INNOCENT IX
594
INNOCENT X
course, showed himself verv se""""* towards his ac- complice, Innocent VIII. On May 29, 1492, he sent him the iron of the spear with which, he asserted, Christ was pierced on tlie cross, and which was among the booty taken by :Mohammed II after the downfall of Constantinoi)le. ' The relic (although received with great ceremony) was, unfortunately, the third of the kind in Europe, for the emperor of Germany claimed to have the holy lance at Nuremberg, and the king of France in the Holy Chapel at Paris. Innocent VIII died Jidy 25, 1492. Among the principal acts of his administration are the confirmation, in 1485, of the ai- der of the Conception, founded at Toledo by Beatrix of Sylva ; the canonization of Leopold of Austria in 1485 ; the condemnation of the propositions of Miran- dola in 1487 ; the union under the crown of Spain of the three military orders of Calatrava, St. James, and Alcan- tara, in 1488 ; and the confirmation of the Brother- hood of jMercy, instituted at Rome for the benefit of condemned criminals. Two letters of Innocent are pub- lished by Ughelli, Italia Sacra, i, 710; v, 948. Roman Catholic writers endeavor to free Innocent VIII from the charge of gross immorality by asserting that he had onli/ two illegitimate children, and that they were born before he was made pope; but " the success of Innocent VIII in increasing the population of Rome was a favor- ite topic with the wits of the day" (Innocuo priscos jequum est debere Quirites. Progenie exhaustam resti- tuit patriam. — Sannazarii Epif/ram. lib. i), and he was graced with '-the epitaph which declared that filth, gluttony, avarice, and sloth lay buried in his tomb" (Marultus, Epigram, lib. iv). But the conduct of Inno- cent VIII can hardly compare with the career of his successor, Alexander VI, " the most depraved of all the popes, uniting in himself all the vices of Innocent VIII and the unscrupulous family ambition of Sixtus IV." Indeed, all the latter half of the IGth century scarcely saw a supreme pontiff without the visible evidences of human frailty around him, the unblushing acknowledg- ment of which is the fittest commentary on the tone of clerical morality (Lea, Hisl. of Sacerdotal Celibacy, p. 358, 359). See Labbe, Concilia, xiii, 1465 ; Fleury, Hist. Ecclesiastique, lib. xxiii, ch. xv ; Duchesne, UistoricB Francoriim Saiptores, ii, 350 ; Sismoiidi. //ij<f. des Frun- gais; Ciaconius, Vitw ef 7-es rjestip I'mitijiruin Romano- rum, iii, 90; F. Serdonati,r«7fl e I'aili il'/nniH'otzo VIII (Milan, 1829, 8vo) ; Comines, Munolns. lili. vli. ch. i: ^^.Tzog:,, Reul-Encyklop.\\,&12; Engl. Viiclnji.: Ibiefer Nouv. Biog. Ghierale, xxv, 912; Ranke, Hist, dftlic I'a- pacy in the \&h and I7th Centuries, i, 43, 2'JG ; ^Mosheim Ch.'llist. p. 436: Bower, Hist, of the Popes, vii, 317 sq. Wetzer und Welte, Kirchen-Lex. v, 641 scj. ; Aschbach, Kirchen-Lexikon, iii, 460 sq. (J. H. W.)
Innocent IX {Giovanni Antonio Facchinetti),horn at Bfjlogna in 1519, had distinguished himself as jiapal legate at Trent, afterwards as the (lapal nuncio at Ven- ice, and as president of the Inquisition. He was elected pope after the death of Gregory XIV, in Oct. 1591. He bore a good reputation for learning and piety, but he was too old and feeble for the paijal chair, and constantly confined to his bed by illness, and was even obliged to give his audiences there. Notwithstanding these diffi- culties, however, he took an active part in the affairs of France, favoring the party of the League and of Spain, as his i)redeccssor (iregory had done. A letter of his is still extant (in Cayet, Chronologic novenaire), in which he urges Alexander Farnesc to hasten the equipment of his troops, to invade France, and to relieve Rouen, all which that general forthwith executed with so much success and skill. He died Dec. 30, 1591, after a short reign of oidy two months, and was succeeded by Cle- ment VIII. See Labbe, Concilia, xv, 1430 ; Duchesne, Histories Francorum Sciiptores, ii, 457 ; Fleury, Hist. Eccles. 1. xxvi, chap, clxxix ; Sismondi, Hist, des Fran- gais, xxi, 124; B. Justiniani, 0?«/«o habita infunere In- nocentii IX (Rome, 1592, 4to); UcTzog, Real-Encyk-lop. vi, 673 ; English Cyclop, ; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog, Ginerale,
xxv, 914; Ranke. History of the Popes of the \&th and 11 th Cent, ii, 231, 232: Mosheim, Eccles. Hist. cent, xvi, sec. iii, pt. i, ch. i. (.J. H.W.)