Pope Clement XI

Pope Clement XI (July 23, 1649 – March 19, 1721), born Giovanni Francesco Albani, was Pope from 1700 to 1721. He was from an eminent family of Urbino that had estabilished itself there from northern Albania in the 15th century.

Pontificate

The most memorable event of Clement XI's administration was the publication in 1713 of the bull Unigenitus, which so greatly disturbed the peace of the church in France, sometimes called the Gallican church. In this famous document one hundred and one propositions from the works of Quesnel were condemned as heretical, and as identical with propositions already condemned in the writings of Jansen.

The resistance of many French ecclesiastics and the refusal of the French parlements to register the bull led to controversies extending through the greater part of the 18th century. Because the local governments did not officially receive the bull, it was not, technically, in force in those areas – an example of the interference of states in religious affairs common before the 20th century.

Chinese Rites controversy

Another important decision of Clement XI was in regard to the Chinese Rites controversy: the Jesuit missionaries were forbidden to take part in honors paid to Confucius or the ancestors of the Emperors of China, which Clement XI identified as idolatrous, and to accommodate Christian language to pagan ideas under plea of conciliating the heathen.

The political troubles of the time greatly embarrassed Clement XI's relations with the leading Catholic powers, and the moral prestige of the Holy See suffered much from his compulsory recognition of the Archduke Charles of Austria as King of Spain. His private character was irreproachable; he was also an accomplished scholar, and a patron of letters and science.

Personal library

Clement XI's family library was sold between 1864 and 1928, and part of it was purchased by The Catholic University of America. This collection contains a large section concerning the Jansenist controversy and the Chinese Rites controversy, as well as Canon Law, and other related topics. The manuscript material purchased in 1864 by Theodor Mommsen on behalf of the Prussian government was lost at sea on its way to Germany.

References

Initial text from the 9th edition (1876) of an unnamed encyclopedia

Clementine Library at The Catholic University of America

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Pontificate

Chinese Rites controversy

Personal library

References