Everything about Pope Clement Viii totally explained
» Not to be confused with Antipope Clement VIII.
Pope Clement VIII (
February 24,
1536 –
March 3,
1605), born
Ippolito Aldobrandini, was
Pope from
January 30,
1592 to
March 3, 1605.
Early life and education
Born at
Fano to a distinguished
Florentine family, he studied law under his father, an able jurist; his ecclesiastical career was as a lawyer: consistorial advocate, auditor of the Rota and the Datary.
Cardinal
He was made a cardinal 1584 and sent him as legate in
Poland. He placed himself under the direction of the reformer
Philip Neri, who for thirty years was his confessor. Aldobrandini won the gratitude of the
Habsburgs by his successful diplomatic efforts in Poland to obtain the release of the imprisoned Archduke Maximilian, the defeated claimant to the Polish throne.
Papacy
Election
After the death of
Pope Innocent IX (1591), another stormy
conclave ensued, where a determined minority of Italian Cardinals were unwilling to be dictated to by
Philip II of Spain. Cardinal Aldobrandini's election on
January 30,
1592, was received as a portent of more balanced and liberal Papal policy in European affairs. He took the non-politicized name Clement VIII. He proved to be an able Pope, with an unlimited capacity for work and a lawyer's eye for detail, and a wise statesman, the general object of whose policy was to free the Papacy from its dependence upon
Spain.
In 1597, he established the
Congregatio de Auxiliis which was to settle the theological controversy between the
Dominican Order and the
Jesuits concerning the respective role of
efficacious grace and
free will. Although the debate tended toward a condemnation of
Molinism'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 (
Jesuit Reducciones 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 unformally avoided by the publication of commentaries of
Thomas Aquinas.
Jubilee of 1600
During the
jubilee of 1600, three million pilgrims visited the holy places. The Synod of Brest was held 1595 in
Lithuania, by which a great part of the
Ruthenian clergy and people were reunited to Rome.
Clement VIII presided at the conferences to determine the questions of
grace and
free will, controverted between the
Jesuits and
Dominicans, were commenced under him, but he abstained from pronouncing a decision.
On February 17, 1600,
Giordano Bruno, a strong believer of free will, was burned alive due to Clement VIII's approval of a guilty verdict against Bruno.
Canonizations and beatifications
Clement VIII
canonized Hyacinth (
17 April 1594) and
Raymond of Peñafort (1601).
Foreign relations
Reconciliation with France
The most remarkable event of Clement VIII's reign was the reconciliation to the Church of
Henry IV of France (1589–1610), after long negotiations, carried on with great dexterity through Cardinal
Arnaud d'Ossat, that resolved the complicated situation in France. Henry embraced Catholicism on
July 25,
1593. After a pause to assess Henry IV's sincerity, Clement VIII braved Spanish displeasure, and in the autumn of 1595 he solemnly absolved Henry IV, thus putting an end to the thirty years' religious war in
France and winning a powerful ally.
Expansion of the Papal States
Henry IV's friendship was of essential importance to the Papacy two years later, when
Alfonso II,
Duke of Ferrara, died childless (
October 27,
1597), and the Pope resolved to attach the stronghold of the
Este family to the states of the Church. Though Spain and the
Empire 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 entered Ferrara almost unopposed.
Peace of Vervins
In 1598 Clement VIII won more credit for the papacy by bringing about a definite treaty of peace between Spain and France in the
Peace of Vervins which put an end to their long contest, and he negotiated peace between France and
Savoy as well. He also lent valuable assistance in men and money to the Emperor in his contest with the
Turks in
Hungary.
Law enforcement
Clement VIII was as merciless as
Pope Sixtus V (1585–90) in crushing brigandage in central Italy and in punishing the lawlessness of the Roman nobility. He didn't even spare the youthful parricide
Beatrice Cenci, who was to become a popular heroine adapted in literature by
Stendhal,
Giorgio Moravia, and
Percy Bysshe Shelley. In 1600
Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake in the
Campo de' Fiori. The year before, the miller
Menocchio, who had created a cosmology all by himself, holding that all life evolved like rotten cheese, was also put to the stake.
Anti-Semitism
Clement VIII was also openly anti-semitic, making the usual link of Jews and usury:
All the world suffers from the usury of the Jews, their monopolies and deceit. They have brought many unfortunate people into a state of poverty, especially the farmers, working class people and the very poor. Then as now Jews have to be reminded intermittently anew that they were enjoying rights in any country since they left Palestine and the Arabian desert, and subsequently their ethical and moral doctrines as well as their deeds rightly deserve to be exposed to criticism in whatever country they happen to live.
Clement VIII's approach towards the Jews had more specific targets. In
Cum saepe accidere (February 28, 1592) he forbid the long-established Jewish community of the papal enclave of
Avignon to sell new goods, putting them at a disadvantage and fostering the cliché of the Jew as a dealer in secondhand goods. With
Caeca et obdurata (February 25, 1593) he confirmed the bull of
Pope Paul III (1534–49) that established a
ghetto for the ancient community of Jews in Rome, and reiterated the ban on Jews, who had otherwise been formally expelled from the Papal States by
Pope Pius V (1566–72) (in
Hebraeorum gens, February 26, 1569) dwelling outside of the ghettos of Rome,
Ancona, and Avignon, thus ensuring that they remained city-dwellers. Beyond Papal reach, east of Poland, by contrast, farming communities of Jews remained a familiar feature of the landscape. With
Cum Haebraeorum malitia a few days later (February 28) he even forbade the reading of the
Talmud (External Link
). It is alleged that Clement VIII's reference to the "blind (
Latin:
caeca) obstinacy" of the Jews gave rise to the religious slur "
kike", though many etymologies dispute this.
Later life and death
Clement VIII was afflicted by
gout, and was forced to spend much of his later life immobilized in bed. He died in March of 1605, leaving a reputation for prudence, munificence, and capacity for business. His reign is especially distinguished by the number and beauty of his medals, and especially tarnished by his role in the brutal execution of Giordano Bruno, one of the great minds of his time. Clement was buried in
St. Peter's Basilica, and later
Pope Paul V (1605–21) had a mausoleum built for him in the Borghese Chapel of
Santa Maria Maggiore, where the remains were transferred in 1646.
Clement VIII founded the
Collegio Clementino for the education of the sons of the richer classes, and augmented the number of national colleges in Rome by opening the
Collegio Scozzese for the training of missionaries to
Scotland.
Trivia
Coffee aficionados claim that the spread of its popularity is due to Pope Clement VIII's influence. Being pressured by his advisers to declare coffee the "bitter invention of
Satan" because of its popularity among
Muslims, he instead declared that, "This devil's drink is so good... we should cheat the devil by baptizing it." It isn't clear whether this is a true story.
Pope Clement VIII was featured as one of the main antagonists in
Tobias Sammet's
The Metal Opera Part I and II. He was voiced by
At Vance's
Oliver Hartmann.
Sources
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