Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 7.djvu/24

 GREGORY

GREGORY

Trent as one of his jurists. On his return to Rome he held various offices in the Roman Curia under JuUus III (1550-15.55), who also appointed him pro- legate of the Campagna in 1555. Under Paul IV (1555-1559) he accompanied Cardinal Alfonso Caraffa on a papal mission to Philip II in Flanders, and upon his return was appointed Bishop of \'iesti in 1558. Up to this time he had not been ordained a priest. In 1559 the newly-elected pope, Pius IV, sent him as his confidential deputy to the Council of Trent, where he remained till its conclusion in 1563. Shortly after his return to Rome, the same pope created him Cardinal Priest of San Sisto in 1564, and sent him as legate to Spain to investigate the case of Archbishop Bartolome Carranza of Toledo, who had been sus- pected of heresy and im- prisoned by the Inquisi- tion. While in Spain he was appointed secretary of papal Briefs, and after the election of Pius V, 7 Jan., 1566, he returned to Rome to enter upon his new of- fice. After the death of Pius V on 1 May, 1572, Ugo Buoncompagni was elected pope on \'-i May. 1572, chiefly through the influence of Cardinal An- toine Granvella, and took the name of Gregory XIII. At his elevation to the papal throne he had already completed his .seventieth year, but was still strong and full of energy'.

His youth was not stain- less. When still at Bo- logna a son, named Gia- como, was born to him of an unmarried woman. Even after entering the clerical state he was worldly-minded and fond of display. But from the time he became pope he followed in the footsteps of his holy predecessor, and was thoroughly imbued with the consciousness of the great responsibility connected with his exalted position. His election was greeted with joy by the Roman people, as well as by the foreign rulers. Emperor Maximilian II, the Kings of France, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Poland, the Italian and other princes sent their representatives to Rome to tender their obedience to the newly- elected pontiff. At the first consistory he ordered the Constitution of Pius V, which forbade the alienation of church property, to be read publicly, and pledged himself to carry into execution the decrees of the Council of Trent. He at once appointed a committee of cardinals, consisting of Borromeo. Paleotti, Aldo- brandini, and Arezzo. with instructions to find out and abolish all ecclesiastical abuses: decided that the cardinals who were at the head of dioceses were not exempt from the Tridentine decree of episcopal residence; designate<l a committee of cardinals to complete the Index of Forbidden Books,and appointed one day in each week for a public audience during which ever\' one had access to him. In order that only the most worthy persons might be vested with ecclesiastical dignities, he kept a li.st of commendable men in and out of Rome, on which he noted their \'irtues and faults, that came to his notice. The same care he exercised in the appointment of cardinals. Thirty-four cardinals were appointed during his pontif-

.MuNUMENT OF

St. Peter

icate, and in their appointment he always had the welfare of the Church in view. He cannot be charged with nepotism. Two of his nephews, Filippo Buon- compagni and Filippo Vastavillano, he created car- dinals because he considered them worthy of the dignity ; but, when a third one aspired after the purple, he did not even grant him an audience. His son Giacomo he appointed castellan of St. Angelo and gonfalonier of the Church, but refused him every higher dignity, although Venice enrolled him among its nobili and the King of Spain appointed him general of his army.

Like his holy predecessor, Gregorj' XIII spared no efforts to further an expedition against the Turks. With this purpose in \'iew he sent special legates to Spain, France. Germany, Poland, and other coun- tries, but the discorii of the Christian princes among themselves, the peace concluded by the Venetians with the Turks, Spain with the Sultan, frustrated all his exertions in this direction.
 * md the treaty effected by

For stemming the tide of Protestantism, which liad already wrested entire nations from the bosom of the Church. Gregory XIII knew of no better means than a thorough training of the candidates for holy priesthood in ( 'atholic philosophy and theology. He founded nu- merous colleges and semi- naries at Rome and other suitable places and put most of them \inder the direction of the Jesuits. At least twenty-three ~uch institutions of learn- ing owe their existence or sur\-ival to the numifi- Gregory XIII cence of Gregorv XIII.

^' K°""' The first of these" institu-

tions that enjoyed the pope's liberality was the German College at Rome, which for lack of funds was in danger of being abandoned. In a Bull dated 6 August, 157.?, he ordered that no less than one hundred students at a time from Germany and its northern borderland should be educated in the Ger- man College, and that it should have an annual in- come of 10.000 ducats, to be paid, as far as necessary, out of the papal treasurj'. In 1574 he gave the church and the palace of Sant' .\pollinare to the institution, and in 1580 united the Hungarian college with it. The following Roman colleges were foimded by Greg- ory XIII: the Greek college on 13 Jan., 1577; the college for neophytes, i.e. converted Jews and infidels, in 1577: the English college on 1 May, 1579: the Mar- onite college on 27 June, 1584. For the international Jesuit college (Collegium Romanum) he built in 1.582 the large edifice known as the Collegio Romano which was occupied by the faculty and students of the Collegivim Romanum (Gregorian University) until the Piedmontese Government declared it national property and expelled the Jesuits in 1870. Outside of Rome the following colleges were either founded or liberally endowed by Gregor>- XIII: the Engli.sh college at Douai. the Scotch college at Pont-a-Mousson, the papal seminaries at Graz, Vienna. Olmiitz. Prague, Colosvar, Fulda, Augsburg, DiUingen, Braunsberg, Milan, Loreto, Fribourg in Switzerland, and three