Historical and Commemorative
Medals
Collection of Benjamin Weiss
CLEMENT XI
ST URBAIN, Ferdinand de: Papal States, ca. 1706, Bronze, 41 mm Clement XI (1649-1721) (Pope from 1700-1721) was born
Giovanni Francesco Albani in Urbino, Italy. He was elevated to Cardinal in
1690 and installed Cardinal-Deacon of S. Maria in Aquiro. During the year
1700 he was appointed Cardinal-Deacon of S. Adriano al Foro, Cardinal-Priest
of S. Silvestro in Capite, made an Ordained Priest and Priest of S.
Silvestro in Capite, and finally elected Pope on November 1700, succeeding
Innocent XII. His papacy was dominated by the War of the Spanish Succession
(1701-1714) between the Habsburgs and Bourbons. In 1714 Clement was forced
to cede the Kingdom of Naples to the Holy Roman Empire. In 1713 Clement issued a papal bull condemning Jansenism.
Jansenism is a theological doctrine, which took its name from the Flemish
theologian and bishop of Ypres, Cornelius Jansen (1585 - 1638). Jansen
argued in favor of absolute Predestination, in which humans are perceived as
incapable of doing good without God's unsolicited grace and only a chosen
few are believed to receive salvation. It was probably the single most
divisive issue within the Roman Catholic church between the Protestant
Reformation and the French Revolution. Clement’s ban on the use of indigenous or local customs
in missions led to greater persecution of natives in European colonies. He
also forbade missionaries in China to "accommodate" their teachings to pagan
notions in order to win converts. (Taken, in part, from O’Brien)
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