PIUS
129
PIUS
VI he kept away from Rome as much as possible.
Sigismondo de Conti, who knew him well tells us that
" he left no moment unoccupied ; his time for study was
before daybreak; he spent his mornings in prayer and
his midday hours in giving audiences, to which the
humblest had easy access. He was so temperate in
food and drink that he only allowed himself an evening
meal every other day." Yet this is the excellent
man to whom Gregorovius in his "Lucrezia Borgia",
without a shadow of authority, gives a dozen chil-
dren — the calumny being repeated by Brosch and
Creighton. After the death of Alexander VI, the
conclave could not unite on the principal candidates,
d'Amboise, Rovere, and Sforza; hence the great major-
ity cast their votes for Piccolomini, who though only
sixty-four was, like his uncle, tortured with gout and
was prematurely old. He took the name of Pius III
in honour of his uncle, was crowned on 8 Oct., after
receiving priestly and episcopal orders. The strain
of the long ceremony
was so great that the
pope sank under it.
He was buried in St.
Peter's, but his re-
mains were later
transferred to S. An-
drea della Valle where
he rests by the side
of Pius II.
P.\8TOR, History of the Popes. VI, 185 sqq.; Pan- VINIO, Contijiuation of Ptatina; VON Reumont, Gesch. der Stadt Rom: Artand de Mostor, His- tory of the Popes (New York, 1867).
James F. Loughlin.
Pius IV, Pope
(Giovanni Angelo
Medici), b. 31
March, 1499, at Milan; elected 26 December, 1559;
d. in Rome 9 Dec, 1565. The Medici of Milan lived
in humble circumstances and the proud Florentine
house of the same name claimed no kindred with them
until Cardinal Medici was seated on the papal throne.
His father Bernardino had settled in Milan and gained
his livelihood by farming the taxes. Bernardino had
two enterprising sons, both able to rise in the world by
different roads. The oldest, Giangiacomo, became a
soldier of fortune and after an adventurous career
received from the emperor the title of Marchese di
Marignano. He commanded the imperial troops who
conquered Siena. Giovanni Angelo was as success-
ful with his books as his brother with his sword. He
made his studies first at Pavia, then at Bologna,
devoting himself to philosophy, medicine, and law,
in the last mentioned branch taking the degree of
doctor. He gained some reputation as a jurist. In
his twenty-eighth year he determined to embrace the
ecclesiastical state and seek his fortune in Rome.
He arrived in the Eternal City, 26 Dec, 1.527, just
thirty-two years to a day before his election to the
papacy. From Clement VII he obtained the office
of prothonotary, and by his intelligence, industry,
and trustworthiness commended himself to Paul
III who entertained the greatest confidence in his in-
tegrity and ability antl employed him in the governor-
ship of many cities of the papal states. In the last
year of Paul Ill's reign, Medici, whose brother had
married an Orsini, sister to the pope's daughter-in-law,
was created cardinal-priest with the title of S.
Pudenziana. Julius III made him legate in Romagna
and commander of the papal troops. The antipathy
of Paul IV was rather to his advantage than otherwise;
for in the reaction which followed the death of that
morose pontiff all eyes finally settled on the man who
in every respect was Paul's opposite. The conclave
XII.— 9
dragged along for over three months, when it was ob-
vious that neither the French nor the Spanish-Aus-
trian faction could win the election. Then, mainly
through the exertions of Cardinal Farnese, the con-
clave by acclamation pronounced in favour of Medici.
He was crowned 6 Jan., 1560, and took the name of
Pius IV.
His first official act was to grant an amnesty to those who had outraged the memory of his predecessor, Paul IV; but he refused clemency to Pompeio Colonna, who had murdered his mother-in-law. "God forbid ", he said, "that I should begin my pontificate with con- doning a parricide." The enmity of Spain and the popular detestation of the Caraffas caused him to open a process against the relatives of Paul IV, as a result of which Cardinal Carlo Caraffa and his brother, to whom Paul had given the Duchy of Paliano, were condemned and executed. The sentence was after- wards declared unjust by St. Pius V and the memory of the victims vindi- cated and their estates restored. Car- dinal Morone and other dignitaries whom Paul had im- prisoned for suspicion >f heresy were re- oased.
Pius IV now de- voted his undivided attention to the com- pletion of the labours of the Council of Trent. He was luck- ier than his predeces- sors in the youth whom he created car- dinal-nephew. This was St. Charles Bor- romeo, the glory of
pt of the Vatican (XVI Century)
Milan and of the Universal Church in the sixteenth cen-
tury. Pius had the satisfaction of seeing the close of the
long-continued council and the triumph of the papacy
over the antipapal tendencies which at times asserted
themselves. Hisnameisinimortally connected with the
"Profession of Faith", which must be sworn to by
everyone holding an ecclesiastical office. The few
years which remained to him after the close of the coun-
cil weredevotedtomuch needed improvements inRome
and the papal states. Unfortunately for his popular-
ity, these works could not be perfected without the im-
position of additional taxes. Amid the numerous em-
bellishments with which his name is connected, one of
the most useful was the founding of the pontifical
printing-office for the issuing of books in all languages.
He procured the necessary type and placed the insti-
tution under the able superintendence of Paul Mi-
nutius. In addition to the heavy expenses incurred
in the fortification and embellislnnent of Rome, Pius
was under obhgation to contribute many hundred
thousands of scudi to the support of the war against
the Turks in Hungary.
The mildness of Pius IV in dealing with suspects of heresy, so different from the rigour of his predecessor, made many suspect his own orthodoxy. A fanatic named Benedetto Ascolti, "inspired by his guardian angel", made an attempt upon his life. A more formidable foe, the Roman fever, carried him off 9 Dec, 1565, with St. Philip Neri and St. Charles Borromeo at his pillow. He was buried first in St. Peter's, but 4 June, 15S3, his remains were transferred to Michelangelo's great church of S. Maria degli Angeli, one of Pius's most magnificent structures. "Pius IV", says the fearless Muratori, "had faults (who is without them?) ; but they are as nothing com- pared with his many virtues. His memory shall ever remain in benediction for having brought to a
