BENEDICT XI, POPE, BEATIFIED.—Niccolò Boccasini, born in Treviso in 1240 to a notary, entered the Dominican Order in 1254; he successively served as lector, prior, provincial of Lombardy, and master general (1296). Created cardinal in 1298, he undertook several legations in Hungary, Poland, Austria, and other countries. Bishop of Ostia and Velletri in 1300, he stood by Boniface VIII when the pope was attacked by agents of the King of France in Anagni. After Boniface’s death and the novemdiales, according to the constitution of Gregory X, he was elected pope after a single day of conclave (22 Oct. 1303) and took the name Benedict XI.
Of a gentle and conciliatory disposition, he sought to restore peace with the King of France by moderating the bull *Clericis laicos*. Following a letter of submission from Philip the Fair, Benedict absolved him and his accomplices from censures and restored to France the privileges of which the late pope had deprived II. This reconciliation was the most notable act of his pontificate. He nonetheless condemned Nogaret, Sciarra Colonna, and the other aggressors of Anagni, who were excommunicated by a bull of 7 June 1304. He also absolved Cardinals Pietro and Giacomo Colonna but did not fully restore their rank’s privileges.
Tuscany was torn by the strife of Guelphs and Ghibellines, Whites and Blacks; to restore peace he sent as his legate to Florence Cardinal Niccolò Albertini of Prato. His pacifying efforts in Italy bore little fruit. Even in Rome disturbances continued, so that Benedict deemed it prudent to transfer his residence to Montefiascone, Viterbo, and finally to Perugia, where his brief pontificate ended on 7 July 1304, amid suspicions that he had been poisoned at Nogaret’s instigation (cf. Villani, *Cronaca*, VIII, cap. 80; Dino Compagni, *Cronaca*, III et seq.). He was buried in the church of San Domenico in Perugia. Clement XII confirmed his cult on 24 Apr. 1736 and granted its office to the Dominican Order and the diocese of Treviso; Benedict XIV extended it to the entire Venetian territory and included the name of Benedict in his edition of the Martyrology (1748) under 7 July. In proof of his intellectual attainments, his *Sermons* and *Commentaries* on parts of the Gospel of St Matthew, the Psalms, the Book of Job, and the Apocalypse are recalled. He created only three cardinals, all chosen from the Order of Preachers.
BENEDICT XI, POPE – Tomb of the Pope in the church of San Domenico. School of Arnolfo di Cambio (14th cent.) – Perugia.
Great hopes had been placed in the pontificate of Benedict. Some commentators on Dante have even wished to see in him the “Veltro” destined to save Italy and the Church (cf. G. M. Cornoldi, *Commento alla Divina Commedia*, Rome 1888, p. 11). In Perugia he received ambassadors of James II, King of Aragon, who affirmed recognition of the papal grant of the kingdoms of Sardinia and Corsica to the Aragonese (1297). Likewise, on 10 May 1304, ambassadors of Frederick, King of Sicily, appeared to pay the annual tribute. Benedict ardently envisaged launching a crusade for the liberation of the Holy Land.
A controversy agitated the secular and regular clergy: whether a penitent who had confessed to a religious must repeat the confession to his parish priest to satisfy the paschal precept. Benedict resolved it by an apostolic constitution, declaring that repetition before the parish priest was not necessary (cf. O. Raynaldi–C. Baronio, *Annales eccles.*, an. 1304). He approved the celebration of the feast of the Stigmata of St Francis of Assisi (cf. L. Wadding, *Annales Minorum*, VI, an. 1304) and showed marked favor to the mendicant orders, removing restrictions imposed by his predecessor; these concessions were however revoked by his successor Clement V because of the disputes between regular and secular clergy.