Editing Pope Nicholas IV (section)

==Early life==
Jerome Masci (Girolamo Masci) was born on 30 September 1227 at Lisciano, near [[Ascoli Piceno]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hourihane|first1=Colum|title=The Grove Encyclopedia of Medieval Art and Architecture, Volume 2|date=2012|publisher=OUP USA|isbn=978-0195395365|page=441|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FtlMAgAAQBAJ&q=Pope+Nicholas+IV+lisciano}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Kelly|first1=J N D|last2=Walsh|first2=Michael|title=A Dictionary of Popes|date=2010|publisher=OUP Oxford|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0199295814|page=207}}</ref> He was a pious, peace-loving man whose goals as a Franciscan friar were to protect the Church, promote the [[crusades]], and root out [[heresy]]. According to [[Heinrich of Rebdorf]], he was a Doctor of Theology.<ref>Marquardi Freheri, ''Rerum Germanicarum Scriptores'' editio tertia (curante Burcardo Gotthelffio Struvio) Tomus Primus (Argentorati: sumptibus Ioannis Reinholdi Dulsseckerii 1717), p. 605.</ref> As a [[Franciscan]] [[friar]], he had been elected the Order's superior (minister) for Dalmatia during the [[Franciscan]] general chapter held at Pisa in 1272.   [[Pope Gregory X]] (1271-1276), was sending a [[papal legate|legate]] to the Byzantine emperor, [[Michael VIII Palaiologos]], in 1272, to invite the participation of Byzantine prelates in the Second Council of Lyons. The pope's ambition was to achieve a reunion of Eastern and Western Christendom.  St [[Bonaventure]], then [[minister general]] of the Order of Friars Minor ([[Franciscan]]s), was asked to select four Franciscans to accompany the legation as nuncios. He chose Friar Jerome Masci as one of the four.<ref>Luca Wadding, ''Annales Minorum'' IV  second edition (edited by J. M. Fonseca) (Rome 1732), p. 345. Their instructions, drawn up by Pope Gregory, are printed at pp. 353-355.</ref> When [[Bonaventure]] died suddenly during the fifth session of the Order's General Chapter at Lyons on 15 July 1274, Friar Jerome Masci was elected to succeed him as the [[Franciscan]] minister general, even though he was absent at the time, only then returning with the Byzantine delegates from the embassy to Constantinople.<ref>Luke Wadding, ''Annales Minorum'' IV  second edition (edited by J.M. Fonseca) (Rome 1732), p. 399 and 411.</ref>

Jerome was the associate of [[John of Vercelli]], [[Master of the Order of Preachers|master general]] of the [[Dominican Order]], when the latter was sent by [[Pope Nicholas III]] (Giovanni Caetani Orsini) on 15 October 1277, to arrange a peace between [[Philip IV of France]] and [[Alfonso III of Aragon]].  Jerome and [[John of Vercelli]] were again appointed to the same task on 4 April 1278.<ref>August Potthast, ''Regesta Pontificum Romanorum'' II (Berlin 1875), nos. 21165, 21294-21295; 21310; and see A. Theiner, ''Caesaris S.R.E. Card. Baronii Annales Ecclesiastici'' 22 (Bar-le-Duc 1870), under the year 1277, no. 47, p. 402.</ref>  At the same time, Jerome was ordered to continue for the time being as the [[Franciscan]] [[Minister General]].<ref>Potthast, no.  21356.</ref>

In 1278 Jerome was made [[cardinal priest]] by Pope Nicholas III, and at some point after 16 May 1279 was assigned the titular church of [[Santa Pudenziana]]. Even after his appointment as a cardinal, he was allowed to remain as minister general of the [[Franciscan]]s until the next general chapter. In the event, however, he was unable to attend the chapter for reasons of ill health, as a letter of apology of Pope Nicholas III, written in May 1279, indicates.<ref>Potthast, no.  21582.</ref>  On 12 April 1281 he was promoted to [[cardinal bishop]] of [[Palestrina]] by [[Pope Martin IV]].<ref name=Weber>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11057a.htm Weber, Nicholas. "Pope Nicholas IV." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 29 Jan. 2015].  Conrad Eubel, ''Hierarchia catholica medii aevi''  I, editio altera, (Monasterii 1913), pp. 10, 37, 46; and cf. p. 206.</ref>