Jump to content

Pope Nicholas IV

From Catholicism Wiki
Pope
Nicholas IV
Bishop of Rome
Portrait in the apse of Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome
Portrait in the apse of Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome
Church Catholic Church
Papacy began 22 February 1288
Papacy ended 4 April 1292
Predecessor Honorius IV
Successor Celestine V
Previous posts Minister General of Order of Friars Minor (1274–1279)
Cardinal-Priest of Santa Pudenziana (1278–1281)
Cardinal-Bishop of Palestrina (1281–1288)
Orders
Consecration 1281
Created cardinal 12 March 1278
by Nicholas III
Personal details
Born Girolamo Masci
30 September 1227
Lisciano, Kingdom of Naples
Died 4 April 1292 (aged 64)
Rome, Papal States
Other popes named Nicholas

Pope Nicholas IV (Latin: Nicolaus IV; born Girolamo Masci; 30 September 1227 – 4 April 1292) was head of the Catholic Church and leader of the Papal States from 22 February 1288 to his death, on 4 April 1292. He was the first Franciscan to be elected pope.[1]

Early life

Jerome Masci (Girolamo Masci) was born on 30 September 1227 at Lisciano, near Ascoli Piceno.[2][3] He was a pious, peace-loving man whose goals as a Franciscan friar were to protect the Church, promote the crusades, and root out heresy. According to Heinrich of Rebdorf, he was a Doctor of Theology.[4] As a Franciscan friar, he had been elected the Order's superior (minister) for Dalmatia during the Franciscan general chapter held at Pisa in 1272. Pope Gregory X (1271-1276), was sending a legate to the Byzantine emperor, Michael VIII Palaiologos, in 1272, to invite the participation of Byzantine prelates in the Second Council of Lyons. The pope's ambition was to achieve a reunion of Eastern and Western Christendom. St Bonaventure, then minister general of the Order of Friars Minor (Franciscans), was asked to select four Franciscans to accompany the legation as nuncios. He chose Friar Jerome Masci as one of the four.[5] When Bonaventure died suddenly during the fifth session of the Order's General Chapter at Lyons on 15 July 1274, Friar Jerome Masci was elected to succeed him as the Franciscan minister general, even though he was absent at the time, only then returning with the Byzantine delegates from the embassy to Constantinople.[6]

Jerome was the associate of John of Vercelli, master general of the Dominican Order, when the latter was sent by Pope Nicholas III (Giovanni Caetani Orsini) on 15 October 1277, to arrange a peace between Philip IV of France and Alfonso III of Aragon. Jerome and John of Vercelli were again appointed to the same task on 4 April 1278.[7] At the same time, Jerome was ordered to continue for the time being as the Franciscan Minister General.[8]

In 1278 Jerome was made cardinal priest by Pope Nicholas III, and at some point after 16 May 1279 was assigned the titular church of Santa Pudenziana. Even after his appointment as a cardinal, he was allowed to remain as minister general of the Franciscans until the next general chapter. In the event, however, he was unable to attend the chapter for reasons of ill health, as a letter of apology of Pope Nicholas III, written in May 1279, indicates.[9] On 12 April 1281 he was promoted to cardinal bishop of Palestrina by Pope Martin IV.[10]

Pontificate

Papal conclave

After the death of Pope Honorius IV on 3 April 1287, a conclave was held in Rome, at the papal palace next to Santa Sabina on the Aventine Hill, where Pope Honorius had died.[11] This was in accordance with the Constitution Ubi periculum of Pope Gregory X. At the beginning, in April, there were thirteen cardinals in Rome; three cardinals—Gerardo Bianchi, Giovanni Boccamati, and Jean Cholet—did not attend at all. The Sacred College was for a time hopelessly divided in its selection of a successor. When six of the electors died during the year 1287 (Ancher Pantaleon, Geoffrey de Bar, Hugh of Evesham, Giordano Orsini, Comes de Casanate, and Goffredo of Alatri—some, at least, carried off by fever), the others, with the sole exception of Jerome Masci, left the conclave and returned to their homes. It was not until the following year that they reassembled. The electors at that time were seven in number: Jerome Masci, along with Latino Malabranca, Bentivenga de Bentivengis, Bernard de Languissel, Matteo Rosso Orsini, Giacomo Colonna, and Benedetto Caetani. On 15 February 1288, the survivors unanimously elected Jerome Masci, to the papacy on the first scrutiny. It is said that the cardinals were impressed by his steadfastness in remaining at the papal palace, but there is no real documentation as to their motives. As he admitted in his electoral manifesto, Cardinal Masci was extremely reluctant to accept,[12] and indeed he persisted in his refusal for an entire week. Finally, on 22 February, he gave in and agreed.[13] He became the first Franciscan pope and chose the name Nicholas IV in remembrance of Nicholas III, who had made him a cardinal.[10]

New cardinals

Given the considerable losses to the numbers of the Sacred College in 1286 and 1287, it is not surprising that Nicholas IV quickly proceeded to fill vacancies. What is surprising is that he did not even reach the number of cardinals who were alive under Honorius IV, let alone exceed it. On 16 May 1288, he named six new cardinals: Bernardus Calliensis, Bishop of Osimo (who died in 1291), Hugues Aiscelin (Seguin) de Billon, OP, of the diocese of Clermont in the Auvergne;[14] Matthew of Aquasparta in Tuscany, minister general of the Franciscans since 1287; Pietro Peregrosso of Milan, the vice-chancellor of the Holy Roman Church; Napoleone Orsini; and Pietro Colonna.[15]

Nicholas IV issued an important constitution on 18 July 1289, which granted to the cardinals one-half of all income accruing to the Holy See and a share in the financial management, thereby paving the way for that independence of the College of Cardinals which, in the following century, was to be of detriment to the papacy.

Actions

In regard to the question of the Sicilian succession, as feudal suzerain of the kingdom, Nicholas annulled the treaty, concluded in 1288 through the mediation of Edward I of England, which confirmed James II of Aragon in the possession of the island of Sicily. This treaty had not properly seen to papal interests. In May 1289 he crowned Charles II as king of Sicily after the latter had expressly recognized papal suzerainty, and in February 1291 concluded a treaty with Kings Alfonso III of Aragon and Philip IV of France looking toward the expulsion of James from Sicily.[10]

In 1288 Nicholas met with the Nestorian Christian Rabban Bar Sauma from China.

In August 1290 he granted the status of studium generale to the university that King Denis of Portugal has just founded a few months earlier in the city of Lisbon.[16]

The loss of Acre in 1291 stirred Nicholas IV to renewed enthusiasm for a crusade. He sent missionaries, among them the Franciscan John of Monte Corvino,[1] to labour among the Bulgarians, Ethiopians, Mongols, Tatars and Chinese.

Death

Nicholas IV died in Rome on 4 April 1292, in the palace which he had built next to the Liberian Basilica (S. Maria Maggiore). He was buried in the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore.[17] His epitaph reads: "Here lies Nicolas IV son of St. Francis" (Hic requiescit / Nicolaus PP Quartus / Filius Beati Francisci).[18] His death lies on Good Friday, being 2 days before Easter Sunday on 6 April 1292 (in the Julian calendar).[19]

Taxatio

The 1291–92 Taxatio he initiated, which was a detailed valuation for ecclesiastical taxation of English and Welsh parish churches and prebends, remains an important source document for the medieval period. An edition was reprinted by the Record Commission in 1802 as Taxatio Ecclesiastica Angliae et Walliae Auctoritate.[20]

See also

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Pope Nicholas IV — (GIROLAMO MASCI)

Born at Ascoli in the March of Ancona; died in Rome, 4 April, 1292. He was of humble extraction, and at an early age entered the Franciscan Order. In 1272 he was sent as a delegate to Constantinople to invite the participation of the Greeks in the Second Council of Lyons. Two years later he succeeded St. Bonaventure in the generalship of his order. While he was on a mission to France to promote the restoration of peace between that country and Castile, he was created cardinal-priest with the title of Santa Pudenziana (1278) and in 1281 Martin IV appointed him Bishop of Palestrina. After the death of Honorius IV (3 April, 1287), the conclave held at Rome was for a time hopelessly divided in its selection of a successor. When fever had carried off six of the electors, the others, with the sole exception of Girolamo, left Rome. It was not until the following year that they reassembled and on 15 February, 1288, unanimously elected him to the papacy. Obedience and a second election however (22 February) were alone capable of overcoming his reluctance to accept the supreme pontificate. He was the first Franciscan pope, and in loving remembrance of Nicholas III he assumed the name of Nicholas IV.

The reign of the new pope was not characterized by sufficient independence. The undue influence exercised at Rome by the Colonna is especially noteworthy and was so apparent even during his lifetime that Roman wits represented him encased in a column - the distinctive mark of the Colonna family - out of which only his tiara-covered head emerged. The efforts of Rudolf of Habsburg to receive the imperial crown at the hands of the new pope were not successful. His failure was partly due to the estrangement consequent upon the attitude assumed by the pope in the question of the Sicilian succession. As feudal suzerain of the kingdom, Nicholas annulled the treaty, concluded in 1288 through the mediation of Edward I of England, which confirmed James of Aragon in the possession of the island, He lent his support to the rival claims of the House of Anjou and crowned Charles II King of Sicily and Naples at Rieti, 29 May, 1289, after the latter had expressly acknowledged the suzerainty of the Apostolic See and promised not to accept any municipal dignity in the States of the Church. The action of the pope did not end the armed struggle for the possession of Sicily nor did it secure the kingdom permanently to the House of Anjou. Rudolf of Habsburg also failed to obtain from the pope the repeal of the authorization, granted the French king, to levy tithes in certain German districts for the prosecution of the war against the House of Aragon. When he appointed his son Albert to succeed Ladislaus IV of Hungary (31 August, 1290), Nicholas claimed the realm as a papal fief and conferred it upon Charles Martel, son of Charles II of Naples.

In 1291 the fall of Ptolemais put an end to Christian dominion in the East. Previous to this tragic event, Nicholas had in vain endeavoured to organize a crusade. He now called upon all the Christian princes to take up arms against the Mussulman and instigated the holding of councils to devise the means of sending assistance to the Holy Land. These synods were to discuss likewise the advisability of the union of the Knights Templars and Knights of St. John, as the dissensions among them had partly caused the loss of Ptolemais. The pope himself initiated the preparations for the crusade and fitted out twenty ships for the war. His appeals and his example remained unheeded, however, and nothing of permanent value was accomplished.

Nicholas IV sent missionaries, among them the celebrated John of Montecorvino (q. v.), to the Bulgarians, Ethiopians, Tatars, and Chinese. By his constitution of 18 July, 1289, the cardinals were granted one half of the revenues of the Apostolic See and a share in the financial administration. In 1290 he renewed the condemnation of the sect known as the Apostolici (q. v.). Nicholas was pious and learned; he contributed to the artistic beauty of Rome, building particularly a palace beside Santa Maria Maggiore, the church in which he was buried and where Sixtus V erected an imposing monument to his memory.

LANGLOIS, Les Registres de Nicolas IV (Paris, 1886-93); POTTHAST, Regesta pontificum Romanorum, II (Berlin, 1875), 1826-1915; KALTENBRUNNER, Aktenstücke zur Gesch, des Deutschen Reiches unter Rudolf I und Albrecht I (Vienna, 1889); REUMONT, Gesch, der Stadt Rom, II (Berlin, 1867), 611-14; SCHIFF, Studien zur Gesch. Papst Nikolaus, IV (Berlin, 1897); MASSI, Niccolò IV (Sinigaglia, 1905); SCHAFF, History of the Christian Church, V, pt. I (New York, 1907), 207, 287, 410.

References

  1. Back to citation occurrence 1.0 Back to citation occurrence 1.1 McBrien, Richard P., Live of the Popes, p.226, Harper Collins, 2000
  2. Back to citation Hourihane, Colum (2012). The Grove Encyclopedia of Medieval Art and Architecture, Volume 2. OUP USA. p. 441. ISBN 978-0195395365.
  3. Back to citation Kelly, J N D; Walsh, Michael (2010). A Dictionary of Popes. Oxford: OUP Oxford. p. 207. ISBN 978-0199295814.
  4. Back to citation Marquardi Freheri, Rerum Germanicarum Scriptores editio tertia (curante Burcardo Gotthelffio Struvio) Tomus Primus (Argentorati: sumptibus Ioannis Reinholdi Dulsseckerii 1717), p. 605.
  5. Back to citation Luca Wadding, Annales Minorum IV second edition (edited by J. M. Fonseca) (Rome 1732), p. 345. Their instructions, drawn up by Pope Gregory, are printed at pp. 353-355.
  6. Back to citation Luke Wadding, Annales Minorum IV second edition (edited by J.M. Fonseca) (Rome 1732), p. 399 and 411.
  7. Back to citation August Potthast, Regesta Pontificum Romanorum II (Berlin 1875), nos. 21165, 21294-21295; 21310; and see A. Theiner, Caesaris S.R.E. Card. Baronii Annales Ecclesiastici 22 (Bar-le-Duc 1870), under the year 1277, no. 47, p. 402.
  8. Back to citation Potthast, no. 21356.
  9. Back to citation Potthast, no. 21582.
  10. Back to citation occurrence 10.0 Back to citation occurrence 10.1 Back to citation occurrence 10.2 Weber, Nicholas. "Pope Nicholas IV." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 29 Jan. 2015. Conrad Eubel, Hierarchia catholica medii aevi I, editio altera, (Monasterii 1913), pp. 10, 37, 46; and cf. p. 206.
  11. Back to citation "Sede Vacante and Conclave of 1287-1288 (Dr. J. P. Adams)".
  12. Back to citation Judicia Dei abyssus in A. Theiner, Caesaris S.R.E. Card. Baronii Annales Ecclesiastici 23 (Bar-le-Duc 1871), under the year 1288, § 5; p. 25; V. Langlois, Registres de Nicolas IV I, pp. 1-3 no. 1 (February 23, 1288).
  13. Back to citation This is the story told by Heinrich of Rebdorf, in Marquardi Freheri, Rerum Germanicarum Scriptores editio tertia (curante Burcardo Gotthelffio Struvio) Tomus Primus (Argentorati: sumptibus Ioannis Reinholdi Dulsseckerii 1717), p. 605.
  14. Back to citation Hugues Aiscelin was Master of the Sacred Palaces, appointed either by Martin IV or Honorius IV: J. Catalano, De magistro sacri palatii apostolici (Rome 1751), pp. 62-63.
  15. Back to citation Conradus Eubel, Hierarchia catholica medii aevi I, editio altera (Monasterii 1913), p. 11.
  16. Back to citation The Papacy and the Rise of the Universities, Gaines Post, Education and Society in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, Vol. 54, ed. William J. Courtney, Jurgen Miethke, Frank Rexroth and Jacques Verger, (Brill, 2017), 188.
  17. Back to citation A. Theiner, Caesaris S.R.E. Card. Baronii Annales Ecclesiastici 23 (Bar-le-Duc 1870), under the year 1292, § 17, p. 123. Richard P. McBrien, Live of the Popes, 226. His sepulchral inscription is recorded by Vincenzo Forcella, Inscrizioni delle chiese di Roma XI (Roma 1877), p. 11, no. 6.
  18. Back to citation Marioli, Luigi (2014). "Premessa". In Callori di Vignale, Flavia; Santamaria, Ulderico (eds.). Il Calice di Guccio di Mannaia (in Italian). Edizioni Musei Vaticani. p. 10. ISBN 9788882713300.
  19. Back to citation "Side-by-side Easter calendar reference for the 13th century". Petko Yotov's website. Retrieved 22 April 2025; "Easter Date Tables". Dr Mike's Math Games for Kids. Retrieved 22 April 2025; "Nicholas IV". Web Gallery of Art. Retrieved 22 April 2025.
  20. Back to citation The Taxatio Project Archived 2016-06-29 at the Wayback Machine, Humanities Research Institute, University of Sheffield

Bibliography

  • Otto Schiff, Studien zur Geschichte Papst Nikolaus' IV. (Berlin 1897) (Historiswche Studien 5).
  • Gustavo Parisciani, Nicolò IV, fra Girolamo Masci d' Ascoli, primo papa francescano. VII centenario del pontificato 1288-1292. (Ancona 1988).
  • Antonio Franchi, Nicolaus papa IV 1288-1292 (Girolamo d'Ascoli) (Ascoli Piceno 1990).
  • Giulia Barone, "Niccolo IV," Enciclopedia dei papi (Roma 2000) I, pp. 455–459.
Retrieved from "https://catholicism.wiki/index.php?title=Pope_Nicholas_IV&oldid=118464"