10
November 1549 A.D. Paul
III (Alessandro Farnesse) Dies—Rome’s 220th; Council of Trent on 13 Dec 1545 to 3 Mar
1547; Scriptures, Original Sin,
Justification & Sacraments
Loughlin,
James. "Pope Paul III." The
Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11579a.htm. Accessed 26 Sept 2014.
Pope Paul III
(ALESSANDRO FARNESE).
Born at Rome or Canino, 29 Feb., 1468; elected, 12 Oct., 1534; died at Rome, 10 Nov., 1549. The Farnese were an ancient Roman family whose possessions clustered about the Lake at Bolsena.
Although counted among theRoman aristocrats,
they first appear in history associated with Viterbo and Orvieto. Among the witnesses to the Treaty of Venice between
Barbarossa and the pope, we find the signature of a Farnese as Rector of Orvieto; aFarnese bishop consecrated the cathedral there.
During the interminable feuds which distracted the peninsula, the Farnese were consistently Guelph. The grandfather of the future pontiff was commander-in-chief of the papaltroops under Eugenius IV; his oldest son perished in
the battle of Fornuovo; the second, Pier Luigi, marriedGiovannella Gaetani, sister to
the Lord of Sermoneta.
Among their children were the beautiful Giulia, who marriedan Orsini, and Alessandro, later Paul III. Alessandro received the best education that
his age could offer; first atRome, where he had Pomponio Leto for
a tutor; later at Florence in the palace of Lorenzo the Magnificent, where he formed his
friendship with the future Leo X, six years his junior. His contemporaries
praise his proficiency in all the learning of the Renaissance, especially in his mastery of
classical Latin and Italian.
With such advantages of birth and talent, his advancement in the ecclesiastical career
was assured and rapid. On 20 Sept., 1493 (Eubel), he was created by Alexander VI cardinal-deacon with the title SS. Cosmas and Damian.
He wore the purple for over forty years, passing through the several
gradations, until he became Dean of the Sacred College. In accordance with the
abuses of his time, he accumulated a number of opulent benefices, and spent his immenserevenue with a generosity which won for him
the praises of artists and the affection of the Roman populace. His native ability and
diplomatic skill, acquired by long experience, made him tower above his
colleagues in theSacred College, even
as his Palazzo Farnese excelled in magnificence all the other
palaces of Rome. That he continued to grow in favour
under pontiffs so different in character as the Borgia, Rovera, and Medici popes is a
sufficient proof of his
tact.
He had already on two previous occasions, come within
measurable distance of the tiara, when the conclave of
1534, almost without the formality of a ballot, proclaimed him successor to Clement VII. It was creditable to hisreputation and to
the good will of
the cardinals, that the factions which
divided the Sacred College were
concordant in electing him. He was universally recognized as
the man of the hour, and the piety and zeal, which had characterized him after he was ordained priest, caused men to
overlook the extravagance of his earlier years.
The Roman people rejoiced at the election to the tiara of the
first citizen of their city since Martin V. Paul III
wascrowned 3 Nov., and lost no
time in setting about the most needed reforms.
No one, who has once studied his portrait by Titian, is likely to forget the wonderful
expression of countenance of that worn-out, emaciated form. Those piercing little eyes, and
that peculiar attitude of one ready to bound or to shrink, tell the story of a
veterandiplomat who was not to be
deceived or taken off guard. His extreme caution, and the difficulty of binding
him down to a defininte obligation, drew from Pasquino the
facetious remark that the third Paul was a "Vas dilationis." The
elevation to the cardinalate of his
grandsons, Alessandro Farnese, aged fourteen, and Guido Ascanio Sforza, aged sixteen, displeased the
reform party and drew a protest from the emperor, but this was forgiven, when
shortly after, he introduced into the Sacred College men of the calibre of Reginald Pole, Contanini, Sadoleto, andCaraffa.
Soon after his elevation, 2 June, 1536, Paul III
summoned a general council to meet at Mantua in the
following May; but the opposition of the Protestant princes
and the refusal of the Duke of Mantua to assume the responsibility of maintaining
order frustrated the project. He issued a new bull, convoking a council at Vicenza, 1 May, 1538; the chief obstacle was the
renewed enmity of Charles V and Francis I. The aged pontiff induced them to hold a conference with
him at Nizza and conclude a ten years' truce. As a
token of good will, a granddaughter of Paul was married to a French prince, and the emperor gave his
daughter, Margaret, to Ottavio,
the son of Pier Luigi, founder of the Farnese dynasty of Parma.
Many causes contributed to delay the opening of
the general council. The extension of power which a re-unitedGermany would
place in the hands of Charles was so intolerable to Francis I, that he, who persecuted heresy in his
own realm with such cruelty that the pope appealed to him to mitigate his violence, became the sworn ally of the Smalcaldic League, encouraging them to reject all
overtures to reconciliation. Charles himself was in no slight measure to
blame, for, notwithstanding his desire for the assembling of a council,
he was led into the belief that
the religious differences of Germany might
be settled by conferences between the two parties. These conferences, like all
such attempts to settle differences outside of the normal court of the Church, led to a waste of time, and did far more harm than good. Charles had a false idea of the
office of a general council. In his desire to unite all
parties, he sought for vague formulæ to which all could subscribe, a relapse
into the mistakes of theByzantine emperors.
A council of the Church, on the other hand, must formulate the Faith with such precision that no heretic can
subscribe to it. It took some years to convince the emperor and his mediating advisors thatCatholicism and Protestantism are as
opposite as light and darkness. Meanwhile Paul III set about the reform of the papal court
with a vigour which paved the way for the disciplinary canons of Trent. He appointed commissions to report
abuses of every kind; he reformed the Apostolic
Camera, the tribunal of the Rota, the Penitentiaria,
and the Chancery. He enhanced the
prestige of the papacy by
doing single-handed what his predecessors had reserved to the action of a council.
In the constantly recurring quarrels between Francis and Charles, Paul III
preserved a strict neutrality, notwithstanding that Charles urged him to support the empire and
subject Francis to the censures of the Church. Paul's attitude as a patriotic Italian would have been sufficient to prevent
him from allowing the emperor to be sole arbiter of Italy. It was as much for the purpose of
securing the integrity of thepapal dominions,
as for the exaltation of his family, that Paul extorted from Charles and his reluctant cardinalsthe erection of Piacenza and Parma into a
duchy for his son, Pier Luigi. A feud arose with Gonzaga, the imperial Governor
of Milan, which ended later in the assassination of Pier Luigi and the permanent
alienation of Piacenzafrom the Papal States.
When the Treaty of Crespi (18 Sept., 1544) ended the
disastrous wars between Charles and Francis, Paulenergetically took up the project
of convening a general council. Meanwhile it developed that
the emperor had formed a programme of his own, quite at variance in some
important points with the pope's. Since theProtestants repudiated
a council presided over by the Roman pontiff, Charles was resolved to reduce the princes to obedience by force of arms. To this Paul did
not object, and promised to aid him with three hundred thousand ducats and
twenty thousand infantry; but he wisely added the proviso, that Charles should enter into no separate treaties
with the heretics and
make no agreement prejudicial to the Faith or to the rights of the Holy See. Charlesnow contended that the council should be prorogued, until victory had
decided in favour of the Catholics. Furthermore, foreseeing that
the struggle with the preachers of heresy would
be more stubborn than the conflict with the princes, he urged the pontiff to avoid making dogmas of faith for
the present and confine the labours of the council to the enforcement of discipline. To neither of these
proposals could the pope agree.
Finally, after endless difficulties (13 Dec., 1545) the Council of Trent held its first session.
In seven sessions, the last 3 March, 1547, the Fathers intrepidly faced the most important
questions of faith and discipline. Without listening to the
threats and expostulations of the imperial party, they formulated for all time the Catholic doctrine on theScriptures, original sin, justification, and the Sacraments. The work of the council was half ended, when the outbreak of
the plague in Trent caused an adjournment to Bologna. Pope Paul was not the instigator of the removal
of the council; he simply
acquiesced in the decision of the Fathers.
Fifteen prelates, devoted to the emperor,
refused to leave Trent. Charles demanded the return of the council to German territory, but the deliberations of
the council continued in Bologna, until finally, 21 April, the pope, in order to avert a schism, prorogued the council indefinitely. The wisdom of the council's energetic action, in establishing thus early the
fundamental truths of the Catholic creed,
became soon evident, when the emperor and his semi-Protestant advisers inflicted
upon Germany their Interim religion, which was despised by both parties. Pope Paul, who had given the emperor essential aid in the Smalcaldic war, resented his dabbling in theology, and their estrangement
continued until the death of the pontiff.
Paul's end came rather suddenly. After the assassination of Pier Luigi, he had struggled to
retain Piacenza andParma for
the Church and
had deprived Ottavio, Pier Luigi's son and Charles's son-in-law, of these duchies. Ottavio,
relying on the emperor's benevolence, refused obedience;
it broke the old man's heart, when he learned that his
favourite grandson, Cardinal
Farnese, was a party to the transaction. He fell into a violent fever and died at the Quirinal, at the
age of eighty-two. He lies buried in St.
Peter's in the tomb designed
by Michelangelo and
erected by Guglielmo della Porta. Not all the popes repose
in monuments corresponding to their importance in thehistory of the Church; but few will be
disposed to contest the right of Farnese to rest directly under Peter's chair. He had his faults; but they
injured no one but himself. The fifteen years of his pontificate saw the
complete restoration of Catholic faith and piety. He was succeeded by many saintly pontiffs, but not one of them
possessed all his commanding virtues.
In Rome his
name is written all over the city he renovated. The Pauline chapel,Michelangelo's work
in the Sistine, the streets of Rome, which he straightened and broadened, the
numerous objects of art associated with the name of Farnese, all speak eloquently of the
remarkable personality of
thepontiff who turned the tide in
favour of religion. If to this we
add the favour accorded by Paul to the new religiousorders then appearing, the Capuchins, Barnabites, Theatines, Jesuits, Ursulines, and many others, we are
forced to confess that his reign was one of the most
fruitful in the annals of the Church.
Sources
PANVINIUS, Pont. Romanorum vitæ; PALLAVICINI, Concilio
di Trento; PASTOR, Gesch.
der Päpste, V; EHSES, Concilium
Tridentinum, V; VON
RANKE, Hist. of the Popes in the XVI-XVIII Centuries: ARTAUD DE MONTOR, Hist. of
the Popes (New York,
1867).
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