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Home > Catholic Encyclopedia > C > Pope Clement XI


POPE CLEMENT XI

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(GIOVANNI FRANCESCO ALBANI).

Born at Urbino, 23 July, 1649; elected 23 November, 1700; died at Rome 19 March,
1721. The Albani were a noble Umbrian family. Under Urban VIII the grandfather
of the future pope had held for thirteen years the honourable office of Senator
of Rome. An uncle, Annibale Albani, was a distinguished scholar and was Prefect
of the Vatican Library. Giovanni Francesco was sent to Rome in his eleventh year
to prosecute his studies at the Roman College. He made rapid progress and was
known as an author at the age of eighteen, translating from the Greek into
elegant Latin. He attracted the notice of the patroness of Roman literati, Queen
Christina of Sweden, who before he became of age enrolled him in her exclusive
Accademia. With equal ardour and success, he applied himself to the profounder
branches, theology and law, and was created doctor of canon and civil law. So
brilliant an intellect, joined with stainless morals and piety, secured for him
a rapid advancement at the papal court. At the age of twenty-eight he was made a
prelate, and governed successively Rieti, Sabina, and Orvieto, everywhere
acceptable on account of his reputation for justice and prudence. Recalled to
Rome, he was appointed Vicar of St. Peter's, and on the death of Cardinal Slusio
succeeded to the important position of Secretary of Papal Briefs, which he held
for thirteen years, and for which his command of classical latinity singularly
fitted him. On 13 February, 1690, he was created cardinal-deacon and later
Cardinal-Priest of the Title of San Silvestro, and was ordained to the
priesthood.



The conclave of 1700 would have terminated speedily with the election of
Cardinal Mariscotti, had not the veto of France rendered the choice of that able
cardinal impossible. After deliberating for forty-six days, the Sacred College
united in selecting Cardinal Albani, whose virtues and ability overbalanced the
objection that he was only fifty-one years old. Three days were spent in the
effort to overcome his reluctance to accept a dignity the heavy burden of which
none knew better than the experienced curialist (Galland in Hist. Jahrbuch,
1882, III, 208 sqq.). The period was critical for Europe and the papacy. During
the conclave Charles II, the last of the Spanish Hapsburgs, had died childless,
leaving his vast dominions a prey to French and Austrian ambition. His will,
making Philip of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV, sole heir to the Spanish Empire,
was contested by the Emperor Leopold, who claimed Spain for his second son
Charles. The late king, before making this will, had consulted Pope Innocent
XII, and Cardinal Albani had been one of the three cardinals to whom the pontiff
had entrusted the case and who advised him to pronounce secretly in its favour.
This was at the time unknown to the emperor, else Austria would have vetoed the
election of Albani. The latter was finally persuaded that it was his duty to
obey the call from Heaven; on 30 November he was consecrated bishop, and on 8
December solemnly enthroned in the Vatican. The enthusiasm with which his
elevation was greeted throughout the world is the best evidence of his worth.
Even Protestants received the intelligence with joy and the city of Nuremberg
struck a medal in his honour. The sincere Catholic reformers greeted his
accession as the death-knell of nepotism; for, though he had many relatives, it
was known that he had instigated and written the severe condemnation of that
abuse issued by his predecessor. As pontiff, he did not belie his principles. He
bestowed the offices of his court upon the most worthy subjects and ordered his
brother to keep at a distance and refrain from adopting any new title or
interfering in matters of state. In the government of the States of the Church,
Clement was a capable administrator. He provided diligently for the needs of his
subjects, was extremely charitable to the poor, bettered the condition of the
prisons, and secured food for the populace in time of scarcity. He won the good
will of artists by prohibiting the exportation of ancient masterpieces, and of
scientists by commissioning Bianchini to lay down on the pavement of Sta Maria
degli Angioli the meridian of Rome, known as the Clementina.

His capacity for work was prodigious. He slept but little and ate so sparingly
that a few pence per day sufficed for his table. Every day he confessed and
celebrated Mass. He entered minutely into the details of every measure which
came before him, and with his own hand prepared the numerous allocutions,
Briefs, and constitutions afterwards collected and published. He also found time
to preach his beautiful homilies and was frequently to be seen in the
confessional. Though his powerful frame more than once sank under the weight of
his labours and cares, he continued to keep rigorously the fasts of the Church,
and generally allowed himself but the shortest possible respite from his
labours.

In his efforts to establish peace among the powers of Europe and to uphold the
rights of the Church, he met with scant success; for the eighteenth century was
eminently the age of selfishness and infidelity. One of his first public acts
was to protest against the assumption (1701) by the Elector of Brandenburg of
the title of King of Prussia. The pope's action, though often derided and
misinterpreted, was natural enough, not only because the bestowal of royal
titles had always been regarded as the privilege of the Holy See, but also
because Prussia belonged by ancient right to the ecclesiastico-military
institute known as the Teutonic Order. In the troubles excited by the rivalry of
France and the Empire for the Spanish succession, Pope Clement resolved to
maintain a neutral attitude; but this was found to be impossible. When,
therefore, the Bourbon was crowned in Madrid as Philip V, amid the universal
acclamations of the Spaniards, the pope acquiesced and acknowledged the validity
of his title. This embittered the morose Emperor Leopold, and the relations
between Austria and the Holy See became so strained that the pope did not
conceal his satisfaction when the French and Bavarian troops began that march on
Vienna which ended so disastrously on the field of Blenheim. Marlborough's
victory, followed by Prince Eugene's successful campaign in Piedmont, placed
Italy at the mercy of the Austrians. Leopold died in 1705 and was succeeded by
his oldest son Joseph, a worthy precursor of Joseph II. A contest immediately
began on the question known as Jus primarum precum, involving the right of the
crown to appoint to vacant benefices. The victorious Austrians, now masters of
Northern Italy, invaded the Papal States, took possession of Piacenza and Parma,
annexed Comacchio and besieged Ferrara. Clement at first offered a spirited
resistance, but, abandoned by all, could not hope for success, and when a strong
detachment of Protestant troops under the command of the Prince of Hesse-Cassel
reached Bologna, fearing a repetition of the fearful scenes of 1527, he finally
gave way (15 Jan., 1709), acknowledged the Archduke Charles as King of Spain
"without detriment to the rights of another", and promised him the investiture
of Naples. Though the Bourbon monarchs had done nothing to aid the pope in his
unequal struggle, both Louis and Philip became very indignant and retaliated by
every means in their power (see LOUIS XIV). In the negotiations preceding the
Peace of Utrecht (1713) the rights of the pope were studiously neglected; his
nuncio was not accorded a hearing; his dominions were parcelled out to suit the
convenience of either party. Sicily was given to Victor Amadeus II of Savoy,
with whom from the first days of his pontificate Clement was involved in
quarrels on the subjects of ecclesiastical immunities and appointments to vacant
benefices. The new king now undertook to revive the so-called Monarchia Sicula,
an ancient but much-disputed and abused privilege of pontifical origin which
practically excluded the pope from any authority over the church in Sicily. When
Clement answered with bann and interdict, all the clergy, about 3000 in number,
who remained loyal to the Holy See were banished the island, and the pope was
forced to give them food and shelter. The interdict was not raised till 1718,
when Spain regained possession, but the old controversy was repeatedly resumed
under the Bourbons. Through the machinations of Cardinal Alberoni, Parma and
Piacenza were granted to a Spanish Infante without regard to the papal
overlordship. It was some consolation to the much-tried pope that Augustus of
Saxony, King of Poland, returned to the Church. Clement laboured hard to restore
harmony in Poland, but without success. The Turks had taken advantage of the
dissensions among the Christians to invade Europe by land and sea. Clement
proclaimed a jubilee, sent money and ships to the assistance of the Venetians,
and granted a tithe on all benefices to the Emperor Charles VI. When Prince
Eugene won the great battle of Temesvár, which put an end to the Turkish danger,
no slight share of the credit was given by the Christian world to the pope and
the Holy Rosary. Clement sent the great commander a blessed hat and sword. The
fleet which Philip V of Spain had raised at the instigation of the pope, and
with subsidies levied on church revenues, was diverted by Alberoni to the
conquest of Sardinia; and though Clement showed his indignation by demanding the
dismissal of the minister, and beginning a process against him, he had much to
do to convince the emperor that he was not privy to the treacherous transaction.
He gave a generous hospitality to the exiled son of James II of England, James
Edward Stuart, and helped him to obtain the hand of Clementina, John Sobieski's
accomplished granddaughter, mother of Charles Edward.



Clement's pastoral vigilance was felt in every corner of the earth. He organized
the Church in the Philippine Islands and sent missionaries to every distant
spot. He erected Lisbon into a patriarchate, 7 December, 1716. He enriched the
Vatican Library with the manuscript treasures gathered at the expense of the
pope by Joseph Simeon Assemani in his researches throughout Egypt and Syria. In
the unfortunate controversy between the Dominican and the Jesuit missionaries in
China concerning the permissibility of certain rites and customs, Clement
decided in favour of the former. When the Jansenists provoked a new collision
with the Church under the leadership of Quesnel, Pope Clement issued his two
memorable Constitutions, "Vineam Domini", 16 July, 1705, and "Unigenitus", 10
September, 1713 (see UNIGENITUS; VINEAM DOMINI; JANSENISM). Clement XI made the
feast of the Conception of the B.V.M. a Holy Day of obligation, and canonized
Pius V, Andrew of Avellino, Felix of Cantalice, and Catherine of Bologna.

This great and saintly pontiff died appropriately on the feast of St. Joseph,
for whom he entertained a particular devotion, and in whose honour he composed
the special Office found in the Breviary. His remains rest in St. Peter's. His
official acts, letters, and Briefs, also his homilies, were collected and
published by his nephew, Cardinal Annibale Albani (2 vols., Rome, 1722-24).




SOURCES

POLIDORI, De vita et rebus gestis Clementis XI libri sex (Urbino, 1724), also in
FASSINI, Supplemento to NATALIS ALEXANDER, Historia Ecclesiastica (Bassano,
1778); REBOULET, Histoire de Clément XI (Avignon, 1752); LAFITEAU, Vie de
Clément XI (Padua, 1752); BUDER (non-Catholic), Leben und Thaten des klugen und
berhmten Papstes Clementis XI. (Frankfort, 1721); NOVAES, Elementi della storia
de' sommi pontefici da S. Pietro fino a Pio VI (Rome, 1821-25); LANDAU, Rom,
Wien, Neapel wâhrend des spanischen Erbfolgekrieges (Leipzig, 1885);
HERGENRÖTHER-KIRSCH, Kirschengeschichte (4th ed., Freiburg, 1907), III. See also
on the Albani, VISCONTI in Famiglie di Roma (I), and VON REUMONT in Beitrâge zur
ital. Geschichte, V, 323 sqq., and Gesch. d. Stadt Rom (Berlin, 1867), III, ii,
642 sqq. Cf. ARTAUD DE MONTOR, History of the Roman Pontiffs (New York, 1867),
II.


ABOUT THIS PAGE

APA citation. Loughlin, J. (1908). Pope Clement XI. In The Catholic
Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04029a.htm

MLA citation. Loughlin, James. "Pope Clement XI." The Catholic Encyclopedia.
Vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908.
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04029a.htm>.

Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Gerald Rossi.

Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. Remy Lafort, Censor. Imprimatur. +John
M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.

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