Editing Pope Benedict XI (section)

==Early life==
Niccolò Boccasini was born in [[Treviso]] to Boccasio, a municipal notary (died 1246), whose brother was a priest; and Ber(n)arda, who worked as a laundress for the Dominican friars of Treviso. Boccasini had a sister, Adelette.<ref>Mortier, II, pp. 319–320.</ref> The family lived outside the walls of Treviso, in a suburb called S. Bartolommeo.<ref>Fietta, p. 222.</ref> 

In 1246, a Dominican friar left a sum of money in his will to Bernarda and her children, recently orphaned. A condition was that if Boccasini were to enter the Dominican Order he would receive half of the entire legacy.<ref>Mortier, p. 320 and n. 3.</ref> From the age of six, it seems, Boccasini was destined for the monastic life. His first teacher was his uncle, the priest of S. Andrea.<ref>Fietta, p. 225 and n. 1.</ref>

He entered the [[Dominican Order|Order of Preachers]] in 1254, at the age of fourteen, taking the habit of a novice in his native Treviso.<ref>Mortier, p. 320. Fietta, p. 226, with notes 1 and 2.</ref> He was taken to Venice by his Prior and presented to the Provincial, who assigned him to the convent of SS. Giovanni e Paolo in Venice. For the next seven years or so, Boccasini pursued his basic education in Venice. Toward the end of this period, he served as a tutor to the young sons of Romeo Quirini of Venice, whose brother was a Canon in the [[Treviso Cathedral|Cathedral of Treviso]].<ref>Fietta, p. 226, n. 3; pp. 228–229. One of these children, Bartolommeo Quirini later became Bishop of Trent, in 1304, at the hands of Pope Benedict.</ref> 

In 1262, Boccasini was transferred to Milan, to the new ''studium'' of S. Eustorgio. He spent the next six years at S. Eustorgio.<ref>Fietta, p. 229.</ref> By the end of his term at S. Eustorgio he must have become a professed member of the Order of Preachers; the actual date is unknown. As a professed brother he served in the responsible position as a lecturer in the ''studium'' in Venice, that is to say, he was in charge of the elementary education of the brothers in his convent.<ref>Mortier, 322-323. Fietta, pp. 231–234.</ref>

Each convent had its ''lector''. He served as ''lector'' for fourteen years, from 1268 to 1282, according to Bernardus Guidonis. In 1276 he is attested as being ''lector'' at the Dominican convent in his native Treviso, a post he was still holding in 1280. In February 1282 he is found at Genoa, again as ''lector''. He was not a professor, since he had never taken a university degree, being one of the last popes who was not a university graduate.<ref>Mortier, 322-323. Fietta, pp. 231–234.</ref>