Pope Clement X (Latin:Clemens X;Italian:Clemente X; 13 July 1590 – 22 July 1676), bornEmilio Bonaventura Altieri, was head of theCatholic Church and ruler of thePapal States from 29 April 1670 to his death on 22 July 1676.
Emilio Bonaventura Altieri, born in Rome in 1590, belonged to thePapal nobility. He received a doctorate in law and held various positions within the Catholic Church, includingBishop of Camerino and Superintendent of the Papal Exchequer. At the age of almost 80, he was elected Pope Clement X in 1670 after a four-month-long conclave. As Pope, he canonized and beatified various saints, promoted good relations between Christian countries, and made efforts to preserve theAltieri family name by adopting the Paoluzzi family. He also established a new tax in Rome, which led to conflicts with ambassadors and cardinals. Clement X celebrated the fourteenthjubilee of the holy year in 1675 despite his old age. During his pontificate, he created 20 cardinals, including Pietro Francesco Orsini, who later becamePope Benedict XIII.
Emilio Bonaventura Altieri was born inRome in 1590, the son of LorenzoAltieri and VittoriaDelfin, a nobleVenetian lady, sister ofFlaminio Delfin, commander general of the Papal Army, and ofGentile Delfin,Bishop of Camerino. His brother was CardinalGiambattista Altieri. The Altieri family belonged to the ancient RomanPapal nobility and had enjoyed the highest consideration at Rome for several centuries; they had occasionally contracted alliances with theColonnas and theOrsinis. During earlier pontificates, the Altieri held many important offices and had been entrusted with several delicate missions.[2]
Altieri received a doctorate in law from theRoman College in 1611. After finishing his studies, he was namedauditor of Giovanni Battista Lancellotti in 1623, in thenuncio ofPoland. He was ordained on 6 April 1624. On his return to Rome, he was namedBishop of Camerino, then governor ofLoreto and of allUmbria.Pope Urban VIII (1623–44) gave him charge of the works designed to protect the territory ofRavenna from the unrulyPo River.[2]
Pope Innocent X (1644–55) sent him as nuncio toNaples, where he remained for eight years. He is credited with the re-establishment of peace after the stormy days ofMasaniello.[2]Pope Alexander VII (1655–67) confided to him a mission to Poland.
Pope Clement IX (1667–69) named him Superintendent of the Papal Exchequer (in charge of the Church's finances), and in 1667 hismaestro di camera, and he was made Secretary of theCongregation of Bishops and Regulars.[2] Just before his death, Clement IX made him acardinal. He was then about seventy-nine years of age; and Clement IX, when making him a member of theSacred College, said to him: "You will be our successor."
After the funeral of Pope Clement IX, sixty-two electors entered intoconclave on 20 December 1669. Forty-two votes were necessary, and due to the rivalry between the French and Spanish factions, heated discussion prevailed for four months. CardinalGiannicolò Conti was supported by twenty-two votes; CardinalGiacomo Rospigliosi, nephew of the late pope, had thirty, or, as some say, thirty-three, with two at theaccesso, so that he needed only seven more votes to gain thetiara. Cardinal Carlo Cerri obtained twenty-three votes.
At length the cardinals agreed to resort to the old expedient of electing a cardinal of advanced years, and proposed Cardinal Altieri, almost an octogenarian, whose long life had been spent in the service of theCatholic Church, and whom Clement IX, on the eve of his death, had raised to the dignity of the purple. The reason aprelate of such transcendent merits received the cardinalate so late in life seems to have been that he had waived his claims to the elevation in favour of an older brother.[2]
On 29 April 1670, the papacy was offered to him by fifty-nine cardinals present at the election; only two being against him. He, however, objected because of his age, for he was almost eighty, and exclaimed, "I am too old to bear such a burden." Pointing to CardinalFrancesco Maria Brancaccio, Altieri said he was the cardinal whom they ought to elect. He persisted in refusing, protesting that he no longer had strength or memory; eventually, with tears he accepted, and out of gratitude to his benefactor, by ten years his junior, he assumed the name of Clement X.[2] He wascrowned on 11 May.
On 8 June Clement X took possession of theBasilica of Saint John Lateran. On 11 June, he confirmed the MinorObservantines in theHoly Land in the privileges and indulgences granted to those who visit the holy places, according to the decrees ofAlexander VII andClement IX. In the same month, he granted to the prelate-clerks of the chamber the use of the violet-coloured band around their hats. Occasionally forgetful, he sometimes promised the same favors to different people and came to rely on hiscardinal-nephew, CardinalPaluzzo Paluzzi Altieri degli Albertoni.[3]
All but one of the male scions of the Altieri family had chosen the ecclesiastical career. On his accession to the papacy, Clement X, in order to save the Altieri name from extinction, adopted thePaoluzzi family, and proposed that one of the Paluzzi should marry Laura Caterina Altieri, the sole heiress of the family. In exchange for adopting the Altieri surname, he would make one of the Paoluzzi a cardinal. Following the wedding, which he officiated, he appointed his niece's uncle-in-law Cardinal Paluzzi Altieri to the office of cardinal nephew to take on the duties which he was prevented from doing by age. The main activity was to invest the Church's money, and with advancing years gradually entrusted to him the management of affairs, to such an extent that the Romans said he had reserved to himself only the episcopal functions ofbenedicere et sanctificare, resigning in favour of the cardinal the administrative duties ofregere et gubernare.[2]
Clement X advised the Christian princes to love each other and to prove it by generous measures, and by a prudent and scrupulous conduct. It was especially betweenSpain andFrance that the pope desired to witness a renewal of feelings of good understanding.
In 1671, the Pope published an edict by which he declared thata noble might be a merchant without loss of his nobility, provided always that he did not sell by retail. In 1676,Gian Lorenzo Bernini sculpted one of his final statues, abust of Clement X.
Fernando III called El Santo (the Saint), (1198/1199 – 30 May 1252) was a king of Castile (1217–1252) and Leon (1230–1252). He was the son ofAlfonso IX andBerengaria of Castile, daughter ofAlfonso VIII. In 1231 he unitedCastile andLeón permanently. Fernando was canonized by Pope Clement X in 1671. Several places namedSan Fernando were founded across theSpanish Empire.
Clement X, on 24 November 1673, beatified nineteenMartyrs of Gorkum, who had been taken prisoner atGorcum, theNetherlands, and put to death inBrielle on 9 July 1572, in hatred of the Catholic faith, of the primacy of the Pope, and of the Roman Church. Of the nineteen Gorcum martyrs, Peter Ascanius (Peter of Assche) and Cornelius Vican (Cornelius van Wijk) were laymen; eleven wereFranciscan priests; one a Dominican, twoPremonstratensians, one aregular canon ofSaint Augustine, and four were secular priests.
On 13 January 1672, Clement X regulated the formalities to be observed in removing therelics of saints from sacred cemeteries. No one was to remove such relics without the permission of thecardinal-vicar. They were not to be exposed for the veneration of the faithful unless previously examined by the same cardinal. The principal relics of the martyr – that is to say, the head, the legs, the arms, and the part in which they suffered – were to be exposed only in the churches, and they were not to be given to private persons, but only to princes and high prelates; and even to them but rarely, lest the too great profusion should deprive relics of the respect which they ought to inspire. The Pope decreed severe penalties against all who gave a relic any name but that given by the cardinal-vicar. The pain ofexcommunication was pronounced against all who should demand any sum whatever for sealed and authentic relics. These decrees, and others made by preceding Popes were confirmed byPope Clement XI (1700–21) in 1704.
Clement X confirmed the exemptions granted byPope Gregory XIII (1572–85) to theGerman College at Rome in 1671; and then, on 16 October 1672, he ordered the pupils to swear that at the close of their studies they would set out forGermany without a day's delay.
Clement X, seeing the results of the apostolic labours of the early French missionaries inCanada, the number of the faithful, and the wide field of labour, resolved to give the Church an independent organisation, and erected asee atQuebec, the bishop to depend directly on theHoly See; this provision would later secure its permanence after Quebec passed into the hands ofGreat Britain. The first bishop wasFrancois de Montmorency-Laval.[5]
In 1673, there arrived at Rome ambassadors from the Tsar ofRussia,Alexei. He solicited from the Pope the title ofTsar, which, however, had already been adopted by his predecessors. At the same time it could not be forgotten that he gave strong financial aid to KingJohn III Sobieski ofPoland in their fight against theTurkish invaders. ButPaul Menesius, a Scotsman, who was the ambassador, could not obtain the grant or sanction of that title, though he was received with great magnificence and had many precious gifts to carry back to his master. The Russian Tsar did not profess the Catholic faith in such a manner as to give any assurance of his intentions, and the King of Poland had looked upon the embassy with displeasure.
Clement X suspended thePortuguese Inquisition in 3 October 1674, challenging the techniques employed against the New Christians. The suspension lasted till 1681.[1]
Meanwhile, Rome had reason to fear trouble. Cardinal Paluzzi Altieri, who was at the head of the government, determined to increase the revenues, and he established a new tax of three percent upon all merchandise entering the city, including even goods for cardinals and ambassadors. Although the government complained that ambassadors had abused their privilege, the diplomatic corps showed discontent that they were not expressly exempted in the new tax law.
Another edict confirmed the first and ordered the confiscation without distinction of all goods that did not pay the new tax. The cardinals at first complained, though with moderation. But the ambassadors didn't speak Clement X's language.
The Cardinal nephew maintained that Clement X, within his own State, might make what rules he pleased. Then the ambassadors of theEmpire, ofFrance,Spain, andVenice, sent their secretaries to demand an audience of the Pope. The chief chamberlain replied that the Pope was busy that day. And for four days in succession, the chamberlain gave the same answer to the same applicants. Clement X, learning at length what had occurred, declared that he had given no such order. The ambassadors then sent their secretaries to ask an audience of Cardinal Paluzzi Altieri. Not only did he refuse to admit them, but closed his doors and increased the guard at the pontifical palace, so that the offence could go no further. Subsequently, the Cardinal nephew wrote to thenuncios who resided in the courts of Europe, stating that the excesses committed by the ambassadors had induced the pope to publish the edict. The ambassadors, on the contrary, assured their sovereigns that the accusation was a pretext.
The conflict lasted for more than a year; and Clement X, who loved peace, at length referred the matter to a congregation. Sometime after, Cardinal Paluzzi Altieri declared that he had not intended to comprise the ambassadors among those for whom the edict was intended, and that the pope had never contemplated subjecting them to it.
QueenChristina of Sweden, who had become a Catholic and moved to Rome in December 1655, made Clement X prohibit the custom of chasingJews through the streets during thecarnival. In 1686 she issued a declaration that Roman Jews stood under her protection, signedla Regina – the queen.[6]
In 1675 Clement X celebrated the fourteenthjubilee of the holy year. Notwithstanding his age, he visited the churches, regretting that thegout prevented him from making that holy visit more than five times. He went twelve times to Trinity hospital to wash the feet of the pilgrims, and after the ceremony gave them liberal alms. A commemorated silver piastra was issued on the occasion of the Holy Year.[7]
On 22 July 1676, the agonies of the gout became so violent that Clement X died under them that afternoon. He was eighty-six years old and had governed the Church six years, two months, and twenty-four days. His tomb is inSt. Peter's Basilica.[8]
He laboured to preserve the peace of Europe even though he was menaced by the ambition ofLouis XIV of France (1643–1715), an imperious monarch over ecclesiastical matters (the struggle concerned therégale, or revenues of vacantdioceses andabbeys, which resulted in continued tension with France). He decorated thePonte Sant'Angelo with the ten statues of angels inCarrara marble still to be seen there.[2]
Pope Clement X had the two fountains located inSt. Peter's Square built near the tribune, where a monument has been erected to his memory.[2] During his papacy, thePalazzo Altieri in central Rome was refurbished.
^abSaraiva, António José (2001).The Marrano Factory: The Portuguese Inquisition and Its New Christians. Brill. pp. 82, 177.
^abcdefghi One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Loughlin, James (1908). "Pope Clement X". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
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