GREGORY. 



biographers for j)icty, benfvolence, and liumanity ; he wa5 

 a patron of men of letters, and was himfelf refpeclable for 

 learning, particidarly in civil and canon law. He was apt 

 to be partial to his own relations, and paid more regard to 

 their recommendation in the difpofal of preferments than to 

 the merit of the perfons whom lliey recommended. Bower. 

 Moreri. 



GREr.onv XII. pope,»whofe original name was Angelo 

 Corario, was a native of Venice, and wa-- piererrf;d to the 

 bifliopric of that city by pope Urban VI. l^': Boniface 



IV. he was made titular patriarch of Conftantiiiople, and 

 by Innocent VII- he was raifed to the dignity of Cardinal 

 in 1405. He was now eighty years of age, and upon the 

 death of Innocent in the following year, Angelo Corario 

 was raifcd to the cliair of St. Peter, and at his confecration 

 took the name of Gregory XII. Pi-tcr de Luna was a 

 riv.1l candidate for tlie fupreme honour, and aflwmed the 

 name of Benedict XI-II. Upon the confecration cf Gre- 

 gory he wrote to Benedict, and tlie rival competitors agreed 

 to hold a congrels at Savona in the year J 407, accomoanied 

 by their refpeiitive cardinals, with a view of relloring order 

 in the church. It is piobable that neither of them was 

 delirous of this interview, but that both were fecretly de- 

 termined to life every means in their power to retain their 

 dignities. Gregory refiifed to repair to the congrefs, though 

 tiie meeting had been propofed by himfelf, wiiich gave his 

 enemies great advantage over him ; liis cardinals, dilgufted 

 at his conduct, deferted him, and withdrew to Pifa, where 

 they publilhed a manifeilo in juftiiication of their procedure, 

 and an appeal to a general council, of which they fent 

 copies to all Chrillian princes and itates. A council was 

 held at Pifa in March 1409, >vhich was attended by a nu- 

 merous body of ecelefiallics, and ambaffadors from the kings 

 ot France, England, Sicily, Sec. and after fifteen felilons 

 it paiFed fentence of depofition againft Benedict and Gre- 

 gory, who were declared guilty of herefy, perjury, and 

 contumacy, and unworthy of the fiualleit tokens of honour 

 tir refpecf, and cut o3 from the communion of the church. 

 Alexander V. was elected in their (lead. Gregory, after 

 fome fruitlefs refinance, forma'ly fent in his relignation to 

 the council of Conilance, laying afide all marks of the pon- 

 tifical dignity. The council were fo well pleafed with his 

 fubmiRiou that they decreed ho (hoiild retain the dignity of 

 cardin.il fo long as he lived ; and that he fliould have the pre- 

 cedency among the cardinals, and the title of perpetual 

 legate of the marche of Ancona. He died at Recanati in 

 1417, when he was ninety-two years of age. Some of his 

 letters are extant in the eleventh and twelfth volumes of (he 

 •' Colleft. Concil.'' He never was a man of ihining parts ; 

 but at the time of his advancement to the head of the church, 

 }ie was highly elleemed on account of his probity, but 

 before his death he had fo completely loll his charafler, 

 that no credit whatever was paid to his declarations, though 

 made in the mod folen.n manner. Bower. Moreri. 



GuttiOKv XIII. pope, was born of a very refpeflable 

 family at Bologna, in the year 1502. He was brought up 

 to the lludy of the civil and canon law, made uncommon 

 proficiency in the purfuit, and taught the fcience in his 

 native city with uncommon reputation for more than eight 

 years. When he was about twenty-eight years of age, he 

 took his degree of doitor, and was afterwards appointed 

 Judge of the court of commerce at Bologna, ereAed for the 

 trial of mercantile caufes. He removed to Rome, was em- 

 ployed in fome important milfions, admitted irito the church, 

 obtained confideralle preferment, and on the death of Pius 



V. in 1572, he was unanimoully elected his fucceffor, and 

 at his cunlecrutima he took the name of Gregory XIII. 



The mod important event in the pontificate of Gregorrf 

 was the reformation of the calendar, according to a method 

 fuggefted by I^ewLs Liho, a Calabrian aftronomer, which 

 after his death was prefented to the ^ope by his 

 brother. This method, which is fully explained under 

 the word C.vlend.vh, and referred to in divers other 

 articles in our work, was immediately adopted in all 

 Catholic countries, but was rcj-ctcd by the Proteftants, 

 and by the Greeks, who chofe rather to remain in 

 error, than be indebted to the pope for the knowledge 

 of the truth. In 1584, Gregory incu-rc>d the fufpicion 

 of having encouraged the aflaffination of Eli/abelh queen of 

 England, by Parr, an Englifli Catholic, who was detefted ia 

 a confpiracy againll the queen's life. There was, however, 

 ro direct proof of Gregory being at all privy to the fchcmc. 

 This pope contributed greatly to correiit and amend Gra- 

 tiao's decretals, which he enriched with learned notes. A 

 fliort time before his death, he received ambafT^idors from thi; 

 illands of Japan, where the labours of Xavier and other' 

 Jefuits were faid to have been cowiied with abundant fuc- 

 cef?. The ambaffadors had a mod flattering reception giveij 

 thein, and great rejoicings w^re ordered to be made in ths 

 city, on account of the profpect which their appoiutmeut 

 fetmed to open, of triumphs to the Cathohc faith in 3 rich 

 and populous empire. In the midlL of thefe rejoicings 

 Gregory was leized with a quinfey, which carried him off ia 

 the 84th year of his age, and the 14th of his pontificate. 

 Several of his " Lettars,'' " Harangues," &c. are faid to 

 be in cxillence, and prelerved in the cabinets of the curious. 

 He was much beloved by the Romans on account of the 

 mildnefs of his government, which, by degenerating into 

 weaknefs, gave occafion to numerous irregularitie-, and an 

 almoll general corruption of manners in the eccL/inftical 

 ftate. He was a zealous friend to the Jefuits, to x. hom he 

 granted many privileges, and built for their ule, and richly 

 endowed, the Roman college, and nearly thirty other iemina- 

 ries in different parts of the world. Moreri. Bower, 

 Univer. Hifl. 



GuEGOny XIV. pope, fon of a fcnator, who, after the 

 death of liis wife, embraced the ecclefuillical life, was made 

 biihop of Cremona, and appointed cardinal with the fame 

 title. Upon the death of Urban VII., in I590, the 

 conclave was divided by the pretenfions of 16 candidates 

 for the papal chair, who were all rejefted, and Nicholas 

 Sfondrati, the fubjecl of this article, was elected and ac- 

 knowledged pope, and upon his confecration took the name 

 of Gregory XIV. He performed many humane acts as 

 foon as he was fettled in his fee, and then endeavoured to 

 fignalize himfelf as the zealous defender of the Catholic 

 faith. Among other public meafures, he fent bulls into 

 France, in which he declared Henry IV. excommniiicaled, 

 and threatened the nobles with eceleiiatticai cciifures it they 

 did not dtTert his c-uife. In France thefe bulls were treated 

 with the contempt wlich they merited; they were befides 

 declared f.andiilous .u.il ftditious, and ordered to 1>' burnt 

 by the common hangman. The pope would probably have 

 taken meafures to avenge the iiifult thrown upeii his decrees, . 

 but he died of the Uone in the year I552» when only in his 

 fifty-fevenih year, and in the eleventh of his por.tificate. 

 As a man, he is faid to have lived a dpvoiU and abileipious 

 life, and to have prattifed aullerities which would rather 

 have fuited a cloiller than the feat of fovereign power. He 

 created one of his nephews cardinals, and raifcd fix other 

 perfons to the fame dignity ; and he :Jlo grafted the duchy 

 of Ferrara to duke Alphonfus, who, as he hr.d no fon, en- 

 deavoured to fcttl« llic dignity ob fwmc of his rcLitioiis. 

 Bower. Moreri. 



Gri:U)RT 



