Christ by the decree of another. Despite all rules and precedents to the contrary, each Pope created such persons cardinals as it was convenient to him to create. Giocinto Bobo Orsini was created cardinal at twenty by Honorius II. in 1126, and became Pope as Celestine III. sixty-five years afterwards! Clement VI., in 1348, created his nephew, Peter Roger, cardinal at seventeen; and this young cardinal also became Pope in 1370 under the name of Gregory XI. Eugenius IV., in 1440, made his nephew, Peter Barbo, cardinal, who also subsequently became Pope as Paul II. Sixtus IV., in 1477, created John of Arragon, the son of Ferdinand, King of Naples, cardinal at the age of fourteen, but gave him the hat only four years later. The same Pontiff, at the same time, created his nephew, Raffaelle Riario, cardinal when he was seventeen and a student at Pisa.

Innocent VIII. (ob. 1492) created Giovanni Medicis, who afterwards became Leo X., and who had been Apostolic Protonotary ever since he was seven years old, cardinal at the age of fourteen, adding the condition that he was not to wear the purple till three years later, evidently indicating his (Pope Innocent's) opinion that a cardinal of seventeen might be created without scandal, as indeed such a step was, as we have seen, not without precedent. Alexander VI. (ob. 1503) created Ippolito d'Este a cardinal at seventeen, having the excuse indeed that Ippolito had at that time been an archbishop for the last nine years, Sixtus IV. having appointed him to the archiepiscopal see of Strigonia at the age of eight! At the same time Alexander created

Frederic Casimir Jagellon, the son of the King of Poland, when he was nineteen, and had already for some little time been Bishop of Cracow.

Leo X. (ob. 1521) was hardly grateful to the Pope who had made him a cardinal at fourteen, for, when Pope, he made Innocenzo Cibo, the nephew of his old patron, wait till his twenty-first year for the purple. But he created William de Croy a cardinal at nineteen, and Alfred of Portugal, the son of the King, at seven years old, on condition that he should not assume the outward marks of the dignity till he should have reached the mature age of fourteen! He also made John of Lorraine, son of Duke Réné II. of Sicily, cardinal at twenty, Alexander VI. having previously made him coadjutor to the bishopric of Metz at four years of age! Hercules Gonzaga, who had been made bishop of his native Mantua at fifteen by Leo X., was made cardinal by Clement VII. at twenty-two. poor Bishop must have almost despaired by that time. of ever reaching the purple! Clement made his own cousin Ippolito at eighteen, and Odet de Coligny, at the request of Francis I. of France, when he was in his twelfth year.

The

For

This promotion, however, turned out ill. Coligny, though he became Bishop of Beauvais in his thirteenth, and Archbishop of Toulouse in his fourteenth year, and held many abbeys into the bargain, fell eventually into heresy, and had to be formally deposed from the purple. His heresy, indeed, was of the most flagrant sort. At Beauvais, one Easter, he received the Holy Communion in both kinds, which,

E

though he was a bishop and an archbishop, not being in full priest's orders, it was sacrilege to do. Then he "took to the profession of arms, giving thereby terrible scandal to all Catholics." Yet those who remembered the history of their Church, and the example of Julius II., and many another Pope and cardinal and bishop, need not have been so scandalized at this. But he fought on the wrong side! And still worse married, or, as the ecclesiastical writers are careful to point out, pretended to marry, a wife, Isabelle di Loré, Lady of Hauteville, "whom, deacon as he was, he lived with as a concubine." Thereupon Pius IV. (ob. 1565), on the 11th of September, 1563, proclaimed his deposition from the cardinalate throughout all France. He was exiled thence, escaped to England, where Elizabeth gave him and his wife Sion House to live in. He died and was buried at Canterbury, in 1568, poisoned, as was said, by his servants.

How fearful and wonderful a thing, that one whom the Church had so marked for her own that she made him a cardinal at eleven, a bishop at twelve, and an archbishop at thirteen, should have been so little seriously impressed by the sacred nature of his responsibilities and respect for his Church! Truly marvellous and incomprehensible are the ways of Providence!

There seems to be reason, however, to doubt whether, despite all that has been stated, Coligny, if he had presented himself at a conclave for the election of a Pope, could have been canonically excluded and deprived of his vote. But this is a subject to which we shall have to return in a later chapter.

Paul III., Farnese (ob. 1549), made his nephew, Alexander Farnese, a cardinal at fourteen; his grandson, Guido Ascanio Sforza, son of his daughter Costanza, at sixteen; his cousin, Niccolò Gaetani, at twelve; and a second grandson, Ranucio Farnese, at fifteen, to whom he had a year before given the archbishopric of Naples! He also created Charles of Lorraine, son of the Duc de Guise, and brother of Mary Queen of Scots, cardinal at twenty-two, although he had at the time a brother in the Sacred College, which was contrary to the constitutions and the decree of one of his predecessors. Lastly, he made his relative, Giulio Feltre della Rovere, brother of the Duke of Urbino, a cardinal at eleven!

Julius III. (ob. 1555) created Innocenzo del Monte cardinal at seventeen, and his two nephews, Roberto dei Nobili at fourteen, and Girolamo Simoncelli at twenty-one. The latter is noted as having been a cardinal during sixty years! The zealous and earnest Pius IV. (ob. 1565), besides creating several cardinals at from twenty to twenty-three, made Ferdinand de Medici a cardinal at fourteen. Gregory XIII. (ob. 1585) made Andrew of Austria, a natural son of the Archduke Ferdinand, a cardinal at eighteen; and Albert of Austria, son of Maximilian II., at the same age. He also created Charles of Lorraine at sixteen, and Francesco Sforza at twenty. The high-handed reformer, Sixtus V. (ob. 1590), made his nephew, Alexander Peretti, cardinal at fourteen; and Innocent IX. (ob. 1591), found time in his two months' papacy to create his nephew, Antonio Fachinetti della Noce,

at eighteen.

Innocent was aware, probably, that he

had no time to lose!

Clement VIII. (ob. 1605) made Wilhelm, son of the Duke of Bavaria, a cardinal at twenty: but he had been Bishop of Ratisbon ever since he had been in the cradle! Clement also created his relative, Gio. Battista Deti, cardinal at seventeen, and his nephew, Silvestro Aldobrandini, at sixteen, although he had previously raised to the purple his brother, Pietro Aldobrandini, at the age of twenty-two, despite the papal decree forbidding two brothers to belong to the Sacred College at the same time.

Paul V. (ob. 1621) created Maurice of Savoy at fourteen; Carlo de Medici at nineteen; and Ferdinand of Austria, son of Philip III. of Spain, at ten!

Urban VIII., Barberini (ob. 1644), although he had already placed in the Sacred College Francesco and Antonio Barberini, his brother and his nephew, created his other nephew, Antonio, at the age of twenty.

Innocent X., Pamphili (ob. 1655), made the nephew of his sister-in-law, the celebrated Olympia, cardinal at seventeen; and Clement IX. (ob. 1669) made Sigismund Chigi, the nephew of Alexander VII., a cardinal at nineteen, in return, we are told, for the purple which he had himself received from Alexander VII.

Alexander VIII. (ob. 1691) created Lorenzo Altieri, the nephew of Clement X., cardinal at nineteen; Clement XII. (ob. 1740) made Luigi di Borboni, son of Philip V. of Spain, archbishop of Toledo and cardinal at the age of eight; and, finally, Pius VII, (ob. 1823) created Luigi di Borboni, the son of the