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April 1555 papal conclave

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The April 1555 papal conclave (April 5–9) was convoked after the death of Pope Julius III. Cardinals at the conclave generally grouped themselves into three major factions, according to their alignment with the French House of Valois, the Hapsburgs, or Italian states that remained independent of both major Catholic powers. After preparing a conclave capitulation that compelled whichever cardinal was elected pope to maintain neutrality in European wars, cardinals from the Holy Roman Empire joined in supporting the French faction's candidate, Cardinal Marcello Cervini. Cervini was elected Julius's successor, and chose to maintain his baptismal (birth) name as his papal name, becoming consecrated as Marcellus II.

Papal conclave
April 1555
Dates and location
5–9 April 1555
Apostolic Palace, Papal States
Key officials
DeanGiovanni Pietro Carafa
CamerlengoGuido Ascanio Sforza di Santa Fiora
ProtopriestRobert de Lenoncourt
ProtodeaconFrancesco Pisani
Election
Ballots1
Elected pope
Marcello Cervini degli Spannochi
Name taken: Marcellus II

List of participants

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Pope Julius III died on March 23, 1555. Thirty-seven out of fifty-seven cardinals participated in the election of his successor:[1]

Fifteen electors were created by Julius III, twenty by Pope Paul III, one by Pope Clement VII and one by Leo X.

Absentee cardinals

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Twenty cardinals were absent:[1]

Thirteen were created by Paul III, four by Clement VII, two by Julius III and one by Leo X.

Divisions in the Sacred College

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College of Cardinals was divided into three parties:[2]

The election of Pope Marcellus II

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The Cardinals present in Rome entered the conclave on April 5. Initially, they prepared and subscribed the conclave capitulation, which obliged the newly elected pope to maintain neutrality in the European conflicts and forbade him to conduct wars against Christian princes.[3] In spite of the existing divisions, cardinals quickly achieved consensus. On April 9 at 11 p.m.[4] they elected by acclamation[5] Cardinal Marcello Cervini. He was proposed by the French faction,[6] but also obtained the support of the Imperial cardinals (e.g. Madruzzo[3]) despite the express wishes of Charles V against Cervini's election.[7]

On April 10 in the morning a formal scrutiny took place to confirm the election. Cervini received all votes except of his own, which he gave to Gian Pietro Carafa.[3] He retained his baptismal name, adding to it only an ordinal number (Marcellus II). On that same day, he was consecrated bishop of Rome by Cardinal Gian Pietro Carafa, bishop of Ostia e Velletri and Dean of the College of Cardinals, and crowned by Cardinal Francesco Pisani, Protodeacon of S. Marco.[4]

See also

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Notes and References

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  1. ^ a b This is according to an account of this conclave in German on Vatican History Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine, to the account of J. P. Adams in English at Sede Vacante 1555, and to Onuphrio Panvinio, p. 424-425. Salvador Miranda: list of participants of the conclave of April 1555 indicates that all cardinals participated in this conclave except Pietro Tagliavia de Aragonia and Louis I de Guise. The list of the electors and absentees is presented according to Panvinio, p. 424-425.
  2. ^ Valérie Pirie: The Triple Crown: the election of Paul IV Although that link concerns the next conclave held in May 1555, the information about parties existed in the Sacred College are correct also for the conclave of April 1555.
  3. ^ a b c Vatican History Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ a b Cardinal Marcello Cervini (Pope Marcellus II by S. Miranda
  5. ^ Helmut Feld (1993). "Marcellus II., Papst". In Bautz, Traugott (ed.). Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (in German). Vol. 5. Herzberg: Bautz. cols. 771–775. ISBN 3-88309-043-3.
  6. ^ The Triple Crown
  7. ^ The Catholic Encyclopedia: Pope Marcellus II

Sources

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