Pope Julius III
| Julius III | |
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| Papacy began | 7 February 1550 |
| Papacy ended | 23 March 1555 |
| Predecessor | Paul III |
| Successor | Marcellus II |
| Orders | |
| Consecration | 12 November 1514 by Antonio Maria Ciocchi del Monte |
| Created Cardinal | 22 December 1536 |
| Personal details | |
| Birth name | Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte |
| Born | 10 September 1487 Rome, Papal State |
| Died | 23 March 1555 (aged 67) Rome, Papal State |
| Papal styles of Pope Julius III |
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| Reference style | His Holiness |
| Spoken style | Your Holiness |
| Religious style | Holy Father |
| Posthumous style | None |
Julius III (Latin: Iulius PP. III, Italian: Giulio III; 10 September 1487 – 23 March 1555), born Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte, was Pope from 7 February 1550 to 1555.
Distinguished as a effective diplomat, he was elected to the papacy as a compromise candidate. As Pope he made only reluctant and short-lived attempts at reform, mostly devoting himself to a life of personal pleasure. His and the Church's reputation was greatly harmed by Julius' scandal-ridden relationship with his adopted nephew.[1]
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Education and early career [edit]
Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte was born in Rome. He was educated by the humanist Raffaele Brandolini Lippo, and later studied law at Perugia and Siena. During his career, he distinguished himself as a brilliant canonist rather than as a theologian.[2]
Del Monte was the nephew of Antonio Maria Ciocchi del Monte, Archbishop of Manfredonia (1506-1511). When his uncle exchanged this see for a position as a Cardinal in 1511, Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte succeeded in Manfredonia in 1512. In 1520, del Monte also became bishop of Pavia. Popular for his affable manner and respected for his administrative skills, he was twice governor of Rome and was entrusted by the curia with several duties. At the Sack of Rome (1527) he was one of the hostages given by Pope Clement VII to the Emperor's forces, and barely escaped execution.[2] Pope Paul III made him Cardinal-bishop of Palestrina in 1536 and employed him in several important legations, notably as papal legate and first president of the Council of Trent (1545/47) and then at Bologna (1547/48).
Papacy [edit]
Election [edit]
Paul III died on 10 November 1549, and in the ensuing conclave the forty-eight cardinals were divided into three factions: of the primary factions, the Imperial faction wished to see the Council of Trent reconvened, the French faction wished to see it dropped. The Farnese faction, loyal to the family of previous Pope, supported the election Paul III's grandson, Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, and also the family's claim to the Duchy of Parma, which was contested with the Emperor Charles V.
Neither the French nor the Germans favoured del Monte, and the Emperor had expressly excluded him from the list of acceptable candidates, but the French were able to block the other two factions, allowing del Monte to promote himself as a compromise candidate and be elected on 7 February 1550.[3] Ottavio Farnese, whose support had been crucial to the election, was immediately confirmed as Duke of Parma.
Church reforms [edit]
At the start of his reign Julius had desired seriously to bring about a reform of the Catholic Church and to reconvene the Council of Trent, but very little was actually achieved during his five years in office. In 1551, at the request of Emperor Charles V, he consented to the reopening of the council of Trent and entered into a league against the duke of Parma and Henry II of France (1547–59), but soon afterwards made terms with his enemies and suspended the meetings of the council (1553).[4]
Julius increasingly contented himself with Italian politics and retired to his luxurious palace at the Villa Giulia, which he had built for himself close to the Porta del Popolo. From there he passed the time in comfort, emerging from time to time to make timid efforts to reform the Church through the reestablishment of the reform commissions. He was a friend of the Jesuits, to whom he granted a fresh confirmation in 1550; and through the Papal bull, Dum sollicita of August 1552, he founded the Collegium Germanicum, and granted an annual income.[5]
During his pontificate, Catholicism was restored in England under Queen Mary in 1553. Julius sent Cardinal Reginald Pole as legate with powers that he could use at his discretion to help the restoration succeed.[6] In February 1555, an envoy was dispatched from the English parliament to Julius to inform him of the country's formal submission, but the pope died before the envoy reached Rome.
Shortly before his death, Julius dispatched Cardinal Giovanni Morone to represent the interests of the Holy See at the Peace of Augsburg.[7]
The Innocenzo scandal [edit]
Julius's papacy was marked by scandals. The most notable surrounded his adoptive nephew, Innocenzo Ciocchi Del Monte, a 14 year old beggar Julius had discovered in the streets of Parma.[8] On his elevation to the papacy, Julius persuaded his brother to adopt Innocenzo and himself made the boy cardinal-nephew. Julius showered his favourite with benefices, including the commendatario of the abbeys of Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy and S. Zeno in Verona, and, later, of the abbeys of S. Saba, Miramondo, Grottaferrata and Frascati, among others. Cardinals Reginald Pole and Giovanni Carafa reminded Julius that this was a shameful abuse of Papal patonage, and made him aware of the "evil suppositions to which the elevation of a fatherless young man would give rise".[9]
The perception that unworthy figures were advancing because of sodomitical affairs prompted contemporary denunciations. Joachim du Bellay, who lived in Rome through this period in the retinue of his relative, Cardinal Jean du Bellay, expressed his scandalized opinion of Julius in two sonnets in his series Les regrets (1558), hating to see, he wrote, "a Ganymede with the red hat on his head".[10][11] The Venetian ambassador reported that Innocenzo shared the pope's bed "as if he [Innocenzo Ciocchi del Monte] were his [Julius's] own son or grandson". Girolamo Muzio wrote in a letter of 1550 to Ferrante Gonzaga, governor of Milan: "They write many bad things about this new pope; that he is vicious, proud, and odd in the head"[12].
Calvinists and Lutherans made capital of the scandal. Thomas Beard, in the Theatre of God's judgement (1597) said it was Julius's "custome ... to promote none to ecclesisatical livings, save only his buggerers”, that Julius showed the impatience of a "lover awaiting a mistress" while awaiting Innocenzo's arrival in Rome, and boasted of the boy's prowess.[13]
Not all historians agree about homosexual relations between Julius III and his adoptive nephew. Ludwig von Pastor states that although the enemies of Julius III accused him that he was natural father of Innocenzo del Monte, no accusastions of sodomy has been proved against him either in the time of his pontificate or afterwards."[14] Francis Burkle-Young and Michael Leopoldo Doerrer also concluded that Julius III and Innocenzo were not lovers[15].
Despite the damage which the scandal was inflicting on the church, it was not until after Julius' death in 1555 that anything could be done to curb Innocenzo's visibility. He underwent temporary banishment following the murder of two men who had insulted him, and then again following the rape of two women. He tried to use his connections in the College of Cardinals to plead his cause but his influence waned and he died in obscurity. He was buried in Rome in the Del Monte family chapel. One outcome of the cardinal-nephew scandal, however, was the upgrading of the position of Papal Secretary of State, as the incumbent had to take over the duties Innocenzo was unfit to perform: the Secretary of State eventually replaced the cardinal-nephew as the most important official of the Holy See.[16]
Artistic legacy [edit]
Julius spent the bulk of his time, and a great deal of papal money, on entertainments at the Villa Giulia, created for him by Vignola. Julius extended his patronage to the great Renaissance composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, whom he brought to Rome as his maestro di cappella, Giorgio Vasari, who supervised the design of the Villa Giulia, and to Michelangelo, who worked there. But the pope's lack of interest in political or ecclesiastical affairs caused dismay among his contemporaries.
See also [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ Crompton, Louis (2004). "Julius III". glbtq.com. Retrieved 2007-08-16.
- ^ a b Smith 2002, p. 886-887.
- ^ Richard P. McBrien, Lives of the Popes: The Pontiffs from St. Peter to Benedict XVI, (HarperCollins, 2000), 283.
- ^ Richard P. McBrien, 283–284.
- ^ Oskar Garstein, Rome and the Counter-Reformation in Scandinavia, (BRILL, 1992), 105.
- ^ Richard P. McBrien, 284.
- ^ Kenneth Meyer Setton, The Papacy and the Levant, 1204–1571, Vol. IV, (The American Philosophical Society, 1984), 603.
- ^ ‘’Who's who in gay and lesbian history’’ By Robert Aldrich, Garry Wotherspoon; p.278
- ^ Ludwig von Pastor, The History of the Popes, Germany
- ^ Crompton, Louis (2004). "Julius III". glbtq.com. http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html. Retrieved 2007-08-16
- ^ E. Joe Johnson, Idealized male friendship in French narrative from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment, p69. USA, 2003
- ^ Hor di questo nuovo papa universalmente se ne dice molto male; che egli è vitioso, superbo, rotto et di sua testa", Lettere di Girolamo Muzio Giustinopolitano conservate nell'archivio governativo di Parma, Deputazione di Storia Patria, Parma 1864, p. 152
- ^ Crompton, Louis (2004). "Julius III". glbtq.com. http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html. Retrieved 2007-08-16
- ^ Ludwig von Pastor, History of the Popes, vol. 13, London 1924, p. 71.
- ^ The Life of Cardinal Innocenzo del Monte: A Scandal in Scarlet. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen, 1997, chapter "Zeus and Ganymede?", p. 185-194.
- ^ See The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church – Biographical Dictionary – Pope Julius III (1550–1555) – Consistory of 30 May 1550 (I) for a summary of Innocenzo Del Monte's life based on Francis Burkle-Young and Michael Leopoldo Doerrer's authoritative biography, "The life of Cardinal Innocenzo del Monte"
- P. Messina, 'Del Monte, Innocenzo', Dizionario biografico degli italiani, Vol 38, Rome, 1990.
Bibliography [edit]
- Burkle-Young, Francis A., and Michael Leopoldo Doerrer. The Life of Cardinal Innocenzo del Monte: A Scandal in Scarlet. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen, 1997.
- Dall'Orto, Giovanni. "Julius III." Who's Who in Gay and Lesbian History from Antiquity to World War II. Robert Aldrich and Garry Wotherspoon, eds. London: Routledge, 2001. 234-35.
- Kelly, J. N. D. The Oxford Dictionary of Popes. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986.
- Smith, Marc (2002). "Julius III". In Levillain, Philippe. The Papacy: Gaius-Proxies. Routledge.
- O'Malley, John W (2009). A History of the Popes: From Peter to the Present. Government Institutes.
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External links [edit]
| Catholic Church titles | ||
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| Preceded by Paul III |
Pope 7 February 1550 – 23 March 1555 |
Succeeded by Marcellus II |
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