Reformed Churchmen

We are Confessional Calvinists and a Prayer Book Church-people. In 2012, we remembered the 350th anniversary of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer; also, we remembered the 450th anniversary of John Jewel's sober, scholarly, and Reformed "An Apology of the Church of England." In 2013, we remembered the publication of the "Heidelberg Catechism" and the influence of Reformed theologians in England, including Heinrich Bullinger's Decades. For 2014: Tyndale's NT translation. For 2015, John Roger, Rowland Taylor and Bishop John Hooper's martyrdom, burned at the stakes. Books of the month. December 2014: Alan Jacob's "Book of Common Prayer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Common-Prayer-Biography-Religious/dp/0691154813/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417814005&sr=8-1&keywords=jacobs+book+of+common+prayer. January 2015: A.F. Pollard's "Thomas Cranmer and the English Reformation: 1489-1556" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-English-Reformation-1489-1556/dp/1592448658/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420055574&sr=8-1&keywords=A.F.+Pollard+Cranmer. February 2015: Jaspar Ridley's "Thomas Cranmer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-Jasper-Ridley/dp/0198212879/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422892154&sr=8-1&keywords=jasper+ridley+cranmer&pebp=1422892151110&peasin=198212879

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

28 January 1621 A.D. Mr. Paul V (Camillo Borghese) Dies—Rome’s 233rd Senior Presbyter


28 January 1621 A.D.  Mr. Paul V (Camillo Borghese) Dies—Rome’s 233rd Senior Presbyter;  Studies Jurisprudence at Perugia & Padua; Ruled by Decretals; Stern & Uncompromising;  Bellarmine the Apologist; Sends Congratulatory Letter to England’s James 1;  Canonizes Charles Borromeo the Counter-Reformationist; Beatifies Ignatius Loyola the Jesuit

Loughlin, James. "Pope Paul V." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911.  http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11581b.htm.  Accessed 30 Sept 2014.

Paul V


(CAMILLO BORGHESE).

Born at Rome, 17 Sept., 1550; elected 16 May, 1605; died 28 Jan., 1621. Although proud to call himself, as we read on the façade of St. Peter's and on his epitaph, a Roman, Borghese was descended from a noble family ofSiena which held important positions in that city, and claimed St. Catherine for a relative. Their removal to Romewas caused by the endless disturbances which made life in Siena unbearable. Camillo was carefully trained injurisprudence at Perugia and Padua, and became a canonist of marked ability. He rose in the ecclesiastical career steadily, if not rapidly; in 1596 he was made cardinal by Clement VIII, and became Cardinal-Vicar of Rome. He held aloof from all parties and factions, devoting all his spare time to his law-books. In consequence, on the death of Leo XI, all eyes were centred on him, and he ascended the papal throne without engagement orobligation of any sort. His legal training was soon visible in all his words and actions. He knew nothing of compromises, and proceeded to rule the Church not from the standpoint of diplomacy but from the decretals. He conceived it his duty to maintain inviolate every right and claim advanced by his predecessors. This made hischaracter at times assume a very stern and uncompromising aspect. His first public act was to send home to theirsees the prelates and even the cardinals who were sojourning at Rome upon one or other pretext. The Council of Trent had declared it a grave sin for a bishop to be an absentee. That he was engaged in Rome doing the business of the Holy See made no difference. Paul was soon involved in controversy with various cities of Italy on matters concerning ecclesiastical jurisdiction and the relations between Church and State. The bitterest quarrel was with the proud Republic of Venice, which refused to acknowledge the exemption of the clergy from thejurisdiction of the civil courts and passed two laws obnoxious to the Roman Curia, the first forbidding the alienation of real property in favour of the clergy, the second demanding approval of the civil power for the building of new churches. Paul demanded the repeal of these anti-clerical ordinances, and insisted that two clericswho had been committed to prison should be surrendered to the ecclesiastical court. The dispute became daily more bitter and gradually developed into a broad discussion of the relative position of the Church and State. What gave the quarrel a European importance was the ability of the champions who entered the field on either side. For the claims of the Church stood Cardinals Baronius and Bellarmine; the cause of Venice was defended by theServite Paolo Sarpi, a man of wonderful literary skill and a sworn enemy of the Roman Court. On 17 April, 1606, the pope pronounced sentence of excommunication against the doge, Senate, and Government collectively. He allowed a very short space for submission, after which he imposed an interdict on the city. The clergy had now to take sides for or against the pope. With the exception of the Jesuits, the Theatines, and the Capuchins, who were immediately expelled, the entire body of secular and regular clergy held with the Government and continued to hold services, notwithstanding the interdict. The festival of Corpus Christi was celebrated with unusual splendour, and Sarpi said Mass for the first time in years. The schism lasted about a year; and peace was patched up through the mediation of France and Spain. The Republic refused to repeal the obnoxious laws openly, but promised "to conduct itself with its accustomed piety". With these obscure words the pope was forced to be content; he removed the censures 22 March, 1607. The Theatines and Capuchins were permitted to return; an exception was made against the Jesuits.

The pope watched vigilantly over the interests of the Church in every nation. On 9 July, 1606, he wrote a friendly letter to James I of England to congratulate him on his accession to the throne, and referred with grief to the plot recently made against the life of the monarch. But he prays him not to make the innocent Catholics suffer for the crime of a few. He promises to exhort all the Catholics of the realm to be submissive and loyal to their sovereign in all things not opposed to the honour of God. Unfortunately the oath of allegiance James demanded of his subjects contained clauses to which no Catholic could in conscience subscribe. It was solemnly condemned in twoBriefs, 22 Sept., 1606, and 23 Aug., 1607. This condemnation occasioned the bitter dissension between the party of the archpriest George Blackwell and the Catholics who submitted to the decision of the Holy See. In Austria the efforts of the pope were directed to healing the disputes among the Catholics and to giving moral and material aid to the Catholic Union. He survived the battle of Prague, which put an end to the short reign of the Calvinistic"winter-king".

Paul V was no more free from nepotism than the other pontiffs of that century. But if he seemed to show too many favours to his relatives, it must be said that they were capable men of blameless lives, and devoted their large revenues to the embellishment of Rome. Paul had the honour of putting the finishing touches to St. Peter's, which had been building for a century. He enriched the Vatican Library, was fond of art, and encouraged Guido Reni. He canonized St. Charles Borromeo and St. Frances of Rome. He beatified Sts. Ignatius Loyola, FrancisXavier, Philip Neri, Theresa the Carmelite, Louis Bertrand, Thomas of Villanova, and Isidore of Madrid. During his pontificate a large number of new institutes for education and charity added new lustre to religion. His remains were placed in the magnificent Borghese chapel in St. Mary Major's, where his monument is universally admired.


Sources


Life, in Latin, by BZOVIO, It. tr. in continuation of PLATINA, Vite dei Pontefici (Venice, 1730); see also VON RANKE, History of the Popes in the Sixteenth, etc., Centuries; VON REUMONT, Gesch. der Stadt Rom; ARTAUD DE MONTOR, History of the Popes (New York, 1867).

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