Pope Clement XIII
Clement XIV | |
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Orders | |
Ordination | 23 December 1731 |
Consecration | 19 March 1743 by Pope Benedict XIV |
Created cardinal | 20 December 1737 by Clement XII |
Personal details | |
Born | Carlo della Torre di Rezzonico 7 March 1693 |
Died | 2 February 1769 Rome, Papal States | (aged 75)
Previous post(s) |
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Coat of arms | |
Other popes named Clement |
Papal styles of Pope Clement XIII | |
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His Holiness | |
Spoken style | Your Holiness |
Religious style | Holy Father |
Posthumous style | None |
Pope Clement XIII (
His pontificate was overshadowed by the constant pressure to suppress the
Biography
Early life
Carlo della Torre di Rezzonico was born in 1693 to a recently ennobled family of Venice, the second of two children of the man who bought the unfinished palace on the Grand Canal (now Ca' Rezzonico) and finished its construction. His parents were Giovanni Battista della Torre Rezzonico and Vittoria Barbarigo.
Carlo received a
In 1716 Rezzonico became the Referendary of the Apostolic Signatura and in 1721 was appointed Governor of Fano.[1] He was ordained to the priesthood on 23 December 1731 in Rome. Pope Clement XII appointed him to the cardinalate in 1737 as the Cardinal-Deacon of San Nicola in Carcere. He also filled various important posts in the Roman Curia.[2]
Rezzonico was chosen as
Pontificate
Election to the papacy
Pope Benedict XIV died of gout in 1758 and the College of Cardinals gathered at the papal conclave in order to elect a successor. Direct negotiations between the rival factions resulted in the proposal for the election of Rezzonico. On the evening of 6 July 1758,[6] Rezzonico received 31 votes out of a possible 44, one more than the required amount. He selected the pontifical name of "Clement XIII" in honor of Pope Clement XII, who had elevated him to the cardinalate. Rezzonico was crowned as pontiff on 16 July 1758 by the protodeacon, Cardinal Alessandro Albani.
Actions
Notwithstanding the meekness and affability of his upright and moderate character, he was modest to a fault (he had the classical sculptures in the Vatican provided with mass-produced fig leaves)[7] and generous with his extensive private fortune. He also permitted vernacular translations of the Bible in Catholic countries.[7]
The Jesuits
Clement XIII's pontificate was repeatedly disturbed by disputes respecting the pressures to
Clement XIII placed the
On 8 November 1760, Clement XIII issued a
In France, the
Clement XIII warmly espoused the Jesuit order in a papal bull Apostolicum pascendi, 7 January 1765, which dismissed criticisms of the Jesuits as calumnies and praised the order's usefulness; it was largely ignored: by 1768 the Jesuits had been expelled from France, Naples & Sicily and Parma. In Spain, they appeared to be safe, but Charles III (1759–88), aware of the drawn-out contentions in Bourbon France, decided on a more peremptory efficiency. During the night of 2–3 April 1767, all the Jesuit houses of Spain were suddenly surrounded, the inhabitants arrested, shipped to the ports in the clothes they were wearing and bundled onto ships for Civitavecchia. The King's letter to Clement XIII promised that his allowance of 100 piastres each year would be withdrawn for the whole order, should any one of them venture at any time to write anything in self-defence or in criticism of the motives for the expulsion,[1] motives that he refused to discuss, then or in the future.
Much the same fate awaited them in the territories of the Bourbon Philip, Duke of Parma, who was advised by the liberal minister Guillaume du Tillot. In 1768, Clement XIII issued a strong protest (monitorium) against the policy of the Parmese government. The question of the investiture of Parma (technically a Papal fief), aggravated the Pope's troubles. The Bourbon kings espoused their relative's quarrel, seized Avignon, Benevento and Pontecorvo, and united in a peremptory demand for the total suppression of the Jesuits (January 1769).[2]
Driven to extremes, Clement XIII consented to call a consistory to consider the step, but on the very eve of the day set for its meeting he died, not without suspicion of poison, of which, however, there appears to be no conclusive evidence.[2]
Ecumenism
Clement XIII made attempts at engaging with Protestants. This made little progress since Clement refused to compromise on doctrine with Protestants.
In support of this policy, he recognised the
Other activities
Clement XIII created 52 new cardinals in seven consistories in his pontificate. The pope created his nephew Carlo as a cardinal in his first consistory and later created Antonio Ganganelli—who would succeed him as Pope Clement XIV—as a cardinal.
The pope approved the cultus for several individuals:
Clement XIII canonized four saints in his pontificate:
on 16 July 1767.Death
Clement XIII died during the night of 2 February 1769 in Rome. He had participated in the solemnities to mark the
He was laid to rest on 8 February 1769 in the Vatican but his remains were transferred on 27 September 1774 to a monument in the Vatican that had been sculpted by Antonio Canova at the request of Senator Abbondio Rezzonico, the nephew of the late pontiff.
He was described in the
See also
Notes
- ^ a b c d One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, Sydney (1908). "Pope Clement XIII". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
- ^ a b c d public domain: Collier, Theodore Freylinghuysen (1911). "Clement s.v. Clement XIII.". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 487. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
- ISBN 9788820981129., quoting Diario ordinario di Roma, n. 4002, 23 March 1973, pp. 6-14.
- ^ L'Osservatore Romano (6 July 2008)
- ^ "Rezzonico, senior, Carlo (1693–1769)". Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. 2015. Archived from the original on 19 July 2013. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
- The Holy See. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
- ^ a b ""Feb 28 1759 - Clement XIII permits bible translations", Jesuit Restoration 1814". Archived from the original on 23 July 2019. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
- ISBN 978-1331341628.
- ^ "Pope Clement XIII: Proceedings of the Conclave that led to his election". Pickle Publishing. 2005. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
- ^ John Paul Adams (4 July 2015). "Sede Vacante 1769". CSUN. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
- ^ The Annual Register, or a View of the History, Politicks, and Literature, of the Year 1758. London: R. and J. Dodsley. 1759. p. 102.
External links
- Media related to Clemens XIII at Wikimedia Commons
- Works by or about Clement XIII at Wikisource
- Monument to Clement XIII in St Peter's Basilica by Canova