Pope Clement VIII (; ; 24 February 1536 – 3 March 1605), born Ippolito Aldobrandini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 30 January 1592 to his death in March 1605.

Born in Fano, Papal States to a prominent Florentine family, he initially came to prominence as a canon lawyer before being made a Cardinal-Priest in 1585. In 1592, he was elected Pope and took the name of Clement. During his papacy, he effected the reconciliation of Henry IV of France to the Catholic faith and was instrumental in setting up an alliance of Christian nations to oppose the Ottoman Empire in the so-called Long War. He also successfully adjudicated in a bitter dispute between the Dominicans and the Jesuits on the issue of efficacious grace and free will. In 1600, he presided over a jubilee, which brought many pilgrimages to Rome. He presided over the trial and execution of Giordano Bruno and implemented strict measures against Jewish residents of the Papal States. According to some accounts, he may have been the first pope to drink coffee, and his approval thereof may have led to its popularisation.

Clement VIII died at the age of 69 in 1605, and his remains now rest in the Roman church of Santa Maria Maggiore.

Early life

Ippolito was baptised on 4 March at the cathedral of Fano. He was from a Florentine family, son of Silvestro Aldobrandini and Lesa Deti, and followed his father as a canon lawyer, becoming an Auditor (judge) of the Roman Rota, the highest ecclesiastical court constituted by the Holy See. He was only ordained as a priest on 31 December 1580 at the age of 45 and became pope on 2 February 1592 when he was not yet 56. He was an effective, if sometimes rigorous, administrator.

Cardinal

thumb|Election of Pope Clement VIII in 1592, by [[Louis de Caullery, Petit Palais (Paris)]]

He was made Cardinal-Priest of S. Pancrazio in 1585 by Pope Sixtus V, who named him major penitentiary in January 1586 and in 1588 sent him as Papal legate in Poland. He placed himself under the spiritual direction of the reformer Saint 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 candidate for the Polish throne.

After the death of Pope Innocent IX (1591), another stormy conclave ensued, in which a determined minority of Italian Cardinals were unwilling to be dictated to by Philip II of Spain. Known to be very intelligent, disciplined, and in tune with the inner workings of the Church, Cardinal Aldobrandini was elected on 30 January 1592, as a portent of more balanced and liberal Papal policy in European affairs. He took the non-politicised name Clement VIII. He proved to be an able Pope, with an unlimited capacity for work, and a lawyer's eye for detail. He was a wise statesman, the general object of whose policy was to free the Papacy from its dependence upon Spain. It was issued with the Bull Cum Sacrorum (9 November 1592) which asserted that every subsequent edition must be assimilated to this one, that no word of the text could be changed, and that not even variant readings could be printed in the margin. This new official version of the Vulgate, known as the Clementine Vulgate or Sixto-Clementine Vulgate, became and remained the official Bible of the Catholic Church until the Nova Vulgata replaced it in 1979.'

De Auxiliis controversy

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 roles 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 (Misiones Jesuiticas 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 informally skirted by the publication of commentaries on 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 the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, by which a great part of the Ruthenian clergy and people were reunited to Rome. The bull also alleged that Jews worldwide had engaged in usury and exploited the hospitality of Clement VIII's predecessors "who, in order to lead them from their darkness to knowledge of the true faith, deemed it opportune to use the clemency of Christian piety towards them" (alluding to Christiana pietas). With the bull Cum Hebraeorum malitia a few days later, Clement VIII also forbade the reading of the Talmud.

Later life and death

thumb|right|200px|Statue of Clement VIII in the [[Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore]]

Clement VIII was afflicted by gout, using a wheelchair by the late 1590s, and was forced to spend much of his later life immobilised in bed. He suddenly became ill on 10 February 1605, and his condition rapidly deteriorated over the next few weeks. He died on 3 March 1605 around midnight, leaving a reputation for prudence, munificence, ruthlessness and capacity for business. 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 his remains were transferred in 1646.

His reign is especially distinguished by the number and beauty of his medals. 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. leading to the pope's advisors asking him to denounce the beverage. However, upon tasting coffee, Pope Clement VIII declared: "Why, this Satan's drink is so delicious that it would be a pity to let the infidels have exclusive use of it." Clement allegedly blessed the bean because it appeared better for the people than alcoholic beverages. The year often cited is 1600. It is not clear whether this is a true story, but it may have been found amusing at the time.

  • Pope Clement VIII is the main antagonist of Tobias Sammet's Avantasia metal opera albums The Metal Opera and The Metal Opera Part II, where he is voiced by Oliver Hartmann.

See also

  • Giovanni Aldobrandini, his older brother, who was a cardinal
  • Sixto-Clementine Vulgate
  • Cardinals created by Clement VIII

References

Sources

  • 274-275
  • Mons. Jouin, "The Holy See and the Jews", from Révue International des Societés, 1918