Pope Marcellus II

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Pope Marcellus II : biography

6 May 1501 – 1 May 1555

Pope Marcellus II Pope Marcellus II ( ; 6 May 1501 – 1 May 1555), born Marcello Cervini degli Spannochi, was the head of the Catholic Church from 9 April 1555 to his death in 1555. He succeeded Pope Julius III. Before his accession as pope he had been Cardinal-Priest of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme. He is the most recent pope to choose to retain his birth name as his regnal name upon his accession, as well as only the second and most recent pope to date to take the name "Marcellus" upon being elected. After his death, it would be 423 years before another pope would choose a name with an ordinal number less than IV (John Paul I).

Papacy

tomb of Pope Marcellus II in the grottoes of St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City.]] Though Marcellus II desired to reform many of the inner workings of the church, his feeble constitution succumbed to the fatigues of the conclave, the exhausting ceremonies connected with his ascension, the anxieties arising from his high office, and overexertion in his performance of the pontifical functions of the Holy Week and Easter.Panvinio, "Life of Marcellus II", 430: Quum satis (ut dixi) firmus non esset viribus, & propterea anno superiori diu etiam febre laborasset, corpore quoque tam comitiorum incommodis, quam obeundis publicis muneribus, quae vetere Christiani populi instituto, annuis Dominici Cruciatus [Good Friday] & Resurrectionis [Easter] diebus per Maximum Pontificem fieri consuerunt, fatigato, duodecimo pontificatus die gravius e pituita, & non levi febre decubuit. He quickly fell ill. He was bled, and appeared to begin to recover. In an audience he gave to the Cardinals, who wanted him to sign the Electoral Capitulations from the Conclave and to guarantee that he would make no more cardinals than those agreements allowed, he refused to sign, stating that he would show his intent by deeds not words. In his first audience with the Ambassadors of France and Spain, he warned the Ambassadors that their monarchs should keep the peace that had been agreed upon, and that if they did not, not only would they be sent Nuncios and Legates, but that the Pope himself would come and admonish them. He wrote letters to the Emperor, to Queen Mary I of England, and to Cardinal Reginald Pole (in which he confirmed Pole’s Legateship in England).Paul Friedmann (editor), Les dépêches de Giovanni Michiel, Ambassadeur de Venise en Angleterre pendent les années 1554–1557 (Venice 1869), p. 36, dispatch of 6 May 1555. This is confirmed by Sir John Masone, the English ambassador in Bruxelles: William B. Turnbull (editor), Calendar of State Papers, Foreign Series, of the Reign of Mary, 1553–1558 (London 1861), p. 164 #348 (26 April 1555). When the Spanish Ambassador asked for pardon for having killed a man, the Pope replied that he did not want to start his reign with such auspices as absolution from homicide, and ordered the appropriate tribunals to observe the law. He did not want his relatives descending on Rome, nor did he want them to be enriched beyond the station of a member of the nobility, and he did not allow his two nephews, Riccardo and Herennius (sons of his half-brother Alexander), who lived in Rome under his care, to have formal visits. He instituted immediate economies in Vatican expenditures. On 28 April, he was able to receive the Duke of Urbino in audience, and on 29 April, the Duke of Ferrara. He also gave audience to four cardinals, Farnese, D’Este, Louis de Guise and Ascanio Sforza, the leaders of the French faction in the recent Conclave. That night he had difficulty sleeping. On the morning of the 30th he suffered a stroke (hora XII apoplexi correptus) and slipped into a coma. That night he died, on the 22nd day after his election.

Early life

A native of Montefano, a small village near Macerata and LoretoLorenzo Cardella, Memorie storiche de’ cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa Tomo Quarto (Roma: Pagliarini 1793) pp. 225. he was the son of Ricardo Cervini who was the Apostolic Treasurer in Ancona.Catholic Encyclopedia, (1913) The family originated in Tuscany, in the town of Poliziano, which had once been subject to Siena, but later was under the control of Florence. Marcello had two half-brothers, Alexander and Romulus.Onuphrio Panvinio, "Marcellus II" in Historia B. Platinae de vitis pontificum Romanorum … ad Paulum II…annotationum Onuphrii Panvinii … cui, eiusdem Onuphrii … Pontificum vitae usque ad Pium V (Colonia: apud: Maternum Cholinum MDLXVIII) [Panvinio, "Life of Marcellus II"], 423. One of his sisters, Cinzia Cervini, married Vinzenzo Bellarmino, and was the mother of Saint Robert Bellarmino. Marcello was educated locally, and at Siena and Florence, where he became proficient in writing Latin, Greek, and Italian. He also received instruction in jurisprudence, philosophy, and mathematics.Cardella, 225: Nella patria, in Siena, in Firenze attese allo studio delle lingue latina, greca, e italiana, e in tutte scriveva con gran facilità, ed eleganza. Non trascurò le scienze più gravi, e nella giurisprudenza, filosofia, e mattematica, fece lieti progressi. His father had an interest in astrology and upon discovering that his son’s horoscope presaged high ecclesiastical honours, Riccardo set the young Cervini on a path to the priesthood.Valérie Pirie. The Triple Crown: An Account of the Papal Conclaves From the Fifteenth Century to the Present Day. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1936. Marcello Cervini was ordained a priest in 1535.