Pope Clement XI

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Pope

Clement XI

Bishop of Rome

Portrait by an unknown Italian School, 18th century, Vatican Museums

Church Catholic Church

Papacy began 23 November 1700

Papacy ended 19 March 1721

Predecessor Innocent XII

Successor Innocent XIII

Orders
 Ordination September 1700

Consecration 30 November 1700

by Emmanuel-Theódose de la Tour d’Auvergne de

Bouillon

Created cardinal 13 February 1690

by Pope Alexander VIII

Personal details

Born Giovanni Francesco Albani

23 July 1649

Urbino, Papal States

Died 19 March 1721 (aged 71)

Rome, Papal States

Cardinal-Deacon of Santa Maria in Aquiro (1690–

Previous post(s)
1700)
Cardinal-Deacon of Sant'Adriano al Forno  (1690–

1700)
Cardinal-Priest of San Silvestro in Capite (1700)

Coat of arms

Other popes named Clement

Pope Clement XI (Latin: Clemens XI; Italian: Clemente XI; 23 July 1649 – 19 March

1721), born Giovanni Francesco Albani, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of
the Papal States from 23 November 1700 to his death in 1721.
Clement XI was a patron of the arts and of science. He was also a great benefactor of
the Vatican Library; his interest in archaeology is credited with saving much of Rome's
antiquity. He authorized expeditions which succeeded in rediscovering various ancient
Christian writings and authorized excavations of the Roman catacombs.

Contents

 1Biography
o 1.1Early life
o 1.2Cardinalate
 2Pontificate
o 2.1Election to the papacy
o 2.2Actions
o 2.3Other activities
 2.3.1Beatifications and canonizations
 2.3.2Consistories
o 2.4Chinese Rites controversies
 3Death and burial
o 3.1Contemporary influence
 4Construction activity and patronage
 5See also
 6Notes
 7Sources

Biography[edit]
Early life[edit]
Giovanni Francesco Albani was born in 1649 in Urbino to the Albani family, a
distinguished family of Albanian origin in central Italy.[1][2][3] His mother Elena Mosca
(1630-1698) was a high-standing Italian of bergamasque origin, descended from the
noble Mosca family of Pesaro.[4] His father Carlo Albani (1623-1684) was a patrician. His
mother descended in part from the Staccoli family, [4] who were patricians of Urbino, in
part from the Giordani,[4] who were nobles of Pesaro.[5][6] The original name of the Albani
was Lazzi (Laçi) which they changed to Albani in memory of their origin. Francesco
Albani funded an expedition in Albania to locate the exact settlement of his family's
origins. In the final report, the two most probable locations which were presented to him
were Laç near Lezhë and Laç near Kukës, both in northern Albania. [7]
Albani was educated at the Collegio Romano in Rome from 1660 onwards. He became
a very proficient Latinist and gained a doctorate in both canon and civil law. He was one
of those who frequented the academy of Queen Christina of Sweden. He would serve
as a papal prelate under Pope Alexander VIII and was appointed by Pope Innocent
XII as the Referendary of the Apostolic Signatura. Throughout this time, he also served
as the governor of Rieti, Sabina and Orvieto.
Cardinalate[edit]
Portrait of Cardinal Albani, c. 1690

Pope Alexander VIII elevated him to the cardinalate in 1690 despite his protests and
made him the Cardinal-Deacon of Santa Maria in Aquiro but he later opted for
the Diaconia of San Adriano al Forno and later, as the Cardinal-Priest, for the titulus of
San Silvestro in Capite. He was then ordained to the priesthood in September 1700 and
celebrated his first Mass in Rome on 6 October 1700.

Pontificate[edit]
Election to the papacy[edit]
Main article: 1700 papal conclave

Medal depicting Clement XI

 

Portrait of Clement XI by Pier Leone Ghezzi, c. 1708 – c. 1712, Museo di

Roma
  

Bust of Pope Clement XI at Santa Cecilia church, Rome

After the death of Pope Innocent XII in 1700, a conclave was convoked to elect a
successor. Albani was regarded as a fine diplomat known for his skills as a peacemaker
and so was unanimously elected pope on 23 November 1700. He agreed to the election
after three days of consultation.
Unusually, from the viewpoint of current practice, his election came within three months
after his ordination as a priest and within two months after he celebrated his first Mass,
though he had been a cardinal for ten years previously. Having accepted election after
some hesitation, he was ordained a bishop on 30 November 1700 and assumed the
pontifical name of "Clement XI". Cardinal protodeacon Benedetto Pamphili crowned him
on 8 December 1700 and he took possession of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran on
10 April 1701.
Actions[edit]
Stained glass depiction of Clement XI at the Catholic Cathedral in Pristina

Soon after his accession to the pontificate, the War of the Spanish Succession broke
out.
In 1703 Pope Clement XI ordered a synod of Catholic bishops in northern Albania that
discussed promotion of the Council of Trent decrees within Albanian
dioceses, stemming conversions among locals to Islam and securing agreement to
deny communion to crypto-Catholics who outwardly professed the Muslim faith. [1][8][2]
Despite initially holding an ambiguous neutrality in world affairs, Clement XI was later
forced to name Charles, Archduke of Austria, as the King of Spain, since the imperial
army had conquered much of northern Italy and was threatening Rome itself in January
1709.
By the Treaty of Utrecht that put an end to the war, the Papal States lost their suzerainty
over the Farnese Duchy of Parma and Piacenza in favour of Austria, and
lost Comacchio as well, a blow to the prestige of the Papal States.
In 1713 Clement XI issued the bull Unigenitus in response to the spread of
the Jansenist heresy. There followed great upheaval in France, where apart from
theological issues, a strong Gallican tendency persisted. The bull, which was produced
with the contribution of Gregorio Selleri, a lector at the College of Saint Thomas, the
future Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum,
[9]
 condemned Jansenism by extracting and anathematizing as heretical 101 propositions
from the works of Quesnel declaring them to be identical in substance with propositions
already condemned in the writings of Jansenius.
The resistance of many French ecclesiastics and the refusal of the
French parlements to register the bull led to controversies extending through the greater
part of the 18th century. Because the local governments did not officially receive the
bull, it was not, technically, in force in those areas – an example of the interference of
states in religious affairs common before the 20th century.
During his reign as a pope the famous Illyricum Sacrum was commissioned, and today
it is one of the main sources of the field of Balkan region during Middle Ages, with over
5,000 pages divided in several volumes written by the Jesuit Daniele Farlati and
Dom Jacopo Coleti.
Clement XI made a concerted effort to acquire Christian manuscripts in Syriac from
Egypt and other places in the Middle East, greatly expanding the Biblioteca Apostolica
Vaticana's collection of Syriac works.[10]
Other activities[edit]
Clement XI extended the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary to the Universal Church of the
Roman Rite in 1716.
Beatifications and canonizations[edit]

Portrait of Pope Clement XI by Jan van Helmont, 1717, Plantin-Moretus Museum, Antwerp

Clement XI confirmed the cultus of Ceslas Odrowaz (27 August 1712), Jakov

Varingez (29 December 1700), John of Perugia (11 September 1704), Peregrine
Laziosi (11 September 1702), Peter of Sassoferrato (11 September 1704), Buonfiglio
Monaldi (1 December 1717), Pope Gregory X (8 July 1713) and Humbeline of
Jully (1703). He formally beatified a number of individuals: Alexis Falconieri,
Bartholomew degli Amidei and Benedict Dellantella, (1 December 1717) and John
Francis Régis (24 May 1716). He also beatified the sisters Theresa (20 May 1705)
and Sancha (10 May 1705).
He canonized Andrew Avellino, Catherine of Bologna, Felix of Cantalice and Pope Pius
V on 22 May 1712, Humility on 27 January 1720, Stephen of Obazine in 1701
and Boniface of Lausanne in 1702.
Clement XI, on 8 February 1720, named Saint Anselm of Canterbury as a Doctor of the
Church, providing him the supplementary titles of "Doctor magnificus" ("Magnificent
Doctor") and "Doctor Marianus" ("Marian Doctor").
Consistories[edit]
Main article: Cardinals created by Clement XI
Clement XI created a total of 70 cardinals in 15 consistories. Notably, two cardinals of
his own creation were Michelangelo dei Conti, who became his immediate
successor, Pope Innocent XIII, and Lorenzo Corsini, who later became Pope Clement
XII. The pope also nominated eight cardinals "in pectore", later publishing their names
which validated their appointments as cardinals.
During his pontificate, Gabriele Filippucci resigned his cardinalate which the pope
accepted on 7 June 1706. Clement XI also accepted the resignation of Francesco Maria
de' Medici from the cardinalate on 19 June 1709.
Chinese Rites controversies[edit]

Open letter from Kangxi Emperor to Pope Clement XI

Another important decision of Clement XI was in regard to the Chinese Rites

controversy: the Jesuit missionaries were forbidden to take part in honors paid
to Confucius or the ancestors of the Emperors of China, which Clement XI identified as
"idolatrous and barbaric", and to accommodate Christian language to pagan ideas
under plea of conciliating the heathen.

Death and burial[edit]

Clement's funeral

Clement XI died in Rome on 19 March 1721 at 12:45pm and was buried in the
pavement of Saint Peter's Basilica rather than in an ornate tomb like those of his
predecessors.
On March 10, Clement XI had a meeting at about 11:00am with the Bishop of
Sisteron Pierre François Lafitau. When the pope met with the bishop, he said that his
time was drawing to a close and that he would soon die, despite protests to the contrary
by Lafitau. On 14 March, Clement XI took ill while Lafitau was trying to get the pope's
nephew to persuade the pope to name the French First Minister Guillaume Dubois to
the cardinalate. However, Clement XI was in a state of delirium and was not responsive
to his pleas. On 16 March, Quadragesima Sunday, the pope did not participate in the
services, however, celebrated Mass in his private chapel at the Quirinale Palace. He
took medication that day but experienced pains in his thorax and had trouble breathing
from the cold air in his rooms.[11]
The following day, Clement XI celebrated Mass in his private chapel before meeting
various prelates which included the Archbishop of Ravenna Geronimo Crispi. However,
at around noon, he was suddenly struck with an extraordinary chill which was
accompanied by a very strong fever that immediately forced him to his bed, with the
pope declining a meal that evening. His pulse was exceptionally slow and he even
coughed up a thick liquid that was streaked with blood. Unable to sleep that night, his
fever abated somewhat. But the following day saw his fever return much more violently,
and he had an irregular pulse. The sputum was foamy, once more with blood, indicating
that there was something wrong with his lungs, causing his doctors to realize that his
condition would more than likely prove fatal. Clement XI made his confession and the
profession of faith before receiving Holy Communion at 8:00pm. James Francis Edward
Stuart, the "Pretender", tried to see the dying pope, however he was denied on the
grounds of the dangerous state of the pope's condition. That night, the papal sacristan
and the Bishop of Porfirio, Niccolo Agostino degli Abbati Olivieri, Bishop of Porfirio,
administered the Extreme Unction.[11]
On 19 March, the fever returned violently, and Clement XI slowly lost his ability to speak
as his eyes clouded over and his respiration slowly diminished as the pope died just
after midday.[11]
Contemporary influence[edit]
In his book "Journal of a Soul", while he was preparing for the Second Vatican
Council, Pope John XXIII resolved to pray the Universal Prayer and highly
recommended it to others.

Construction activity and patronage[edit]

The tomb of Pope Clement XI.

Pope Clement XI had a famous sundial added in the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli
e dei Martiri and had an obelisk erected in the Piazza della Rotonda in front of
the Pantheon, and a port built on the Tiber River, the beautiful porto di Ripetta,
demolished at the end of the 19th century.
He established a committee, overseen by his favourite artists, Carlo Maratta and Carlo
Fontana, to commission statuary of the apostles to complete the decoration of San
Giovanni in Laterano. He also founded an academy of painting and sculpture on
the Campidoglio.
He also enriched the Vatican library with numerous Oriental codices and lent his
patronage to the first archaeological excavations in the Roman catacombs. In his native
Urbino he restored numerous edifices and founded a public library.

See also[edit]
 Cardinals created by Clement XI
 List of popes

Notes[edit]
1. ^ Jump up to:a b Frazee, Charles (2006). Catholics and Sultans: The
Church and the Ottoman Empire 1453–1923. Cambridge University
Press. pp.  167–168.  ISBN  9780521027007. "...since the pope was of
Albanian ancestry (demonstrated by his name of Albani)."
2. ^ Jump up to:a b Martucci, Donato (2010). I Kanun delle montagne
albanesi: Fonti, fondamenti e mutazioni del diritto tradizionale albanese.
Edizioni di Pagina. p.  154. ISBN 9788874701223. "Nel 1703, per
iniziativa di Papa Clemente XI (che era di origini albanesi) si tenne il
primo Concilio Nazionale Albanese, in cui si cercò di promuovere
 l'applicazione dei decreti del Concilio di Trento nelle diocesi albanesi, di
arginare la marea di conversioni all'islam"
3. ^ http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2014/09/21/
fr_lombardi_papal_journey_a_blessing_for_all_albanians/1107019, ..."a
silver portrait of Pope Clement XI – who belonged to the Albani family, so
was traditionally of Albanian origin."
4. ^ Jump up to:a b c "Family Tree of Giovanni Francesco
Albani". geneanet.org. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
5. ^ Herbermann, Charles George; Columbus, Knights of; Committee,
Catholic Truth (1913).  The Catholic Encyclopedia. The New York Public
Library: Robert Appleton Company. p.  255. Retrieved
05/12/2010. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |access-
date= (help)
6. ^ Williams, George L. (2004). Papal Genealogy: The Families and
Descendants of the Popes. McFarland. p.  116. ISBN 9780786420711.
7. ^ Brunga 2021, p. 134.
8. ^ Skendi, Stavro (1967). "Crypto-Christianity in the Balkan Area under
the Ottomans". Slavic Review. 26 (2): 235–
242.  doi:10.2307/2492452.  JSTOR  2492452.
9. ^ "Accessed 2-5-2012". .fiu.edu. Retrieved  2013-06-23.
10. ^ Heal, Kristian S. (2005). "Vatican Syriac Manuscripts: Volume
1".  Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies.  8 (1). Archived from  the
original on 25 May 2011. Retrieved  17 April 2011.
11. ^ Jump up to:a b c John Paul Adams (23 September 2015).  "Sede Vacante
1721". CSUN. Retrieved 7 March 2022.

Sources[edit]
 Brunga, Liza (2021). Kishat e Zadrimës deri në prag të
kuvendit të Arbërit (Thesis). Academy of Albanological
Studies (Academy of Sciences of Albania).
 Frazee, Charles A. (2006) [1983]. Catholics and Sultans: The
Church and the Ottoman Empire 1453-1923. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521027007.
 Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pope Clement
XI"  . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton
Company.
 Rendina, Claudio (1983). I papi. Storia e segreti. Rome:
Netwon & Compton. pp. 586–588.
Wikisource has original
works written by or about:
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media related to Clemens XI.

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 Innocent XII 23 November 1700 – 19 March 1721
Innocent XIII

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