Pope Clement XII
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Benedict XIV | |
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Orders | |
Consecration | 18 June 1690 by Flavio Chigi |
Created cardinal | 17 May 1706 by Clement XI |
Personal details | |
Born | Lorenzo Corsini 7 April 1652 |
Died | 6 February 1740 Rome, Papal States | (aged 87)
Previous post(s) |
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Motto | Dabis discernere inter malum et bonum (Distinguish between good and evil)[1] |
Signature | |
Coat of arms | |
Other popes named Clement |
Pope Clement XII (
Clement presided over the growth of a surplus in the papal finances. He thus became known for building the new façade of the
Early life
Lorenzo Corsini was born in Florence in 1652 as the son of Bartolomeo Corsini, Marquis of Casigliano and his wife Elisabetta Strozzi, the sister of the Duke of Bagnuolo. Both of his parents belonged to the old Florentine nobility. He was a distant relative of Saint Andrew Corsini.[3]
Corsini studied at the
Career
Corsini practiced law under the able direction of his uncle, Cardinal
In 1690 he was made titular Archbishop of Nicomedia and chosen nuncio to Vienna, receiving a dispensation from Pope Alexander VIII since he had not yet been ordained a priest. He did not proceed to the imperial court,[3] because Leopold I, the Holy Roman Emperor, maintained that he had the right to select the nuncio from a list of three names furnished by the pope.[4]
In 1696, Corsini was appointed treasurer-general and governor of the
He advanced still further under Pope Benedict XIII (1724–1730), who made him Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, a judicial branch of the Roman Curia. He was successively appointed as the Cardinal-Priest of San Pietro in Vincoli and Cardinal-Bishop of Frascati.[3]
Pontificate
Papal styles of Pope Clement XII | |
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His Holiness | |
Spoken style | Your Holiness |
Religious style | Holy Father |
Posthumous style | None |
Papal election
Under Benedict XIII, the finances of the Papal States had been delivered into the hands of Cardinal Niccolò Coscia and other members of the curia, who had drained the financial resources of the see. Benedict died in 1730, and in the conclave that followed his death, after deliberating for four months, the College of Cardinals selected Corsini, 78 years old and with failing eyesight, who had held all the important offices of the Roman Curia.[3] Since Clement XII, no pope has been elected at an older age than Clement XII when he was elected.
As a Corsini, with his mother a Strozzi, the new pope represented a family in the highest level of Florentine society, with a cardinal in every generation for the previous hundred years.
On 1 May 1730, several of the cardinals initially settled upon electing Cardinal Gianantonio Davia but had been unable to secure the necessary support. To that end, they refocused their efforts on getting Corsini elected, securing him 31 votes. Corsini, however, was not seriously considered as a candidate until about early July when the candidacy of Pietro Marcellino Corradini started to waver. Meanwhile, the French, Spanish, and Germans were perfectly amenable to Corsini's election.[5]
Corsini took his papal name in memorial to Pope Clement XI, who created him cardinal.
Finances
His first moves as Pope Clement XII were to restore the papal finances. He demanded restitution from the ministers who had abused the confidence of his predecessor. The chief culprit, Cardinal Niccolò Coscia, was heavily fined,
Art and architecture
A competition for the majestic façade of the
Foreign policy
Politically, however, this was not a successful papacy among the secular powers of Europe. When the attempt of Papal forces to take over the ancient independent Republic of San Marino failed, Clement XII disavowed the arbitrary action of his legate, Cardinal Giulio Alberoni, in seizing San Marino, and restored its independence. He was also rebuffed in Papal claims over the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza.[3]
In August 1730 he gave permission for
Ecclesial activities
In ecclesiastic affairs he issued
Though he was blind and compelled to keep to his bed, from which he gave audiences and transacted affairs of state, he surrounded himself with capable officials, many of them his Corsini relatives, but he did little for his family except to purchase and enlarge the palace built in Trastevere for the Riarii, and now known as the Palazzo Corsini (the seat of the Accademia dei Lincei). In 1754, his nephew, Cardinal Neri Maria Corsini, founded there the famous Corsini Library.[3]
Consistories
Clement XII created 35 cardinals in fifteen consistories held throughout his pontificate. The first individual he raised into the cardinalate was his nephew Neri Maria Corsini while he also raised his future successor Carlo della Torre di Rezzonico (Pope Clement XIII) to the cardinalate. He also raised his nephew Giovanni Antonio Guadagni to the cardinalate in 1731.
Canonizations and beatifications
The pope named five new saints during his reign with the most notable being Vincent de Paul. He also beatified eight others including his predecessor Pope Benedict XI.
Death and burial
Clement XII died on 6 February 1740 at 9:30am due to complications from
See also
References
- ^ "Pope Clement XII (1730–1740)". www.gcatholic.org. Retrieved 2022-05-12.
- ISBN 0-521-37211-9.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Loughlin, James (1908). "Pope Clement XII". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
- ^ a b "Pope Clement XII", Papal Artifacts
- ^ John Paul Adams (29 September 2015). "Sede Vacante 1730". CSUN. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
- ^ "De Rose, Conforti".
- ^ "Bust of Pope Clement XII by VALLE, Filippo della".
External links
- Media related to Clemens XII at Wikimedia Commons
- Works related to Pope Clement XII at Wikisource