Habemus Papam
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|" Oa I ,,HABEMUs I PaPAM,, Pclrurrprctr-Elrcrrr)NS FROr\,r S'r. PergR T() Bnrurorcr XVI Interviewwith AmbrogioM. Piazzonr "ALTItoUcHTIIATNUMBERIsINAccoRDANcEwITHTHETMDnoNALCoLJNTTIc.INnoTcoNFIRMTTIAT BuvrorrXVlsrur26SrHpopEBEcAUsE,EspEcHLryrNTHEEARryMnorrAcEwEDoNorALwAys KNowwHo wAs popE AND wHo wlsl'r DuruncrHr tlsr 50yEms oR so rN THE ANNITARIo Potmnuo, THEomclAr Ymnnooxor nn HorvSur, tHw HrvEsroppED NT.JMBERTNc rHEpApActEs" f By Lucy Gonoer Now beforemy eyeswas a letterdated July 5,1294, on parch- ment,from the I I cardinalspresent at the two-yearconclave T-]for scholarsand for culture writers like myself, one (including BonifaceVIII) notifying the reclusivemonk, H of the greatestprofessional joys is uncoveringand CelestineV of his electionas Pope. [n a caseopposite was I connectingunexpected fragments of the puzzle a three-parthistorical account entitled OpusMetricum of called "history." So it isn't difficult to imaginemy awe thepapacies of CelestineV andBoniface VItr, by Cardinal recenfly in the presenceof three documentsconcerning JacopoStefaneschi, a supporterof Boniface and patron of the resignationof PopeCelestine V and the electionof Giotto.Written between1315-19, the fust partconcerns the PopeBoniface VIII in the splendidexhibition "'Habernus papacyof CelestineV from his electionto his resignation; Papam': Pontifical Electionsfrom St. Peter to Benedict the second(on displayseparately later in the sectioncalled WI," on in the LateranPalace until April 9. In my article "Coronations")is opento a miniatureof BonifaceVIII's "Jacoponeda Todi: A Lrgendary Franciscan"(Inside the coronationand concernsBoniface's election and corona- Vatican,February zCff.) I had mentionedthat, after the tion; and the third concernsCelestine V's lateryears and resignationof CelestineV, Jacoponewas imprisoned by his canonization. PopeBoniface VIII for protestingagainst his election. Displayedin chronologicalorder, the oldestitems on INSIDETHEVATICAN Mafch 2OO7 exhibit are: (1) sarcophagi,sculpted with Christ as rhe "Good lated into Polish and Spanish,you thank four people:Jorge Shepherd"surrounded by his disciples;(2) samplesof glassware Cardinal Mejfa, the librarian of the Holy Roman Church, like thosein "PetrosEni" with gildedimages of St. Peterand St. who has since retired; Don RaefaelleFarina, prefect of the Paul,all from the 4th century(the mostrecent is a magnificent Vatican Library and recently createdbishop of Oderzo; Dr. crucifix with an aquamarineworn by PopeJohn Paul II whenhe PaofoVian, the library's ScriptorLatinus, and Diego Manet- openedthe Holy Doorsto inaugurateJubilee 2000); and (3) one ti of Piemme.Was one of them your rnentor? If not, who of the two "Fisherman'sRings" made by the jewelerClaudio was? Franchiand presentedto BenedictXVI on April 25,2005, PtezzoNr:I owe a lot to eachof them,but my first inspira- togetherwith its gold-platedcasket. tionswere ProfessorManzelli, Professor Gustavo Vinay who The splendidcatalogue (30 euros)published by De LucaEdi- taughtme medievalLatin literature,and ProfessorClaudio tori D'Arte openswith an essayentitled "k elezionipontificie Leonardi,professor of medievalliterature at the Universityof da SanPietro al Quattrocento"by AmbrogioPiazzoni, vice-pre- Florence. fect of the VaticanLibrary, medieval historian, and professor of How did you cometo love the study of history? manuscriptcataloguing at the PIRzzoNt:I can't imaginenot Universityof Viterboand of Latin loving history.You can't under- Paleographyat the Augustini- standyourself unless you tracethe anum.Heis authorof Storiadelle storyof your life and of your Elezioni Pontificie (History of roots.You can't understandcur- PapalEle ctions), 2003. rent eventsunless you tracetheir On January16 in his office, past and understandhow one Piazzonidiscussed his fascination event led to anotherto form the with Churchhistory, particularly presentstate of affairs.To under- papalelections. standwhat's before you, you have to lookbehind you. To live well in Can you tell us about your the present,you needan "histon- formation and studies? cal mentality."By that I meana AN4enocloPrezzoNr: One of critical,analytical capacity ro six children,I was born near arriveat whatreally happened and Varese(Italy) in 1951,but came why.You can't ignorethe past. to Romeas a teenager.I graduat- The most importantthing ed with honorsin philosophy aboutstudying history is learning from the Universityof Rome.I how to interpret historical ' wrote my thesison TheRelation- sources.A historianhas to dig out ship BetweenSt. Bernard of thesubstance in a source,not take Clainaux and Peter the Venera- for grantedthat everything wntten ble of Clury in Burgundy.They there is the truth, but rathercon- weretwo contemporary12th-cen- sider the event from several tury Benedictineabbots who had sourcesand differentpoints-of- differentopinions on how to view. interpretThe Rule of St.Benedict Why did you focus on and so disagreedon how monks Church history and especially shouldbehave. on papal elections? Immediatelyfollowing uni- PInzzoNI:My passionfor versity,I took the coursein diplo- Churchhistory goes back to grade matic and archivalpaleography offered here at the Vatican's school.In secondor third gradeI decidedto write a biography SecretArchives. My intentionswere to stayon at the University of St.Ambrose because my nameis Ambrogio,or Ambrosein of Romeas a professorof medievalhistory. I'd just becomean English.I rememberthat my openingsentence was something assistantprofessor when my headprofessor, the medievalist like, "Underthe EmperorConstantine, practicing Christianity RaulManzelli, suddenly died, an eventwhich changed my life. went from beingillegal to legal."Next to the word Constantine So you took a position at the Vatican? I wrote my very first footnote:"Constantine was an important PrnzzoNr:ln 1976the newdirector of the Vaticanpublishing Romanemperor." housewas looking for a younghistorian who spokeseveral lan- Our readers would be interested to know a few quick guagesand knew somethingabout theology. I speakEnglish, facts about papal elections.What was the longestsede French,and German and my universitydegree fulfilled the other vacante,orperiod without a Pope,between one Pope'sdeath requirements.So I movedto the VaticanLibrary in 1985.In and the electionof his successor?What were the longestand 1998I becamethe Scriptor Latinus and a yearlater the library's shortestconclaves? The longestand shortestpapacies? frrst lay vice-prefect. Prlzzor.n:At the end of the fifth edition of Storie delle In the introduction to your fascinatingbook,The History ElezioniPontificie I've addedan appendixof curiositiesabout the of Papal Elections,now in its fifth Italian edition and trans- papalelections. The longestsede vacante took placein Viterbo. MArCh2OO7 INSIDETHE VATICAN Oa !Bc-lt-} KS,,4({<ct .4tNllDQ'nc-lg'\z GregoryX(1271-1276) was elected inl271 HadrianYIin 1522from Holland. after33 months.Before the establishmentof Who were the youngestand oldest the conclave- that is, the cardinals'isola- Popesto be elected? tion cum clave("with a key,"which is "con Prezzolt: JohnXII was 18 yearsold clave" ir ltalian and so "conclave"in Eng- when he was electedin 955. Celestine lish), institutedby GregoryX after the fias- III, electedin 1191,and Celestine Y co of his election- the Popeshad been electedin 1294,were both almost85 electedalmost immediately after the death yearsold. BenedictXVI andJohn XXIII of eachpredecessor, sometimes even on the were both electedat 78 yearsof age. sameday. Gregory'sUbi Periculum(1274) Before them you have to go back to establisheda rulethat the conclave could not InnocentXII, electedin 1691,to find a begin until 10 days after the death of the Popeelected when older thanage 70. Pope.So, after 1274,the shortestperiod What were the shortest and the betweenpapacies was l1 days.The shortest longestpapacies? conclave,but after a sedevacante of two Pnzzotu: We don't know the exact weeks,was for the electionof JuliusII, the datesfor the beginningof St. Peter's patronof Michelangeloand Raphael. It last- papacy(whether you countit from when ed only a few hours. Christ told him that he would be the Fifty Popeshave been elected in Vati- keystoneof his Church or from when can City, another 34 in Rome, and sever- Peterarrived in Rome)nor of his death. al have been elected elsewherein ltaly, So, if not St. Peterhimself, counting some even outside ltaly. Can you tell us from perhaps30 to 67 AD, or 37 years, something about the location of papal the longestpapacy is most likely Pius elections? IX's from 1846to 1878:31 years,7 Ptrzzotu:Pope John Paul II establisheda months,and?I days.The next longest rule that from now on the Popesmust wasJohn Paul II's: 26 yeus,5 months, alwaysbe electedin the SistineChapel (in and 2l days.The shortest,33 days, at the Vatican).He was electedthere, and so leastin moderntimes, is JohnPaul I's. were24of his predecessors.Ten others were Papal electionsare supposedto be electedin the CapellaPaolina, or Pauline held in secret and without influence Chapel,and the remaining 16 in other from the outside. But is there ever chapelsand rooms inthe Pahuo Apostolica. outside interference during con- Papalelections elsewhere in Rometook claves? placein the QuirinalPalace, in St. JohnLar Pnzzotu: The most shockingaspect eran,in SantaMaria SopraMinerva, in the of conclavehistory is that for several Septizonium,in SantaCecilia, in St. Mary centuries- during the 1500s,1600s, Major, in SanMartino, in St. Peterin and 1700s- it wascommon practice Chains,in SanClemente,