Nepotism in the Seventeenth-Century Catholic Church and De Luca's
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CARDINAL GIOVANNI BATTISTA DE LUCA: NEPOTISM IN THE SEVENTEENTH- CENTURY CATHOLIC CHURCH AND DE LUCA’S EFFORTS TO PROHIBIT THE PRACTICE H. Lee Cowan, A.S., B.S., MA.CL., M.DIV Dissertation Prepared for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS August 2012 APPROVED: Laura Stern, Major Professor Denis Paz, Committee Member Randolph B. Campbell, Committee Member Sarah E. Fredericks, Committee Member Richard B. McCaslin, Chair of the Department of History Mark Wardell, Dean of the Toulouse Graduate School Cowan, H. Lee, Cardinal Giovanni Battista de Luca: Nepotism in the Seventeenth-Century Catholic Church and de Luca's Efforts to Prohibit the Practice. Doctor of Philosophy (History), August 2012, 361 pages, references, 464 titles. This dissertation examines the role of Cardinal Giovanni Battista de Luca in the reform of nepotism in the seventeenth-century Catholic Church. Popes gave very large amounts of money to their relatives and the burden of nepotism on the Catholic Church was very onerous. The Catholic Church was crippled by nepotism and unable to carry out its traditional functions. Although Cardinal de Luca and Pope Innocent XI worked tirelessly to end nepotism, they were thwarted in their attempts by apprehension among the Cardinals concerning conciliarism and concerning the use of reform measures from the Council of Trent; by Gallicanism and the attempts of the French King to exercise power over the French Church; and by the entrenchment of nepotism and its long acceptance within the Church. Cardinal de Luca and Innocent XI were not able to push through reforms during their lifetimes but Pope Innocent XII was able to complete this reform and pass a reform Bull. This dissertation has two complementary themes. First, a confluence of circumstances allowed for the unfettered growth of nepotism in the seventeenth-century Church to the point of threatening the well-being of the Catholic Church. Reform was not undertaken until the threat to Church finances was severe. Secondly, two upstanding and honest reformers arose in the Catholic Church to correct the problem, de Luca and Innocent XI. The achievements of Cardinal de Luca, also an important reformer of the Canon Law, are almost unknown to an English-speaking audience. Copyright 2012 by H. Lee Cowan ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page TERMINOLOGY ................................................................................................... v Chapters 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................. 1 Terminology Used to Describe the Various Reformation Positions ............................................................................. 25 The Discussion of the Dates of the Various Reformation Positions ............................................................................. 39 Literature Review of Books Concerning de Luca ................ 40 2. LIFE OF DE LUCA ........................................................................ 51 3. CONCILIARISM AND THE COUNCIL OF TRENT ........................ 69 Conciliar Theory ................................................................. 69 The Council of Trent ........................................................... 86 The Popes after Trent ...................................................... 107 4. THE FRENCH, GALLICANISM, AND THE COUNCIL OF TRENT .................................................................................................... 119 Gallican Views on the Council of Trent ............................. 120 Gallican History ................................................................ 124 Seventeenth Century Gallicanism .................................... 130 Louis XIV’S Gallicanism ................................................... 132 De Luca and Gallicanism .................................................. 138 5. PAPAL INCOME AND EXPENSES ............................................ 151 The Monte and Venal Offices ........................................... 154 De Luca’s Classification of Venal Offices ......................... 159 iii 6. NEPOTISM ................................................................................. 175 Definition of Nepotism ...................................................... 175 Early Nepotistic Practices ................................................. 177 Papal Relatives Serving in Church Offices ....................... 181 The Power of Nepotism .................................................... 182 Renaissance Nepotism..................................................... 184 Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Nepotism ................. 187 The Ending of Nepotism ................................................... 191 Innocent XI’s Nepotism Bull .............................................. 205 7. INNOCENT XI’S REFORMS ....................................................... 207 The Elevation of Cardinal Odescaldi to the Papacy ......... 210 Innocent XI’s Election as Pope ......................................... 212 Innocent XI Names de Luca as an Advisor....................... 213 De Luca Assigned Reform Duties. ................................... 215 Innocent XI Slashed Expenditures and Generates Income ......................................................................................... 216 Preparing the Papal Bull on Prohibiting Nepotism ............ 220 Innocent XI Names New Cardinals ................................... 222 8. DE LUCA’S HANDLING OF THE PROBLEMS EXPRESSED BY THE CARDINALS CONCERNING THE BULL PROHIBITING NEPOTISM ................................................................................. 225 De Luca Was Asked to Reform Nepotism ........................ 226 The Approval or Disapproval of the Cardinals Concerning the Bull ............................................................................. 229 De Luca’s Systematic Defense of Innocent XI’s Bull ........ 233 9. CONCLUSION ............................................................................ 246 APPENDICES .................................................................................................. 252 GLOSSARY ...................................................................................................... 317 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................... 325 iv TERMINOLOGY ASV Archivio Secreto Vaticano Barb. Lat. Codici Barberiniani latini (in BAV) BAV Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana Chigi Codici Chigiani HHSA Kaiserliche und Konigliche Haus-Hof und Staatserchiv (Vienna, Austria) Ottob. Lat. Codici Ottoboniani latini (in BAV) Segra. Stato Segreteria di Stato Urbin. Lat. Codici Urbinati latini (in BAV) Vat. Lat. Codoci Vaticani latini (in BAV) v CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION The Catholic Church has been a defender of Christianity from its inception. The institutions of the Church have endured assaults of every kind through the centuries. Some of the worst assaults on the Church unfortunately came from within the Church in the seventeenth century. Nevertheless, the Church was weakened in its efforts to carry out its primary mission because of the problems of nepotism and abuse of papal finance in the seventeenth century. The purpose of this dissertation is to discuss nepotism and the abuse of papal finances and the reform of these problems when the Church was driven by absolute necessity to do so. A further purpose of this dissertation is to highlight the reforming work of Cardinal Giovanni Battista de Luca, an eminent Churchman who has not received his deserved importance as a historical figure particularly before an English readership. Nepotism affected the Catholic Church during various periods, but especially in the seventeenth century. The giving of money, land, and other benefits to the relatives of the popes and other high-church officials caused financial problems that diminished the effectiveness of the Church in carrying out its mission. Seventeenth-century Pope Innocent XI (1676-89) and his reforming advisor Giovanni Battista de Luca (1614-1683) attempted to reform the practice of nepotism. 1 It is the thesis of this dissertation that the Catholic Church of the seventeenth century allowed nepotism until it was forced by absolute financial necessity to extinguish the practice. During this period of absolutism in the secular governments, the papacy was exalted, partially because the papacy had suppressed the conciliar movement, a movement promoting a more constitutional papacy. Because of the exaltation of the institution of the papacy, popes were permitted to use treasuries, like the datary (an autonomous finance office available to the pope), as their own personal funds, with little accountability.1 Popes saw their term of office as an opportunity to provide for the futures of their families and establish land holdings in Lazio (a region of west central Italy surrounding Rome). It is my contention that papal financial records show that the Church did not have the money to repel the Turks, nor to carry out the missions of spreading Catholicism back into Protestant lands, and introducing Catholicism into newly discovered lands because of the expenses incurred by nepotism. Stopgap measures like establishing a funded debt (monte) did not solve the problem. Only when the Church was on the verge of bankruptcy did Innocent XI and Giovanni Battista de Luca attempt reform. Therefore, the point of this dissertation is to show that a confluence of circumstances allowed for the unfettered growth of nepotism. However, great men, like