Marcellus II.

Marcellus II.

Marcellus II. (Born May 6, 1501 in Montefano ( Marken ), † May 1, 1555 in Rome ), maiden name Marcello Cervini , was Pope of the Catholic Church from April 9 to May 1, 1555 . The Pope was remembered mainly for the composition Missa Papae Marcelli (“Mass of Pope Marcellus”) dedicated to him by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina .

origin

Marcello Cervini's family came from Montepulciano in Tuscany . His father, Ricardo Cervini, was the apostolic treasurer in Ancona. Marcello Cervini studied antiquity , architecture , astronomy and mathematics in Siena .

Church career

On December 19, 1539, Pope Paul III appointed him cardinal , his titular church was Santa Croce in Gerusalemme . Shortly before, he had become Bishop of Nicastro and a member of the Inquisition . From 1545 he took part as a legate in several sessions of the Council of Trent .

In 1548 he became cardinal librarian ( Bibliothecae Apostolicae Vaticanae Protector ) of the Vatican library . Under him, the Vatican library flourished, as he added over 500 valuable books to the collection. He also had new library catalogs prepared in Latin and Greek .

pontificate

On April 9, 1555, the conclave elected him as the new Pope after four days of elections. Marcellus II was so far the last Pope to use his maiden name as the Pope's name . In ancient times it was initially the other way round, that only those popes adopted new papal names whose civil names sounded too pagan.

Pope coat of arms of Marcellus II.

Pope coat of arms of Marcellus II. (Graphic)

In his brief pontificate he did not appoint any cardinals; only under his successor were three related ones created , namely Carlo Carafa , Diomede Carafa and Alfonso Carafa . His enthronement in St. Peter took place in an unspectacular and at the same time impressive setting. It was Maundy Thursday in 1555 when, according to the story, the new Pope washed the feet of twelve poor men from Rome and then had himself crowned with a tiara in a simple ceremony .

coat of arms

The Pope's coat of arms shows the Lamb of God with angled right foreleg looking to the left in front of nine ears of grain. It is located above the tomb in the Vatican Grottoes and at Palazzo Cervini.

death

Marcellus II's grave in the Vatican Grottoes

Pope Marcellus II died of a stroke after a pontificate of only 22 days. He was first buried in the apse of Old St. Peter in a simple grave. On his tombstone were the words of the poet Faustus Sabaeus (translated):

"You are not buried as befits your dignity
And another tombstone is yours, O Marcellus,
But wherever you lie, you will always be honored,
The grave does not honor the ashes - the ashes honor the grave"

This tomb was opened in 1606. The body was then finally buried in a sarcophagus of a Christian couple from the 4th century, which had been found during the construction of St. Peter's Basilica. The sarcophagus is now in the Vatican Grottoes .

literature

• Giampiero Brunelli:  Marcello II. In: Mario Caravale (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 69:  Mangiabotti – Marconi. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 2007.
• Giampiero Brunelli:  Marcello II. In: Massimo Bray (ed.): Enciclopedia dei Papi. Volume 3:  Innocenzo VIII, Giovanni Paolo II. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 2000, pp. 121–128 ( treccani.it ).
• Entry in the Catholic Encyclopedia , Robert Appleton Company, New York 1913.
• Mathias Mütel: With the Church Fathers against Martin Luther? The debates about tradition and auctoritas patrum at the Council of Trient , Paderborn 2017 (= Council history . Series B., Investigations), pp. 167–184.

Web links

Commons : Marcellus II.  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Cervini, Marcello. In: Salvador Miranda : The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. ( Florida International University website), accessed May 29, 2017.
• Entry on Marcellus II on catholic-hierarchy.org
• The coat of arms of Marcellus II on the Palazzo Cervini

predecessor	Office	successor
Julius III.	Pope 1555	Paul IV
Paolo Capizucchi	Bishop of Lamezia Terme 1539–1540	Giacomo Savelli
Ugo Rangone	Bishop of Reggio nell'Emilia 1540–1544	Giorgio Andreasi
Pietro Bembo	Bishop of Gubbio 1544–1555	Giacomo Savelli