Alexander VIII

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Alexander VIII
Coat of arms of Alexander VIII, modern drawing

Alexander VIII (born April 22, 1610 in Venice , † February 1, 1691 in Rome ), whose real name was Pietro Vito Ottoboni , was Pope of the Catholic Church from 1689 to 1691 . The pope's name reminds of Alexander VII and his family, the Chigi .

Life

Pietro Ottoboni came from a wealthy middle class family who rose to the highest office available to them, that of the Cancelliere grande, the Grand Chancellor of the Republic of Venice . After studying in Padua , where he received his doctorate in utroque iure in 1627 , he went to Rome and entered the papal service. Here he officiated for a total of 14 years as an auditor of the Sacra Romana Rota and thus proved to be an accomplished church lawyer. Pope Innocent X appointed him cardinal priest on February 19, 1652 with the titular church of San Salvatore in Lauro . At the end of 1654 he was called to be Bishop of Brescia . On November 15, 1660, he became cardinal priest of San Marco and resigned the episcopate of Brescia in mid-1664. From Clement IX. he was appointed Datarius of the Pope. Under Innocent XI. he rose to the position of Grand Inquisitor and moved from 1677 to 1680 to the titular church of Santa Maria in Trastevere , after which he resided in Santa Prassede from 1680 to 1681 . On December 1, 1681, he was promoted to Cardinal Bishop of Sabina , barely more than a year later he moved to Frascati and finally became Vice Dean of the College of Cardinals on November 10, 1687 as Bishop of Porto and Santa Rufina . On October 6, 1689, Pietro Ottoboni was elected the new Pope with the support of the French King Louis XIV. he later returned Avignon and Venaissin to the Pope in 1690 .

pontificate

Alexander VIII achieved great popularity in Rome because he allowed the carnival again and made large theater and opera performances possible. However, at the same time he proved to be an avid supporter of his own family and fell back into the outdated nepotism . The following sentence is passed down as his related sentence: "Let's hurry, because the twenty-third hour has already struck". The nephew Antonio Ottoboni was appointed commander of the papal troops, his son Marco was appointed commander of the fleet and castellan of Castel Sant'Angelo, as well as Duke of Fiano Romano , which the Pope had bought from the Ludovisi family . In Rome, the large Palazzo Fiano is near the Piazza Colonna , which was also one of the new properties. The second papal nephew, Pietro Ottoboni , was appointed cardinal nephew at the age of just under twenty and was given further offices of the curia, such as that of the vice-chancellor of the Roman Church. He appeared primarily as a patron of the arts.

During his pontificate, Alexander VIII acquired the manuscript library of Queen Christina of Sweden for the Vatican Apostolic Library .

The Pope did not give in on the question of the Gallican articles. He condemned French Gallicanism in 1690 with the Constitution Inter multiplices . On October 16, 1690, he canonized John of God .

literature

Web links

Commons : Alexander VIII.  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files
predecessor Office successor
Marco Morosini Bishop of Brescia
1654–1664 		Marino Giovanni Giorgi
Niccolo II. Albergati-Ludovisi Bishop of Sabina
1681–1683 		Carlo Pio di Savoia
Innocent XI. Pope
1689–1691 		Innocent XII.
personal data
SURNAME Alexander VIII
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ottoboni, Pietro Vito
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Pope (1689-1691)
DATE OF BIRTH April 22, 1610
PLACE OF BIRTH Venice
DATE OF DEATH February 1, 1691
Place of death Rome