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CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Pope Leo XI
<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Pope Leo XI</title><script src="https://dtyry4ejybx0.cloudfront.net/js/cmp/cleanmediacmp.js?ver=0104" async="true"></script><script defer data-domain="newadvent.org" src="https://plausible.io/js/script.js"></script><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09166a.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="Reigned 1605"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds.newadvent.org/bestoftheweb?format=xml"><link rel="icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><link rel="shortcut icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><meta name="robots" content="noodp"><link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="../utility/screen6.css" media="screen"></head> <body class="cathen" id="09166a.htm"> <!-- spacer--> <br/> <div id="capitalcity"><table summary="Logo" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="100%"><tr valign="bottom"><td align="left"><a href="../"><img height=36 width=153 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></td><td align="right"> <form id="searchbox_000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0" action="../utility/search.htm"> <!-- Hidden Inputs --> <input type="hidden" name="safe" value="active"> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0"/> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:9"/> <!-- Search Box --> <label for="searchQuery" id="searchQueryLabel">Search:</label> <input id="searchQuery" name="q" type="text" size="25" aria-labelledby="searchQueryLabel"/> <!-- Submit Button --> <label for="submitButton" id="submitButtonLabel" class="visually-hidden">Submit Search</label> <input id="submitButton" type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" aria-labelledby="submitButtonLabel"/> </form> <table summary="Spacer" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td height="2"></td></tr></table> <table summary="Tabs" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffff"></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../"> Home </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_white_on_color" href="../cathen/index.html"> Encyclopedia </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../summa/index.html"> Summa </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../fathers/index.html"> Fathers </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../bible/gen001.htm"> Bible </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../library/index.html"> Library </a></td> </tr></table> </td> </tr></table><table summary="Alphabetical index" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"> <a href="../cathen/a.htm"> A </a><a href="../cathen/b.htm"> B </a><a href="../cathen/c.htm"> C </a><a href="../cathen/d.htm"> D </a><a href="../cathen/e.htm"> E </a><a href="../cathen/f.htm"> F </a><a href="../cathen/g.htm"> G </a><a href="../cathen/h.htm"> H </a><a href="../cathen/i.htm"> I </a><a href="../cathen/j.htm"> J </a><a href="../cathen/k.htm"> K </a><a href="../cathen/l.htm"> L </a><a href="../cathen/m.htm"> M </a><a href="../cathen/n.htm"> N </a><a href="../cathen/o.htm"> O </a><a href="../cathen/p.htm"> P </a><a href="../cathen/q.htm"> Q </a><a href="../cathen/r.htm"> R </a><a href="../cathen/s.htm"> S </a><a href="../cathen/t.htm"> T </a><a href="../cathen/u.htm"> U </a><a href="../cathen/v.htm"> V </a><a href="../cathen/w.htm"> W </a><a href="../cathen/x.htm"> X </a><a href="../cathen/y.htm"> Y </a><a href="../cathen/z.htm"> Z </a> </td></tr></table></div> <div id="mobilecity" style="text-align: center; "><a href="../"><img height=24 width=102 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></div> <!--<div class="scrollmenu"> <a href="../utility/search.htm">SEARCH</a> <a href="../cathen/">Encyclopedia</a> <a href="../summa/">Summa</a> <a href="../fathers/">Fathers</a> <a href="../bible/">Bible</a> <a href="../library/">Library</a> </div> <br />--> <div id="mi5"><span class="breadcrumbs"><a href="../">Home</a> > <a href="../cathen">Catholic Encyclopedia</a> > <a href="../cathen/l.htm">L</a> > Pope Leo XI</span></div> <div id="springfield2"> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-top' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <h1>Pope Leo XI</h1> <p><em><a href="https://gumroad.com/l/na2"><strong>Please help support the mission of New Advent</strong> and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more — all for only $19.99...</a></em></p> <p>(ALESSANDRO OTTAVIANO DE' MEDICI).</p> <p>Born at Florence in 1535; died at <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a> 27 April, 1605, on the twenty-seventh day after his election to the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">papacy</a>. His mother, Francesca Salviati, was a daughter of Giacomo Salviati and Lucrezia Medici, the latter being a sister of <a href="../cathen/09162a.htm">Leo X</a>. From his boyhood he led a life of <a href="../cathen/12748a.htm">piety</a> and always had an earnest desire to enter the <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">ecclesiastical state</a>, but could not obtain his mother's consent. After her death he was <a href="../cathen/11279a.htm">ordained</a> <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priest</a> and somewhat later Grand Duke Cosimo of <a href="../cathen/15103b.htm">Tuscany</a> sent him as ambassador to <a href="../cathen/12130a.htm">Pius V</a>, a position which he held for fifteen years. <a href="../cathen/07001b.htm">Gregory XIII</a> made him <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">Bishop</a> of Pistoia in 1573, <a href="../cathen/01691a.htm">Archbishop</a> of <a href="../cathen/06105c.htm">Florence</a> in 1574, and <a href="../cathen/03333b.htm">cardinal</a> in 1583. <a href="../cathen/04027a.htm">Clement VIII</a> sent him, in 1596, as <a href="../cathen/09118a.htm">legate</a> to <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a> where he did good service for the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> in repressing the <a href="../cathen/07527b.htm">Huguenot</a> influence at the court of <a href="../cathen/07225a.htm">Henry IV</a>, and helping to restore the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> religion. On his return to <a href="../cathen/08208a.htm">Italy</a> he was appointed prefect of the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars. In 1600 he became <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">Bishop</a> of the <a href="../cathen/14324a.htm">suburbicarian</a> <a href="../cathen/01255b.htm">Diocese of Albano</a>, whence he was transferred to <a href="../cathen/11421a.htm">Palestrina</a> in 1602. Alessandro was an intimate friend of <a href="../cathen/12018b.htm">St. Philip Neri</a> with whom he spent much time in spiritual conversation and whose advice he sought in all important matters. When Alessandro was <a href="../cathen/15103b.htm">Tuscan</a> ambassador at the court of <a href="../cathen/12130a.htm">Pius V</a> Philip predicted his election to the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">papacy</a>.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>On 14 March, 1605, eleven days after the death of <a href="../cathen/04027a.htm">Clement VIII</a>, sixty-two <a href="../cathen/03333b.htm">cardinals</a> entered the <a href="../cathen/04192a.htm">conclave</a>. Prominent among the candidates for the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">papacy</a> were the great historian <a href="../cathen/02304b.htm">Baronius</a> and the famous <a href="../cathen/14081a.htm">Jesuit</a> controversialist <a href="../cathen/02411d.htm">Bellarmine</a>. But Aldobrandini, the leader of the Italian party among the <a href="../cathen/03333b.htm">cardinals</a>, made common cause with the French party and brought about the election of Alessandro against the express wish of King Philip III of <a href="../cathen/14169b.htm">Spain</a>. <a href="../cathen/07225a.htm">King Henry IV</a> of <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a>, who had learned to esteem Alessandro when <a href="../cathen/09118a.htm">papal legate</a> at his court, and whose wife, <a href="../cathen/10121a.htm">Maria de' Medici</a> was related to Alessandro, is said to have spent 300,000 écus in the promotion of Alessandro's candidacy. On 1 April, 1605, Alessandro ascended the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">papal</a> throne as Leo XI, being then seventy years of age. He took sick immediately after his <a href="../cathen/04380a.htm">coronation</a>. During his sickness he was importuned by many members of the <a href="../cathen/13147a.htm">Curia</a> and by a few ambassadors from foreign courts to confer the <a href="../cathen/03333b.htm">cardinalate</a> on one of his grandnephews, whom he had himself <a href="../cathen/05295b.htm">educated</a> and whom he <a href="../cathen/09397a.htm">loved</a> dearly, but he had such an aversion for nepotism that he firmly refused the request. When his confessor urged him to grant it, he dismissed him and sent for another confessor to prepare him for death.</p> <div class="cenotes"><h2>Sources</h2><p class="cenotes">CARDELLA, Memorie storiche de' cardinali della s. romana chiesa, V (Rome, 1792), 181 sq.; CAPECELATRO, Life of Philip Neri, tr. POPE, II (2nd ed., London, 1894), 227-232.</p></div> <div class="pub"><h2>About this page</h2><p id="apa"><strong>APA citation.</strong> <span id="apaauthor">Ott, M.</span> <span id="apayear">(1910).</span> <span id="apaarticle">Pope Leo XI.</span> In <span id="apawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="apapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company.</span> <span id="apaurl">http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09166a.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">Ott, Michael.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"Pope Leo XI."</span> <span id="mlawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="mlavolume">Vol. 9.</span> <span id="mlapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company,</span> <span id="mlayear">1910.</span> <span id="mlaurl"><http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09166a.htm>.</span></p><p id="transcription"><strong>Transcription.</strong> <span id="transcriber">This article was transcribed for New Advent by Gerald Rossi.</span> <span id="dedication"></span></p><p id="approbation"><strong>Ecclesiastical approbation.</strong> <span id="nihil"><em>Nihil Obstat.</em> October 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, Censor.</span> <span id="imprimatur"><em>Imprimatur.</em> +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.</span></p><p id="contactus"><strong>Contact information.</strong> The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster <em>at</em> newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.</p></div> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-verybottom' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> </div> <div id="ogdenville"><table summary="Bottom bar" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"><center><strong>Copyright © 2023 by <a href="../utility/contactus.htm">New Advent LLC</a>. 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