CLEMENT
28
CLEMENT
was held the Synod of Brest, in Litliuania, by which a
great part of the Ruthenian clergy and people were
reunited to Rome (Likowski, Union zu Brest, 1904).
Although Clement, in spite of constant fasting, was
tortured vWtli gout in feet and hands, liis capacity
for work n-as unlimited, and liis powerful intellect
grasped all the needs of the Church throughout the
world. He entered personally into the minutest
detail of every subject which came before him, e. g.,
in the divorce between Henry IV and Margaret of
Valois, yet more in the great controversy on grace
between the Jesuits and the Dominicans (see B.\i;EZ,
Molina). He was present at all the sessions of the
Congregalio de auxiliis (q. v.), but wisely refrained
from issuing a final decree on the question. Clement
VIII died in his seventieth year after a pontificate of
thirteen years. His remains repose in Santa Maria
Maggiore, where the Borghesi, who succeed the
Aldobrandini in the female line, erected a gorgeous
monument to his memory.
Vila Chm. VIII in Labbe and Cossart, Coll. Cone, XXI, 132.3; Waddino. Vila Chm. VIII (Rome. 17231; Von Ranke, Thr Rnmnn P,.p, > ,,■ ihr In.i /.v,„r ( v„y. ,,..-. nv.t\-:i.7\ I'ki.esz,
,/, , I
l\ ■
ISM ': l;..--i, /'; . , ,■ . < ,/, i , „,:,ae
Cl,<; VIII II, 1, ■ 1 I--!' ; ; : i. M KM. Hist.
caulriiv.J, ,i!.j, :,,... :.\nlv.i]i,, 171/',),, Ki.,.;.,,;,. i>,i;;, ; , I .l/o/ma (Paris, 1SS3); de Montoh, Liccs of the Roman PmUills (New York, 1857).
James F. Loughlin.
Clement IX, Pope (Giulio Rospigliosi), b. 28 January, 160(1, at Pistoja, of an ancient family originally from Lombardy: elected 20 June, 1667; d. at Rome, 9 December, 1669. He made a brilliant course of studies at the Roman Seminary, and the University of Pisa, where he received the doctorate in his twenty-third year and was made professor of philosophy. His talents and virtuous life brought liim rapid promotion in the Roman Court at a period when Tuscan influ- ence under Tuscan pontiffs was every- where predominant. He enjoyed the special favour of Urban Vlll, like himself fond of literature and .poetry, and was made titular Archbishop of Tarsus and sent as nuncio to the Spanish Court. He lived in retirement during the pontificate of Innocent X, who disliked the Barberini and their adherents, but was recalled to office by Alexander VII and by him appointed secretary of state and Cardinal-Priest of Ihc Title of San Sisto (16.57). Ten years later, one month after the death of Alexander, Cardinal Ros- pigliosi was elected to the papacy by the unanimous vote of the Sacred College. He was the idol of the Romans, not so much for his erudition and applica- tion to business, as for his extreme charity and his afTability towards great and small. He increased the goodwill of his subjects by buying off the mon- opolist who had secured the mnrinato, or privilege of selling grain, and as his iiredecessor had collecteti the money for the juiriiose, Clement had the decree published in the name of Alexander VII. Two days each week he occupied a confessional in St. Peter's church and heard any one who wished to confess to him. He fr(>quently visited the hospitals, and was lavish in his alms to (he poor. In an age of nepotism, he did little- or nothing to advance or enrich his fam- ily. In his aversion to notoriety, he refused to permit his name to be jilaccxl on the buildings erected during his reign. On 15 April, HiliS, he declared blessed. Rose of Lima, the first American saint. On 28 April, 1669, he solemnly canonized S. Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi and St. Peter of Alcantara. He reorganized the Church m Portugal, after that nation had achieved its independence from Spain. By a mild compromi.se m Ihc alhur of Frcncli Jansenism, known as the Clem- entme Peuce (^Pax Clcmr.uliita), he procured a lull in
the storm, which, unfortunately, owing to the in-
sincerity of the sectaries, was but temporary. He
brought about, as arbiter, the Peace of Aix-Ia-
Chapelle between France and Spain, and gravely
ailmonisheil Louis XIV against the aggressive career
upon which he
was scltinn forth.
By strict economy
he brought the
pajial finances in-
to good oriler, and
was able to fur-
nish material aid
to Venice for the
defence of Crete,
then besieged by
the Turks. Had
the European
powers listened to
his exhortations,
that im|)ortant
island would not
have been lost to
Christendom. The
news of its fall,
after a gallant re-
sistance of twenty
years, hastened
the pope's death.
He died after a pontificate of two years, five months, and nineteen days. He ordered his remains to be buried under the pavement of Santa Maria Maggiore, with the simple inscription Clemenlis IX , Cineres, but his successor, Clement X, erected in his honour the sumptuous moimment which stands at the right- hand side of the nave near the door. The death of the beloved pontiff was long lamented by the Romans, who considered him, if not the greatest, at least the most amiable of the popes.
Fabroni, Vita Clem. X, in Vif(B lialonim doctrine rxcellentium, 11, 1; DE MoNTOR. Lives of the Roman Pontiffs (New York, 1867), II; Gerin, Louis XIV el Clement IX dans I'affaire des deux Tnariages de Marie de Savoie (1666-68) in Rev. des guest, hist. (1880).
James F. Loughlin.
Clement X, Pope (Emilio Altieri), b. at Rome, 13 July, 1590; elected 29 April, 1670, and d. at Rome, 22 July, 1676. Unable to secure the election of any of the prominent candidates, the cardinals finally, after a conclave of four months and twenty days, resorted to the old expedient of elect- ing a cardinal of advanced years; they united upon Cardinal Altieri, an octo- genarian, whose long life had been spent in the service of the Church, and whom Clement IX, on the eve of his death, had raised to the dignity of the purple. The reason a jirelate of such transcendent merits received the cardi- nalate so late in life .seems to have been clement"x that he had waived his claims to the elevation in favour of an older brother. He protested vigorously against this use of the pa]>al robes as a funeral shroud, liut at length was persuaded to accept, and out of gratitude to his benefactor, by ten years his junior, assumed the name of Clement X. The Altieri belonged to the ancient Roman nobility, and since all but one of the male scions had chosen the ecclesiastical career, the pojie, in order to save the name from extinction, adojited the Paolu/.zi, one of whom was married to Laura Caterina Altieri, the sole heiress of the family.
During previous pontificates the new pope had held im)mrtant offices and had been entrusted with deli- cate mi.ssjons. Urb:in VIII gave him charge of the works designed to jirotect the territory of Ravenna from the unruly Po. Innocent X apjwinted hini
