1.
Pope
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The pope is the Bishop of Rome and, therefore, the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church. The current pope is Francis, who was elected on 13 March 2013, the office of the pope is the papacy. The pope is considered one of the worlds most powerful people because of his diplomatic and he is also head of state of Vatican City, a sovereign city-state entirely enclaved within the Italian capital city of Rome. The papacy is one of the most enduring institutions in the world and has had a prominent part in world history, the popes in ancient times helped in the spread of Christianity and the resolution of various doctrinal disputes. In the Middle Ages, they played a role of importance in Western Europe. Currently, in addition to the expansion of the Christian faith and doctrine, the popes are involved in ecumenism and interfaith dialogue, charitable work, Popes, who originally had no temporal powers, in some periods of history accrued wide powers similar to those of temporal rulers. In recent centuries, popes were gradually forced to give up temporal power, the word pope derives from Greek πάππας meaning father. The earliest record of the use of title was in regard to the by then deceased Patriarch of Alexandria. Some historians have argued that the notion that Peter was the first bishop of Rome, the writings of the Church Father Irenaeus who wrote around AD180 reflect a belief that Peter founded and organised the Church at Rome. Moreover, Irenaeus was not the first to write of Peters presence in the early Roman Church, Clement of Rome wrote in a letter to the Corinthians, c. 96, about the persecution of Christians in Rome as the struggles in our time and presented to the Corinthians its heroes, first, the greatest and most just columns, the good apostles Peter and Paul. St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote shortly after Clement and in his letter from the city of Smyrna to the Romans he said he would not command them as Peter and Paul did. Given this and other evidence, many agree that Peter was martyred in Rome under Nero. Protestants contend that the New Testament offers no proof that Jesus established the papacy nor even that he established Peter as the first bishop of Rome, others, using Peters own words, argue that Christ intended himself as the foundation of the church and not Peter. First-century Christian communities would have had a group of presbyter-bishops functioning as leaders of their local churches, gradually, episcopacies were established in metropolitan areas. Antioch may have developed such a structure before Rome, some writers claim that the emergence of a single bishop in Rome probably did not occur until the middle of the 2nd century. In their view, Linus, Cletus and Clement were possibly prominent presbyter-bishops, documents of the 1st century and early 2nd century indicate that the Holy See had some kind of pre-eminence and prominence in the Church as a whole, though the detail of what this meant is unclear. It seems that at first the terms episcopos and presbyter were used interchangeably, the consensus among scholars has been that, at the turn of the 1st and 2nd centuries, local congregations were led by bishops and presbyters whose offices were overlapping or indistinguishable
2.
Bologna
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Bologna is the largest city of the Emilia-Romagna Region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy, located in the heart of an area of about one million. The first settlements back to at least 1000 BC. The city has been a centre, first under the Etruscans. Home to the oldest university in the world, University of Bologna, founded in 1088, Bologna is also an important transportation crossroad for the roads and trains of Northern Italy, where many important mechanical, electronic and nutritional industries have their headquarters. According to the most recent data gathered by the European Regional Economic Growth Index of 2009, Bologna is the first Italian city, Bologna is home to numerous prestigious cultural, economic and political institutions as well as one of the most impressive trade fair districts in Europe. In 2000 it was declared European capital of culture and in 2006, the city of Bologna was selected to participate in the Universal Exposition of Shanghai 2010 together with 45 other cities from around the world. Bologna is also one of the wealthiest cities in Italy, often ranking as one of the top cities in terms of quality of life in the country, after a long decline, Bologna was reborn in the 5th century under Bishop Petronius. According to legend, St. Petronius built the church of S. Stefano. After the fall of Rome, Bologna was a stronghold of the Exarchate of Ravenna in the Po plain. In 728, the city was captured by the Lombard king Liutprand, the Germanic conquerors formed a district called addizione longobarda near the complex of S. Stefano. Charlemagne stayed in this district in 786, traditionally said to be founded in 1088, the University of Bologna is widely considered to be the first university. The university originated as a centre of study of medieval Roman law under major glossators. It numbered Dante, Boccaccio and Petrarca among its students, the medical school is especially famous. In the 12th century, the families engaged in continual internecine fighting. Troops of Pope Julius II besieged Bologna and sacked the artistic treasures of his palace, in 1530, in front of Saint Petronio Church, Charles V was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Clement VII. Then a plague at the end of the 16th century reduced the population from 72,000 to 59,000, the population later recovered to a stable 60, 000–65,000. However, there was also great progress during this era, in 1564, the Piazza del Nettuno and the Palazzo dei Banchi were built, along with the Archiginnasio, the centre of the University
3.
Papal States
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The Papal States, officially the State of the Church, were territories in the Italian Peninsula under the sovereign direct rule of the pope, from the 8th century until 1870. They were among the states of Italy from roughly the 8th century until the Italian Peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. At their zenith, they covered most of the modern Italian regions of Lazio, Marche, Umbria and Romagna and these holdings were considered to be a manifestation of the temporal power of the pope, as opposed to his ecclesiastical primacy. By 1861, much of the Papal States territory had been conquered by the Kingdom of Italy, only Lazio, including Rome, remained under the Popes temporal control. In 1870, the pope lost Lazio and Rome and had no physical territory at all, Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini ended the crisis between unified Italy and the Vatican by signing the Lateran Treaty, granting the Vatican City State sovereignty. The Papal States were also known as the Papal State, the territories were also referred to variously as the State of the Church, the Pontifical States, the Ecclesiastical States, or the Roman States. For its first 300 years the Catholic Church was persecuted and unrecognized and this system began to change during the reign of the emperor Constantine I, who made Christianity legal within the Roman Empire, and restoring to it any properties that had been confiscated. The Lateran Palace was the first significant new donation to the Church, other donations followed, primarily in mainland Italy but also in the provinces of the Roman Empire. But the Church held all of these lands as a private landowner, the seeds of the Papal States as a sovereign political entity were planted in the 6th century. Beginning In 535, the Byzantine Empire, under emperor Justinian I, launched a reconquest of Italy that took decades and devastated Italys political, just as these wars wound down, the Lombards entered the peninsula from the north and conquered much of the countryside. While the popes remained Byzantine subjects, in practice the Duchy of Rome, nevertheless, the pope and the exarch still worked together to control the rising power of the Lombards in Italy. As Byzantine power weakened, though, the took a ever larger role in defending Rome from the Lombards. In practice, the papal efforts served to focus Lombard aggrandizement on the exarch, a climactic moment in the founding of the Papal States was the agreement over boundaries embodied in the Lombard king Liutprands Donation of Sutri to Pope Gregory II. When the Exarchate of Ravenna finally fell to the Lombards in 751, the popes renewed earlier attempts to secure the support of the Franks. In 751, Pope Zachary had Pepin the Younger crowned king in place of the powerless Merovingian figurehead king Childeric III, zacharys successor, Pope Stephen II, later granted Pepin the title Patrician of the Romans. Pepin led a Frankish army into Italy in 754 and 756, Pepin defeated the Lombards – taking control of northern Italy – and made a gift of the properties formerly constituting the Exarchate of Ravenna to the pope. The cooperation between the papacy and the Carolingian dynasty climaxed in 800, when Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Emperor, the precise nature of the relationship between the popes and emperors – and between the Papal States and the Empire – is disputed. Events in the 9th century postponed the conflict, the Holy Roman Empire in its Frankish form collapsed as it was subdivided among Charlemagnes grandchildren
4.
Alessandro Farnese (cardinal)
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He should not be confused with his nephew Alessandro Farnese, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, grandson of Emperor Charles V and great-grandson of Pope Paul III. They were married in Rome on August 6,1519, young Alessandro studied at Bologna along with his cousin, Guido Ascanio Sforza di Santa Fiora. He was a member of the Collegio Ancarano, which had founded in the XV century by Petrus de Ancarano de nobilibus de Farnesino provinciae Patrimoniae B. Petri in Tuscia, for students specializing in legal studies, on 18 December 1534, at the age of 14, he was appointed Cardinal Deacon of the Title of SantAngelo in Pescheria by his grandfather Paul III, who had been elected to the papacy two months previously. On August 11,1535, he was appointed Abbot Commendatory of the Abbey of Tre Fontane on the Via Ostiense, in 1535, he was also appointed Abbot commendatory of S. Étienne de Caën. On August 27,1539, at the age of 18, Alessandro Farnese was named titular Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, the office was highly lucrative, the duties were nominal and did not necessarily involve episcopal functions. In 1538, he was appointed Pope Paul IIIs principal Secretary, in 1541, Cardinal Farnese was named Protector of the Holy Roman Empire before the Holy See and Protector of Spain before the Holy See. At the same time, he was appointed Papal Legate in Avignon, from 1564 to 1565, he was Bishop of Sabina, and it is conjectured that it was in 1564 that Farnese finally was consecrated a bishop. He was certainly a bishop when he was the principal Consecrator of Cardinal Giulio della Rovere on April 15,1566, from 1565 to 1578, he was Bishop of Tusculum. He was the Bishop of Porto from July 9,1578 to December 5,1580 and he was then Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia and Velletri and Dean of the College of Cardinals from December 5,1580 until his death on March 2,1589. His grandfather Pope Paul III immediately named Alessandro Farnese Administrator of the Diocese of Parma, Alessandro resigned on August 13,1535, when Cardinal Guido Ascanio Sforza di Santa Fiora, another grandson of Paul III and only two years older than Alessandro, was named the new Administrator. Farnese was appointed Administrator of Jaen, Spain, from July 30,1535 until another Administrator and he was Administrator of the Archdiocese of Avignon from 1535 to 1551. and of the Diocese of Vizeu, Portugal. On May 9,1536, the Emperor Charles V named Cardinal Farnese as the new Archbishop of Monreale in Sicily, his appointment was confirmed on May 15,1536, by Pope Paul III. But Monreale was not a place, since the monks of the Cathedral of Monreale. On July 26,1549, the Pope was forced to intervene, a Vicar was appointed for the underage and absentee Archbishop, Msgr. Giovanni Antonio Fassari, titular Bishop of Christopolis in Greece, he was succeeded in 1546 by Pompeo Zambecari, in 1557, he was followed by Msgr. Giovanni Pietro Fortiguerra, Bishop of Cyrene in Libya, the Cardinal allowed the Jesuits to found a college in Monreale, and allowed the priests of the Society to work in the diocese. In 1568, Cardinal Farnese visited his diocese and held a synod and he was accompanied by his librarian, the famous antiquarian and papal biographer, Onofrio Panvinio, who, unhappily, died at Palermo on March 16,1568
5.
Reginald Pole
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Reginald Pole was an English cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and the last Roman Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury, holding the office from 1556 to 1558, during the Counter Reformation. Pole was born at Stourton Castle, Staffordshire, on 12 March 1500. to Sir Richard Pole and Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury and his nursery is said to have been at Sheen Priory. He matriculated at Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1512, and at Oxford was taught by William Latimer and Thomas Linacre, graduating with a BA on 27 June 1515. In February 1518, King Henry VIII granted him the deanery of Wimborne Minster, Dorset, after which he was Prebendary of Salisbury and he was also a canon in York, and had several other livings, although he had not been ordained a priest. Pole returned home in July 1526, when he went to France, Henry VIII offered him the Archbishopric of York or the Diocese of Winchester if he would support his divorce from Catherine of Aragon. Pole withheld his support and went into self-imposed exile in France and Italy in 1532, after his return he held the benefice of Vicar of Piddletown, Dorset, between 20 December 1532 and about January 1535/1536. In May 1536, Reginald Pole finally and decisively broke with the King, in 1531, he had warned of the dangers of the Boleyn marriage, he had returned to Padua in 1532, and received a last English benefice in December. Chapuys had suggested to Emperor Charles V that Pole marry the Lady Mary and combine their dynastic claims, the final break between Pole and Henry followed upon Thomas Cromwell, Cuthbert Tunstall, Thomas Starkey and others addressing questions to Pole on behalf of Henry. Henry wrote to the Countess of Salisbury, who in turn sent her son a letter reproving him for his folly, the incensed king, with Pole himself out of his reach, took a terrible revenge on Poles family. Although Poles mother and his brother had written to him in reproof of Poles attitude and action. In 1537 Pole, already a deacon, was created a cardinal, in 1539, Pole was sent to the Emperor to organise an embargo against England – the sort of countermeasure he had himself warned Henry was possible. Under interrogation, Sir Geoffrey said that Henry Pole, his eldest brother, Lord Montagu and they were committed to the Tower of London, and in January, with the exception of Geoffrey Pole, they were executed. In January 1539, Sir Geoffrey was pardoned, and Montagu and Exeter were tried and executed for treason, in 1540, Cromwell himself fell from favour and was himself executed and attainted. Margaret Pole was finally executed in 1541, protesting her innocence until the last – a highly publicised case which was considered a miscarriage of justice both at the time and later. Pole is known to have said that he would. never fear to call himself the son of a martyr, some 350 years later, in 1886, Margaret was beatified by Pope Leo XIII. Under some circumstances, that descent could have made Reginald – until he entered the clergy – a possible contender for the throne itself. Indeed, in 1535 Pole was considered by Eustace Chapuys, the Imperial ambassador to England, as a husband for Princess Mary. Pole was made a cardinal by Pope Paul III in 1536 and he also became Papal Legate to England in February 1536/1537
6.
Charles Borromeo
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Charles Borromeo was a cardinal who was archbishop of Milan from 1564 to 1584. Among the great reformers of the sixteenth century, Borromeo, with St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Philip Neri. He was a leading figure during the Counter-Reformation and was responsible for significant reforms in the Catholic Church and he is honoured as a saint in the Catholic Church and his feast day is November 4. Charles biography was written by three of his contemporaries, Agostino Valerio and Carlo Bascape, who wrote their contributions in Latin, and Pietro Giussanno. Father Giussannos account was the most detailed of the three, Charles was a descendant of nobility, the family of Borromeo was one of the most ancient and wealthy in Lombardy, made famous by several notable men, both in the church and state. The aristocratic Borromeo familys coat of arms included the Borromean rings, Charles father Gilbert was Count of Arona, his mother Margaret was a member of the Milan branch of the House of Medici. The third son in a family of six children, he was born in the castle of Arona on Lake Maggiore, thirty-six miles from Milan, Borromeo received the tonsure when he was about twelve years old. At this time his uncle, Julius Caesar Borromeo, turned over to him the income from the rich Benedictine abbey of Sts. Gratinian and Felin, one of the ancient perquisites of this noble family, the young man attended the University of Pavia, where he applied himself to the study of civil and canon law. Due to a slight impediment of speech, he was regarded as slow, yet his thoroughness, in 1554 his father died, and although he had an elder brother, Count Federico, he was requested by the family to take the management of their domestic affairs. After a time, he resumed his studies, and on 6 December 1559 he earned a doctorate in utroque iure, on 25 December 1559, his uncle, Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Medici, was raised to the pontificate as Pope Pius IV. The newly elected pope required his nephew Charles Borromeo to come to Rome, shortly thereafter, on 31 January 1560, the pope created him cardinal, and thus Charles as cardinal-nephew was entrusted with both the public and the privy seal of the ecclesiastical state. He was also entrusted in the government of the Papal States and appointed supervisor of the Franciscans, Carmelites, Charles committed to organize the third and last section of the Council of Trent, in 1562-63. He took a share in the creation of the Tridentine Catechism. In 1561, Borromeo founded and endowed a college at Pavia, today known as Almo Collegio Borromeo, on 19 November 1562, his older brother, Federico, suddenly died. His family urged Charles to leave the church to marry and have children, so that the name would not become extinct. Charles was appointed administrator of the Archdiocese of Milan on 7 February 1560, after his decision to put into practice the role of bishop, he decided to be ordained priest and on 7 December 1563 he was consecrated bishop in the Sistine Chapel by Cardinal Giovanni Serbelloni. Charles made his entry into Milan as archbishop on 23 September 1565
7.
Campagna
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Campagna is a small town and comune of the province of Salerno, in the Campania region of Southern Italy. In 2010 its population was 16,183, the town, located in a mountainous district, gradually lost importance in the 20th century. All its district offices have moved to other cities since the 1930s. During World War II, the Campagna was the site of an internment camp, much of this is documented in Elizabeth Bettinas book, It Happened in Italy. Other localities are Avigliano, Folcata, Oppidi-Varano, Saginara and SantAngelo, monte Carlo in the Principality of Monaco is Campagnas sister city
8.
Philip II of Spain
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Philip II of Spain, called the Prudent, was King of Spain, King of Portugal, King of Naples and Sicily, and jure uxoris King of England and Ireland. He was also Duke of Milan, from 1555, he was lord of the Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands. Known in Spain as Felipe el Prudente, his empire included territories on every continent then known to Europeans, during his reign, Spain reached the height of its influence and power. This is sometimes called the Golden Age, the expression, the empire on which the sun never sets, was coined during Philips time to reflect the extent of his dominion. During Philips reign there were separate state bankruptcies in 1557,1560,1569,1575 and this was partly the cause of the declaration of independence that created the Dutch Republic in 1581. The Ambassador went on to say He dresses very tastefully, the culture and courtly life of Spain were an important influence in his early life. He was tutored by Juan Martínez Siliceo, the future Archbishop of Toledo, Philip displayed reasonable aptitude in arms and letters alike. Later he would study with more illustrious tutors, including the humanist Juan Cristóbal Calvete de Estrella, though Philip had good command over Latin, Spanish, and Portuguese, he never managed to equal his father, Charles V, as a polyglot. While Philip was also a German archduke of the House of Habsburg, Philip felt himself to be culturally Spanish, he had been born in Spain and raised in the Castilian court, his native tongue was Spanish, and he preferred to live in Spain. This would ultimately impede his succession to the imperial throne, in April 1528, when Philip was eleven months old, he received the oath of allegiance as heir to the crown from the Cortes of Castile. Philip was also close to his two sisters, María and Juana, and to his two pages, the Portuguese nobleman Rui Gomes da Silva and Luis de Requesens, the son of his governor Juan de Zúñiga. These men would serve Philip throughout their lives, as would Antonio Pérez, Philips martial training was undertaken by his governor, Juan de Zúñiga, a Castilian nobleman who served as the commendador mayor of Castile. The practical lessons in warfare were overseen by the Duke of Alba during the Italian Wars, Philip was present at the Siege of Perpignan in 1542 but did not see action as the Spanish army under Alba decisively defeated the besieging French forces under the Dauphin of France. On his way back to Castile, Philip received the oath of allegiance of the Aragonese Cortes at Monzón. The king-emperors interactions with his son during his stay in Spain convinced him of Philips precocity in statesmanship, Philip, who had previously been made the Duke of Milan in 1540, began governing the most extensive empire in the world at the young age of sixteen. Charles left Philip with experienced advisors—notably the secretary Francisco de los Cobos, Philip was also left with extensive written instructions that emphasised piety, patience, modesty, and distrust. These principles of Charles were gradually assimilated by his son, who would grow up to become grave, self-possessed, personally, Philip spoke softly and had an icy self-mastery, in the words of one of his ministers, he had a smile that cut like a sword. After living in the Netherlands in the years of his reign
9.
Toledo, Spain
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Toledo is a city and municipality located in central Spain, it is the capital of the province of Toledo and the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986 for its cultural and monumental heritage and historical co-existence of Christian, Muslim. Toledo has a history in the production of bladed weapons, which are now popular souvenirs of the city, people who were born or have lived in Toledo include Brunhilda of Austrasia, Al-Zarqali, Garcilaso de la Vega, Eleanor of Toledo, Alfonso X and El Greco. It was also the place of important historic events such as the Visigothic Councils of Toledo, as of 2015, the city has a population of 83,226 and an area of 232.1 km2. The town was granted arms in the 16th century, which by special royal privilege was based on the royal of arms of Spain, Toledo is mentioned by the Roman historian Livy as urbs parva, sed loco munita. At that time, Toletum was a city of the Carpetani tribe and it was incorporated into the Roman Empire as a civitas stipendiaria, that is, a tributary city of non-citizens. It later achieved the status of municipium by Flavian times, with this status, city officials, even of Carpetani origin, obtained Roman citizenship for public service, and the forms of Roman law and politics were increasingly adopted. At approximately this time were constructed in Toletum a Roman circus, city walls, public baths, and a municipal water supply and storage system. The Roman circus in Toledo was one of the largest in Hispania, at 423 metres long and 100 metres wide, chariot races were held on special holidays and were also commissioned by private citizens to celebrate career achievements. A fragmentary stone inscription records circus games paid for by a citizen of unknown name to celebrate his achieving the sevirate, archaeologists have also identified portions of a special seat of the sort used by the city elites to attend circus games, called a sella curulis. The circus could hold up to 15000 spectators, during Roman times, Toledo was never a provincial capital nor a conventus iuridicus. It started to gain importance in late antiquity, there are indications that large private houses within the city walls were enlarged, while several large villas were built north of the city through the third and fourth centuries. Games were held in the circus into the fourth and early fifth centuries C. E. also an indication of active city life. A church council was held in Toledo in the year 400 to discuss the conflict with Priscillianism, a second council of Toledo was held in 527. The Visigothic king Theudis was in Toledo in 546, where he promulgated a law and this is strong though not certain evidence that Toledo was the chief residence for Theudis. King Athanagild died in Toledo, probably in 568 and this changed with Liuvigild, who brought the peninsula under his control. The Visigoths ruled from Toledo until the Moors conquered the Iberian peninsula in the years of 8th century. Today the historic center is pierced of basements, passages, wells, baths, a series of church councils was held in Toledo under the Visigoths
10.
Pope Gregory I
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Pope Saint Gregory I, commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great, was pope of the Catholic Church from 3 September 590 to his death in 604. Gregory is famous for instigating the first recorded large-scale mission from Rome to convert a pagan people to Christianity, Gregory is also well known for his writings, which were more prolific than those of any of his predecessors as pope. He is also known as the Great Visionary of Modern Educational System, for his writings, the epithet Saint Gregory the Dialogist has been attached to him in Eastern Christianity because of his Dialogues. For this reason, English translations of Eastern texts will sometimes list him as Gregory Dialogos or the Latinized equivalent Dialogus. A senators son and himself the Prefect of Rome at 30, Gregory tried the monastery but soon returned to public life, ending his life. Although he was the first pope from a background, his prior political experiences may have helped him to be a talented administrator. Gregory regained papal authority in Spain and France, and sent missionaries to England, the realignment of barbarian allegiance to Rome from their Arian Christian alliances shaped medieval Europe. Gregory saw Franks, Lombards, and Visigoths align with Rome in religion, throughout the Middle Ages he was known as the Father of Christian Worship because of his exceptional efforts in revising the Roman worship of his day. His contributions to the development of the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, Gregory is a Doctor of the Church and one of the Latin Fathers. He is considered a saint in the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, immediately after his death, Gregory was canonized by popular acclaim. The Protestant reformer John Calvin admired Gregory and declared in his Institutes that Gregory was the last good pope and he is the patron saint of musicians, singers, students, and teachers. The exact date of Gregorys birth is uncertain, but is estimated to be around the year 540. The medieval writer who provided this etymology did not hesitate to apply it to the life of Gregory, aelfric states, He was very diligent in Gods Commandments. Gregory was born into a wealthy patrician Roman family with connections to the church. Gregorys mother, Silvia, was well-born, and had a sister, Pateria. His mother and two aunts are honored by Catholic and Orthodox churches as saints. Gregorys great-great-grandfather had been Pope Felix III, the nominee of the Gothic king, Gregorys election to the throne of St Peter made his family the most distinguished clerical dynasty of the period. The family owned and resided in a villa suburbana on the Caelian Hill, the north of the street runs into the Colosseum, the south, the Circus Maximus
11.
Discalced Carmelites
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The Discalced Carmelites or Barefoot Carmelites is a Catholic mendicant order with roots in the eremitic tradition of the Desert Fathers and Mothers. The order was established in 1593, pursuant to the reform of the Carmelite Order of the Ancient Observance by two Spanish saints, Saint Teresa of Ávila and Saint John of the Cross, the Discalced Carmelite order is now known by the initials O. C. D. The older branch of the order, Carmelites of the Ancient Observance, has the initials O. Carm, the secular branch of the order, has the initials O. C. D. S. The Discalced Carmelites are men and women, in religious consecration and lay people, the Carmelite nuns live in cloistered monasteries and follow a completely contemplative life. The Carmelite friars while following a contemplative life also engage in the promotion of spirituality through their centres, parishes and churches. Lay people, known as the Secular Order, follow their contemplative call in their everyday activities, devotion to the Virgin Mary is a characteristic of Carmelites and is symbolised by wearing the brown scapular. Carmelites trace their roots and their name to Mount Carmel in the Holy Land, there, in the 13th century, a band of European men gathered together to live a simple life of prayer. Their first chapel was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary and they called themselves the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel. The first Carmelites came as pilgrims to Mount Carmel to live a solitary life-style and these early hermits were mostly laity, who lived an unofficial religious life of poverty, penance and prayer. Between 1206 and 1214, St. Albert, Patriarch of Jerusalem, brought the hermits on Mount Carmel together, at their request, into community. He wrote them a formula for living, which expressed their own intention and reflected the spirit of the pilgrimage to the Holy Land and they were also inspired by the prophet Elijah who had been associated with Mount Carmel. That influence can be seen by the words of Elijah, I have been zealous for the Lord. Within fifty years of receiving their rule the Carmelite hermits were forced to leave Mount Carmel, although Carmel itself contributed a number of gifted and respected humanists, the trend which started out as a good thing occasioned a general decline in religious fervor. This factor, coupled with the decimation of the population and severe economic hardships, had a demoralizing effect, many Carmelites and even whole communities succumbed to contemporary attitudes and conditions diametrically opposed to their original vocation. To meet this situation the Rule was mitigated several times, consequently, the Carmelites bore less and less resemblance to the first hermits of Mount Carmel. St. Teresa of Avila considered the surest way to prayer to be a return to the Primitive Rule embodying Carmels authentic vocation, on 24 August 1562, the new Convent of St. Joseph was founded. In addition to this, St. Teresa envisioned a fully dedicated to poverty. Working in close collaboration with St. Teresa was St. John of the Cross, the Discalced Carmelites were established as a separate province of the Carmelite Order by the decree Pia consideratione of Pope Gregory XIII on 22 June 1580
12.
Society of Jesus
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The Society of Jesus Latin, Societas Iesu, S. J. SJ or SI) is a religious congregation of the Catholic Church which originated in Spain. The society is engaged in evangelization and apostolic ministry in 112 nations on six continents, Jesuits work in education, intellectual research, and cultural pursuits. Jesuits also give retreats, minister in hospitals and parishes, and promote social justice, Ignatius of Loyola founded the society after being wounded in battle and experiencing a religious conversion. He composed the Spiritual Exercises to help others follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, ignatiuss plan of the orders organization was approved by Pope Paul III in 1540 by a bull containing the Formula of the Institute. Ignatius was a nobleman who had a background, and the members of the society were supposed to accept orders anywhere in the world. The Society participated in the Counter-Reformation and, later, in the implementation of the Second Vatican Council, the Society of Jesus is consecrated under the patronage of Madonna Della Strada, a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and it is led by a Superior General. The Society of Jesus on October 3,2016 announced that Superior General Adolfo Nicolás resignation was officially accepted, on October 14, the 36th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus elected Father Arturo Sosa as its thirty-first Superior General. The headquarters of the society, its General Curia, is in Rome, the historic curia of St. Ignatius is now part of the Collegio del Gesù attached to the Church of the Gesù, the Jesuit Mother Church. In 2013, Jorge Mario Bergoglio became the first Jesuit Pope, the Jesuits today form the largest single religious order of priests and brothers in the Catholic Church. As of 1 January 2015, Jesuits numbered 16,740,11,986 clerics regular,2,733 scholastics,1,268 brothers and 753 novices. In 2012, Mark Raper S. J. wrote, Our numbers have been in decline for the last 40 years—from over 30,000 in the 1960s to fewer than 18,000 today. The steep declines in Europe and North America and consistent decline in Latin America have not been offset by the significant increase in South Asia, the Society is divided into 83 Provinces with six Independent Regions and ten Dependent Regions. On 1 January 2007, members served in 112 nations on six continents with the largest number in India and their average age was 57.3 years,63.4 years for priests,29.9 years for scholastics, and 65.5 years for brothers. The current Superior General of the Jesuits is Arturo Sosa, the Society is characterized by its ministries in the fields of missionary work, human rights, social justice and, most notably, higher education. It operates colleges and universities in countries around the world and is particularly active in the Philippines. In the United States it maintains 28 colleges and universities and 58 high schools and he ensured that his formula was contained in two papal bulls signed by Pope Paul III in 1540 and by Pope Julius III in 1550. The formula expressed the nature, spirituality, community life and apostolate of the new religious order, the meeting is now commemorated in the Martyrium of Saint Denis, Montmartre
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton.
