CLEMENT X, POPE

Pontificate: April 29, 1670 to July 22, 1676; b. Emilio Bonaventura Altieri, Rome, July 13, 1590. From

a family of ancient Roman nobility, he obtained a doctorate in law in 1611 and worked for a time with John Baptist Pamfili (later Innocent X). At the urging of his elder brother, John Baptist, he became a cleric and in 1623 served as auditor to Lancellotti in the nunciature in Poland. On his return to Italy in 1627, Emilio replaced his brother as bishop of Camerino. innocent x in 1644 appointed him nuncio to Naples, where his diplomatic acumen was tested during the revolution of Tommaso Aniello in 1647. In 1652 he returned to his see, and two years later by appointment of alexander vii he became secretary of the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars and a consultor of the Inquisition. Clement IX made him superintendent of the Exchequer and, a month before his death, raised him to the cardinalate. In the next conclave, prolonged by a conflict of interests among the Spanish and French cardinals for more than four months, Emilio was elected as he approached 80. He adopted Cardinal Paluzzi degli Albertoni as cardinal nephew and entrusted him with administration to an excess that irritated Romans.

During his reign of six years, Clement, who was in his eighties, brought order to papal finances, took great interest in agricultural conditions, assembled a special congregation for Polish affairs, and regulated by his decree of June 21, 1670, the relationship between bishops and religious orders.

He canonized Cajetan, Philip Benitius, Francis Borgia, Louis Bertrand, and Rose of Lima, and beatified Pius V, John of the Cross, and the martyrs of Gorkom in Holland. His most conspicuous foreign policies centered on resistance to louis xiv' demands on the regale (royal right to revenues of vacant sees), pressed by Cardinal César d'Estrees (see gallicanism), and his large financial aid to Poland in its struggle against Turkish invasion. He celebrated the Holy Year 1675 and is remembered in Rome for the erection of the Palazzo Altieri, the fountains in the piazza of St. Peter, and the statues on the bridge of Sant' Angelo.

Bibliography: l. pastor, The History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages (London-St. Louis 1938–61) 31:431–508. f. x. seppelt, Geschichte der Päpste von den Anfängen bis zur Mitte des 20 Jh., v.5 (Leipzig 1931–41). j. de la serviÈre, Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, ed. a. vacant et al., 15 v. (Paris 1903–50; Tables générales 1951–) 3:94–98. r. mols, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, ed. a. baudrillart et al. (Paris 1912–) 12:1313–26. g. hanotaux, Recueil des Instructions Données aux Ambassadeurs et Ministres de France, 3 v. (Paris 1888–). Bullarium Romanum (Magnum), ed. h. mainardi and c. cocquelines, 18 folio v. (Rome 1733–62) 18. j. dulumeau, Catholicism between Luther and Voltaire (London 1977). a. d. wright, The Early Modern Papacy: From the Council of Trent to the French Revolution (1564–1789) (London 2000).

[s. v. ramge]