the Vatican. A third nephew of Urban, Taddeo Barberini, was made Prince of Palestrina and Prefect of Rome. It is scarcely credible what immense riches accrued to the Barberini family through Urban's nepotism. Finally, tormented with scruples concerning his nepotism, Urban twice appointed a special committee of theologians to investigate whether it was lawful for his nephews to retain their possessions, but each time the committee decided in favour of his nephews. Among the members of the second committee were Cardinal Lugo and Father Lupis.Urban's greatest fault was his excessive nepotism. Three days after his coronation he created Francesco Barberini, his nephew, cardinal; in 1627 he made him librarian of the Vatican; and in 1632 vice-chancellor. Francesco did not abuse his power. He built the large Barberini Palace and founded the famous Barberini Library which was acquired and made part of the Vatican Library by Leo XIII in 1902. Urban's nephew, Antonio Barberini, the Younger, was created cardinal in 1627, became camerlengo in 1638, then commander-in-chief of the papal troops. He was legate at Avignon and Urbino in 1633; at Bologna, Ferrara, and Romagna in 1641. Urban's brother Antonio, who was a Capuchin, received the Diocese of Senigaglia in 1625, was created cardinal in 1628, and later appointed grand penitentiary and librarian of the Vatican. A third nephew of Urban, Taddeo Barberini, was made Prince of Palestrina and Prefect of Rome. It is scarcely credible what immense riches accrued to the Barberini family through Urban's nepotism. Finally, tormented with scruples concerning his nepotism, Urban twice appointed a special committee of theologians to investigate whether it was lawful for his nephews to retain their possessions, but each time the committee decided in favour of his nephews. Among the members of the second committee were Cardinal Lugo and Father Lupis.
In the government of the Papal territory Urban, as a rule, followed his own judgment; even his nephews had little influence during the first ten years of his pontificate. He honoured the cardinals by ordering them to give precedence only to crowned heads, and in a Decree of 10 June, 1630, bestowed upon them the title of "Eminence," their former title having been "Illustrious and Most Reverend." In 1626 he extended the Papal territory by inducing the aged Duke Francesco Maria della Rovere to cede his Duchy of Urbino to the Church. Towards the end of his pontificate his nephews involved him in a useless war with Odoardo Farnese, the Duke of Parma, with whom they had quarrelled on questions of etiquette during his visit to Rome in 1639. In revenge they induced Urban to prohibit the exportation of grain from Castro to the Roman territory, thus depriving Farnese of an income without which he could not pay the interest on his monti, or bonds. The duke's creditors complained to the pope, who took forcible possession of Castro, 13 October, 1641, in order to assure the payment. This proved ineffective, and on 13 January, 1642, Urban excommunicated Farnese and deprived him of all his fiefs. Backed by Tuscany, Modena, and Venice, the duke set out towards Rome at the head of about 3000 horsemen, putting to flight the papal troops. Peace negotiations were concluded near Orvieto, but not accepted by the pope. In 1643 hostilities were renewed and continued without decisive success until the pope finally concluded a disgraceful peace on 31 March, 1644. He was obliged to free the duke from the ban and restore all the places taken by the papal troops.
Urban spent heavy sums on armaments, fortifications, and structures of every kind. At Castelfranco he erected the costly but unfavourably situated Fort Urbano, established an extensive manufactory of arms at Tivoli, and transformed Civitavecchia into a military port. He strongly fortified the Castel of Sant' Angelo, Monte Cavallo, and built various fortifications on the right side of the Tiber in Rome. He erected the beautifully situated papal villa at Castle Gandolfo, founded the Vatican Seminary, built various churches and monasteries, beautified streets, piazzas, and fountains. The three bees in his escutcheon attract the attention of every observant visitor in Rome. In the Basilica of St. Peter he erected the baldachin over the high altar, the tomb of Countess Matilda, translating her remains from Mantua, and his own tomb, opposite that of Paul III. For some of these structures he used bronze from the roof of the Pantheon, thus causing the well-known but unwarranted pasquinade: "Quod non fecerunt Barbari, fecerunt Barberini."
The pontificate of Urban extended over one of the most critical periods in the history of the Catholic Church, the Thirty Years War. Ranke and Gregorovius attribute Urban's actions in this war to his intention to humiliate the two Houses of Habsburg (Austria and Spain), whose too great power was a constant menace to Italy and Rome; hence, they declare, he favoured France and did not subsidize Emperor Ferdinand II in his war against Gustavus Adolphus and the Protestants. An unbiased study of the situation will lead to a different conclusion. Neither as pontiff not as temporal ruler could Urban remain a disinterested onlooker, and he had no other motive than the welfare of the Catholic Church. As the common Father of Christendom he interposed concerning the Valtellina, a strategically important valley between Venice and the Grisons, which was eagerly coveted by France as well as Spain. He refused to join the alliance which France had made with Venice and Savoy against Spain in 1624, and was instrumental in bringing about the Treaty of Monzon, 5 March, 1626, which gave equal rights upon the Valtellina to France and Spain. He also refused to enter the league which France had concluded with Venice and Savoy at the beginning of the war of the Mantuan succession in 1629. "It is impossible for me," he writes to Nagni, the French nuncio, 2 April, 1629, "to put in jeopardy the common fatherhood and, in consequence, to be no longer able to heal and pacify, which is the proper business of the pope as vicar of Christ" (Nunziatura di Francia, Vat. Lib. Cod. 71, and Nicoletti, III, 1451-58).
Equally false are the accusations of Ranke and Gregorovius that Urban opposed the election of Ferdinand's oldest son as King of Rome and advocated the dismissal of Wallenstein as commander-in-chief of the imperial army through his nuncio at the Electoral Diet of Ratisbon in 1630. The first accusation was already branded as a calumny by Cardinal Francesco Barberini in a conference with the imperial ambassador Savelli on 16 March, 1629 (Nunziatura di Germania, Cod. 118, fol. 89); the second is refuted by Urban himself, who on 17 January, 1632, congratulated Wallenstein on his reassumption of the command and sent him the Apostolic blessing (Registrum brevium, XXXI, 87). It is, however, true that Urban did not subsidize the imperial army and the Catholic League as liberally as he could and should have done. Nevertheless, he sent (1632-34) two million francs out of his own means to the Catholic troops in Germany. Urban did not join the League of the Catholic Estates, which was planned by the emperor, as the League was directed not only against Gustavus Adolphus, but also against France; hence it could not be joined by the pope as the common father of Catholics. He urged Louis XIII and Richelieu to desist from subsidizing the King of Sweden, but refused to excommunicate them, as he feared a repetition of what had occurred in England under Henry VIII and Elizabeth (Nunziatura di Germania, Cod. 127, fol. 266).
The greatest calumny that has been spread about Urban is his alleged sympathy with Gustavus Adolphus, whose death he is said to have mourned and for whose soul he is said to have celebrated a Requiem Mass. What Urban thought of the Swedish king and how he mourned his death is manifest from a Brief, addressed to Ferdinand on 14 December, 1632, when the pope received the news that Gustavus Adolphus had fallen in battle (16 November, 1632). The Brief is published in the original Latin by Ehses. The following quotation will suffice: "We give eternal thanks to the Lord of vengeance because he rendered retribution to the proud and shook from the neck of the Catholics their most bitter enemy." The Mass which he is said to have celebrated in the German National Church, the Anima, at Rome on 11 December, was in reality a Mass of thanksgiving, of which Alaleone, the papal master of ceremonies, says expressly: "This Mass was celebrated in thanksgiving upon receiving the message of the death of the King of Sweden" (Cod. Vat. 9252, II, 71 sq.). On the next day the "Te Deum" was sung in the Sistine Chapel in presence of the pope, "ob laetitiam necis regis Sueciae interfecti," after which the pope himself chanted the versicles and orations.
It is as yet difficult to pass a correct judgment on Urban from every point of view. His life remains still to be written fairly. His private life was beyond all reproach, and the common welfare of the Church seems to have been the mainspring of his pontifical labours. His one fault was squandering money on his nephews, army, and fortifications, while stinting Ferdinand and the Catholic League in Germany.
Innocent X 1644-55
(Giambattista Pamfili)
Born at Rome, 6 May, 1574; died there, 7 January, 1655. His parents were Camillo Pamfili and Flaminia de Bubalis. The Pamfili resided originally at Gubbio, in Umbria, but came to Rome during the pontificate of Innocent VIII. The young man studied jurisprudence at the Collegio Romano and graduated as bachelor of laws at the age of twenty. Soon afterwards Clement VIII appointed him consistorial advocate and auditor of the Rota. Gregory XV made him nuncio at Naples. Urban VIII sent him as datary with the cardinal legate, Francesco Barberini, to France and Spain, then appointed him titular Latin Patriarch of Antioch, and nuncio at Madrid. He was created Cardinal-Priest of Sant' Eusebio on 30 August, 1626, though he did not assume the purple until 19 November, 1629. He was a member of the congregations of the Council of Trent, the Inquisition, and Jurisdiction and Immunity. On 9 August, 1644, a conclave was held at Rome for the election of a successor to Urban VIII. The conclave was a stormy one. The French faction had agreed to give their vote to no candidate who was friendly towards Spain. Cardinal Firenzola, the Spanish candidate was, therefore, rejected, being a known enemy of Cardinal Mazarin, prime minister of France. Fearing the election of an avowed enemy of France, the French party finally agreed with the Spanish party upon Pamfili, although his sympathy for Spain was well known. On 15 September he was elected, and ascended the papal throne as Innocent X.
Soon after his accession, Innocent found it necessary to take legal action against the Barberini for misappropriation of public moneys. To escape punishment Antonio and Francesco Barberini fled to Paris, where they found a powerful protector in Mazarin. Innocent confiscated their property, and on 19 February, 1646, issued a Bull ordaining that all cardinals who had left or should leave the Ecclesiastical States without papal permission and should not return within six months, should be deprived of their ecclesiastical benefices and eventually of the cardinalate itself. The French Parliament declared the papal ordinances null and void, but the pope did not yield until Mazarin prepared to send troops to Italy to invade the Ecclesiastical States. Henceforth the papal policy towards France became more friendly, and somewhat later the Barberini were rehabilitated. But when in 1652 Cardinal Retz was arrested by Mazarin, Innocent solemnly protested against this act of violence committed against a cardinal, and protected Retz after his escape in 1654. In Italy Innocent had occasion to assert his authority as suzerain over Duke Ranuccio II of Parma who refused to redeem the bonds (monti) of the Farnesi from the Roman creditors, as had been stipulated in the Treaty of Venice on 31 March, 1644. The duke, moreover, refused to recognize Cristoforo Guarda, whom the pope had appointed Bishop of Castro. When, therefore, the new bishop was murdered while on his way to take possession of his see, Innocent held Ranuccio responsible for the crime. The pope took possession of Castro, razed it to the ground and transferred the episcopal see to Acquapendente. The duke was forced to resign the administration of his district to the pope, who undertook to satisfy the creditors. The papal relations with Venice, which had been highly strained during the pontificate of Urban VIII, became very friendly during Innocent's reign. Innocent aided the Venetians financially against the Turks in the struggle for Candia, while the Venetians on their part allowed Innocent free scope in filling the vacant episcopal sees in their territory, a right which they had previously claimed for themselves. In Portugal the popular insurrection of 1640 had led to the secession of that country from Spain, and to the election of Juan IV of Braganza as King of Portugal. Both Urban VIII and Innocent X, in deference to Spain, refused to acknowledge the new king and withheld their approbation from the bishops nominated by him. Thus it happened that towards the end of Innocent's pontificate there was only one bishop in the whole of Portugal. On 26 November, 1648, Innocent issued the famous Bull "Zelo domus Dei", in which he declares as null and void those articles of the Peace of Westphalia which were detrimental to the Catholic religion. In his Bull "Cum occasione", issued on 31 May, 1653. he condemned five propositions taken from the "Augustinus" of Jansenius, thus giving the impulse to the great Jansenist controversy in France.
Innocent X was a lover of justice and his life was blameless; he was, however, often irresolute and suspicious. The great blemish in his pontificate was his dependence on Donna Olimpia Maidalchini, the wife of his deceased brother. For a short time her influence had to yield to that of the youthful Camillo Astalli, a distant relative of the pope, whom Innocent raised to the cardinalate. But the pope seemed to be unable to get along without her, and at her instance Astalli was deprived of the purple and removed from the Vatican. The accusation, made by Gualdus (Leti) in his "Vita di Donna Olimpia Maidalchini" (1666), that Innocent's relation to her was immoral, has been rejected as slanderous by all reputable historians. ref. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08020b.htm
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