Pope Gregory XIV
| Pope Gregory XIV | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Rome | |
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Portrait identified as Gregory XIV (formerly identified as Urban VII ), c. 1591
| |
| Church | Catholic Church |
| Papacy began | 5 December 1590 |
| Papacy ended | 16 October 1591 |
| Predecessor | Urban VII |
| Successor | Innocent IX |
| Previous posts | Abbot of Civate (1551–1560) Bishop of Cremona (1560–1590) Cardinal-Priest of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere (1585–1590) |
| Orders | |
| Consecration | 19 May 1560 (Bishop) by Melchiorre Crivelli, O.P. |
| Created cardinal | 12 December 1583 by Gregory XIII |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Niccolò Sfondrato or Sfondrati 11 February 1535 Somma Lombardo, Duchy of Milan |
| Died | 16 October 1591 (aged 56) Rome, Papal States |
| Buried | St. Peter's Basilica |
| Other popes named Gregory | |
Pope Gregory XIV (Latin: Gregorius XIV; Italian: Gregorio XIV; 11 February 1535 – 16 October 1591), born Niccolò Sfondrato[1] or Sfondrati,[2] was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 5 December 1590 to his death, in October 1591.
Early career
Niccolò Sfondrati was born on 11 February 1535 at Somma Lombardo, then part of the Duchy of Milan, in the highest stratum of Milanese society. His mother, Anna of the House of Visconti, died in childbirth. His father Francesco Sfondrati, a senator of the ancient comune of Milan, after the death of his wife in 1538 entered in the ecclesiastic state and was created cardinal-priest by Pope Paul III in 1544.[3] As soon as appointed bishop of Cremona, Niccolò's father died in 1550.[4]
Niccolò in his youth was known for his modest lifestyle and stringent piety. He studied law at Perugia and he graduated in utroque iure at the University of Padua on 2 March 1555. He replaced his father as Commendatory abbot of the Abbey of Civate: differently from the uses of most commendatory abbots at that time, Niccolò with religious fervour took care of the buildings and reformed the religious life of the abbey.[4] In June 1552 he was appointed by Philip II of Spain a senator in Milan, and the Spanish government urged the Pope to appoint him Bishop of Cremona in 1557. That appointment occurred on 13 March 1560 with the election of Pope Pius IV, a Lombard as were the Sfondrati.[4] Niccolò Sfondrati was consecrated bishop in Milan on next 19 May by the auxiliary bishop of Milan Melchiorre Crivelli who acted in the name of Cardinal Charles Borromeo.[5][6]
He participated in the sessions of the Council of Trent from 1561 to 1563 where he took a position in favour of the divine origin of the residence of bishops in their diocese, a position not well seen by Rome. Returned in his diocese, he applied the reforms of the Council of Trent under the supervision of his Metropolitan Archbishop, Cardinal Charles Borromeo, to whom he was related.[4] Pope Gregory XIII made him a Cardinal-Priest of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere on 12 December 1583. When the Cardinal Borromeo died, Niccolò Sfondrati celebrated the Requiem Mass for Borromeo on 7 November 1584.[7] Sfondrati was an intimate friend and a great admirer of Philip Neri, an Italian priest who died in 1595 and was canonised in 1622.
Papal election
After the death of Pope Urban VII on 27 September 1590, the Spanish ambassador Olivares presented the conclave a list of the seven cardinals who would be acceptable to his master Philip II of Spain. On 5 December 1590, after two months of deadlock, Sfondrati, who was on Philip II's list but had not aspired to the office, was elected pope. Cardinal Alessandro Peretti di Montalto came to Sfondrati's cell to inform him that the Sacred College had agreed on his election and found him kneeling in prayer before a crucifix.
On the day after he was elected Pope, Gregory XIV burst into tears and said to the cardinals: "God forgive you! What have you done?" In his bull of 21 March 1591, Cogit nos, he forbade under pain of excommunication all betting concerning the election of a Pope, the duration of a pontificate, or the creation of new cardinals.
Papacy
Gregory XIV's brief pontificate was marked by vigorous intervention in favour of the Catholic party in the French Wars of Religion. Instigated by the king of Spain and the duke of Mayenne, he excommunicated Henry IV of France on 1 March 1591, reiterating the 1585 declaration of Pope Sixtus V that as a heretic (Protestant) Henry was ineligible to succeed to the throne of Catholic France and ordered the clergy, nobles, judicial functionaries, and the Third Estate of France to renounce him.
Gregory XIV levied an army for the invasion of France, and dispatched his nephew Ercole Sfondrati to France at its head. He also sent a monthly subsidy of 15,000 scudi to Paris to reinforce the Catholic League. By coming down solidly on the side of Spanish interests, in part because Gregory XIV was elected due to the influence of the Spanish cardinals, the recent Papal policy of trying to maintain a balance between Spain and France was abandoned.
Gregory XIV created five cardinals in two consistories, among whom was his nephew Paolo Emilio Sfondrati, his Secretary of State. He attempted to convince Philip Neri, a long-time friend, to accept the post of Cardinal, but Neri refused, saying that there were many more deserving of the honour than him.
In a decree dated 18 April 1591 (Bulla Cum Sicuti), Gregory XIV ordered reparations to be made by Catholics in the Philippines to the natives, who had been forced into slavery by Europeans, and he commanded under pain of excommunication of the owners that all native slaves in the islands be set free.
The biographers mention that Pope Gregory XIV had a nervous tendency to laughter, which occasionally became irresistible and even manifested itself at his coronation. Gregory XIV, who was in poor health before his election to the papacy, died due to a large gallstone and was succeeded by Innocent IX.
See also
From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia
Pope Gregory XIV — (NICCOLÒ SPONDRATI).
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.
RANKE, History of the Popes (London, 1906), II, 33-8; BROSCH, Geschichte des Kirchenstaates (Gotha, 1880), I, 300 sq.; PALATIUS, Gesta Pontificum Romanorum (Venice, 1688), IV, 425-36; CIACONIUS-OLDONIUS, Historioe Romanorum Pontificum (Rome, 1677), IV, 213 sq.
References
- Back to citation "Baynes, T. S; Smith, W. R., eds. (1880). "Gregory XIV.". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 11 (9th ed.). New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
- Back to citation Leijenhorst, Cees (1998). "Francesco Patrizi's Hermetic Philosophy". Van den Broek, Roel; Hanegraaff, Wouter J. (eds.). Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times. State University of New York Press. p. 125.
- Back to citation Terence Scully, The Opera of Bartolomeo Scappi (1570), (University of Toronto Press, 2008), vi.
- Back to citation occurrence 4.0 Back to citation occurrence 4.1 Back to citation occurrence 4.2 Back to citation occurrence 4.3 Borromeo, Agostino (2002). "Gregorio XIV, papa". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (in Italian). Vol. 59: Graziano–Grossi Gondi. Rome: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana. ISBN 978-88-12-00032-6.
- Back to citation David Cheney. "Pope Gregory XIV". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
- Back to citation Archivio di Stato di Milano, Atti notarili della Cancelleria arcivescovile, b. 22, fasc. 80
- Back to citation "Miranda, "Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church"".
External links
- "Gregory (Popes)/Gregory XIV". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.
- Biography on St. Michael's Call Papal Library
- Defending the Faith website: Gregory XIV
- "Pope Gregory XIV". Germania Sacra people index (in German). Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities.