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SIXTUS V

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 165 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SIXTUS V . (Felice Peretti), See also:pope from 1585 to 1590, was See also:born at Grottamara, in See also:Ancona, on the 13th of See also:December 1521. He was reared in extreme poverty; but the See also:story of his having been a swineherd in his youth appears to be open to question At an See also:early See also:age he entered a Franciscan monastery. He soon gave See also:evidence of rare ability as a preacher and a dialectician. About 1552 he came under the See also:notice of See also:Cardinal See also:Carpi, See also:protector of his See also:order, Ghislieri (later See also:Pius V.) and Caraff a (later See also:Paul IV.), and from that See also:time his See also:advancement was assured. He was sent to See also:Venice as inquisitor See also:general, but carried matters with a high See also:hand, became embroiled in quarrels, and was forced to leave (156o). After a brief See also:term as See also:procurator of his order, he was attached to the See also:Spanish See also:legation headed by Buoncampagno (later See also:Gregory XIII.) 1565. The violent dislike he conceived for Buoncampagno exerted a marked See also:influence upon his subsequent actions. He hurried back to See also:Rome upon the See also:accession of Pius V., who made him apostolic See also:vicar of his order, and, later (1570), cardinal. During the pontificate of Gregory XIII. he lived in retirement, occupied with the care of his See also:villa and with his studies, one of the fruits of which was an edition of the See also:works of See also:Ambrose; not neglecting, however, to follow the course of affairs, but carefully avoiding every occasion of offence. This discreetness contributed not a little to his See also:election to the papacy on the 24th of See also:April 1585; but the story of his having feigned decrepitude in the See also:Conclave, in order to win votes, is a pure invention. One of the things that commended his candidacy to certain cardinals was his See also:physical vigour, which seemed to promise a See also:long pontificate.

The terrible See also:

condition in which Gregory XIII. had See also:left the ecclesiastical states called for prompt and stern See also:measures. Against the prevailing lawlessness Sixtus proceeded with an almost ferocious severity, which only extreme See also:necessity could justify. Thousands of brigands were brought to See also:justice: within a See also:short time the See also:country was again quiet and safe. Sixtus next set to See also:work to repair the finances. By the See also:sale of offices, the See also:establishment of new " Monti" and by levying new taxes, he accumulated a vast surplus, which he stored up against certain specified emergencies, such as a crusade or the See also:defence of the See also:Holy See. Sixtus prided himself upon his hoard, but the method by which it had been amassed was financially unsound: some of the taxes proved ruinous, and the withdrawal of so much See also:money from circulation could not fail to cause See also:distress. Immense sums, however, were spent upon public works. Sixtus set no limit to his plans; and what he achieved in his short pontificate is almost incredible; the completion of the See also:dome of St See also:Peter's; the loggia of Sixtus in the Lateran; the See also:chapel of the Praesepe in Sta Maria See also:Maggiore; additions or See also:repairs to the Quirinal, Lateran and Vatican palaces; the erection of four obelisks, including that in the piazza, of St Peter's; the opening of six streets; the restoration of the See also:aqueduct of See also:Severus (" Acqua Felice ") ; besides numerous roads and See also:bridges, an See also:attempt to drain the Pontine marshes, and the encouragement of See also:agriculture and manufacture. But Sixtus had no appreciation of antiquity: the columns of See also:Trajan and See also:Antoninus were made to serve as pedestals for the statues of SS Peter and Paul; the See also:Minerva of the Capitol was converted into " See also:Christian Rome" ; the Septizonium of Severus was demolished for its See also:building materials. The administrative See also:system of the See also:church owed much to Sixtus. He limited the See also:College of Cardinals to seventy; and doubled the number of the congregations, and enlarged their functions, assigning to them the See also:principal role in the transaction of business (1588). The See also:Jesuits Sixtus regarded with disfavour and suspicion.

He meditated See also:

radical changes in their constitution, but See also:death prevented the See also:execution of his purpose. In 1589 was begun a revision of the See also:Vulgate, the so-called Editio Sixtina. In his larger See also:political relations Sixtus, strangely enough, showed himself visionary and vacillating. He entertained fantastic ambitions, such as the annihilation of the See also:Turks, the See also:conquest of See also:Egypt, the transporting of the Holy See also:Sepulchre to See also:Italy, the accession of his See also:nephew to the See also:throne of See also:France. The situation in which he found himself was embarrassing: he could not countenance the designs of heretical princes, and yet he distrusted See also:Philip II. and viewed with See also:apprehension any See also:extension of his See also:power. So, while he excommunicated See also:Henry of See also:Navarre, and contributed to the See also:League and the See also:Armada, he chafed under his forced See also:alliance with Philip, and looked about for See also:escape. The victories of Henry and the prospect of his See also:conversion to Catholicism raised Sixtus's hopes, and in corresponding degree determined Philip to tighten his grip upon his wavering ally. The pope's negotiations with Henry's representative evoked a See also:bitter and menacing protest and a categorical demand for the performance of promises. Sixtus took See also:refuge in evasion, and temporized until death relieved him of the necessity of coming to a decision (27th of See also:August 1590). Sixtus died execrated by his own subjects; but posterity has recognized in him one of the greatest popes. He was impulsive, obstinate, severe, autocratic; but his mind was open to large ideas, and he threw himself into his undertakings with an energyand determination that often compelled success. Few popes can boast of greater enterprise or larger achievements.

Lives of Sixtus are numerous: Cicarella's, in PIatina, De vitis pontiff. Rom., is by a contemporary of the pope, but nevertheless of slight importance; Leti's Vita di Sisto V (See also:

Amsterdam, 1693, translated into See also:English by Farneworth, 1779) is a See also:caricature, full of absurd tales, utterly untrustworthy, wanting even the saving merit of See also:style; Tempesti's Storia della vita e geste di Sisto Quinto (Rome, 1754–1755) is valuable for the large use it makes of the See also:original See also:sources, but lacks See also:perspective and is warped by the author's See also:blind admiration for his subject; Cesare's Vita di Sisto V (See also:Naples, 1755) is but an abridgment of Tempesti. Of See also:recent works the best are See also:Hubner, Sixte-Quint, &c. (See also:Paris, 1870, translated into English by H. E. H. Jerningham, See also:London, 1872) ; and Capranica, Papa Sisto, storia del s. XVI (See also:Milan, 1884). See also Lorentz, Sixtus V. u. See also:seine Zeit (See also:Mainz, 1852) ; Dumesnil, Hist. de Sixte-Quint (Paris, 1869, 2nd ed.); Segretain, Sixte-Quint et See also:Henri IV (Paris, 1861, strongly Ultramontane) ; See also:Ranke's masterly portrayal, Popes (Eng. trans., See also:Austin), i. 446 sq., ii. 205 sq.; and v. See also:Reumont, Gesch. der Stadi Rom, iii.

2, 575 sq., 733 sq. Extended See also:

bibliographies may be found in See also:Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklopadie, s.v. " Sixtus V."; and See also:Cambridge Mod. Hist. iii. 835 sq. (T. F.

End of Article: SIXTUS V

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