Pope John II

First Pope to choose a regnal name

The portrait of John II in the Rome Basilica of
St Paul Outside the Walls

John II became Pope on this day in 533 in Rome, the first pontiff to take a new name after being elevated to the Papacy. 

John had considered his birth name of Mercurius to be inappropriate as it honoured the pagan god, Mercury.

He chose John as his regnal name - or reign name - in memory of Pope John I, who was venerated as a martyr.

Mercurius was born in Rome and became a priest at the Basilica di San Clemente, a church with ancient origins near the Colosseum.

At that time in history, simony - the buying and selling of church offices - was rife among the clergy.

After the death of Pope John II’s predecessor, there was an unfilled vacancy for more than two months, during which some sacred vessels were sold off.

The matter was brought to the attention of the Roman Senate, which passed its last-known decree, forbidding simony in papal elections.

This decree was confirmed by the Gothic King, Athalaric, who ordered it to be engraved in marble and placed in St Peter’s Basilica.

Byzantine Emperor, Justinian I, portrayed in
mosaic in Ravenna's Basilica of San Vitale

He added a stipulation that if a disputed election took place in the future, a sum of money was to be paid by the Roman clergy, which would be distributed among the poor.

It is not known for certain how Mercurius obtained the papal chair, but during that period the favour of kings was important for anyone who wanted to become Pope.

Athalaric always remained on good terms with Pope John II and referred all actions brought against the Roman clergy to him for his judgment.

John II was also obviously in favour with the Byzantine Emperor, Justinian I, who is recorded as having sent him some valuable gifts.

During his two-year reign as Pope, John had to deal with the adulterous behaviour of the Bishop of Riez in Provence. He ordered him to be confined to a monastery and, until a replacement could be appointed, he told the clergy in the area to take their instructions from the Bishop of Arles.

Before his death, John received a question from a council of bishops in Carthage about whether bishops who had lapsed into arianism should, on repentance, keep their rank or be admitted only to lay communion.

Before he could answer the question, John died in May 535 and was buried in St Peter’s Basilica. He was succeeded by Pope Agapetus I, who kept his real name and answered the question posed by the bishops to his predecessor.

Popes after John II all kept their real names until Pietro Canepanova was chosen in 983.

He did not want to use the name of St Peter, who was the first Pope, and so he styled himself John XIV.

He was followed by Giovanni di Gallina Alba, who kept his birth name and became John XV. After his death, popes began choosing a regnal name on a regular basis.

The most popular papal name chosen over the centuries has been John. It was last used between 1958 and 1963 by Pope John XXIII, who was born Angelo Roncalli.

The garden and facade of the Basilica of San Clemente 

Travel tip:

The Basilica of San Clemente in Rome, where Pope John II had previously served as a priest, is in Via Labicana, close to the Colosseum and the Parco del Celio. It is an interesting, three-tiered building. The present basilica was built in the 11th century, but underneath there is a fourth-century basilica, converted from the home of a Roman nobleman, where John II would have served as a priest. The floor below that had been a republican villa, which had briefly served as a mithraeum, a temple for the cult of Mithras, a religion popular with Roman soldiers that rivalled Christianity. The novelist Ngaio Marsh was fascinated with the Basilica and used it as the model for a fictitious church in Rome, which she uses as the crime scene in her Roderick Alleyn mystery, When In Rome.

Travel tip:

Pope John II was buried in the old St Peter’s Basilica in 535. But his tomb was believed to have been destroyed during the demolition of the old church and the building of the new Basilica in the 16th and 17th centuries. Some of the tombs of dead popes were reburied in the new Basilica, while some were moved to other places, but the final resting place for many of them is still uncertain. There is a plaque in St Peter’s listing the popes buried in the Basilica and Pope John II’s name appears in the list, even though the exact location of his tomb is not known.

More reading:

Pope Leo X - the Medici pope

The completion and consecration of St Peter's

Pope John Paul II visits his would-be killer in prison

Also on this day:

1462: The birth of Renaissance artist Piero di Cosimo

Books:

When in Rome, by Ngaio Marsh

(Picture credits: Mosaic by Petar Milošević; Basilica of San Clemente by Dudva; via Wikimedia Commons)


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Pope Leo X

Renaissance pope supported art but did not foresee the Reformation

Pope Leo X, with cardinals Giulio de' Medici
 and Luigi de Rossi, in a portrait by Raphael

Pope Leo X was born as Giovanni de' Medici, on this day in 1475 in Florence.

The second son of Lorenzo de' Medici - Lorenzo Il Magnifico - who ruled the Florentine Republic, Leo X has gone down in history as one of the leading Renaissance popes, who made Rome a cultural centre during his papacy.

He is also remembered for failing to take the Reformation seriously enough and for excommunicating Martin Luther.

Giovanni was always destined for a religious life and received a good education at his father’s court, where one of his tutors was the philosopher Pico della Mirandolo. Giovanni went on to study theology and canon law at the University of Pisa.

In 1492 he became a member of the Sacred College of Cardinals, but after his father died later that year, he returned to Florence to live with his older brother, Piero.

He was exiled from Florence in 1494 with the rest of his family, accused of betraying the Florentine republic, and spent the next six years travelling throughout northern Europe.

On his return to Italy in 1500 he settled in Rome and on the death of his brother, Piero, he became the head of the Medici family. Giovanni took part in the conclaves in 1503 that elected first Pope Pius III and then Pope Julius II.

Giovanni was named papal legate to Bologna and Romagna in 1511 and supervised the restoring of Medici control over Florence the following year. Although his younger brother, Giuliano, was in charge of the Florentine republic in name, it was really his older brother, Giovanni, the Cardinal, who ruled.

Giovanni was elected Pope on March 11, 1513 and took the title of Leo X.

He was ordained a priest on March 15 and consecrated Bishop of Rome before being crowned Pope.

Having spent his youth at the court of Lorenzo dè Medici, Leo X personified Renaissance ideals. He was lavish with both the church’s money and his own. Under his patronage, Rome became the cultural centre of Europe once again.

St Peter's Basilica in Rome, as seen from the roof of
Castel Sant'Angelo

Work was speeded up on the construction of the new St Peter’s Basilica, which had been initiated by Pope Julius II. The holdings of the Vatican Library were increased and the arts flourished during his papacy.

As ruler of the Papal States and head of the Medici family who ruled the Florentine republic, Pope Leo X gave offices and benefits to his family to strengthen still further his position.

In 1517, after an attempt had been made on his life, Leo X named 31 new Cardinals. A former Cardinal was strangled in prison and several other imprisoned and executed after being implicated in the attempted assassination.

The Pope also had to contend with the power of France from the north and Spain to the south in the struggle to control Italy.

To raise additional money for the reconstruction of St Peter’s Basilica, Leo X reaffirmed granting papal indulgences for the remission of sins to those who contributed.

Martin Luther, whom Leo X believed was a heretic

This was challenged by Martin Luther, who circulated his Ninety-Five Theses attacking the practice. Leo X issued a papal bull charging Luther with 41 instances of deviation from the teaching and practice of the church and ordered him to recant within 60 days or be excommunicated. Luther defied the Pope and was excommunicated by him on 3 January 1521.

Leo X believed Luther was a heretic whose teaching would leave some of the faithful astray, but that true religion would triumph.

Leo X died in Rome in December 1521 leaving behind political turmoil in Italy and religious turmoil in northern Europe. He did not take seriously the demand for church reforms that would later grow into the Protestant Reformation.

Travel tip:

The stunning Renaissance Basilica of St Peter’s in Rome was completed and consecrated in 1626, helped by the funding acquired by Pope Leo X. Believed to be the largest church in the world, Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano was built to replace the original fourth century Basilica that had been constructed on what was believed to be the burial site of St Peter. Bramante, Michelangelo and Bernini were among the many artistic geniuses who contributed to the design of the church, which is considered to be a masterpiece of Renaissance architecture. Located within Vatican City, the Basilica is approached along Via della Conciliazione and through the vast space of St Peter’s Square. It is believed that St Peter, one of the disciples of Jesus, was executed in Rome on October13, 64 AD during the reign of the Emperor Nero. He was buried close to the place of his martyrdom. The old St Peter’s Basilica was constructed over the burial site 300 years later. Archaeological research under the present day Basilica was carried out during the last century and Pope Pius XII announced the discovery of St Peter’s tomb in 1950.

The Sistine Hall of the Vatican Library

Travel tip:

The Vatican Library, inside the Vatican Palace, was built up by Pope Leo X during his papacy. It is one of the oldest libraries in the world but was formally established in 1475, the year Leo X was born. Today it is a research library for history, law, philosophy, science and theology and can be used by anyone who can document their qualifications and research needs. The Vatican Library contains a defence of the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church against Martin Luther, supposedly written, or at least signed by, Henry VIII, King of England. He added a couple of lines to the text in his own hand before presenting the book to Pope Leo X.

More reading:

How Pope Julius II came to commission Michelangelo

The consecration of St Peter's Basilica

Bernini and the fountains of Rome

Also on this day:

1912: The birth of film producer Carlo Ponti

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Pope John Paul I

Sudden end to the reign of ‘The Smiling Pope’

Pope John Paul I making his weekly
address to the crowds outside St Peter's

John Paul I died on this day in 1978 in Rome, having served for just 33 days as Pope.

His reign is one of the shortest in Papal history and resulted in the most recent ‘Year of Three Popes’, which hadn’t happened since 1605.

John Paul I was also the most recent Pope to be born in Italy, his death ending the succession of Italian pontiffs that started with Clement VII in 1523.

Pope John Paul I was born Albino Luciani in 1912 in a small town then known as Forno di Canale, in the province of Belluno in the Veneto.

The son of a bricklayer, he decided to become a priest when he was just ten years old and was educated first at the seminary in Feltre and then in Belluno.

After Luciani was ordained, he taught for a while at the seminary in Belluno before going to Rome to work on a Doctorate in Sacred Theology.

He was appointed Bishop of Vittorio Veneto by Pope John XXIII in 1958. The next Pope, Paul VI, made him Patriarch of Venice in 1969 and then Cardinal Priest of San Marco in 1973.

Albino Luciani in 1959, soon after he was
 appointed Bishop of Vittorio Veneto 

After the death of Pope Paul VI in August 1978, Luciani was elected Pope in the fourth ballot of the papal conclave. He accepted his election but prophesied that his reign would be a short one.

The new Pope chose the name John Paul to honour both of his predecessors, Pope John XXIII and Pope Paul VI. It was the first time in history a Pope had chosen a double name.

It was suggested at the time that his election had been a compromise to satisfy rival camps among the Cardinals.

Pope John Paul I died during the night of 28 September 1978 and was found the following morning lying in his bed with a book open next to him and his reading light on. According to a doctor at the Vatican he had died at around 11 pm of a heart attack.

After his funeral in St Peter’s Square, the Pope’s body was laid to rest in a tomb in the Vatican grottoes.

His successor Cardinal Karol Wojtyla chose the name Pope John Paul II and paid tribute to his predecessor’s warm qualities.

In Italy John Paul I is remembered as ‘The Smiling Pope’, Il Papa del Sorriso.

Pope John Paul I was against Communism but was a friend to Muslim people and defended their right to build Mosques in Italy.

The suddenness of his death and the discrepancies in statements issued by the Vatican about it resulted in a number of conspiracy theories being aired. Several books were published and films and plays were produced based on the story.

David Yallop’s book, In God’s Name, puts forward the theory that the Pope was in danger because of corruption in the Vatican Bank, while Malachi Martin’s book, Vatican: A Novel, suggests the Pope was murdered by the Soviet Union because he was opposed to Communism. Other books and films propose alternative theories.

The house in Canale d'Agordo in which Albino Luciani, who
would become Pope John Paul I, was born

Travel tip:

Canale d’Agordo, the birthplace of John Paul I, is a small town in the province of Belluno in the Veneto, which was previously known as Forno di Canale. The Albino Luciani Museum, which displays documents, personal items and objects associated with the life of Pope John Paul I, opened last month in the old town hall in Canale d’Agordo.

Travel tip:

Belluno, where Luciani both studied and taught in the Seminary, is about 100 kilometres north of Venice. Named Alpine Town of the Year in 1999, it is the most important city in the area of the Eastern Dolomites and has some fine architecture There are picturesque views of the surrounding countryside to be seen from the 12th century Porta Ruga at the end of the main street and from the Campanile of the 16th century Duomo.

(Photo of John Paul's birthplace by Sibode 1 GFDL)

Books

In God's Name, by David Yallop

Vatican: A Novel, by Malachi Martin



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St Lawrence of Brindisi

Talented linguist who converted Jews and Protestants

A statue of St Lawrence at the Convent of
Capuchin Friars in Rovigo, in the Veneto

St Lawrence of Brindisi was born Giulio Cesare Russo on this day in 1559 in Brindisi.

He became a Roman Catholic priest and joined the Capuchin friars, taking the name Brother Lawrence.

He was made St Lawrence in 1881, remembered for his bravery leading an army against the Turks armed only with a crucifix.

Lawrence was born into a family of Venetian merchants and was sent to Venice to be educated. He joined the Capuchin order in Verona when he was 16 and received tuition in theology, philosophy and foreign languages from the University of Padua. He progressed to be able to speak many European and Semitic languages fluently.

Pope Clement VIII gave Lawrence the task of converting Jews living in Rome to Catholicism because of his excellent command of Hebrew. Lawrence also established Capuchin monasteries in Germany and Austria and brought many Protestants back to Catholicism.

The Palazzo Bo at the University of Padua, where
Lawrence acquired his command of languages

While serving as the imperial chaplain to the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolph II, he led an army against the Ottoman Turks threatening to conquer Hungary armed only with a crucifix and many people attributed the subsequent victory to his leadership.

He was later sent to be papal nuncio to Bavaria and then to Spain. Lawrence eventually retired to live in a monastery in Spain but was recalled to be a special envoy to the King of Spain in order to intercede on behalf of the rulers of the Kingdom of Naples.

His mission, made in the sweltering summer heat, exhausted him and he died on 22 July 1619, his 60th birthday, in Lisbon.

Lawrence was beatified in 1783 by Pope Pius VI and canonised in 1881 by Pope Leo XIII. He was declared a doctor of the Church by Pope John XXIII in 1959.

The feast day of St Lawrence is celebrated on 21 July each year.

A feature in Brindisi, birthplace of St Lawrence, are the
remains of two columns marking the end of the Appian Way

Travel tip:

Brindisi, the birthplace of St Lawrence, is a coastal city in Apulia in southern Italy. Its port is still important today for trade with Greece and the Middle East. The city has two Roman columns, thought to have once marked the end of the Appian Way from Rome, which were used as a port reference for sailors out at sea centuries ago.

Travel tip:

The University of Padua, where St Lawrence became proficient in languages, was established in 1222 and is one of the oldest in the world, second in Italy only to the University of Bologna. The main university building, Palazzo del Bò in Via VIII Febbraio in the centre of Padua, used to house the medical faculty. You can take a guided tour to see the pulpit used by Galileo when he taught at the university between 1592 and 1610.

(Photo of St Lawrence statue in Brindisi by Threecharlie CC BY-SA 3.0)

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Pope Pius V - Saint

Pontiff dismissed jester and clamped down on heretics

Saint Pius V: a painting by El Greco

The feast day of Saint Pius V is celebrated every year on this day, the day before the anniversary of his death in 1572 in Rome.

Saint Pius V, who became Pope in 1566, is remembered chiefly for his role in the Counter Reformation, the period of Catholic resurgence following the Protestant Reformation.

He excommunicated Queen Elizabeth I of England for heresy and for persecuting English Catholics and he formed the Holy League, an alliance of Catholic states against the Turks.

Saint Pius V was born Antonio Ghislieri in Bosco, now Bosco Marengo, in Piedmont. At the age of 14 he entered the Dominican Order, taking the name of Michele. He was ordained at Genoa in 1528 and then sent to Pavia to lecture. 

He became a bishop under Pope Pius IV but after opposing the pontiff was dismissed. After the death of Pius IV, Ghislieri was elected Pope Pius V in 1566. His first act on becoming Pope was to dismiss the court jester and no Pope has had one since.

Protestantism had by then conquered many parts of Europe and Pius V was determined to prevent it getting into Italy. He therefore took a personal interest in the activities of the Inquisition in Rome and appeared to be unmoved by the cruelty practiced.

After his death in 1572, Pius V was buried in the Vatican despite having asked to be buried in Bosco.

He was canonised by Pope Clement XI in 1712.  Cardinal John Henry Newman later explained his severity as necessary for the time. He wrote about Pius V: “He was a soldier of Christ in a time of insurrection and rebellion, when in a spiritual sense, martial law was proclaimed.”

The parish church in Bosco Marengo with a monument
to Pope Saint Pius V in the foreground

Travel tip:

Bosco Marengo is a town in the province of Alessandria in Piedmont, southeast of Turin and Alessandria. The 16th century church of Santa Croce in the town was commissioned by Pope Pius V in the year of his election to the papacy to house his tomb and it now contains a marble monument to the pope.

Travel tip:

In 1698 the body of Pope Pius V was transferred to a tomb in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Piazza del Esquilino in Rome, not far from the Termini railway station. The front of the tomb has a bronze lid engraved with a likeness of the Pope which was designed to be lifted down to allow pilgrims to view the saint’s remains.

(Photo of church in Bosco Marengo by Davide Papalini CC BY-SA 3.0)

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Good Friday – Venerdi Santo

Roman amphitheatre the starting point for remembering the crucifixion

The Colosseum is a focal point for
Easter celebrations in Rome

Good Friday (Venerdi Santo) is a day for prayer in Italy. It is not a Bank Holiday and the shops, bars and restaurants still open as normal, but many people visit a church during the day or attend one of the services held for the holy event.

In Rome there is a Papal Mass in St Peter’s Basilica and in the evening the ritual of the Stations of the Cross, or Via Crucis, is enacted near the Colosseum. The stations of the cross are 14 steps commemorating the events of the last day of Jesus on earth.

The stations of the Via Crucis were placed at the Colosseum in 1744 by Pope Benedict XIV and the bronze cross in the Colosseum was erected in 2000, the Jubilee year.

Lit torches illuminates the sky as the stations of the cross are described in several languages.

At the end the Pope gives a blessing. It is a very moving and popular procession and a big crowd usually attends the ceremony.

Huge dome completes Cathedral in Florence

It was on this day in 1436 that the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence was consecrated by Pope Eugene IV. 

Building work on Il Duomo di Firenze, as the Cathedral is usually called, had begun in 1296 but the construction was only completed when the huge dome designed by Filippo Brunelleschi was finally put in place in 1436.

Brunelleschi's dome dominates the Florence skyline

The dome remained the largest in the world until others were constructed using new materials that had been developed for building in modern times.

But Brunelleschi’s dome, the first in history to be built without a wooden supporting frame, is still the largest brick dome ever constructed.

Travel tip:

The Colosseum in the centre of Rome is the largest amphitheatre ever built. Construction began on the oval building in 72 AD close to the Forum. The ampitheatre was built to hold up to 80,000 spectators and was used for events such as gladiator contests, mock sea battles and executions. Nowadays it has links to the Catholic Church and the Pope always starts his torch-lit Good Friday procession there.


Travel tip:

The Cathedral complex in Piazza del Duomo in Florence also includes the Baptistery and Campanile, which was designed by Giotto. Along with the Duomo, they are part of the UNESCO World Heritage site designated in the historic centre of the city. The Duomo is still one of Italy’s largest churches.

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Pope Pius XII

Pope elected on 63rd birthday to lead the church during the war

Pope Pius XII during his time
as nuncio of Bavaria

Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli was elected Pope and took the name of Pius XII on this day in 1939, his 63rd birthday.

A pre-war critic of the Nazis, Pius XII expressed dismay at the invasion of Poland by Germany later that year.

But the Vatican remained officially neutral during the Second World War and Pius XII was later criticised by some people for his perceived silence over the fate of the Jews.

Pope Pius was born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli on March 2, 1876 in Rome.

His family had a history of links with the papacy and he was educated at a school that had formerly been the Collegio Romano, a Jesuit College in Rome.

He went on to study theology and became ordained as a priest.

He was appointed nuncio to Bavaria in 1917 and tried to convey the papal initiative to end the First World War to the German authorities without success. After the war he worked to try to alleviate distress in Germany and to build diplomatic relations between the Vatican and the Soviet Union.

He was made a Cardinal priest in 1929 and elected Pope on March 2, 1939. 

When war broke out again he had to follow the strict Vatican policy of neutrality. It is thought he had genuine affection for Germany but he did not like the criminal hands it had fallen into, and he feared Bolshevism.

He used the modern technology of radio to offer sympathy to the victims of war in his broadcasts and towards the end of the war he appealed to the Allies to be lenient.

His supporters say he had sympathy with the Jews and that he tried to help them along with prisoners of war and people who had gone missing during the conflict. But his critics argue that he was too weak and did little to challenge the Nazis.

Pope Pius XII died in 1958 at his residence in Castel Gandolfo to the south of Rome .

Travel tip:

After Pope Pius XII died in Castel Gandolfo he was brought back to Rome to lie in state surrounded by four Swiss Guards. He was then placed in a coffin and buried beneath St Peter’s Basilica in a simple tomb in a small chapel. The Vatican Grottoes beneath the floor of St Peter’s Basilica house the tombs of many dead Popes, including St Peter himself.

Search Tripadvisor for a hotel in Rome

The papal palace in the centre of Castel Gandolfo
(Photo: Ra Boe)

Travel tip:

Castel Gandolfo, where the Pope has his summer residence, overlooks Lake Albano from its wonderful position in the hills south of Rome. The Pope spends every summer in the Apostolic Palace there. Although his villa lies within the town’s boundaries, it is one of the properties of the Holy See. The palace is not under Italian jurisdiction and is policed by the Swiss Guard. The whole area is part of the regional park of Castelli Romani, which has many places of historic and artistic interest to visit.

Castel Gandolfo hotels from Booking.com



More reading:

Italy enters the Second World War

Angelo Cerica - the general who arrested Mussolini

The Gran Sasso raid: Nazis free captive Mussolini

Also on this day:

1603: The birth of Sicilian painter Pietro Novelli

1886: The birth of double World Cup-winning coach Vittorio Pozzo

Selected reading:

The Other Italy: The Italian Resistance in World War II, by Maria de Blasio Wilhelm

Mussolini and Hitler: The Forging of the Fascist Alliance, by Christian Goeschel


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Death of Pope Julius II

Pope who commissioned Michelangelo for Sistine Chapel

Raphael's portrait of Pope Julius II, which
is housed in the National Gallery in London

Pope Julius II, who was nicknamed ‘the Warrior Pope’, died on this day in 1513 in Rome.

As well as conducting military campaigns during his papacy he was responsible for the destruction and rebuilding of St Peter’s Basilica and commissioning Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

He is also remembered by students of British history as being the Pope who gave Henry VIII dispensation to marry Catherine of Aragon, his brother’s widow.

Born Giuliano della Rovere, he was the nephew of Francesco della Rovere, who became Pope Sixtus IV.

His uncle sent him to be educated by the Franciscans and he was made a Bishop soon after his Uncle became Pope.

He later became Cardinal Priest of San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome and was very influential in the College of Cardinals.

One of his major rivals was Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, who was elected Pope Alexander VI in 1492. After accusing him of corruption, Della Rovere retreated from Rome until Alexander died in 1503.

He was succeeded by Pope Pius III who died less than a month after becoming Pope and Della Rovere was finally elected as Pope Julius II in November 1503.

Julius II commissioned Michelangelo to paint
the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel

Julius ordered all traces of the Borgias to be removed or covered up and their apartments remained sealed till the 19th century.

He fought to rid the Romagna of the Republic of Venice and freed Perugia and Bologna from the despots that were ruling them.

He also founded the Swiss Guard to provide a constant supply of soldiers to protect the Pope.

Julius joined in the Italian Wars in league with France and Spain to take territory back from Venice but his allies later switched sides and little was gained from his efforts.

Julius II remained Pope for nine years until he died of fever in 1513.

When Henry VIII later asked for his marriage to Catherine of Aragon to be annulled so that he could marry Anne Boleyn, he claimed that Pope Julius II should never have issued the dispensation to allow him to marry his sister in law. But the Pope at the time, Clement VII, refused to annul the marriage so Henry VIII divorced the Catholic Church instead, leading to the English Reformation.

During his time as Pope, Julius II had ordered the old St Peter’s Basilica to be demolished and commissioned the building of the new church that was to replace it. He was also a patron of Bramante, Raphael and Michelangelo.

The remains of Pope Julius II lie with those of his uncle, Pope Sixtus IV, under the floor in St Peter’s Basilica.

The chains said to have bound St Peter are on
display in the Church of San Pietro in Vincoli

Travel tip:

The Church of San Pietro in Vincoli, St Peter in Chains, near the Colosseum in Rome, was the church where Julius was Cardinal. The Church is a shrine for the chains that are believed to have bound St Peter during his imprisonment. It is also the home of Michelangelo’s famous statue of Moses, completed in 1515. This was originally intended to be part of a funeral monument for Pope Julius II, but his remains were interred in St Peter’s Basilica instead.


Travel tip:

The Sistine Chapel is in the Apostolic Palace, where the Pope lives, in Vatican City. The chapel takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV, the uncle of Pope Julius II, who had it restored during his papacy. Between 1508 and 1512 Michelangelo painted the ceiling at the request of Pope Julius II. His amazing masterpiece, created by the artist lying on his back, depicts scenes from Genesis in bright colours that are easily visible from the floor and cover more than 400 square metres.


More reading: 

Alexander VI, the scheming Borgia pope

The death of Michelangelo

The precocious genius of Raphael

Also on this day:

1609: The birth of military leader Raimondo Montecuccoli

1817: The birth of chocolatier Domenico Ghirardelli

1868: The death of painter and revolutionary Giuseppe Abbati

(Picture credits: Michelangelo portrait painted by Jacopino del Conte; San Pietro chains by Raja Patnaik; via Wikimedia Commons)

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San Valentino and Sant’Antonino

Celebrations for two different Italian saints

Saint Valentine, a third century Roman martyr, is commemorated with a feast day on this day every year.

His name has become associated with the tradition of courtly love but all that is really known about him is that he was martyred and buried at a cemetery on the Via Flaminia in Rome on 14 February.

His feast day was first established in 496 by a Pope who revered him. It is thought he was imprisoned and tortured and then hastily buried, but that his disciples later retrieved his body.

Sorrento's Sant'Antonino looks across the square
 to the Basilica named after him.

During the Middle Ages it was believed that birds paired in mid-February and this is probably why Saint Valentine’s Day became associated with romance.

But while lovers all over the world raise a glass to Saint Valentine on this day, residents and visitors in Sorrento celebrate the festival of Sant’Antonino, the city’s patron saint.

Sant’Antonino Abate died on 14 February, 626. He is credited with saving the life of a child swallowed by a whale and also protecting Sorrento against plague and invasion.

Each year on the anniversary of his death, a silver statue of Sant’Antonino is carried in a procession through the streets of Sorrento and there are festive lights, fireworks, and musical events in his name.

Travel tip: 

Sant’Antonino’s body is buried in a crypt that became part of the Basilica di Sant’Antonino, a magnificent church that dates from the 11th century, but has been added to and refurbished over the years and is situated in Sorrento’s Piazza Sant’Antonino. Inside the Basilica, another statue of the saint is surrounded by the many offerings from sailors who have been saved from shipwrecks over the centuries and believe it was thanks to the intervention of Sant’Antonino.

Travel tip:

A statue of the Saint stands among the palm trees in the middle of Piazza Sant’Antonino opposite Sorrento’s town hall. Just off the square, the Via Santa Maria delle Grazie has many interesting shops, bars and restaurants, including the long-established Ristorante Sant'Antonino, named after the saint, which serves fish, seafood and Sorrentine specialities.

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Lateran Treaty

How the Vatican became an independent state inside Italy 

The boundary map of the Vatican City as it appeared
in the Lateran Treaty, signed on February 11, 1929

An agreement between the Kingdom of Italy and the Holy See, recognising the Vatican as an independent state within Italy, was signed on this day in 1929.

The Lateran Treaty settled what had been known as ‘The Roman Question’, a dispute regarding the power of the Popes as rulers of civil territory within a united Italy.

The treaty is named after the Lateran Palace where the agreement was signed by prime minister Benito Mussolini on behalf of King Victor Emmanuel III and Cardinal Pietro Gasparri on behalf of Pope Pius XI.

The Italian parliament ratified the treaty on June 7, 1929. Although Italy was then under a Fascist government, the succeeding democratic governments have all upheld the treaty.

The Vatican was officially recognised as an independent state, with the Pope as an independent sovereign ruling within Vatican City. The state covers approximately 40 hectares (100 acres) of land.

The papacy recognised the state of Italy with Rome as its capital, giving it a special character as ‘the centre of the catholic world and a place of pilgrimage.’

The Lateran Palace, where the agreement recognising
the Vatican City as an independent state was signed

The Prime Minister at the time, Benito Mussolini, agreed to give the church financial support in return for public support from the Pope.

In 1947 the Lateran Treaty was incorporated into the new, democratic Italian constitution.

During the Risorgimento, the struggle to unite Italy in the 19th century, the Papal States had resisted being incorporated into the new nation. Italian troops had invaded the Romagna in 1860 and the rest of the Papal States, including Rome, were occupied by the army in 1870.

For the next 60 years, relations between the Papacy and the Government were hostile and the status of the Pope had become known as ‘The Roman Question’.

Travel Tip:

The Lateran Palace was the main papal residence in Rome between the fourth and 14th centuries. It is in Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano, next to the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano, the first Christian Basilica in Rome and now the Cathedral Church of the city. Some distance away from the Vatican, the palace is now an extraterritorial property of the Holy See, with similar rights to a foreign embassy.

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The Via della Conciliazione, built on the orders of Mussolini

Travel tip:

Via della Conciliazione, the wide avenue along which visitors approach Saint Peter’s Basilica from Castel Sant’Angelo, was built on the orders of Mussolini as a symbol of reconciliation beween the Holy See and the Italian state after the Lateran Treaty was signed. Roughly 500 metres long, the vast colonnaded street designed by Marcello Piacentini was intended to link the Vatican to the heart of Rome. At the time it had the opposite effect as many buildings were demolished and residents had to be displaced.


More reading:

How Marcello Piacentini's architectural designs reflected Fascist ideals

Victor Emmanuel III abdicates

Soldiers enter Rome in the final act of unification

Also on this day:

1791: The birth of architect Louis Visconti, who designed Napoleon's tomb in Paris

1881: The birth of Futurist artist Carlo Carrà

1917: The birth of film director Giueppe De Santis

1948: The birth of footballer Carlo Sartori

1995: The birth of singer Gianluca Ginoble

(Picture credits: Photo: Lateran Palace by MarkusMark; Via della Conciliazione by Martin Falbisoner; via Wikimedia Commons)

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Pope Gregory XV

Legally-trained pontiff was against witchcraft and for secret ballots

Gian Lorenzo Bernini's marble bust of
Gregory XV, which he sculpted in 1621

Gregory XV, who was christened Alessandro Ludovisi, became Pope on this day in 1621.

He was the last Pope to issue a papal ordinance against witchcraft with his ‘Declaration against Magicians and Witches’, put out in March 1623.

He was already 67 years of age and in a weak state of health when he was chosen as Pope and relied heavily on his 25-year-old nephew, Ludovico Ludovisi, to assist him in his duties.

Born in Bologna in 1554, the young Alessandro Ludovisi was educated at a Jesuit college in Rome before going to Bologna University to study law.

He worked in various roles for the church until he was appointed Archbishop of Bologna in 1612, having at some stage been ordained.

In 1616 he was sent by Pope Paul V to mediate between Charles Emmanuel 1, Duke of Savoy and Philip III of Spain, who were involved in a dispute. The Pope elevated him to the rank of Cardinal in the same year.

He went to Rome after the death of Pope Paul V to take part in the conclave. He was chosen as Pope on February 9, 1621, the last Pope to be elected by acclamation.

His nephew, Ludovico, was made a cardinal and he used his energy and talents to benefit the Church during Gregory’s pontificate.

Gregory changed the way Popes were elected, bringing in the method of secret ballot for future papal conclaves.

He also made the founder of the Jesuits, Ignatius Loyola, a saint.

After Gregory’s death in 1623 he was buried in the Church of Sant’Ignazio in Rome.

The Church of Sant'Ignazio in Rome, where Pope
Gregory XV and his nephew are buried

Travel tip:

Pope Gregory XV and his nephew, Cardinal Ludovisi, are both buried in a chapel of the Church of Sant’Ignazio in Campo Marzio in Rome, which they built. After Ignatius Loyola had been made a Saint in 1622, Pope Gregory XV had suggested to his nephew that a new church dedicated to the founder of the Jesuits should be erected next to the Jesuit College he had attended as a child.

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Travel tip:

Alessandro Ludovisi studied law at Bologna University, which was founded in 1088 and is the oldest university in the world. The oldest surviving building, the Archiginnasio, is now a library, open Monday to Friday from 9am to 7pm, and on Saturdays from 9am to 2pm. It is just a short walk from Piazza Maggiore and the Basilica di San Petronio in the centre of the city.

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More reading:

The papal election that tore apart the Roman Catholic Church

John II - the first pope to take a regnal name

The Borgia pope who married off children to secure power

Also on this day:

1770: The birth of classical guitar composer Ferdinando Carulli

1891: The birth of politician Pietro Nenni

1953: The birth of world boxing champion Vito Antuofermo

1953: The birth of tragic missionary Ezechiele Ramin

(Picture credit: Church of Sant'Ignazio by Lalupa via Wikimedia Commons)

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