Pope Clement VIII (Latin:Clemens VIII;Italian:Clemente VIII; 24 February 1536 – 3 March 1605), bornIppolito Aldobrandini, was head of theCatholic Church and ruler of thePapal States from 30 January 1592 to his death in March 1605.
Born in Fano, Papal States[4] to a prominentFlorentine family, he initially came to prominence as acanon lawyer before being made aCardinal-Priest in 1585. In 1592, he waselected Pope and took the name of Clement. During his papacy, he effected the reconciliation ofHenry IV of France to the Catholic faith and was instrumental in setting up an alliance ofChristian nations to oppose theOttoman Empire in the so-calledLong War. He also successfully adjudicated in a bitter dispute between theDominicans and theJesuits on the issue ofefficacious grace andfree will. In 1600, he presided over ajubilee, which brought many pilgrimages toRome. He presided over the trial and execution ofGiordano Bruno and implemented strict measures against Jewish residents of the Papal States. According to some accounts, he may have been the first pope to drink coffee, and his approval thereof may have led to its popularisation.
Clement VIII died at the age of 69 in 1605, and his remains now rest in the Roman church ofSanta Maria Maggiore.
He was baptised on 4 March at the cathedral of Fano. He was from aFlorentine family, son ofSilvestro Aldobrandini and Lesa Deti, and followed his father as acanon lawyer, becoming anAuditor (judge) of theRoman Rota, the highestecclesiastical court constituted by theHoly See.[5] He was only ordained as a priest on 31 December 1580 at the age of 45 and became pope on 2 February 1592 when he was not yet 56. He was an effective, if sometimes rigorous, administrator.
After the death ofPope Innocent IX (1591),another stormy conclave ensued, in which a determined minority of Italian Cardinals were unwilling to be dictated to byPhilip II of Spain. Known to be very intelligent, disciplined, and in tune with the inner workings of the Church,[7] Cardinal Aldobrandini was elected on 30 January 1592, as a portent of more balanced and liberal Papal policy in European affairs. He took the non-politicised name Clement VIII. He proved to be an able Pope, with an unlimited capacity for work, and a lawyer's eye for detail. He was a wise statesman, the general object of whose policy was to free the Papacy from its dependence uponSpain.[6]
In November 1592, he published the Clementine Vulgate.[8] It was issued with the BullCum Sacrorum (9 November 1592)[9] which asserted that every subsequent edition must be assimilated to this one, that no word of the text could be changed, and that not even variant readings could be printed in the margin.[10] This new official version of the Vulgate, known as the Clementine Vulgate[11]or Sixto-Clementine Vulgate,[11][12] became and remained the official Bible of theCatholic Church until theNova Vulgata replaced it in 1979.[13]
In 1597, he established theCongregatio de Auxiliis, which was to settle the theological controversy between theDominican Order and theJesuits concerning the respective roles ofefficacious grace andfree will. Although the debate tended toward a condemnation ofMolinism's insistence on free will to the detriment of efficacious grace, the important influence of the Jesuit Order — among other considerations — which, beside important political and theological power in Europe, had also various missions abroad (Misiones Jesuiticas in South America,missions in China, etc.), led the Pope to abstain from an official condemnation of the Jesuits. In 1611 and again in 1625, a decree prohibited any discussion of the matter, although it was often informally skirted by the publication of commentaries onThomas Aquinas.
The pope created 53 cardinals in six consistories during his pontificate; he named his two nephewsPietro andCinzio Passeri as cardinals. Notable cardinals named during his reign included Camillo Borghese (his successorPope Paul V) as well as the noted theologiansRobert Bellarmine andCaesar Baronius.
The most remarkable event of Clement VIII's reign was the reconciliation to the Church ofHenry IV of France (1589–1610), after long negotiations, carried on with great dexterity through CardinalArnaud d'Ossat, that resolved the complicated situation inFrance. Henry embraced Catholicism on 25 July 1593. After a pause to assess Henry IV's sincerity, Clement VIII bravedSpanish displeasure, and in the autumn of 1595, he solemnly absolved Henry IV, thus putting an end to the thirty years'religious war in France.[6]
Henry IV's friendship was of essential importance to the papacy two years later, whenAlfonso II d'Este,Duke of Ferrara, died childless (27 October 1597), and the pope resolved to attach the stronghold of theEste family to the states of the Church. Though Spain and the EmperorRudolf II encouraged Alfonso II's illegitimate cousin,Cesare d'Este, to withstand the pope, they were deterred from giving him any material aid by Henry IV's threats, and a Papal army enteredFerrara almost unopposed.[6]
In 159,8 Clement VIII won more credit for the papacy by bringing about a definite treaty of peace between Spain and France in thePeace of Vervins,[6] which put an end to their long contest; he negotiated peace between France and theDuchy of Savoy as well.
In 1594, Clement VIII initiated an alliance of Christian European powers to take part in the war with theOttoman Empire, fought mainly inHungary, which would become known as the "Long Turkish War" and continue past Clement's own lifetime. Facilitated by the pope, a treaty of alliance was signed inPrague byRudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor andSigismund Báthory ofTransylvania.Aron Vodă ofMoldavia andMichael the Brave of Wallachia joined the alliance later that year. Clement VIII himself lent the Emperor valuable assistance in men and money.[6]
Clement VIII was as vigorous asPope Sixtus V (1585–90) in crushing banditry in the Papal provinces ofUmbria and theMarche and in punishing the lawlessness of thePapal nobility.[6] Upon his ascension to the Papal throne in 1592, he immediately had several noble troublemakers put to death. These included most famously Troio Savelli, scion of a powerful ancient Roman family, and the youthful and nobleBeatrice Cenci, who had murdered her father – probably as a consequence of his repeated abuses. The latter case prompted many requests of clemency – rejected by the Pope, who passed the confiscated Cenci property to his own family.
Clement's strict ways also concerned philosophical and religious matters. In 1599, he had the Italian millerMenocchio – who had formed the belief that God was not eternal but had Himself once been created out of chaos – tried by the Inquisition and burnt at the stake. A more famous case was the trial forheresy ofGiordano Bruno, who wasburned at the stake in 1600. Pope Clement VIII participated personally in the final phases of the trial, inviting theCardinals in charge of the case to proceed with the verdict.
Clement VIII tightened measures against the Jewish inhabitants of his territories. In 1592, thepapal bullCum saepe accidere forbade the Jewish community of theComtat Venaissin ofAvignon, a Papal enclave, to sell new goods, putting them at an economic disadvantage. In 1593, the bullCaeca et Obdurata reiteratedPope Pius V's decree of 1569, which banned Jews from living in the Papal States outside the cities of Rome,Ancona, and Avignon. The main effect of the bull was to evict Jews who had returned to areas of the Papal States (mainlyUmbria) after 1586 (following their expulsion in 1569) and to expel Jewish communities from cities likeBologna (which had been incorporated under papal dominion since 1569).[14] The bull also alleged that Jews worldwide had engaged inusury and exploited the hospitality of Clement VIII's predecessors "who, in order to lead them from their darkness to knowledge of the true faith, deemed it opportune to use the clemency of Christian piety towards them" (alluding toChristiana pietas).[15] With the bullCum Hebraeorum malitia a few days later, Clement VIII also forbade the reading of theTalmud.[16]
Clement VIII was afflicted bygout, using a wheelchair by the late 1590s, and was forced to spend much of his later life immobilised in bed. He suddenly became ill on 10 February 1605, and his condition rapidly deteriorated over the next few weeks. He died on 3 March 1605 around midnight,[17] leaving a reputation for prudence, munificence, ruthlessness and capacity for business. Clement was buried inSt. Peter's Basilica, and laterPope Paul V (1605–21) had a mausoleum built for him in the Borghese Chapel ofSanta Maria Maggiore, where his remains were transferred in 1646.
His reign is especially distinguished by the number and beauty of his medals. Clement VIII founded theCollegio Clementino for the education of the sons of the richer classes, and augmented the number of national colleges in Rome by opening theCollegio Scozzese for the training of missionaries toScotland.[6]
Page from the travel journal of Heinrick Schickhardt, showing Pope Clement VIII's wheelchair.
Coffee aficionados often claim that the spread of its popularity among Catholics is due to Pope Clement VIII's influence. According to the legend, there was opposition to coffee as "Satan's drink",[18] leading to the pope's advisors asking him to denounce the beverage. However, upon tasting coffee, Pope Clement VIII declared: "Why, this Satan's drink is so delicious that it would be a pity to let the infidels have exclusive use of it."[19] Clement allegedly blessed the bean because it appeared better for the people than alcoholic beverages.[20] The year often cited is 1600. It is not clear whether this is a true story, but it may have been found amusing at the time.[21]
^SeeJohn Paul II, ap. con.Pastor Bonus art. 121, 80 Acta Apostolicae Sedis 841 (1988) (noting that theApostolic Signatura is the supreme tribunal).
^abcdefghi One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Loughlin, James (1908). "Pope Clement VIII". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
^S. Wendehorst, "Katholische Kirche und Juden in der Frühen Neuzeit" 1.3 "Zensur des Talmud", following Willchad Paul Eckert, "Catholizmus zwischen 1580 und 1848" in Karl Heinrich Rengstorf and Siegfried Kortzfleisch, eds.Kirche und Sinagoge II (Stuttgart, 1970) p. 232.
^Hunt, John M. (2016).The Vacant See in Early Modern Rome: A Social History of the Papal Interregnum. Brill. p. 74.
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