GREGORY XV, Pope. - Alessandro Ludovisi, b. in Bologna on 9 Jan. 1554, was in Rome for two years at the German College, directed by the Jesuits, and followed the humanities courses at the Roman College; he took his degree in philosophy and religion in Rome (1569-71), obtained his degree in jurisprudence and the "venia docendi" in Bologna (1575). He then decided in favor of the priesthood. By Gregory XIII, his fellow citizen, he was appointed president of the judges of the Campidoglio, charged with accompanying the pontifical legate Ippolito Aldobrandini to Poland, appointed member of the consultative Commission for Ferrara, referendary of the Segnatura. He received from the Pontiff delicate assignments which he carried out with tact and to full satisfaction, for example, the appointment of the primate of Spain, the friction between the papacy and Naples over the question of Benedetto concerning the French turmoils (Aug. 1604), the conflict of Paul V with Venice. Appointed archbishop of Bologna (12 March 1612), he was then, for his pacifying work between Charles Emmanuel I of Savoy and Philip III of Spain, named cardinal (19 Sept. 1616). He was acclaimed pope at the age of 67 on 9 Feb. 1621. He died on 8 July 1623.
As soon as he was elected, sick as he was, he chose as his collaborator for affairs his nephew Ludovico Ludovisi, whom he named cardinal, at the age of 25, on 15 Feb. 1621. He worked in the spirit of the Tridentine Reform and devoted himself especially to the formation of a model clergy. The nephew magnificently complemented the uncle. Young, Secretary of State, he brought to papal policy an impulse of fresh energy, which was to greatly benefit the cause of Catholic restoration. The only negative side in the vast and intelligent activity of Card. Ludovisi was that the great dignities, honors, ecclesiastical benefices and his conspicuous revenues allowed him to acquire great fiefs (for example, Zagarlo, from the Colonna princes), palaces and villas. With G. XV a pupil of the Jesuits ascended the pontifical throne for the first time. He named new cardinals on two occasions (19 Apr. and 21 July 1621). He displayed great energy in the internal life of the Church, for example, in defending Card. Lerma, formerly prime minister and all-powerful with Philip III of Spain, then subjected by the successor Philip IV to a trial for undue enrichment and interned; regarding the jurisdictional conflict that broke out in Milan; in resisting the claims of the Spanish court to control beforehand all pontifical documents; in the defense of the nuncio at the court of the Catholic king. In two bulls he fixed the electoral code of the conclave, today in force. He instituted the Congregation of Ecclesiastical Immunity and, perfecting the work of Gregory XIII, the Propaganda Fide for the missions not only in America and Asia and in the Portuguese colonies, but also in Great Britain, where the clash between King James I and Parliament made any attempt at penetration still more difficult, and where, especially in Parliament, antipathy against Catholics was alive. He authorized the Dominicans to discuss the impeccability of the Virgin Mary, but privately, on condition of concluding affirmatively; he forbade ecclesiastics to hear confessions and preach without the license of their respective bishops. He canonized St. Teresa, St. Philip Neri, St. Peter of Alcantara. Gentle, he did not want interventions of the Roman Inquisition; although forbidding heretics to settle in Italy, he did not persecute them; he published measures against witches and against those who, driven by diabolical fury, aimed to harm persons and fields; he reformed the pontifical Constitution, so as to eliminate simony and extraneous influences; he protected the Jesuits and the Capuchins.
In the political field, with G. the pontifical policy of consolidation reached its apex. He worked to maintain peace among the powers friendly to Rome; he sought to win Great Britain to the Catholic cause by taking advantage of the marriage of the future Charles I with the Spanish infanta and of the accession of James I to the English throne. G. XV intervened to smooth over the controversy over the Valtellina, thus seeking to save the peace between Spain and France, whose old enmity seemed to have ceased with the marriage of Louis XIII to the Spanish princess Anna; he exerted influence for the stipulation of the Treaty of Madrid between Spain and France, which restored the Valtellina (25 Apr. 1621). Unlike the Protestants who aimed at the fall of the Habsburgs and the destruction of the Catholic Church, the policy of G. XV in Germany was directed at keeping the Empire in Catholic hands, at preserving and defending the ancient faith in Germany. To this end the mission of the pontifical nuncio Carlo Carafa was directed, aimed at urging the transfer of the electoral seat, made vacant by the ban inflicted on the Palatine Frederick V, to Duke Maximilian of Bavaria, rigidly Catholic, thus assuring the Catholic majority in the College of prince-electors, and it was to demand that the war against the Protestant princes continue. This policy, which met with resistance even in the College of Cardinals, triumphed through the tenacity of G. XV, who secretly enfeoffed the Palatine electorate to Maximilian. He exhorted Philip III to break the truce with the United Provinces, stipulated in 1609; he encouraged anti-Calvinist tendencies in France and erected the bishopric of Paris into a metropolis. G. XV also had a notable part in the new reorganization of Bohemia and Moravia, in their re-Catholicization, after the victory at the White Mountain. It was in large part the work of G. XV that the Catholic restoration of the Palatinate was set in motion and that the "Controforma" was consolidated in Hungary.
G. XV did not survive the full exploitation of the victory won in 1621 and 1622 by Maximilian and by Tilly.
Perhaps there was no other brief pontificate that left traces as deep as those of G. XV. He, elected three months after the victory at the White Mountain, had the good fortune to witness the great upheaval accomplished in favor of the Catholic Church. The Protestant edifice collapsed; likewise the obstinacy of the Palatine and the selfishness of his allies led to the complete collapse of Frederick and to the decline of Calvinism. G. XV issued measures for the poor; he strove to make victuals abound at low cost in the Kingdom, he built a new aqueduct in Borgo, he restored the city walls. He honored studies and the arts, as is demonstrated by the restorations at the Vatican and by the decoration of the chapels of the choir in St. Peter's. - See plate LXXXIII.
Bibliography2 works
Raffaele Ciasca