Marcellus II, Pope

MARCELLUS II, Pope. - B. at Montepulciano on May 6, 1501, d. at Rome on May 1, 1555. Son of Ricciardo Cervini, a writer of the Apostolic Penitentiary under Innocent VIII, he did his studies at Siena.

Then sent to Rome to complete them, Clement VII charged him with carrying out that correction of the calendar which his father Ricciardo had begun in the time of Leo X: the work was brought to completion in 1525. The plague of 1526 caused M. to be recalled to his family, and the war of the League of Cognac prevented him, for the time being, from returning to Rome. A fervent cultivator of humanistic disciplines, M. translated Cicero's De amicitia into Italian, and Euclid and other Greek authors into Latin; already during that first Roman stay he had made many friends among the men of letters and scientists of the time, with whom he maintained cordial relations throughout his life. Having moved again to Rome in 1531, he remained there a year, received with particular benevolence by Card. Farnese. The latter, after his election to the papacy, called him to his side and entrusted him with the education of his nephew, the young Card. Alessandro.

When in 1538 the direction of affairs of state was assigned by Paul III to the cardinal nephew, M., as his first secretary, exercised a function of primary importance in pontifical policy. In 1539 M. accompanied Card. Alessandro on his legation to the imperial court. In the same year the Pope assigned him the administration of the bishopric of Nicastro, which he exchanged the following year for that of Reggio Emilia. On Dec. 10, 1539, M. was named cardinal, with the title of St. Croce in Gerusalemme. M. remained at Brussels until Sept. 1540. In his functions as bishop, M. carried out an intense reforming activity, and in his report on the affairs of Germany he pointed to the decline of ecclesiastical morals as the principal cause of the Germans' alienation from the Church. In 1541 he accompanied the Pope to the Conference of Lucca with Charles V, and two years later he was sent as legate by the Emperor. In 1544 he again changed his episcopal see, passing from Reggio to Gubbio. In 1545 he was one of the three pontifical legates at the Council of Trent, where he fought strenuously against the supporters of the Council's superiority over the Pope and took a preeminent part in the dogmatic questions. At Trent M. was also among the most energetic opponents of the Emperor's proposals regarding the matters to be treated and the order of business, resisting enticements and threats; which later earned him, on the part of Charles V, the nominal exclusion in the Conclave that followed the death of Paul III. In 1548 Paul III charged him with reorganizing the Vatican Library, of which Julius III then named him librarian for life. A member of the Congregation of the Roman Inquisition under Paul III and Julius III, M. was elected by the latter president of the Commission for ecclesiastical reform, but having openly disapproved of the Pope's nepotistic policy, he had to withdraw to Gubbio. On Apr. 10, 1555, M. was elected pope.

In his very brief pontificate, M. demonstrated the firm intention of rigidly implementing those reforming principles by which his activity as a prelate had been inspired. He forbade the costly festivities that were customarily celebrated on the occasion of papal appointments, postponed the examination of all petitions for privileges and favors, limited the number and reduced the treatment of familiars, established very severe norms for the conferral of ecclesiastical offices, ordered that justice be administered impartially without outside interference. To eliminate any suspicion of nepotism, he forbade his relatives to go to Rome and reside there; he further resolved to promulgate a bull that would threaten grave penalties against anyone who alienated ecclesiastical property in favor of relatives. In the war of Siena he attempted to carry out a work of pacification, refusing military aid to the besieged and advising them to cease a useless resistance, while he exhorted Cosimo I to treat them with mildness. His sudden death prevented M. from continuing in that reforming action which he considered an inescapable commitment for any pontiff.

During the ceremonies of Holy Week, M., already convinced since the time of the Council of the necessity of reforming sacred music, had disdainfully deplored the character of the chants that had accompanied the celebration of Good Friday. Palestrina, who was one of the singers, was induced by this to compose a Mass, which the Pope's death prevented him from presenting to him and which for these circumstances was later entitled Missa papae Marcelli.

Roberto Palmarocchi