CLEMENT VIII, POPE. - Ippolito, son of Silvestro Aldobrandini, a distinguished jurist, and of Lisa Deti, was born at Fano on 24 February 1536; he was elevated to the papacy on 30 January 1592; he died on 5 March 1605. He studied law at Padua, Perugia, and Bologna, where he earned his degree. His upright and exemplary life from his youth won him the favour of Pius V, protector of his family, and opened the way for him to enter the Roman prelature; he honourably held the offices of consistorial advocate and auditor of the Rota; Sixtus V promoted him to datary on 15 May 1585 and in the same year, on 18 December, also made him a cardinal of S. Pancrazio. He served as Major Penitentiary in 1596 and later as extraordinary legate to Poland (1588–1589), where with great tact he succeeded in resolving the grave dispute between Poland and the House of Austria and, with particular care, in averting the Turkish danger.
In the three conclaves following the death of Sixtus V, his name appeared among the papabili, but the court of Spain opposed him, considering him pro-French. Elected pope, he resumed the governing directives and resolute spirit of Sixtus V, tempered by a gentler disposition. Though opposed to nepotism in principle, he could not avoid summoning his nephews Cinzio and Pietro Aldobrandini to serve as his immediate collaborators; they were soon elevated to the cardinalate and appointed Secretaries of State.
He was deeply concerned with the reform of the Church; in this endeavour he often consulted St Philip Neri. He therefore took care to restore discipline in the Papal Palace and Curia and to suppress every abuse. With the constitution of 12 March 1596, supplemented by decrees in 1599, 1602, and 1603, he worked to restore good governance and fidelity to the rule in religious communities; he recalled bishops and clergy to observance of the Tridentine canons and, in particular, to the obligation of residence; he created cardinals of the finest calibre (Baronius, Bellarmine, Tarugi, Toledo, Antoniano); he moderated the severity of the Inquisition tribunal; he removed procedural inconveniences (on 17 July 1600 Giordano Bruno, a heretic, suffered the extreme penalty); he pursued heresy and heretics, urging Catholic princes to do likewise, especially to prevent the spread of books or pamphlets contrary to the Catholic faith; with the same aim he ordered a new, more up-to-date, and clearer edition of the Index of Prohibited Books.
Since the Bible printed at the command of Sixtus V had been the object of serious criticism among scholars, Clement VIII prevented its circulation and had a more correct version prepared (the Clementine Vulgate); he also planned a modern collection of papal constitutions and personally contributed to the studies for this work; thus were published the *S. D. N. D. Clementis papae Decretales* (Rome 1598), though the project remained incomplete owing to doubts, opposition, and resistance from various quarters.
Clement VIII was a zealous promoter of missions, which were already flourishing throughout the Old and New Worlds through the efforts of the Jesuits, Franciscans, and other religious orders. In the heated debate over the doctrine of grace between the Jesuits (Molina) and the Dominicans (Báñez), he sought to end the excessively heated disputes by referring the matter to a special commission, the celebrated *Congregatio de Auxiliis*, though he did not succeed in reconciling the opposing parties.
In the religious war in France, in which Spain also took part, Clement VIII avoided taking sides so as not to alienate either of the two great powers; but when Henry of Bourbon abjured Calvinism and was thus recognised as king (v. ENRICO IV), Clement gave his sanction to this solution and was later able to reconcile the two crowns (Peace of Vervins, 1598) and to promote the reform of the Church in France; only then, in fact, could the Tridentine canons be effectively introduced in France, with a swift revival of religious life. Precisely in view of concord among Catholics and peace in the kingdom, Clement tolerated the Edict of Nantes of 1598, by which that king granted freedom of worship and conscience and special political guarantees to the Huguenots, who were still powerful in the realm.
With the support of Henry IV, the devolution of Ferrara to the Holy See was successfully achieved. Even as a cardinal, in the face of Alfonso II d’Este’s persistent efforts to secure the succession of that duchy to the House of Este despite lacking legitimate male heirs, Aldobrandini had argued that such solicitations should not be entertained, in obedience to a well-known bull of Pius V that forbade any further alienation of Church fiefs; at the beginning of his pontificate he had likewise confirmed the bull. Upon the duke’s death, his nephew Cesare d’Este, designated heir, sought to succeed him also in the dominion of Ferrara, relying on the opposition of Italian powers to any enlargement of the Papal State. In reality, however, since he did not enjoy the hoped-for favour of Spain, Venice, and the Empire, whereas Clement VIII could count on the diplomatic—and potentially even military—support of Henry IV, the Este ruler was induced to submit to the Pope’s will; thus Ferrara was peacefully devolved to the Holy See. Clement VIII wished to savour this political triumph by making a grand entry into Ferrara and ordering, among other things, the construction of a fortress there.
The Pope met with lesser success in other areas of his political-ecclesiastical governance: Spanish power, which remained strong in Italy and exerted harsh pressure even on the Papal Court, grew more entrenched under the pretext of a supposed preference of Clement for France; his effort to organise a Christian league against the Ottomans bore no serious result, nor did the dispatch of Hungarian troops he had subsidised meet with success. While Clement showed considerable concern for the Catholic restoration in Germany and the Spanish Netherlands, the results were not commensurate with his efforts. The hopes he placed in James I of England for the restoration of Catholicism in that kingdom and the attempts made in this regard yielded only disappointment. Few consolations came to him regarding the fortunes of Catholicism in Poland and Russia; he derived some, though not lasting, comfort from the Jubilee proclaimed for the Holy Year 1600, which drew large numbers of pilgrims to Rome from across Christian Europe.
His remains were transferred from St Peter’s to S. Maria Maggiore in 1646 and interred in the tomb commissioned by Paul V. — V. Tav. CXVI.