ALEXANDER VII, POPE. - Fabio Chigi, born in Siena on 13 February 1599. He was in Rome from December 1626 to October 1629; vice-legate in Ferrara until June 1634, he also held the offices of commissioner of arms and regulator of the borders with the Venetians. Recalled to Rome and destined to be inquisitor and apostolic delegate to Malta, he was examined for the bishopric of Nicastro and received the three major orders. When Nicastro was exchanged for Nardò, he arrived in Malta in October 1634 and was consecrated bishop in July 1635. Returning to Rome, he soon left again for Cologne, where he arrived on 9 August 1639 to serve as nuncio to the Rhine. In December 1643 he was also entrusted with the duties of extraordinary nuncio to the peace congress. In March 1644 he moved from Cologne to Münster in Westphalia, immediately beginning intense mediation work between the imperial forces and the Spanish on one side and the French on the other, always supported by the Venetian ambassador Alvise Contarini. He defended with all his strength the rights of Catholicism, which he believed were being betrayed daily by the Catholic princes of Germany and by the King of Spain. He refused to allow the Pope’s name or his own to appear in the peace treaties and lodged a solemn written protest against the violations of the rights of the Catholic Church. In 1649 he left Münster for Aix-la-Chapelle to continue his mediating work in the negotiations between Spain and France. Recalled to Rome to assume the office of Secretary of State, he arrived there on 30 November 1651; created cardinal on 19 February 1652, he received the title of S. Maria del Popolo and resigned the see of Nardò in favor of that of Imola. On 7 January 1655 Innocent X died in his arms. Entering the conclave on 17 January, he was elected Pope on 7 April and crowned on 18 April. In December he welcomed Queen Christina of Sweden to Rome and administered the sacrament of Confirmation to her. When the plague broke out in Rome, the wise measures adopted by the Pope succeeded in keeping mortality within fairly restricted limits (May 1656–August 1657). After obtaining the return of the Jesuits, who had been banished from Venetian territory, he provided repeated assistance to the Republic in its war against the Turks. Mazarin (d. 1661), from the beginning of the pontificate, and later Hugues de Lionne, because of an unfortunate incident (20 August 1662) involving the papal guard and the Duke of Créqui, the French ambassador, made relations between Louis XIV and Alexander VII extremely difficult. Yet the legation to France of his nephew Cardinal Flavio Chigi, which was intended to mark the Pope’s ultimate humiliation after the Peace of Pisa (12 February 1664), instead turned into a triumphal journey. Great efforts were required of the Pope in his struggle against Jansenism, both in France and in the Low Countries. In 1658 Alexander VII canonized St Thomas of Villanova; in 1665, St Francis de Sales, whom he had always admired and revered in a very special way. In five promotions he created 38 cardinals, among them Giulio Rospigliosi, his successor in the papacy as Clement IX, Sforza Pallavicino, and the blessed Gregorio Barbarigo. Alexander VII died on 22 May 1667. His body rests in St Peter’s Basilica, in the monument designed by G. L. Bernini (1672–78).
A polished Latin poet (Philomathi Musae iuveniles, Cologne 1645, Antwerp 1654, Paris 1656, Amsterdam 1660), before and during his pontificate he loved the company and encouraged the work of many scholars and men of letters. He united the Vatican Library with that of the Dukes of Urbino (1658) and greatly enriched
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Alexander VII – Autograph note for the foundation design of the Bernini colonnade – Vatican, ms. Chigiano R. VIII, c. 1, f. 10 (Miscellanea) no. 1.
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA. - I.
ALESSANDRO VIII – Detail of the pallium offered by Alexander to St Peter’s Basilica (17th cent.).
Giovanni Incisa della Rocchetta