Pope Gregory XIV (Latin:Gregorius XIV;Italian:Gregorio XIV; 11 February 1535 – 16 October 1591), bornNiccolò Sfondrato[1] orSfondrati,[2] was head of theCatholic Church and ruler of thePapal States from 5 December 1590 to his death, in October 1591.
Niccolò in his youth was known for his modest lifestyle and stringent piety. He studied law atPerugia and he graduated inutroque iure at theUniversity of Padua on 2 March 1555. He replaced his father asCommendatory abbot of theAbbey 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 byPhilip II of Spain a senator in Milan, and the Spanish government urged the Pope to appoint himBishop of Cremona in 1557. That appointment occurred on 13 March 1560 with the election ofPope Pius IV, aLombard as were the Sfondrati.[4] Niccolò Sfondrati was consecrated bishop in Milan on next 19 May by the auxiliary bishop of MilanMelchiorre Crivelli who acted in the name of CardinalCharles Borromeo.[5][6]
He participated in the sessions of theCouncil 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 theCouncil of Trent under the supervision of hisMetropolitan Archbishop, Cardinal Charles Borromeo, to whom he was related.[4]Pope Gregory XIII made him aCardinal-Priest ofSanta 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 ofPhilip Neri, an Italian priest who died in 1595 and was canonised in 1622.
After the death ofPope Urban VII on 27 September 1590, the Spanish ambassadorOlivares presented theconclave a list of the seven cardinals who would be acceptable to his masterPhilip II of Spain. On 5 December 1590, after two months of deadlock, Sfondrati, one of Philip II's seven candidates but who had not aspired to the office, was elected pope. CardinalAlessandro Peretti di Montalto came to Sfondrati's cell to inform him that theSacred College had agreed on his election and found him kneeling in prayer before a crucifix.[8]
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?"[8] In hisbull of 21 March 1591,Cogit nos, he forbade under pain ofexcommunication all betting concerning the election of a Pope, the duration of a pontificate, or the creation of new cardinals.
Gregory XIV's brief pontificate was marked by vigorous intervention in favour of the Catholic party in theFrench Wars of Religion. Instigated by the king of Spain and theduke of Mayenne, he excommunicatedHenry IV of France on 1 March 1591, reiterating the 1585 declaration ofPope Sixtus V that as aheretic (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.[8]
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 15,000scudi toParis to reinforce theCatholic 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 nephewPaolo Emilio Sfondrati, hisSecretary of State. He attempted to convincePhilip Neri, a long-time friend, to accept the post of Cardinal,[8] 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 thePhilippines 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.[8]
The biographers mention that Pope Gregory XIV had a nervous tendency to laughter, which occasionally became irresistible and even manifested itself at hiscoronation. Gregory XIV, who was in poor health before his election to the papacy, died due to a largegallstone and was succeeded byInnocent IX.
^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.
^Terence Scully,The Opera of Bartolomeo Scappi (1570), (University of Toronto Press, 2008), vi.
^abcde One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Ott, Michael (1910). "Pope Gregory XIV". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
