Editing Pope Marcellus II (section)

==Cardinalate==
In 1534, after Farnese had become [[Pope Paul III]], Cervini was appointed a papal secretary (1534–49) and served as a close advisor to the pope's nephew [[Alessandro Farnese (cardinal)|Alessandro Farnese]]. He was made a papal [[protonotary apostolic| protonotary]].<ref>Panvinio, 424.</ref> He travelled in the suite of the Pope during the papal visit to [[Nice]], where Paul III was promoting a truce between [[Francis I of France|Francis I]] and [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]]. He then accompanied the young Cardinal Farnese on a journey to [[Habsburg Spain|Spain]], [[Kingdom of France|France]] and the [[Habsburg Netherlands]] to help implement the terms of the truce. Paul III later appointed him [[Bishop of Nicastro]] in 1539. Cervini was not, however, consecrated bishop until the day he himself was elected pope.  On 19 December 1539, while Cervini was still on the embassy to the Netherlands, Paul III created him [[Cardinal-Priest]] of ''[[Santa Croce in Gerusalemme]]''.

When, almost immediately afterwards, Cardinal Farnese was recalled to Rome, Cervini stayed on in Spain as [[nuncio]]. Over the course of the next decade Cervini also became the [[Apostolic administration|apostolic administrator]] of the dioceses of [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Reggio Calabria-Bova|Reggio]] and [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Gubbio|Gubbio]].<ref name="CE"/> His house in Rome became a center of Renaissance culture, and he himself corresponded with most of the leading humanists.<ref>Cardella, 226: la di lui famiglia piena fosse di uomini dotti, scientifici, e letterati, ed egli mantenesse stretta corrispondenza con Angelo Coluzio, Costantino Lascari, ed altri uomini dotti, ed eruditi di quei tempi.</ref>

During the [[Council of Trent]] he was elected one of the council's three presidents,<ref name=EB1911>{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Marcellus (popes)|display=Marcellus s.v. Marcellus II.|volume=17|page=685|first=Theodore Freylinghuysen|last=Collier}}</ref> along with fellow cardinals [[Reginald Pole]] and Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte (the future [[Pope Julius III]]). He continued to serve in that role throughout the remainder of Paul III's papacy, after which he was replaced to placate the [[Holy Roman Emperor]] Charles V (1519–56). He was credited with defending not only orthodoxy and Church discipline, but also the universal claims of the Papacy in spiritual and temporal affairs, and with such vigor that the Emperor was affronted. In 1548 (or 1550) Cervini was placed in charge of the [[Vatican Library]], with the title of ''Protettore della Biblioteca Apostolica''.<ref>Isidoro Carini, ''La Biblioteca Vaticana'' seconda edizione (Roma 1893), 59–61.</ref>
The institutionalization of the printers of the Curia under Cervini is explored by Paolo Sachet in ''Publishing for the Popes: The Roman Curia and the Use of Printing (1527-1555)''.<ref>Sachet, Paolo. ''Publishing for the Popes: The Roman Curia and the Use of Printing (1527-1555).''  Leiden, Brill, 2020.</ref>
The Apostolic Brief of his appointment, however, came from the new pope, Julius III, on 24 May 1550, and in it he was named not Vatican Librarian, but ''Bibliothecarius Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae'' because he was the first cardinal to be placed in charge of the library.<ref>Domenico Zanelli, ''La Biblioteca Vaticana'' (Roma 1`857) 28–29.</ref> During his administration, he employed the services of [[Guglielmo Sirleto]], as well as [[Onofrio Panvinio]] (who was especially consulted in matters of Christian archaeology). He added more than 500 codices to the holdings of the Library, including 143 Greek codices, as his own entry book (which still survives as ''Vaticanus Latinus'' 3963) testifies.<ref>Zanelli, ''loc. cit''.</ref>

[[File:Attribuito a Iacopino del Conte (Firenze 1510 - Roma 1598) - Ritratto del cardinale Marcello Cervini Spannocchi - 408 - Galleria Borghese.jpg|thumb|right|Portrait of Cardinal Cervini by [[Jacopino del Conte]], {{circa|1550}}]]
In the conclave of 1549–50 held to elect a successor to Paul III,  fifty-one cardinals, including Marcello Cervini, participated at the opening on 3 December 1549. The initial candidates included Cardinals [[Reginald Pole]], [[Francesco Sfondrati]], [[Rodolfo Pio da Carpi]] and [[Niccolò Ridolfi]] (who died on the night of 31 January). Pole, the favorite of the Emperor Charles V, came within two votes of being elected in the first scrutinies, but he failed to attract any additional votes. [[Juan Álvarez de Toledo]], Bishop of Burgos, another Imperial favorite, was proposed, and he too failed, because of strong opposition from the faction of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, nephew of the late Pope Paul III and from the French.

On 12 December, five more French cardinals arrived, and though they could not advance the candidacy of their favorite, [[Ippolito II d'Este|Ippolito d'Este]], they did have Cardinal Cervini on their list of possible candidates. Farnese and his faction were also favorably disposed to him. Unfortunately, the Imperial faction was not.<ref>{{cite web|author=Prof. John P. Adams, Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures |url=http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/SV1549.html |title=Sede Vacante of 1549–1550 |publisher=Csun.edu |date=13 November 2012 |access-date=23 June 2013}}</ref> Worst of all, on 22 December, Cardinal Cervini left the Conclave, suffering from a [[quartan fever]]. Finally, on 7 February 1550, the cardinals chose Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte, who took the name Julius III.<ref>Onuphrio Panvinio, "Marcellus II" in ''Historia B. Platinae de vitis pontificum Romanorum ... ad Paulum II...annotationum Onuphrii Panvinii ... cui, eiusdem Onuphrii ... Pontificum vitae usque ad Pium V'' (Colonia: apud: Maternum Cholinum MDLXVIII), 425: Defuncto Paulo III quum in eius locum isdem Cardinalius Iulius III vocatus, quo cum arctissimae amicitiae nexu coniunctus erat, pontifex factus esset, absens (conclave enim adversa valetudine conflictatus exierat) primum per nuntium ei gratulatus est, mox viribus parumper recuperatis, cum Urbe egredi ad salubriora loca medicorum consilio statuisset, se sellae impositus, ad Pontificem deferri curavit.</ref>