Pope Innocent IX died on December 30, 1591, only two months into his pontificate. This created the fourthsede vacante in the year and a half since the death ofPope Sixtus V, who had died on August 27, 1590. He was then succeeded byPope Urban VII (September 15 – September 27, 1590),Pope Gregory XIV (December 5, 1590 – October 16, 1591) and Innocent IX (October 29 – December 30, 1591), so the papal conclave of January 1592 was the fourth in only seventeen months. No similar situation had occurred since 1276–1277.
Girolamo Bernerio, O.P. (November 16, 1586) – Cardinal-Priest of S. Maria sopra Minerva; Bishop of Ascoli-Piceno; Cardinal-protector of the Order ofServites
Benedetto Giustiniani (November 16, 1586) – Cardinal-Priest of S. Marcello; Prefect of the Tribunal of the Apostolic Signature of Grace; Legate in Marche; Vice-protector of the Kingdom of France
William Allen (August 7, 1587) – Cardinal-Priest of S. Silvestro a Martino ai Monti
Agostino Cusani (December 14, 1588) – Cardinal-Priest of S. Lorenzo in Pansiperna
Mariano Pierbenedetti (December 20, 1589) – Cardinal-Priest of SS. Marcellino e Pietro
Gregorio Petrocchini, O.E.S.A. (December 20, 1589) – Cardinal-Priest of S. Agostino
Paolo Emilio Sfondrati (December 19, 1590) – Cardinal-Priest of S. Cecilia; Legatea latere in Bologna and Romagna; Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signature of Justice
The SacredCollege of Cardinals was divided into several factions. The strongest of them was the Spanish faction with Madruzzo as unofficial leader. They supported the interests of kingPhilip II of Spain. Their candidate wasGiulio Antonio Santori, head of theRoman Inquisition, calledCardinal S. Severina. His candidature was supported also by the "Sixtine" party, which included the oldfavourites and circle of Pope Sixtus V; their leader was Sixtus'scardinal-nephew, Alessandro Peretti de Montalto, Vice-Chancellor of the Church. Montalto supported Santori as a tactical manoeuvre and his real candidate was Aldobrandini. There was also a numerous group of cardinals that openly opposed Santori. Most of them were the old circles of Gregory XIII and Pius IV and their leaders were Sforza, Hohenems and Marcantonio Colonna.[2]
Since in the previous two conclaves the candidates supported by Spain had won, it was generally thought that also this time only pro-Spanishpapabile had any prospects of winning the election. Besides Santori, only Madruzzo, Tolomeo Gallio, Paleotti, Marco Antonio Colonna and Aldobrandini were acceptable to Spain and it seemed clear that the new Pope would be one of these. Aldobrandini's candidacy was secretly engineered by the French allyFerdinand I, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Philip II of Spain remained unaware of it.[3][4]
The conclave began on January 10, 1592. The next morning Madruzzo and Montalto together with their adherents tried to elect Santori by acclamation, but their plan failed due to strong opposition from Hohenems and his party. Afterwards the normal voting procedures were followed. Every day a vote took place, with the following results:[3]
January 24 – Santori – 18, Aldobrandini and Madruzzo – 16 each
January 25 – Santori and Aldobrandini – 19 each
January 26 – Santori – 18, Madruzzo - 16
January 27 – Santori – 21, Madruzzo – 16
January 28 – Aldobrandini – 17, Santori and Madruzzo – 15 each
January 29 – Santori – 17, Aldobrandini – 16
Santori received the greatest number of votes in almost every ballot, but was not able to secure the required majority of two-thirds and support for him gradually diminished. Eventually on January 29, Cardinal Montalto decided to switch to support the candidature of Ippolito Aldobrandini and was able to secure significant votes for him. Madruzzo then accepted that the opposition against him was too strong and he also switched to Aldobrandini as being more acceptable than Santori. This was the decisive moment of this conclave.[2]
On January 30, 1592, Cardinal Ippolito Aldobrandini was unanimously elected to the papacy and took the name ofClement VIII.[3] On February 2 he was consecrated to the episcopate by CardinalAlfonso Gesualdo, bishop of Ostia and Velletri and Dean of the College of Cardinals. Seven days later he was solemnly crowned byFrancesco Sforza di Santa Fiora, deacon of S. Maria in Via Lata.[5]
_-_The_J._Paul_Getty_Museum.jpg)
Definitions from Wiktionary
Media from Commons
News from Wikinews
Quotations from Wikiquote
Texts from Wikisource
Textbooks from Wikibooks
Resources from Wikiversity
Data from Wikidata
