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HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH From The Renaissance To The French Revolution
Volume I
(b) The Reforming Activity of the Popes.
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Pastor, /Geschichte der Papste im Zeitalter der Renaissance und
der Glaubenspaltung/ (Eng. Trans. /History of the Popes/).
Ciacconius, /Vitae et res gestae Roman. Pontificum/, 1688. Ranke,
/Die Romischen Papste/ (vols. 37-39), 1894 (Eng. Trans., 1847).
Von Reumont, /Geschichte der Stadt Rom./, 3 Bde, 1867-70. Artaud
de Montor, /History of the Popes/, 1867. Theiner, /Annales
ecclesiastici/, etc., Rome, 1856.
The Council of Trent had accomplished the work for which it was
called. Though it failed to extinguish the rising flames of heresy or
to restore peace to the Christian world, it had swept away most of the
glaring abuses that had proved the main source of Luther's success,
and rendered impossible for the future any misunderstanding about the
doctrines that had been called in question. The Catholic Church,
purified by the severe trials through which she had passed, stood
forth once again active and united under the leadership of the
Successor of St. Peter, still face to face it is true with a powerful
opposition, but an opposition on which the disintegrating influence of
private judgment was already making itself felt. Thus the foundations
of the great Catholic Counter-Reformation were laid securely, and a
movement was begun which stayed the further advance of Protestantism,
secured the allegiance of individuals and nations that were wavering,
and won back many who had been seduced from the faith during the early
days of the religious upheaval.
But if the labours of the Fathers of Trent were to be productive of
the good results that might be anticipated, earnest, religious,
energetic Popes were required to give a lead to their spiritual
children, whose courage had been damped by over thirty years of almost
uninterrupted defeats, to put into force the valuable reforms that had
been planned with such minute care, and above all to make the court
and city of Rome an example for the princes and people of the world.
Here, again, the providence of God watching over His Church was
manifested in a striking manner. Pius IV. deserves to be remembered
with gratitude by all future generations for the part that he took in
bringing to a successful conclusion the Council of Trent in face of
almost insuperable difficulties, for having taken such energetic and
withal such prudent action to secure the acceptance of its decrees and
their reduction into practice, and for having given to Rome and to the
Catholic Church so gifted, so saintly, and so disinterested an
ecclesiastic as his nephew, the Cardinal-Archbishop of Milan, St.
Charles Borromeo.
On the death of Pius IV. the conclave, mainly through the exertions of
Cardinal Borromeo, elected Cardinal Ghisleri, who took the title of
Pius V.[1] (1566-72) in memory of his predecessor. In his youth the
future Pope joined the Order of St. Dominic, and for years had acted
as professor of theology, master of novices, and prior. He was noted
specially for his simplicity and holiness of life, a holiness which it
may be remarked had nothing in common with the morose rigour of Paul
IV., for his humility, his love of silence and meditation, and for his
kindness towards the poor and the suffering. As a man of good
education and of conservative tendencies he was summoned to assist
Cardinal Caraffa, then president of the Holy Office, and when the
latter became Pope he was created cardinal and appointed Grand
Inquisitor. After his election Pius V. followed still the strict life
of fasting and prayer to which he had been accustomed as a Dominican
friar. He did not seek to create positions, or to carve out estates
from the papal territories for his relatives. Anxious to promote the
temporal as well as the spiritual welfare of the people in his
temporal dominions he took steps to see that justice was meted out to
poor and rich, banished women of loose character from the streets, put
an end to degrading amusements, enforced the observance of the Sunday,
and, backed by St. Charles Borromeo and the princes of Italy, he
changed the whole face of the capital and the country. Rome was no
longer the half-pagan city of the days of Leo X., nor yet did it
partake of the savage rigour of Geneva.
Pius V. was most anxious to enforce the decrees of Trent, and it was
for the accomplishment of this object that he had prepared for the
instruction of pastors the Catechism of the Council of Trent. In
compliance with the wishes of the bishops he published also a revised
edition of the Roman Breviary and of the Missal. With the Catholic
princes of Europe he maintained very friendly relations. He furnished
supplies to Charles IX. of France in his struggle with the Huguenots,
and to Philip II. of Spain in his wars against the Calvinists of the
Netherlands. He encouraged the Emperor, Ferdinand I., and Maximilian
of Bavaria to stand firm against the further encroachments of the
Lutherans, and sympathised actively with the unfortunate Queen of
Scotland. Having realised that Queen Elizabeth was lost hopelessly to
the Church and that she was making every effort to involve the whole
English nation in heresy, he directed against her a Bull of
excommunication and deposition. But though he endeavoured to cultivate
friendly relations with the Catholic rulers he had no intention of
abandoning the rights of the Church or of yielding in the slightest to
the increasing demands of the civil power. Against the wishes of some
of his advisers and to the no small annoyance of the Catholic princes
he republished the Bull, known as the /In Coena Domini/, because he
commanded that it should be read in all churches on Holy Thursday.
Like his great namesake Pius II. he had especially at heart the
defence of Europe against invasion by the Turk. Owing to the religious
controversies and the eagerness of some of the princes to ally
themselves with the Sultan the followers of Islam had grown bolder,
and had shown that they dreamed still of overcoming Western Europe and
of planting the crescent even in the very city of the Popes. Pius V.
appealed to the rulers of Europe to close up their ranks against their
common enemy. He granted generous subsidies to the Knights of Malta
and the rulers of Venice and Hungary upon whom the brunt of the
struggle must inevitably fall. When on the accession of Selim II. in
1570 the danger was pressing, the Pope succeeded in bringing about a
Christian confederacy composed of Spain, Venice, and the Papal States
with Don Juan of Austria in command of the Christian forces. For the
success of the enterprise the Pope ordered that public prayers and
particularly the Rosary should be recited in the churches throughout
the world. The decisive struggle between the two forces, as a result
of which the Turkish fleet was almost completely annihilated, was
fought in the Bay of Lepanto on Sunday, 7th October 1571.[2] In memory
of this great victory the Pope instituted the Feast of the Holy Rosary
to be celebrated for ever on the first Sunday of October. While he was
engaged in making arrangements to follow up his success by driving the
Turks beyond the Bosphorus he was called to his reward. Even by his
contemporaries Pius V. was regarded as a saint. It is not to be
wondered at, therefore, that one hundred years after his death he was
beatified, and forty years later, in 1712, he was canonised formally
by Clement XI.
When the cardinals met in conclave, mainly by the intervention of
Cardinal Granvelle, viceroy of Philip II. in Naples, Cardinal
Buoncompagni was elected almost immediately, and proclaimed under the
title of Gregory XIII. (1572-85). He had been a distinguished student
and professor of law at the University of Bologna, where he had the
honour of having as his pupils many of the ablest ecclesiastics of the
age. Later on he was sent as confidential secretary to the Council of
Trent. On his return from this assembly he was created cardinal, and
appointed papal legate in Spain. At the time of his election to the
Papacy he had reached his seventieth year. As a young man his life was
not blameless from the point of view of morality, but after he became
a priest nothing could be urged against his conduct even by his worst
enemies. Though it must be admitted that he was not of such an ascetic
and spiritual temperament as his predecessor, he was a man of
irreproachable character, not over anxious to promote his own
relatives, and determined to strengthen the Catholic Church by raising
the standard of education and by appointing to the episcopate none but
the most worthy ecclesiastics. Hence he drew lavishly upon the funds
of the Holy See to erect Catholic Colleges in Rome and in several
countries of Europe. He founded the magnificent /Collegium Romanum/
for the education of students from all parts of the world, and placed
it under the administration of the Jesuits, in whom he reposed the
most signal confidence. As the circumstances that led to the
establishment of the /Collegium Germanicum/ had not improved, he
conferred on it more generous endowments, and united it later on with
the college which he had founded for the Hungarians. Owing to the
persecutions in England and Ireland and the suppression of
institutions for the education of the clergy, Gregory XIII. founded an
English College (1579) and provided funds for the erection of an Irish
College. The money intended for this latter institution was spent in
assisting the Irish in their wars against Elizabeth. In addition to
this, more than twenty colleges situated in various parts of Europe,
amongst them being the Scotch College at Pont-a-Mousson, owe their
origin in whole or in part to his munificence. He was, also, very
determined that none but the most worthy men should be appointed to
episcopal sees, and with this object in view he took pains to inquire
personally about the merits of distinguished ecclesiastics in each
country, and to prepare lists of them for use as vacancies might
arise. He was equally careful in the appointments which he made to the
college of cardinals. In order to keep touch with the progress of
affairs in Germany he established a nunciature at Vienna in 1581, and
another at Cologne in the following year. The results of this
experiment were so successful that in a short time nunciatures were
established in nearly all the Catholic countries.[3]
Like his predecessor he was determined to continue the war against the
Turks, but the circumstances were unfavourable in France and in the
Empire, while Venice and Spain, the former allies of the Holy See,
concluded peace with the Sultan. In England and Ireland neither by
peaceful measures nor by the expeditions fitted out by him in
connexion with the Desmond Rebellion was he able to achieve any
lasting results. His legates succeeded in inducing John III. of Sweden
to abjure heresy and to return to the bosom of the Catholic Church,
but, unfortunately, the conversion lasted only until political
circumstances demanded another change. In Russia his representatives
arranged a peace with Poland, and put an end for the time to any
active persecution of Catholicism within the Russian dominions.[4] In
all parts of Europe, where Catholic rulers found themselves in
difficulties, subsidies were sent by Gregory XIII. to their
assistance. Charles IX. in France, Philip II. of Spain, Austria, the
Knights of Malta, and the Catholics of England and Ireland shared
largely in his munificence.
He issued a new edition of the Roman Martyrology in 1584, and directed
that it should be used to the exclusion of all others. His predecessor
had appointed a committee of jurists to prepare a revised edition of
the Decrees of Gratian. He had been a member of that commission, and
as Pope he brought the work to a successful conclusion. But the
achievement for which he will be best remembered is undoubtedly the
Gregorian Calendar. The errors of the calendar had been noticed by
many, but how to correct them and prevent them for the future was the
problem that was still unsolved. Gregory XIII. appointed a body of
experts to examine the subject, the most prominent of whom were the
Jesuit Father Clavius and Cardinal Sirleto. The committee had the
advantage of having before them the papers of the Italian scientist,
Lilius, and the suggestions of the Catholic universities. In 1582 the
Gregorian Calendar was published, and was accepted generally in all
the Catholic countries of Europe. But for a long time the Protestant
countries, believing that nothing good could come from Rome, remained
attached to the old style. It was only in 1700 that the Gregorian
Calendar was accepted in Germany and Holland, and at a still later
period (1752) England consented to the change. The following year
Sweden followed suit, and by 1775 the use of the new calendar had
become general outside Russia and the other countries involved in the
Eastern schism, in which the old style is followed till the present
day.
The immense sums expended by Gregory XIII. in endowing colleges and
subsidising Catholic sovereigns proved too great a strain on the
resources of the papal treasury. To raise funds the Pope was obliged
to increase the taxes, to impose tariffs on imports and exports, to
curtail the privileges of certain sections of his subjects, and to
recall many of the fiefs granted to feudal proprietors. These measures
led to grave discontent among all classes. Secret societies were
formed, in which the dispossessed nobles encouraged their poorer
followers to acts of violence. Robber bands led by some of the younger
barons made their appearance in all parts of the Papal States, so that
even in the very streets of Rome the lives of the papal officials were
not secure. Gregory XIII. was too old to cope with such a serious
situation. Before order could be restored he passed away leaving his
successor a very difficult task.
After a conclave lasting only four days Cardinal Felice Peretti,
better known as the Cardinal di Montalto, secured the required
majority of votes, and ascended the papal throne under the name of
Sixtus V.[5] (1585-90). He belonged to a very poor family in Italy,
had joined the Franciscans as a boy, and had risen from office to
office till at last in 1570 he was created cardinal. At the time of
his election he was practically unknown, partly because he was not a
scion of one of the leading families of Italy, partly, also, because
during the reign of Gregory XIII. with whom he was in disagreement he
lived a retired life, devoting himself almost completely to the
preparation of an edition of the works of St. Ambrose. Throughout the
Catholic world the news of his elevation was received with joy. He was
a man of strict life and tireless activity, more inclined to act than
to speak, unwilling to burthen his spiritual or temporal subjects with
new laws, but fully determined to enforce those already made, and
almost unchangeable in his views once his decision had been given.
The restoration of order in the Papal States and the suppression of
the robbers who terrorised peaceful citizens were the first work to
which he directed his attention. Nor was it long till the severe and
almost extreme measures he adopted, and in which he was supported by
the Italian princes, produced their effect. The bankrupt condition of
the papal treasury necessitated a close revision of the papal
finances, and so well did Sixtus V. succeed in this respect that he
was able to bequeath to his successor immense reserves. Though very
careful about expenditure for his own uses or on the papal court he
spent money freely on the erection and decoration of churches, and on
the improvement of the city of Rome. He extended the Vatican Library,
in connexion with which he established a new printing-press, provided
a good water supply (/Acqua Felice/), built the Lateran Palace,
completed the Quirinal, restored the columns of Trajan and Antoninus,
erected the obelisks of the Vatican, St. Mary Major, the Lateran and
Santa Maria del Popolo, and built several new streets to beautify the
city and to prevent congestion.
His administrative ability manifested itself in the establishment of
various congregations, to each of which was committed some particular
department of work in the administration of the Church and of the
Papal States. Hitherto most of this work had been done by the
/auditores/ or the /penitentiarii/ according as it belonged to the
external or internal forum, or else in consistories of the cardinals.
The idea of Sixtus V. was not entirely a novel one. The Congregation
of the Index (1571) and the Holy Office (1588) had been established
already, as also a commission to watch over the execution of the
decrees of the Council of Trent (1564). By the Bull, /Immensa Aeterni
Dei/[6] (11th Feb. 1588) Sixtus V. established fifteen different
congregations, the most important of which were the Congregation of
the Index, of the Inquisition, of the Signatura, of the Council of
Trent, of Rites and Ceremonies, and of Bishops and Regulars. By means
of these various bodies the work was done better and more
expeditiously without impairing in the slightest the authority of the
Pope. In 1586 he issued the Bull, /Postquam verus/ by which he fixed
the number of cardinals at seventy, namely, six cardinal-bishops,
fifty cardinal-priests and fourteen cardinal-deacons. He had prepared
and published a new edition of the Septuagint (1588) as a preparation
for the revised edition of the Vulgate, which was brought out later,
and was of so faulty a character that it was necessary to withdraw it
from circulation.
Sixtus V. had great hopes of inducing the princes of Europe to form an
alliance against the Turks, and, indeed, it was with a view to some
such struggle that he laid aside such immense reserves, but his hopes
were doomed to disappointment. In England no progress could be made,
more especially as the defeat of the Spanish Armada served only to
strengthen the throne of Elizabeth. The condition of affairs in France
was calculated to cause the Pope great anxiety. The murder of the
Catholic leaders and the alliance of Henry III. with the Calvinist
King of Navarre compelled the Pope to espouse warmly the cause of
Spain and the League. But towards the end of his reign Sixtus V. began
to realise that Spain's intervention in favour of the League was not
nearly so disinterested as it might seem, and that the aim of Spanish
statesmen was the union of the two countries in one great empire, an
event which, were it to come to pass, might be as dangerous for the
Holy See as for the succession of Henry of Navarre. He was, therefore,
more inclined to compromise than to fight.
After the death of Urban VII., Gregory XIV., and Innocent X., who
followed one another in rapid succession, a large number of the
cardinals, determined to put an end to the dominating influence of
Spain, put forward as the candidate of their choice Cardinal
Aldobrandini, whose election had been vetoed twice before by the
Spanish representatives. Notwithstanding the opposition of Spain they
succeeded in their effort, and Cardinal Aldobrandini was proclaimed
under the title of Clement VIII.[7] (1592-1605). The character of the
new Pope both as a man and an ecclesiastic was beyond the shadow of
reproach. He was the special disciple and friend of St. Philip Neri
who acted as his confessor for thirty years. As Pope his choice of a
confessor fell upon the learned and saintly Baronius whom he insisted
upon creating cardinal. His activity and zeal were manifested soon in
the visitation which he undertook of the churches and institutions of
Rome, and during the course of which he suppressed many abuses.
The situation in France was sufficiently delicate. Henry IV. was
beginning to recognise that notwithstanding his victories he could
never reign as a Calvinist over a united France. Clement VIII. was
very decidedly in favour of a solution that would put an end to the
war and would prevent France from degenerating into a Spanish
province. Hence as soon as the conversion of Henry IV. was proved to
be genuine the Pope acknowledged his title as king of France, and
exhorted French Catholics to receive him as their ruler. Such a course
of action was of necessity displeasing to Spain, but a few years later
the Pope had the happiness of putting an end to the struggle between
these two countries. During his term of office Clement VIII. founded
at Rome a national college for providing priests for the mission in
Scotland, issued a revised edition of the Vulgate (1598), of the
Breviary, the Missal, the Caerimonial and the Pontifical, and
instituted the /Congregatio de Auxilis/ to investigate the matters in
dispute between the Thomists and the Molinists. He presided personally
at many of its sessions though he never issued a definite sentence. It
was also during his reign that the infamous ex-monk Giordano Bruno was
condemned by the Inquisition, handed over to the secular power, and
burned at the stake (17th Feb. 1600). In his youth Giordano joined the
Dominicans, from which order he fled because definite charges of
heresy, the truth of which he could not deny, were brought against
him. Later on he was excommunicated by the Calvinists of Geneva and
the Lutherans of Germany, and refused permission to lecture by the
professors of Oxford when he visited that seat of learning. Many of
his writings are strongly anti-Christian, and some of them thoroughly
indecent. He was condemned to die solely on account of his denial of
the Divinity of Christ and other heretical views and not, as is said
by some, because he defended the Copernican system.[8]
Leo XI. succeeded, but survived his election less than a month. The
choice of the conclave then fell upon Cardinal Borghese who took as
his title Paul V.[9] (1605-21). He had been a distinguished law
student of Bologna and Padua, a papal legate in Spain, and under
Clement VIII. cardinal-vicar of Rome. He was a man of great energy and
zealous for the promotion of religion. During his reign he canonised
St. Charles Borromeo and issued a decree of beatification in favour of
Ignatius of Loyola, Francis Xavier, and Philip Neri, provided generous
subsidies for the advancement of the missions, endeavoured to bring
about a re-union with some of the separated religious bodies of the
East, and spent money freely on the decoration of the Roman churches,
notably St. Peter's, which he had the honour of completing. Like his
predecessors he was desirous of continuing the war against the Turks,
but the state of affairs in western Europe rendered such a scheme
impossible of realisation. With France and Spain he preserved friendly
relations, tried to put an end to the rivalries that weakened the
House of Habsburg and the Catholic cause in the Empire, and despatched
supplies of both men and money to the assistance of Ferdinand II. in
his struggle with the Protestants. He wrote to James I. of England
(1606) congratulating him on his accession and his escape from death
and asking for toleration of the Catholic religion, in return for
which he promised to induce the Catholics to submit to all things not
opposed to the law of God. The reply of the king to this overture was
the well-known Oath of Allegiance, that led to such ugly controversies
among the Catholic body.
As an earnest student of canon law Paul V. was too inclined to
maintain all the rights and privileges of the Church as they were
expounded in the decretals of the Middle Ages. This attitude of mind
brought him into a prolonged and inglorious conflict with the republic
of Venice. This latter state, regardless of the /privilegium fori/
imprisoned two clerics without reference to the ecclesiastical
authorities, and about the same time gave great offence by passing
laws rendering it difficult for the Church to acquire ownership of
landed property, to build new churches or monasteries, or to found new
religious orders or societies. Paul V. lodged a solemn protest against
these innovations. When his demands were not complied with he issued a
sentence of excommunication against the Doge, Senate, and Government,
and later on he placed Venice under interdict (1606). The quarrel was
so bitter that at one time it was feared that it might end in
separating the republic from the centre of unity. Cardinals Baronius
and Bellarmine entered the lists in defence of the Pope, while the
notorious ex-Servite, Paul Sarpi[10] (1552-1623), undertook to reply
to them on behalf of Venice. The government forbade the promulgation
of the interdict, and threatened the most severe punishment against
all clergy who should observe it. With the exception of the Jesuits,
Capuchins, and Theatines who were expelled, the clergy both secular
and regular took no notice of the interdict. It was feared that in the
end the issues could be decided only by war in which Spain was
prepared to support the Pope, but through the friendly intervention of
Henry IV. of France peace was concluded without any very decisive
victory on either side (1607). The clergy who were expelled for
obeying the interdict were allowed to return except the Jesuits. These
latter were permitted to settle in Venice again only in 1657.
On the death of Paul V. Cardinal Ludovisi ascended the papal throne
under the title of Gregory XV. (1621-23). The new Pope had been
educated by the Jesuits, and had risen rapidly in the service of the
Church. At the time of his election he was old and infirm, but by the
appointment of his nephew Ludovico to the college of cardinals he
secured for himself an able and loyal assistant. To put an end to
several abuses that had taken place in connexion with papal elections
he published the Bull, /Decet Romanum Pontificem/ (1622), in which
were laid down minute regulations about conclaves, the most important
of which were that the cardinals should vote secretly, that they
should vote only for one candidate, and that no elector should vote
for himself.[11] In providing funds for the assistance of the Catholic
missions Gregory XV. was very generous as was also his cardinal-
nephew. The success of the missionaries had been so great, and the
conditions of the various countries in which they laboured so
different, that proper supervision of the new provinces of the Church
was by no means easy. Gregory XIII. and Clement VIII. had appointed
commissions to look after the spiritual wants of particular districts,
but it was reserved for Gregory XV. to establish a permanent
congregation, /De Propaganda Fide/ (Bull, /Inscrutabili/, 1622) to
superintend the entire field of Catholic missions. He had the honour,
too, of canonising St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Francis Xavier, and St.
Philip Neri, and of approving the foundation of several new religious
orders.
During the Thirty Years' War he afforded every possible assistance to
Ferdinand II., and helped to secure the Palatinate for Maximilian of
Bavaria on the expulsion of Frederick. In return for this favour
Maximilian presented the Pope with a goodly portion of the library of
Heidelberg. By the judicious interposition of Gregory XV. war was
averted between Spain and Austria on the one side and France, Venice,
and Savoy on the other regarding the possession of the Valtelline,
while in England, though the Spanish Match which he favoured was
broken off, he succeeded in securing some respite for the persecuted
Catholics.
In the conclave that followed upon the death of Gregory XV. Cardinal
Barberini received the support of the electors and was proclaimed Pope
as Urban VIII. (1623-44). The new Pope was a man of exemplary life
whose greatest fault was his excessive partiality towards his
relatives, though it must be said that some of the relatives on whom
he bestowed favours were by no means unworthy of them. As a native of
Florence he seems to have caught up something of the spirit of
classical learning for which that city had been so renowned, as was
shown unfortunately too clearly in the Breviary that he published in
1632. He issued the Bull, /In Coena Domini/ in its final form, founded
a national college in Rome for students from Ireland, and issued a
series of strict and minute regulations on canonisation and
beatification, many of which remain in force till the present time.
The interests of the foreign missions were specially dear to the heart
of Urban VIII. To provide a supply of priests for them he established
the celebrated /Collegium Urbanum/ (1627), and established there a
printing-press for the use of the missionaries. He reduced the number
of holidays of obligation, opened China and Japan, till then reserved
for the Jesuits, to all missionaries, and forbade slavery of
whatsoever kind in Paraguay, Brazil and the West Indies.
For many reasons the political policy of Urban VIII. has been
criticised very severely. Too much money was wasted by him in
fortifying the Papal States and on the disastrous war with the Duke of
Parma (1641-44). He has been blamed also for his failure to support
Ferdinand II. more energetically during the Thirty Years' War, but in
reality this hostile view is based largely on a distorted view of the
war itself and of the policy of the Pope. It is not true that the Pope
sympathised with Gustavus Adolphus or that he grieved over his death.
Neither is it true that he procured the dismissal of Wallenstein from
the imperial service. It is a fact undoubtedly that he did not take
energetic measures to prevent the French from assisting the Protestant
princes and the Swedes against the Emperor, but it remains to be
proved that any remonstrances from the Pope, however strong, would
have proved effectual in the circumstances. In the later stages at any
rate the war could not be regarded at first sight as a religious one,
but at the same time it is to be regretted that Urban VIII. did not
recognise that the triumph of the enemies of the Emperor meant a
triumph for Lutheranism. In the war between Spain and Portugal
consequent upon the proclamation of the Duke of Braganza he
endeavoured to preserve an attitude of neutrality by refusing to
appoint to episcopal sees in Portugal the candidates presented by the
new king. The policy of Urban VIII. in regard to England and Ireland
will be dealt with under these countries.
When the conclave met to elect a successor to Urban VIII. it was soon
discovered that some of the cardinals wished to elect a Pope friendly
to Spain, wile others favoured a pro-French Pope. At length, as
neither party was sufficiently strong to ensure the required majority
for its nominee, a more or less neutral candidate was found in the
person of Cardinal Pamfili who took the title of Innocent X. (1644-
55).[12] He was a man of advanced years, who had served in many
offices with success, and who possessed many of the qualifications
required in a good ruler of the Church. Unfortunately, his flagrant
nepotism did him much harm and gave occasion to ugly rumours utterly
devoid of truth. Finding the papal treasury empty after his election
and believing that the relatives of the late Pope were responsible for
this, he took steps to secure a return from them; but they fled to
France, where they placed themselves under the protection of Cardinal
Mazarin, who succeeded in bringing about a reconciliation. Innocent X.
restored order in the Papal States, punished the Duke of Parma for his
crimes, especially for his supposed connexion with the murder of the
Bishop of Castro, and maintained friendly relations with Venice, which
he assisted against the Turks. He was deeply pained by the terms of
the Peace of Westphalia (1648) against which his representatives had
protested in vain, and which he condemned in the Bull, /Zelus Domus
Dei/ published in November 1648.
[1] /Catena, Vita del gloriossisimo Papa Pio V./, 1587. Gabutius, /De
Vita et rebus gestis Pii V./, 1605. Antony, /Saint Pius V./, 1911.
Grente, /Saint Pie V./, ("/Les Saints/"), 1914.
[2] Julien, /Papes et Sultans/, 1880. De la Graviere, /La Guerre de
Chypre et la bataille de Lepante/, 1888.
[3] Pieper, /Zur Enstehungsgeschichte der standigen Nuntiaturem/,
1894.
[4] Pierling, /Gregoire XIII. et Ivan le Terrible/ (/Revue des Quest.
Histor./, 1886).
[5] Hubner, /Sixte-Quint/, 3 vols., 1870.
[6] /Bullar. Rom./, iv. 4, 392.
[7] Wadding, /Vita Clementis VIII./, Rome, 1723.
[8] McIntyre, /Giordano Bruno/, 1903.
[9] Bzovius, /Vita Pauli V./, 1625.
[10] Campbell, /Vita di Fra Paolo Sarpi/, 1875. /Irish Ecc. Record/
xv., 524-40.
[11] /Bullar. Romanum/ (xii., 662 sqq.).
[12] Chinazzi, /Sede vacante per la morte del papa Urbano VIII. e
conclave di Innocenzo X./, 1904.
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