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See also: pope from 1585 to 1590, was See also: born at Grottamara, in See also: Ancona, on the 13th of See also: December 1521
.
He was reared in extreme poverty; but the See also: story of his having been a swineherd in his youth appears to be open to question At an early age he entered a Franciscan monastery
.
He soon gave evidence of rare ability as a preacher and a dialectician
.
About 1552 he came under the See also: notice of See also: Cardinal See also: Carpi, See also: protector of his See also: order, Ghislieri (later See also: Pius V.) and Caraff a (later See also: Paul IV.), and from that See also: time his See also: advancement was assured
.
He was sent to Venice as inquisitor general, but carried matters with a high See also: hand, became embroiled in quarrels, and was forced to leave (156o)
.
After a brief See also: term as procurator of his order, he was attached to the See also: Spanish legation headed by Buoncampagno (later See also: Gregory XIII.) 1565
.
The violent dislike he conceived for Buoncampagno exerted a marked influence upon his subsequent actions
.
He hurried back to See also: Rome upon the accession of
Pius V., who made him apostolic See also: vicar of his order, and, later (1570), cardinal
.
During the pontificate of Gregory XIII. he lived in retirement, occupied with the care of his See also: villa and with his studies, one of the fruits of which was an edition of the See also: works of See also: Ambrose; not neglecting, however, to follow the course of affairs, but carefully avoiding every occasion of offence
.
This discreetness contributed not a little to his election to the papacy on the 24th of See also: April 1585; but the story of his having feigned decrepitude in the Conclave, in order to win votes, is a pure invention
.
One of the things that commended his candidacy to certain cardinals was his See also: physical vigour, which seemed to promise a long pontificate
.
The terrible condition in which Gregory XIII. hadSee also: left the ecclesiastical states called for prompt and stern See also: measures
.
Against the prevailing lawlessness See also: Sixtus proceeded with an almost ferocious severity, which only extreme See also: necessity could justify
.
Thousands of brigands were brought to See also: justice: within a See also: short time the country was again quiet and safe
.
Sixtus next set to See also: work to repair the finances
.
By the sale of offices, the establishment of new " Monti" and by levying new taxes, he accumulated a vast surplus, which he stored up against certain specified emergencies, such as a crusade or the defence of the See also: Holy See
.
Sixtus prided himself upon his hoard, but the method by which it had been amassed was financially unsound: some of the taxes proved ruinous, and the withdrawal of so much See also: money from circulation could not fail to cause See also: distress
.
Immense sums, however, were spent upon public works
.
Sixtus set no limit to his plans; and what he achieved in his short pontificate is almost incredible; the completion of the dome of St See also: Peter's; the loggia of Sixtus in the Lateran; the See also: chapel of the Praesepe in Sta Maria Maggiore; additions or repairs to the Quirinal, Lateran and Vatican palaces; the erection of four obelisks, including that in the piazza, of St Peter's; the opening of six streets; the restoration of the aqueduct of Severus (" Acqua Felice ") ; besides numerous roads and See also: bridges, an attempt to drain the Pontine marshes, and the encouragement of See also: agriculture and manufacture
.
But Sixtus had no appreciation of antiquity: the columns of Trajan and See also: Antoninus were made to serve as pedestals for the statues of SS Peter and Paul; the See also: Minerva of the Capitol was converted into " Christian Rome" ; the Septizonium of Severus was demolished for its See also: building materials
.
The administrative See also: system of the See also: church owed much to Sixtus
.
He limited the
See also: College of Cardinals to seventy; and doubled the number of the congregations, and enlarged their functions, assigning to them the See also: principal role in the transaction of business (1588)
.
The See also: Jesuits Sixtus regarded with disfavour and suspicion
.
He meditated See also: radical changes in their constitution, but See also: death prevented the execution of his purpose
.
In 1589 was begun a revision of the Vulgate, the so-called Editio Sixtina
.
In his larger See also: political relations Sixtus, strangely enough, showed himself visionary and vacillating
.
He entertained fantastic ambitions, such as the annihilation of the See also: Turks, the See also: conquest of See also: Egypt, the transporting of the Holy Sepulchre to See also: Italy, the accession of his See also: nephew to the See also: throne of See also: France
.
The situation in which he found himself was embarrassing: he could not countenance the designs of heretical princes, and yet he distrusted See also: Philip II. and viewed with apprehension any extension of his power
.
So, while he excommunicated
See also: Henry of
See also: Navarre, and contributed to the See also: League and the See also: Armada, he chafed under his forced See also: alliance with Philip, and looked about for escape
.
The victories of Henry and the prospect of his conversion to Catholicism raised Sixtus's hopes, and in corresponding degree determined Philip to tighten his grip upon his wavering ally
.
The pope's negotiations with Henry's representative evoked a bitter and menacing protest and a categorical demand for the performance of promises
.
Sixtus took See also: refuge in evasion, and temporized until death relieved him of the necessity of coming to a decision (27th of See also: August 1590)
.
Sixtus died execrated by his own subjects; but posterity has recognized in him one of the greatest popes
.
He was impulsive, obstinate, severe, autocratic; but his mind was open to large ideas, and he threw himself into his undertakings with an energyand determination that often compelled success
.
Few popes can boast of greater enterprise or larger achievements
.
Lives of Sixtus are numerous: Cicarella's, in PIatina, De vitis pontiff . Rom., is by a contemporary of the pope, but nevertheless of slight importance; Leti's Vita di Sisto V ( See also: Amsterdam, 1693, translated into See also: English by Farneworth, 1779) is a caricature, full of absurd tales, utterly untrustworthy, wanting even the saving merit of See also: style; Tempesti's Storia della vita e geste di Sisto Quinto (Rome, 1754–1755) is valuable for the large use it makes of the See also: original See also: sources, but lacks perspective and is warped by the author's See also: blind admiration for his subject; Cesare's Vita di Sisto V (Naples, 1755) is but an abridgment of Tempesti
.
Of See also: recent works the best are Hubner, Sixte-Quint, &c
.
(See also: Paris, 1870, translated into English by H
.
E
.
H
.
Jerningham, See also: London, 1872) ; and Capranica, Papa Sisto, storia del s
.
XVI (Milan, 1884)
.
See also Lorentz, Sixtus V. u. See also: seine Zeit (See also: Mainz, 1852) ; Dumesnil, Hist. de Sixte-Quint (Paris, 1869, 2nd ed.); Segretain, Sixte-Quint et See also: Henri IV (Paris, 1861, strongly Ultramontane) ; See also: Ranke's masterly portrayal, Popes (Eng. trans., See also: Austin), i
.
446 sq., ii
.
205 sq.; and v
.
See also: Reumont, Gesch. der Stadi Rom, iii
.
2, 575 sq., 733 sq . Extended See also: bibliographies may be found in Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklopadie, s.v
.
" Sixtus V."; and
Cambridge Mod
.
Hist. iii
.
835 sq
.
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