Pope Clement XI

Pope Clement XI
Clement XI
Papacy began 23 November 1700
Papacy ended 19 March 1721
(&1000000000000002000000020 years, &10000000000000116000000116 days)
Predecessor Innocent XII
Successor Innocent XIII
Orders
Ordination September 1700
Consecration 30 November, 1700
by Emmanuel-Theódose de la Tour d’Auvergne de Bouillon
Created Cardinal 13 February, 1690
Personal details
Birth name Giovanni Francesco Albani
Born 23 July 1649(1649-07-23)
Urbino, Papal State
Died 19 March 1721(1721-03-19) (aged 71)
Rome, Papal State
Other Popes named Clement

Pope Clement XI (23 July 1649 – 19 March 1721), born Giovanni Francesco Albani, was Pope from 1700 until his death in 1721.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Albani was born in Urbino, into a noble family that had established itself there from northern Albania in the 15th century[1] and were originally soldiers of Scanderbeg against the Ottoman Empire. During his reign as a Pope the famous Illyricum Sacrum was commissioned, and today it is one of the main sources of the field of Albanology, with over 5000 pages divided in several volumes written by Daniele Farlati and Dom. Coletti.

He was governor of Rieti and Urbino, and was created Cardinal-Deacon of S. Maria in Aquiro by Pope Alexander VIII. He succeeded as Pope on November 23, 1700.

Medal depicting Clement XI.

Reign

Papal styles of
Pope Clement XI
C o a Clemente XI.svg
Reference style His Holiness
Spoken style Your Holiness
Religious style Holy Father
Posthumous style None

Soon after his accession, the War of Spanish Succession broke out.

Despite initially holding an ambiguous neutrality, Clement was later forced to name Charles, Archduke of Austria, as King of Spain, since the imperial army had conquered much of northern Italy and was threatening Rome itself (January 1709).

By the Treaty of Utrecht that concluded the War, the Papal States lost their suzerainty over the Farnese Duchy of Parma and Piacenza in favour of Austria, and lost Comacchio as well. It was a blow from which the declining prestige of the Papal States would never recover.

In 1713 the bull Unigenitus was published. The bull greatly disturbed the peace of the Gallican (French) church. It condemned 101 propositions from the works of Quesnel as heretical and as identical with propositions already condemned in the writings of Jansen.

The resistance of many French ecclesiastics and the refusal of the French parlements to register the bull led to controversies extending through the greater part of the 18th century. Because the local governments did not officially receive the bull, it was not, technically, in force in those areas – an example of the interference of states in religious affairs common before the 20th century.

During his time as pope, Clement XI made a concerted effort to acquire Christian manuscripts in Syriac from Egypt and other places in the Middle East, greatly expanding the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana's collection of Syriac works.[2]

Chinese Rites controversies

Another important decision of Clement XI was in regard to the Chinese Rites controversy: the Jesuit missionaries were forbidden to take part in honors paid to Confucius or the ancestors of the Emperors of China, which Clement XI identified as "idolatrous and barbaric", and to accommodate Christian language to pagan ideas under plea of conciliating the heathen.

Clement XI died at Rome in 1721 and was buried in the pavement of St. Peter's Basilica.

Construction activity and patronage

Pope Clement shunned nepotism. His nephew Annibale was appointed a cardinal, but only through personal merit[citation needed].

As a builder, Clement had a famous sundial added in the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri and had an obelisk erected in the Piazza del Pantheon and a river port built on the Tiber River.

He established a committee, overseen by his favourite artists, Carlo Maratta and Carlo Fontana, to commission statuary of the apostles to complete the decoration of San Giovanni in Laterano. He also founded a painting and sculpting academy in the Campidoglio.

He also enriched the Vatican library with numerous Oriental codices and patronaged the first archaeological excavations in the Roman catacombs. In his native Urbino he restored numerous edifices and founded a public library.

References

  1. ^ Herbermann, Charles George; Knights of Columbus, Catholic Truth Committee (1913). The Catholic Encyclopedia. The New York Public Library: Robert Appleton Company. p. 255. http://books.google.com/books?id=FmgQAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA255&dq=illyricum+sacrum+albanian&cd=2#v=onepage&q=illyricum%20sacrum%20albanian&f=false. Retrieved 05/12/2010. 
  2. ^ Heal, Kristian S. (1 2005). "Vatican Syriac Manuscripts: Volume 1". HUGOYE: JOURNAL OF SYRIAC STUDIES 8 (1). http://syrcom.cua.edu/hugoye/Vol8No1/index.html. Retrieved 17 April 2011. 
  • Wikisource-logo.svg "Pope Clement XI" in the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia.
  • Rendina, Claudio (1983). I papi. Storia e segreti. Rome: Netwon & Compton. pp. 586–588. 


Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
Innocent XII
Pope
1700–21
Succeeded by
Innocent XIII

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Pope Clement V — Clement V Papacy began 5 June 1305 Papacy ended 20 April 1314 Predecessor Benedict XI …   Wikipedia

  • Pope Clement X — Clement X Painting by Giovanni Battista Gaulli Papacy began 29 April 1670 Papacy ended 22 July 1676 ( 100000000000000060000006 years, 1000000000000008400000084 days) …   Wikipedia

  • Pope Clement IV — Clement IV Papacy began February 5, 1265 Papacy ended November 29, 1268 Predecessor …   Wikipedia

  • Pope Clement VI — Clement VI Papacy began May 7, 1342 Papacy ended December 6, 1352 Predecessor Benedict XII Successor …   Wikipedia

  • Pope Clement V —     Pope Clement V     † Catholic Encyclopedia ► Pope Clement V     (BERTRAND DE GOT.)     Born at Villandraut in Gascony, France, 1264; died at Roquemaure, 20 April, 1314. He was elected, 5 June, 1305, at Perugia as successor to Benedict XI,… …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Pope Clement IX — Clement IX Papacy began 20 June 1667 Papacy ended 9 December 1669 ( 100000000000000020000002 years, 10000000000000172000000172 day …   Wikipedia

  • Pope Clement II — Clement II Papacy began December 25 1046) Papacy ended October 1047 Predecessor Gregory VI …   Wikipedia

  • Pope Clement XI —     Pope Clement XI     † Catholic Encyclopedia ► Pope Clement XI     (GIOVANNI FRANCESCO ALBANI).     Born at Urbino, 23 July, 1649; elected 23 November, 1700; died at Rome 19 March, 1721. The Albani (q.v.) were a noble Umbrian family. Under… …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Pope Clement VI —     Pope Clement VI     † Catholic Encyclopedia ► Pope Clement VI     (PIERRE ROGER)     Born 1291 in the castle of Maumont, departmentof Corrèze, France, elected pope, 7 May, 1342, at Avignon, where he died 6 December, 1352. At the age of ten he …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Pope Clement IV —     Pope Clement IV     † Catholic Encyclopedia ► Pope Clement IV     (GUIDO LE GROS).     Born at Saint Gilles on the Rhone, 23 November, year unknown; elected at Perugia 5 February, 1265; d. at Viterbo, 29 November, 1268. After the death of… …   Catholic encyclopedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”