Pope Pius IV

Pius IV (1499-1565), by backing the Council of Trent in its last and extremely tense period, emerged as one of the great popes of the Catholic Reformation. By his temperate and tractable approach, he broke with the severe regime of his predecessor, Paul IV.

Giovanni Angelo de' Medici, who became Pius IV, was born into the lesser nobility of Milan on March 31, 1499. His family was not related to the famous Medici of Florence. He received his early education at Pavia, and in 1525 he earned a doctorate in canon and civil law at the University of Bologna. The next year Medici began his service in the Church as a protonotary apostolic. Under Pope Paul III he gained a breadth of experience in administration within the papal states and in diplomacy on missions to Hungary and Transylvania. At the age of 46 Medici was ordained a priest. The same year, 1545, Paul III appointed him archbishop of Ragusa in Sicily and 4 years later raised him to the cardinalate. In 1556 Pope Paul IV assigned him to the archdiocese of Foligno. On Dec. 25, 1559, Medici was elected pope and took the name Pius IV.

Pius IV faced a serious challenge to his diplomatic finesse in the problem of the Council of Trent, which had been suspended since 1552. In 1562 the council was reassembled by his mandate. With astute diplomacy he guided the council's third period, the most stormy and difficult of all, to a successful conclusion on Dec. 4, 1563. During the remainder of his pontificate Pius IV implemented the Tridentine Decrees. In this task, as well as in the application of the Index and in supervising the work of the Inquisition, his sense of moderation and flexibility came to the fore. His sense of statesmanship and his smooth efficiency in administration also greatly aided him. One of Pius IV's chief aides was his nephew, Charles Borromeo, who served in the post of papal private secretary and whom Pius IV created a cardinal and archbishop of Milan in 1560.

Pius IV supported humanistic and artistic ventures in Rome in many ways. He encouraged Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina; he appointed to the cardinalate such eminent humanists as Girolamo Seripando, Stanislaus Hosius, and Guglielmo Sirleto; and he remained a loyal supporter of Michelangelo and heartened him in his work on the dome of the Basilica of St. Peter's. Various edifices and improvements in Rome bear his name: the Porta Pia on the Via Nomentana, the Borgo Pio, and the Villa Pia. Pius IV died in Rome on Dec. 9, 1565.

Further Reading

Even though research calls for some modifications, the best modern comprehensive study of Pius IV is in Ludwig Pastor, History of the Popes, from the Close of the Middle Ages, vols. 15 and 16, translated by Ralph F. Kerr (1928), which contains a full bibliography and list of sources. For background consult Alexander Clarence Flick, The Decline of the Medieval Church, vol. 2 (1930), and Karl H. Dannenfeldt, The Church of the Renaissance and Reformation (1970).

Pius IV (POPE) (Giovanni Angelo de' Medici; 1499–1565; reigned 1559–1565), Italian pope. Born in Milan, Pius IV studied medicine at Pavia and received his doctorate in canon and civil law from Bologna. He entered papal service as a governor in the Papal States, then as apostolic commissary to the papal forces assisting the emperor in Transylvania and Hungary against the Turks (1542–1543), and afterwards as administrator in the papal states. In 1545, he was appointed archbishop of Ragusa, and in 1549 he was elevated to cardinal when the duke of Florence invited him to take the coat of arms of the House of Medici, though he was not related. He served as permanent prefect of the Segnatura gratiae, the supreme tribunal of the Roman curia for responding to appeals and supplications, under Julius III (reigned 1550–1555), but withdrew from service during the reign of Paul IV (1555–1559), whose anti-Spanish policies he rejected. In 1558, he left Rome for Tuscany. He was elected pope on 25 December 1559 as a candidate acceptable to all factions.

Pius's most notable achievement was to recall (and maintain control over) the general church council that had met at Trent (1545–1546 and 1552–1553) for its third and final period (1562–1563). On 4 December 1563, after completing work in its 25th session, the council was dissolved. Pius confirmed its decrees orally on 26 January 1564 and with the bull Benedictus Deus (30 June 1564). He asserted the right of the papacy to be final interpreter of the Tridentine legislation, which he entrusted to the Congregation of the Council of Trent. He carried out the council's directives promptly; among his first actions was an order that all absentee bishops return to their dioceses. In 1564, he established the Congregation of the Index of Forbidden Books, which mitigated the Index of Paul IV. He allowed bishops to give the chalice to the laity in lands affected by the Reformation, but he deferred the question of married clergy. With Tridentine legislation as the touchstone of Catholic belief, he ordered all higher clergy and individuals holding ecclesiastical office to take the Profession of the Tridentine Faith, an oath made to the pope, which consists of the Nicene Creed and twelve additional articles reflecting the clarification of Catholic dogma at Trent.

Pius made his sister's son, twenty-one-year-old Carlo Borromeo (canonized in 1610), a cardinal and appointed him secretary of state and archbishop of Milan. Borromeo rendered heroic services to his uncle in reforming the Sacred College and the offices of papal administration at Rome (Chancery, Datary, Rota, Sacred Penitentiary, and Apostolic Camera), as well as carrying out papal policy in Europe.

In contrast to his predecessor, Pius maintained good relations with Philip II of Spain and Emperor Ferdinand I, but he faced extraordinary challenges in the spread of Lutheranism within the empire and of Calvinism throughout much of Europe. He offered financial support to the French monarchy in resisting the Huguenots, watched anxiously the measures Queen Elizabeth took in England after the death of Mary Tudor, and gave moral, but not financial or military, support to Mary Stuart in Scotland.

At Rome and in the Papal States, Pius worked to repair damages wrought by the overbearing policies of his predecessor. He appointed Cardinal Giovanne Morone, whom Paul IV had persecuted on suspicion of heresy, as president at the Council of Trent. He had a number of cardinals and nobles arrested for murder and improprieties, and approved the execution of cardinals Carlo and Giovanni Carafa and others involved. He limited the powers of the Inquisition and mitigated much of Paul IV's harsh legislation. Pius also promoted education and was generous to artists: He appointed Paulo Manuzio to head a new printing press at Rome for Christian texts, and he beautified the Vatican (with the Casino di Pio IV), Rome (with Michelangelo's Porta Pia), and the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli in the Baths of Diocletian, where his remains were transferred in 1583.

Bibliography

Cristiani, Léon. "L'Église à l'époque du Concile de Trente." In Histoire de l'Église, depuis les origines jusqu'à nos jours, edited by Augustin Fliche and Victor Martin. Paris, 1948.

Pastor, Ludwig von. The History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages. Vols. XV–XVI. St. Louis, 1929.

—FREDERICK J. MCGINNESS

Pius IV
Papacy began	25 December 1559
Papacy ended	9 December 1565
Predecessor	Paul IV
Successor	Pius V
Personal details
Birth name	Giovanni Angelo Medici
Born	March 31, 1499(1499-03-31) Milan, Duchy of Milan
Died	December 9, 1565 (aged 66) Rome, Papal State
Other Popes named Pius

Pope Pius IV (31 March 1499 – 9 December 1565), born Giovanni Angelo Medici, was Pope from 1559 to 1565. He is notable for presiding over the culmination of the Council of Trent.

Biography

Giovanni Angelo Medici was born of humble parentage in Milan, unrelated to the Medicis of Florence. His early career connects itself in some measure with the rise of his elder brother, Gian Giacomo Medici, from the position of a mere bravo to that of Marchese di Marignano.

After studying at Bologna and acquiring a reputation as a jurist, he went in 1527 to Rome, and as the favorite of Pope Paul III was rapidly promoted to the governorship of several towns, the archbishopric of Ragusa, the vice-legateship of Bologna, and in April 1549, to the cardinalate. Meanwhile he had three illegitimate children. On the death of Pope Paul IV, he was elected Pope Pius IV on 25 December 1559, and installed on 6 January 1560. His first public acts of importance were to grant a general pardon to the participators in the riot which had closed the previous pontificate, and to bring to trial the nephews of his predecessor, of whom Cardinal Carlo Carafa was strangled to death, and Duke Giovanni Carafa of Paliano, with his nearest connections, beheaded.

A portrait of Pope Pius IV

On 18 January 1562 the Council of Trent, which had been suspended by Pope Julius III, was opened for the third time. Great skill and caution were necessary to effect a settlement of the questions before it, inasmuch as the three principal nations taking part in it, though at issue with regard to their own special demands, were prepared to unite their forces against the demands of Rome. Pius IV, however, aided by Moroni and Carlo Cardinal Borromeo, proved himself equal to the emergency, and by judicious management – and concession – brought the council to a termination satisfactory to the disputants and favourable to the pontifical authority. Its definitions and decrees were confirmed by a papal bull dated 26 January 1564; and, though they were received with certain limitations by France and Spain, the famous Creed of Pius IV, or Tridentine Creed, became an authoritative expression of the Catholic faith. The more marked manifestations of stringency during his pontificate appear to have been prompted rather than spontaneous, his personal character inclining him to moderation and ease.

Thus, a warning, issued in 1564, summoning Jeanne d'Albret, the Queen of Navarre, before the Inquisition on a charge of Calvinism, was withdrawn by him in deference to the indignant protest of Charles IX of France. In the same year he published a bull granting the use of the cup to the laity of Austria and Bohemia. One of his strongest passions appears to have been that of building, which somewhat strained his resources in contributing to the adornment of Rome (including the new Porta Pia and Via Pia, named after him, and the northern extension (Addizione) of the rione of Borgo), and in carrying on the work of restoration, erection, and fortification in various parts of the ecclesiastical states.

Saint Charles Borromeo, Pius IV's cardinal-nephew

On the other hands, others bemoaned the austere Roman culture during this papacy; Giorgio Vasari in 1567 spoke of a time when the grandeurs of this place reduced by stinginess of living, dullness of dress, and simplicity in so many things; Rome is fallen into much misery, and if it is true that Christ loved poverty and the City wishes to follow in his steps she will quickly become beggarly...".^[1]

A conspiracy against Pius IV, headed by Benedetto Accolti, the son of a cardinal, was discovered and crushed in 1565.

Pius IV, like many of his predecessors and successors, was a nepotist. Among the relatives he favoured, the main figure is that of Carlo Borromeo. Under his reign Michelangelo re-built the basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli (in the Diocletian's Baths) and the eponymous Villa Pia, now known as Casina Pio IV and headquarters of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, was designed by Pirro Ligorio in the Vatican Gardens.

He died on 9 December 1565, and was buried in Santa Maria degli Angeli. His successor was Pius V.

He is generally believed to be the first pope to have died leaving in pectore cardinals unpublished.^{[citation needed]}

Sources

• Rendina, Claudio (1984). I papi. Storia e segreti. Rome: Newton Compton. 
• Text from the 9th edition (1888) of the Encyclopædia Britannica
  • Freedberg, Sydney J. (1993). Pelican History of Art. ed. Painting in Italy, 1500-1600. Penguin Books Ltd. pp. 429. 

Notes

1. ^ Freedberg SJ, p. 429.

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Paul IV	Pope 1559–65	Succeeded by Pius V

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