Editing Pope Leo XI

{{Short description|Head of the Catholic Church in 1605}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2016}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Pope
| honorific-prefix = [[List of popes|Pope]]
| name = Leo XI
| title = [[Bishop of Rome]]
| image = Portret van paus Leo XI Alessandro Ottaviano de' Medici . NL-HlmNHA 1477 53010831.JPG
| image_size = 220px
| caption = Leo XI in a 1605 engraving
| birth_name = Alessandro di Ottaviano de' Medici
| church = [[Catholic Church]]
| term_start = 1 April 1605
| term_end = 27 April 1605<br>
| predecessor = [[Clement VIII]]
| successor = [[Paul V]]
| ordination = 22 July 1567
| ordained_by = [[Antonio Altoviti]]
| consecration = March 1573
| consecrated_by = [[Francisco Pacheco de Villena (Toledo)]]
| cardinal = 12 December 1583
| created_cardinal_by = [[Pope Gregory XIII|Gregory XIII]]
| birth_date = 2 June 1535
| birth_place = [[Florence]], [[Duchy of Florence]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1605|4|27|1535|6|2|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Rome]], [[Papal States]]
| previous_post = {{Indented plainlist|
* [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Pistoia|Bishop of Pistoia]] (1573)
* [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Florence|Archbishop of Florence]] (1574–1596)
* [[Santi Quirico e Giulitta|Cardinal-Priest of Santi Quirico e Giulitta]] (1583–1591)
* [[Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Rome|Cardinal-Priest of Santi Giovanni e Paolo]] (1591–1592)
* [[Santa Prassede|Cardinal-Priest of Santa Prassede]] (1592–1594)
* [[San Pietro in Vincoli|Cardinal-Priest of San Pietro in Vincoli]] (1594–1600)
* Prefect of the [[Congregation of Bishops and Regulars]] (1598–1605)
* [[Santa Maria in Trastevere|Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria in Trastevere]] (1600)
* [[Cardinal-Bishop of Albano]] (1600–1602)
* [[Cardinal-Bishop of Palestrina]] (1602–1605)
}}
| other = Leo
| coat_of_arms = Medici popes.svg
| signature = Signature of Pope Leo XI.svg{{!}}class=skin-invert
}}

'''Pope Leo XI''' ({{langx|it|Leone XI}}; 2 June 1535{{snd}}27 April 1605), born '''Alessandro di Ottaviano de' Medici''', was head of the [[Catholic Church]] and ruler of the [[Papal States]] from 1 April 1605 to his death, on 27 April 1605.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Britannica |title=Leo XI |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Leo-XI}}</ref> His pontificate is one of the briefest in history, having lasted under a month. He was from the prominent [[House of Medici]] originating from [[Florence]].<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12272b.htm  "List of Popes,"] ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' (2009); retrieved 2013-3-15.</ref> Medici's mother opposed his entering the priesthood and sought to prevent it by having him given secular honours, but after her death he eventually was ordained a priest in 1567. In his career he served as [[Duchy of Florence|Florence]]'s ambassador to the pope, [[Bishop of Pistoia]], [[Archbishop of Florence]], [[Papal legate]] to [[Kingdom of France|France]], and as the cardinal Prefect for the [[Congregation of Bishops and Regulars]]. He was elected to the papacy in the [[March–April 1605 papal conclave|March 1605 papal conclave]] when he was almost seventy. He almost immediately suffered from fever and died 27 days into his papacy.

== Biography ==
=== Early life ===
Alessandro di Ottaviano de' Medici was born in [[Florence]]<ref name="catholic">{{cite CE1913|wstitle=Pope Leo XI}}</ref> as the son of [[Ottaviano de' Medici]] and Francesca [[Salviati family|Salviati]]. His family belonged to [[Princes of Ottajano|Medici di Ottajano]], a cadet branch of the [[House of Medici]]. Ottaviano died early in his son's life, and thereafter Alessandro was home schooled by a [[Order of Preachers|Dominican]] priest, Vincenzo Ercolano.<ref name="McBrien p.298">{{cite book |first=Richard P. |last=McBrien |title=Lives of the Popes |publisher=HarperCollins |year=2000 |page=298 |isbn=0-06-065304-3 }}</ref>

Alessandro felt the call to the priesthood, but his mother opposed this since he was the only male in the family. She sent him instead to the court of the [[Grand Duke of Tuscany]], who appointed him a [[Order of Saint Stephen|knight of San Stefano]]. In 1560 he travelled to [[Rome]] where he commenced a lifelong friendship and collaboration with [[Philip Neri]], the future saint. It was Philip who predicted that Alessandro would ascend to the pontificate. His mother died in 1566, at which point he resumed his studies to become a priest. His ordination took place on 22 July 1567.<ref>{{cite web|title=Pope Leo XI|publisher=Saints SQPN}}</ref>

=== Priesthood ===
[[File:Alessandro Algardi, monumento a leone XI Medici, 1644, 01.JPG|thumb|left|125px|Tomb of Leo XI in [[St. Peter's Basilica]], by [[Alessandro Algardi]]]]

Alessandro served as the Florentine [[ambassador]] to [[Pope Pius V]] from 1569 to 1584 and in 1573 was appointed by [[Pope Gregory XIII]] [[Bishop of Pistoia]]. In March 1573 he received episcopal consecration in Rome. In 1574 he was made [[Archbishop of Florence]].<ref name="McBrien p.298" />

In 1583 he was made a [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|cardinal]] by Pope Sixtus V and on 9 January 1584 received the title of Cardinal-Priest of [[Santi Quirico e Giulitta]], after a titular church previously known as [[San Ciriaco alle Terme Diocleziane]]. In later years, according to custom he would opt for other titular churches.<ref name="catholic"/><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tCkxDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA126 |page=126 |title=Art and the Relic Cult of St. Antoninus in Renaissance Florence |isbn=9781351575645 |last1=Cornelison |first1=Sallyj |date=5 July 2017 |publisher=Routledge }}</ref>

In 1596 [[Pope Clement VIII]] sent Alessandro as a [[papal legate]] to [[Kingdom of France|France]], where he remained until 1598, when he received word of his appointment as Prefect of the [[Congregation of Bishops and Regulars]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |chapter=Leo XI |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0SwEugEACAAJ |encyclopedia=The Papacy: An Encyclopedia |year = 2002|volume=2 |editor-first=Philippe |editor-last=Levillain|page=929 |isbn = 9780415922289}}</ref>

== Pontificate ==
<!-- This infobox may not be needed in this specific article?  {{Infobox popestyles
|image      = C o a Papas Medicis.svg
|dipstyle   = [[His Holiness]]
|offstyle   = Your Holiness
|relstyle   = Holy Father
|deathstyle = None
|}} -->

=== Papal election ===
{{main|March–April 1605 papal conclave}}
On 14 March 1605, eleven days after the death of Clement VIII, 62 cardinals entered the [[papal election|conclave]]. Prominent among the candidates for the papacy were the great [[historian]] [[Caesar Baronius]] and the famous [[Jesuit]] controversialist [[Robert Bellarmine]], future saint.

But [[Pietro Aldobrandini]], the leader of the Italian party among the cardinals, allied with the French cardinals and brought about the election of Alessandro against the express wish of King [[Philip III of Spain]]. King [[Henry IV of France]] is said to have spent 300,000 [[écu]]s in the promotion of Alessandro's candidacy.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qiTl-lhM36wC&pg=PA236 |page=236 |title=Saints & Sinners: A History of the Popes |isbn=0300115970 |last1=Duffy |first1=Eamon |year=2006 |publisher=Yale University Press }}</ref>

On 1 April 1605, Cardinal Alessandro de' Medici was elected as pope. He chose to be called Leo XI in honor of his uncle [[Pope Leo X]].<ref name="catholic"/> He was [[Papal coronation|crowned]] on 10 April 1605 by the [[protodeacon]], Cardinal [[Francesco Sforza (cardinal)|Francesco Sforza]] and he took possession of the [[Basilica of Saint John Lateran]] on 17 April 1605.

== Death ==
When he was elected, Leo XI was almost 70 years of age, and he died 27 days later.<ref>George L. Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The Families and Descendants of the Popes'', (McFarland & Company, 1998), 75.</ref>  His death came as a result of fatigue and cold in the ceremony of taking possession of the [[Lateran Basilica|Basilica of St John Lateran]] on 17 April; he started suffering from a [[fever]] the following day.

== See also ==
* [[List of popes]]
* [[List of popes from the Medici family]]
* [[List of popes by length of reign]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
*{{commons category-inline|Leo XI}}
*{{wikisource author-inline}}
* [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/  Catholic Hierarchy], [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bdmed.html Pope Leo XI]
* [http://www2.fiu.edu/~mirandas/cardinals.htm Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church], [http://www2.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1583.htm#Medici Cardinal Medici] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029203913/http://www2.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1583.htm#Medici |date=29 October 2013 }}

{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|ca}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Pope Clement VIII|Clement VIII]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Pope]]|years=1–27 April 1605}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Pope Paul V|Paul V]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Popes}}
{{Catholicism}}
{{History of the Catholic Church}}
{{Medici}}
{{Authority control}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Leo 11}}
[[Category:Popes]]
[[Category:Italian popes]]
[[Category:Cardinal-bishops of Albano]]
[[Category:Cardinal-bishops of Palestrina]]
[[Category:Cardinal-bishops of Porto]]
[[Category:Cardinal-bishops of Sabina]]
[[Category:Apostolic nuncios to France]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic archbishops of Florence]]
[[Category:Clergy from Florence]]
[[Category:1535 births]]
[[Category:1605 deaths]]
[[Category:17th-century popes]]
[[Category:House of Medici]]
[[Category:Burials at St. Peter's Basilica]]