CLEMENT XII, Pope. - Lorenzo Corsini, b. in Florence on 7 April 1652; d. in Rome on 6 Feb. 1740. He studied in Rome at the Roman College, and earned a doctorate in both laws at Pisa. Titular archbishop of Nicomedia in 1691, treasurer general and governor of Castel Sant'Angelo under Innocent XII (1696), then commissioner of Clement XI in Ferrara, cardinal of St. Susanna on 17 May 1706. He was elected at the age of 79 as successor to Benedict XIII, on 12 July 1730.
He restored the fallen dignity of the court; he set about repressing inveterate abuses, withdrew the many homicides from the immunity of sacred places, provided for the disordered finances, and supported agriculture. A zealous and solicitous pastor, he extended the missions in Tibet and among the Tartars and the Maronites of Lebanon. The War of the Polish Succession (1733) offered the neutral Pontiff the occasion to establish the principle of recognizing as sovereign the one who had come into peaceful possession of the crown; therefore, despite the relations already established with the French candidate Stanisław Leszczyński, he recognized without hesitation the latter's competitor Frederick Augustus III, as soon as he had gained the upper hand with Austro-Russian support. And he behaved in the same way toward the Austrians and Spaniards, who continued to contend with varying fortunes and with repeated violations of papal neutrality for dominion over the kingdom of Naples.
He combined long-suffering and firmness in overcoming successive attacks and complicated controversies over the free exercise of ecclesiastical jurisdiction in Spain (1734-38); in Naples, where the anti-curial policy of Bernardo Tanucci prevailed; in France (1737), where, besides everything else, the Parliament of Paris even dared to forbid the reading of the bull of canonization of St. Vincent de Paul; in Portugal and then also in Piedmont, where the frictions of the previous age continued. To him is due the first condemnation of Freemasonry, with the two bulls of 28 April 1738 and 14 Jan. 1739. Meanwhile he did not neglect to encourage studies; despite financial constraints, from the artistic point of view his pontificate was one of the most glorious and productive. To him are due the principal facade of the Lateran basilica, the sumptuous Corsini chapel in the same basilica, where C. is buried, and the facade of St. John of the Florentines, all works of the architect A. Galilei.
Bibliography
Paolo Dalla Torre