During this time period, a life as a Catholic priest was considered to be an excellent career move for young men regardless of their personal piety. In his twenty-seventh year, he obtained the doctorates of philosophy, law, and theology in the University of Sienna, and in December, 1626, he entered upon his ecclesiastical career at Rome. "Pope Alexander VII." Pope Alexander VI was born Rodrigo Borgia in the Spanish town of Xàtiva, near Valencia, in 1431. Pope Alexander VI (Latin: Alexander Sextus; 1431–1503), born Rodrigo Lanzol y Borja, was an Spanish cleric of the Roman Catholic Church and the 215th Pope from 1492 to 1503. Pope Alexander VI. His own sanctity of life, severity of morals, and aversion to luxury made more resplendent his virtues and talents. 6. Grandnephew of Pope Paul V, Chigi served the church as vice legate at Ferrara and as nuncio at Cologne (1639–51). Title: Pope Alexander VII; Creator: Gasparo Morone; Date Created: 17th century; The decree asserts the rights of Spain and Portugal to colonize, convert, and enslave. The pontificate of Alexander VII was shadowed by continual difficulties with the young and ill-advised Louis XIV of France, whose representatives were a constant source of annoyance to the Pope. The choice was considered providential. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York. They were also sensitive, inspired, and highly accomplished poets. In the conclave of 1655, famous for its duration of eighty days, and for the clash of national and factional interests, Cardinal Chigi was unanimously elected Pope. At a time when churchmen were being forced to realize the deplorable consequences, moral and financial, of nepotism, there was needed a pope who would rule without the aid of relatives. cit.) Abandoning their support of either pope, they called a council at Pisa in 1409, where they deposed both the Roman and Avignonese claimants and elected a third, Alexander V, who established the papal throne at Pisa. Alexander VII was the pope who commissioned Bernini to enclose St. Peter's Square with the colonnade. Pope Alexander VII - WikiMili, The Free Encyclopedia - WikiMili, The Free Encyclopedia Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. Alexander VI, given name Rodrigo Borgia, Roman Catholic Pope from 1492 until his death, is the most memorable of the corrupt and secular popes of the Renaissance. Urban VIII and Alexander VII each occupied the papal throne during the seventeenth century, and were munificent and discriminating patrons of the arts, as well as men of conspicuous erudition and imagination. Borgia, by a bare two-thirds majority secured by his own vote, was proclaimed Pope on the morning of 11 Aug., 1492, and took the name of Alexander VI. Maria del Popolo, titular church of more than one of the Chigi cardinals, the Scala Regia, the Chair of St. Peter in the Vatican Basilica, and the great colonnade before that edifice bespeak alike the genius of Bernini and the munificence of his papal patron. Due to poor health that began in infancy he was educated primarily at home, first by his mother and subsequently by tutors. The French prime minister, Cardinal Mazarin, had not forgiven the legate who resolutely opposed him at the conferences of Munster and Osnabrück, or the papal secretary of state who stood in the way of his anti-Roman policy. By his high-handed abuse of the traditional right of asylum granted to ambassadorial precincts in Rome, he precipitated a quarrel between France and the papacy, which resulted in the Pope's temporary loss of Avignon and his forced acceptance of the humiliating treaty of Pisa in 1664. Contact information. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. Clement I, 88–97. He assisted the Venetians in combating the Turks who had gained a foothold in Crete, and obtained in return the restoration of the Jesuits, exiled from Venice since 1606. Peter, d. 64–67. Evaristus, 97–105. Peter's - Guide to the Basilica and Square' Opposite and on the right, is the famous monument of Alexander VII (1655-1667), the last great masterpiece of the … Pope Alexander VI made many alliances to secure his position. Alexander VII, who as adviser of Innocent X had vigorously advocated the condemnation, confirmed it in 1665 by the Bull "Ad Sacram" declaring that it applied to the aforesaid work of Jansen and to the very meaning intended by him; he also sent to France his famous "formulary", to be signed by all the clergy as a means of detecting and extirpating Jansenism. The decorations of the church of Sta. The princes, however, were tired of war and, despite his admonition, yielded to France and the Protestants. The latter owed much also to his mother, a woman of singular power and skill in the formation of youth. 2. Pope Alexander VII (13 February 1599 – 22 May 1667), born Fabio Chigi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 April 1655 to his death in 1667. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alexander-VII, The Catholic Encyclopedia - Pope Alexander VII. He sought help from Charles VIII of France (1483–1498), who was allied to Ludovico "Il Moro" (the Moor, so called because of his swarthy complexion) Sforza, the de factoDuke of Milan, who needed French support to legitimise his rule. His pursuit of political goals and unremitting efforts to aggrandize his family were seen as excessive. But in the consistory of 24 April, 1656, influenced by those who feared the weakness of a papal court unsustained by ties of family interest, he proposed to bring his brother and nephews to assist him. A seventeenth-century pamphlet credited to Ayres, titled A short Account of the Life and Death of Pope Al… During his reign occurred the conversion of Queen Christina of Sweden, who, after her abdication, came to reside in Rome, where on Christmas Day, 1655, she was confirmed by the Pope, in whom she found a generous friend and benefactor. And nuncio in Cologne ( 1639–51 ) for the condemnation of a distinguished family bankers! 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