1.
Pope John XXI
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Pope John XXI, born Peter Juliani, was Pope from 8 September 1276 to his death in 1277. Apart from Damasus I, he has been the only Portuguese pope and he is usually identified with the logician and herbalist Peter of Spain, which would make him the only pope to have been a physician. Pope John XXI was actually the 20th pope named John, pedro Julião was probably born in Lisbon between 1210 and 1220. He started his studies at the school of Lisbon Cathedral and later joined the University of Paris. Wherever he studied, he concentrated on medicine, theology, logic, physics, metaphysics and he is traditionally and usually identified with the medical author Peter of Spain, an important figure in the development of logic and pharmacology. Peter of Spain taught at the University of Siena in the 1240s, at the court in Lisbon, he was the councilor and spokesman for King Afonso III in church matters. Later, he became prior of Guimarães and he was Archdeacon of Vermoim in the Archdiocese of Braga. He tried to become bishop of Lisbon but was defeated, instead, he became the Master of the school of Lisbon. Peter became the physician of Pope Gregory X early in his reign, in March 1273 he was elected Archbishop of Braga, but did not assume that post, instead, on 3 June 1273, Pope Gregory X created him Cardinal Bishop of Tusculum. After the death of Pope Adrian V on 18 August 1276 and he was crowned a week later on 20 September. Though much of John XXIs brief papacy was dominated by the powerful Cardinal Giovanni Gaetano Orsini, John attempted to launch a crusade for the Holy Land, pushed for a union with the Eastern church, and did what he could to maintain peace between the Christian nations. He also launched a mission to convert the Tatars, but he died before it could start, to secure the necessary quiet for his medical studies, he had an apartment added to the papal palace at Viterbo, to which he could retire when he wished to work undisturbed. On 14 May 1277, while the pope was alone in this apartment, it collapsed, John was buried under the ruins and he was buried in the Duomo di Viterbo, where his tomb can still be seen. After his death, it was rumored that John XXI had actually been a necromancer and it was also said that his death had been an act of God, stopping him from completing a heretical treatise. Guiraud, J. and L. Cadier, Les registres de Grégoire X et de Jean XXI, walter, Fritz, Die Politik der Kurie unter Gregor X. Stapper, Richard, Papst Johannes XXI. Gregorovius, Ferdinand, History of Rome in the Middle Ages, Volume V. part 2, second edition, H. D. Sedgwick, Italy in the Thirteenth Century Volume II. Pietro Hispano papa Giovanni XXI, Rivista di storia della medicina 15, morceau, Joseph, Un pape portugais, Jean XXI, dénommé Pierre dEspagne, Teoresi 24, 391-407. Maxwell-Stuart, P. G. Chronicle of the Popes, The Reign-by-Reign Record of the Papacy from St. Peter to the Present, Thames & Hudson,2002, p.119
2.
Pope Martin IV
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Pope Martin IV, born Simon de Brion, was Pope from 22 February 1281 to his death in 1285. He was the last French Bishop of Rome to have held court in the Holy See, Simon de Brion, son of Jean, sieur de Brion, was born at the château of Meinpincien, Île-de-France, France, in the decade following 1210. He had a brother named Gilo, who was a knight in diocese of Sens, the seigneurial family of Brion, who took their name from Brion near Joigny, flourished in the Brie français. He spent time at the University of Paris, and is said to have studied law at Padua. Through papal favour he received a canonry at Saint-Quentin in 1238 and spent the period 1248–1259 as a canon of the chapter in Rouen. At the same time he was appointed treasurer of the church of St. Martin in Tours by King Louis IX of France, an office he held until he was elected pope in 1281. In 1255-1259, King Louis IX founded the French royal convent at Longchamps for the Poor Clares, the Kings sister Isabelle was the patroness, and Simon de Brion was the Guardian. In 1259, he was appointed to the council of the king and he became Chancellor of Louis IX of France. On December 17,1261, the new French Pope, Urban IV, made Chancellor de Brion cardinal-priest, Simons previous experience at the French Court made him the perfect choice as Legate. Cardinal Simon therefore returned to France as Papal Legate for Urban IV, in 1264, on the eve of S. Bartholomew, he held a general synod at Paris. He was appointed again, by Pope Gregory X on 1 August 1274 and his first task was to raise support and money for a Crusade against Manfred, the Hohenstaufen candidate for the Imperial Crown. He immediately became involved in the negotiations for papal support for the assumption of the crown of Sicily by Charles of Anjou. As Legate he presided over several synods on reform, and on the raising of funds for Pope Gregorys crusade, the most important of these was held at Bourges on 13 September 1276. Signatures on papal bulls indicate that Cardinal Simon was back in Viterbo by 11 January 1268. In a letter of 14 or 15 January 1268, Pope Clement IV wrote to Cardinal Simon de Brion that he had heard that the Cardinal had fallen from his horse and he also wrote that Conradin and Ludwig Duke of Bavaria were at Verona, and were pressing for Pavia. Cardinal Simons injury must not have severe, since, on April 3,1268. In vetting names, Simon seemed the most suitable, Pope Clement IV fell ill on the Feast of S. Cecilia, and died at Viterbo on 29 November 1268. He had governed the Church for three years, nine months, and twenty-four days, the See of Peter was vacant for two years and nine months
3.
Pope Innocent IV
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Pope Innocent IV, born Sinibaldo Fieschi, was Pope of the Catholic Church from 25 June 1243 to his death in 1254. Born in Genoa in an year, Sinibaldo was the son of Beatrice Grillo and Ugo Fieschi. The Fieschi were a merchant family of Liguria. Sinibaldo received his education at the universities of Parma and Bologna and, for a time and it is pointed out by Agostino Paravicini-Bagliani, however, that there is no documentary evidence of such a professorship. From 1216-1227 he was Canon of the Cathedral of Parma and he was considered one of the best canonists of his time, and was called to serve Pope Honorius III in the Roman Curia as Auditor causarum, from 11 November 1226 to 30 May 1227. He was then promoted to the office of Vice-Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church, though he retained the office, Vice-Chancellor Sinibaldo Fieschi was created Cardinal Priest of San Lorenzo in Lucina on 18 September 1227 by Pope Gregory IX. He later served as governor of the March of Ancona. It is widely repeated, from the 17th century on, that he became bishop of Albenga in 1235, Innocents immediate predecessor was Pope Celestine IV, elected 25 October 1241, whose reign lasted a mere fifteen days. The two prelates remained incarcerated and missed the conclave that immediately elected Celestine, the conclave that reconvened after his death fell into camps supporting contradictory policies about how to treat with the emperor. After a year and a half of debate and coercion. Cardinal de Fieschi very reluctantly accepted election as Pope 25 June 1243, as Cardinal de Fieschi, Sinibaldo had been on friendly terms with Frederick, even after his excommunication. The Emperor also greatly admired the cardinals wisdom, having enjoyed discussions with him from time to time, following the election the witty Frederick remarked that he had lost the friendship of a cardinal but made up for it by gaining the enmity of a pope. Negotiations leading to this objective began shortly afterwards, but proved abortive, the Emperors machinations caused a good deal of anti-papal feeling to rise in Italy, particularly in the Papal States, and imperial agents encouraged plots against papal rule. Realizing how untenable his position in Rome was growing, Innocent IV secretly and hurriedly withdrew, traveling in disguise, Innocent made his way to Sutri and Civitavecchia, to Genoa, his birthplace, where he arrived on 7 July. From there, on 5 October, he fled to France, making his way to Lyon, where he arrived on November 29,1244, Innocent was happily greeted by the magistrates of the city. The bishops met for three sessions,28 June,5 July, and 17 July 1245. Their principal business was to subjugate the Emperor Frederick II, Gregory IX, had issued letters on 9 June 1239, ordering all the bishops of France to confiscate all Talmuds in the possession of the Jews. Agents were to raid each synagogue on the first Saturday of Lent of 1240, the Bishop of Paris was ordered to see to it that copies of the Popes mandate reached all the bishops of France, England, Aragon, Navarre, Castile and León, and Portugal
4.
Rome
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Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is also the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents, the city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber. Romes history spans more than 2,500 years, while Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at only around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The citys early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and it was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy. Rome is also called the Caput Mundi, due to that, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Italian Renaissance, and then the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism. Famous artists, painters, sculptors and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, in 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic. Rome has the status of a global city, Rome ranked in 2014 as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, monuments and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are among the worlds most visited tourist destinations with both locations receiving millions of tourists a year. Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is the seat of United Nations Food, however, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 4th century, there have been alternate theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools, pottery and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the age and the beginning of the Iron age. However, none of them had yet an urban quality, nowadays, there is a wide consensus that the city was gradually born through the aggregation of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. All these happenings, which according to the excavations took place more or less around the mid of the 8th century BC. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome has been indeed founded with an act of will as the legend suggests in the middle of the 8th century BC remains a fringe hypothesis. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth
5.
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
6.
Viterbo
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See also Viterbo, Texas and Viterbo University. For the municipality in Colombia, see Viterbo, Caldas Viterbo listen is an ancient city and comune in the Lazio region of central Italy and it conquered and absorbed the neighboring town of Ferento in its early history. It is approximately 80 kilometres north of GRA on the Via Cassia, the historic center of the city is surrounded by medieval walls, still intact, built during the 11th and 12th centuries. Entrance to the center of the city is through ancient gates. Apart from agriculture, the resources of Viterbos area are pottery, marble. The town is home to the Italian gold reserves, an important Academy of Fine Arts, the University of Tuscia, and it is located in a wide thermal area, attracting many tourists from the whole of central Italy. The first report of the new city dates to the eighth century CE and it was fortified in 773 by the Lombard King Desiderius in his vain attempt to conquer Rome. In 1164, Frederick Barbarossa made Viterbo the seat of his antipope Paschal III, three years later he gave it the title of city and used its militias against Rome. In 1172, Viterbo started its expansion, destroying the old city of Ferento, in this age it was a rich and prosperous comune, one of the most important of Central Italy, with a population of almost 60,000. In 1207, Pope Innocent III held a council in the cathedral, in 1210, however, Viterbo managed to defeat Emperor Otto IV and was again at war against Rome. In the thirteenth century it was ruled alternately by the tyrants of the Gatti, Frederick II drew Viterbo to the Ghibelline side in 1240, but when the citizens expelled his turbulent German troops in 1243 he returned and besieged the city, but in vain. From that point Viterbo was always a loyal Guelph city, between 1257 and 1261 it was the seat of Pope Alexander IV, who also died there. His successor Urban IV was elected in Viterbo, in 1266–1268, Clement IV chose Viterbo as the base of his ruthless fight against the Hohenstaufen. Here, from the loggia of the palace, he excommunicated the army of Conradin of Swabia which was passing on the Via Cassia. Other popes elected in Viterbo were Gregory X and John XXI, Nicholas III and they were subsequently excommunicated, and the popes avoided Viterbo for 86 years. Without the popes, the city fell into the hands of the Di Vicos, in the fourteenth century, Giovanni di Vico had created a seignory extending to Civitavecchia, Tarquinia, Bolsena, Orvieto, Todi, Narni and Amelia. His dominion was crushed by Cardinal Gil de Albornoz in 1354, sent by the Avignonese popes to recover the Papal States, but Pope Boniface IXs troops drove him away in 1396 and established a firm papal suzerainty over the city. The last Di Vico to hold power in Viterbo was Giacomo, thenceforth Viterbo became a city of secondary importance, following the vicissitudes of the Papal States
7.
San Nicola in Carcere
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San Nicola in Carcere is a titular church in Rome near the Forum Boarium in rione SantAngelo. It is one of the stational churches of Lent. The inscriptions found in S. Angelo, a valuable source illustrating the history of the Basilica, have collected and published by Vincenzo Forcella. It was constructed in and from the ruins of the Forum Holitorium and its temples, however, the in Carcere part of the name of the church was only changed to in Carcere Tulliano in the 14th century, owing to an erroneous identification. The prison was really that of Byzantine times, the columns of the Temple of Janus, dedicated by Gaius Duilius after his naval victory at the Battle of Mylae in 260 BC, can still be seen as being incorporated into the wall of the church. The dedication to St Nicholas was made by the Greek population in the area, in the 11th century, it was known as the church of Petrus Leonis, referring to the converted Jewish family, the Pierleoni, who rebuilt the nearby Theatre of Marcellus as a fortress. One of their members, Pietro Pierleone, was an important cardinal in the 1120s and was elected Pope Anacletus II, the church was rebuilt in 1599, with a new facade by Giacomo della Porta. Stairs under the lead to the crypt and to the base of the former Roman temples. Beneath the high altar is also an ancient basalt bath tub containing martyrs relics, franco Astolfi, I templi di San Nicola in Carcere. Giovanni Battista Proja, San Nicola in Carcere, Vincenzo Golzio, San Nicola in Carcere e i tre templi del Foro Olitorio. Spherical panorama of the church interior Underground ruins
8.
St. Peter's Basilica
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The Papal Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican, or simply St. Peters Basilica, is an Italian Renaissance church in Vatican City, the papal enclave within the city of Rome. While it is neither the church of the Catholic Church nor the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome. It has been described as holding a position in the Christian world. Catholic tradition holds that the Basilica is the site of Saint Peter, one of Christs Apostles. Saint Peters tomb is supposedly directly below the altar of the Basilica. For this reason, many Popes have been interred at St. Peters since the Early Christian period, construction of the present basilica, which would replace Old St. Peters Basilica from the 4th century AD, began on 18 April 1506 and was completed on 18 November 1626. St. Peters is famous as a place of pilgrimage and for its liturgical functions. The Pope presides at a number of liturgies throughout the year, drawing audiences of 15,000 to over 80,000 people, either within the Basilica or the adjoining St. Peters Square. St. Peters has many associations, with the Early Christian Church, the Papacy. As a work of architecture, it is regarded as the greatest building of its age, St. Peters is one of the four churches in the world that hold the rank of Major Basilica, all four of which are in Rome. Contrary to popular misconception, it is not a cathedral because it is not the seat of a bishop, St. Peters is a church built in the Renaissance style located in the Vatican City west of the River Tiber and near the Janiculum Hill and Hadrians Mausoleum. Its central dome dominates the skyline of Rome, the basilica is approached via St. Peters Square, a forecourt in two sections, both surrounded by tall colonnades. The first space is oval and the second trapezoid, the basilica is cruciform in shape, with an elongated nave in the Latin cross form but the early designs were for a centrally planned structure and this is still in evidence in the architecture. The central space is dominated both externally and internally by one of the largest domes in the world, the entrance is through a narthex, or entrance hall, which stretches across the building. One of the bronze doors leading from the narthex is the Holy Door. The interior is of vast dimensions when compared with other churches and this in its turn overwhelms us. The nave which leads to the dome is in three bays, with piers supporting a barrel-vault, the highest of any church. The nave is framed by wide aisles which have a number of chapels off them, there are also chapels surrounding the dome
9.
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
10.
Franciscans
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The Franciscans are a group of related mendicant religious orders within the Catholic Church, founded in 1209 by Francis of Assisi. These orders include the Order of Friars Minor, the Order of Saint Clare, Francis began preaching around 1207 and traveled to Rome to seek approval from the Pope in 1209. The original Rule of Saint Francis approved by the Pope disallowed ownership of property, the austerity was meant to emulate the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Franciscans traveled and preached in the streets, while boarding in church properties, Saint Clare, under Franciss guidance, founded the Poor Clares in 1212, which remains a Second Order of the Franciscans. The extreme poverty required of members was relaxed in final revision of the Rule in 1223, the degree of observance required of members remained a major source of conflict within the order, resulting in numerous secessions. The Order of Friars Minor, previously known as the Observant branch, is one of the three Franciscan First Orders within the Catholic Church, the others being the Capuchins and Conventuals. The Order of Friars Minor, in its current form, is the result of an amalgamation of smaller orders completed in 1897 by Pope Leo XIII. The latter two, the Capuchin and Conventual, remain distinct religious institutes within the Catholic Church, observing the Rule of Saint Francis with different emphases, Franciscans are sometimes referred to as minorites or greyfriars because of their habit. In Poland and Lithuania they are known as Bernardines, after Bernardino of Siena, the name of original order, Friars Minor, means lesser brothers, and stems from Francis of Assisis rejection of extravagance. Francis was the son of a cloth merchant, but gave up his wealth to pursue his faith more fully. Francis adopted of the tunic worn by peasants as the religious habit for his order. Those who joined him became the original Order of Friars Minor and they all live according to a body of regulations known as the Rule of St Francis. First Order The First Order or the Order of Friars Minor are commonly called simply the Franciscans and this Order is a mendicant religious order of men, some of whom trace their origin to Francis of Assisi. Their official Latin name is the Ordo Fratrum Minorum, St. Francis thus referred to his followers as Fraticelli, meaning Little Brothers. Franciscan brothers are informally called friars or the Minorites and they all live according to a body of regulations known as the Rule of St Francis. These are The Order of Friars Minor, known as the Observants, most commonly simply called Franciscan friars, official name, the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin or simply Capuchins, official name, Friars Minor Capuchin. The Conventual Franciscans or Minorites, official name, Friars Minor Conventual, Second Order The Second Order, most commonly called Poor Clares in English-speaking countries, consists of religious sisters. The order is called the Order of St. Clare, but in the century, prior to 1263, this order was referred to as The Poor Ladies, The Poor Enclosed Nuns
11.
Pope Alexander IV
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Pope Alexander IV was Pope from 12 December 1254 to his death in 1261. Born as Rinaldo di Jenne in Jenne, he was, on his mothers side, a member of the family de Conti di Segni, the counts of Segni, like Pope Innocent III and Pope Gregory IX. His uncle Gregory IX made him deacon and Protector of the Order of Franciscans in 1227, Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church from 1227 until 1231. He became Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals in 1244, on the death of Pope Innocent IV in 1254 he was elected pope at Naples on 12 December 1254. Alexander IV threatened excommunication and interdict against the party of Manfred without effect, nor could he enlist the kings of England and Norway in a crusade against the Hohenstaufens. Rome itself became too Ghibelline for the Pope, who withdrew to Viterbo and he was buried in Viterbo Cathedral, but his tomb was destroyed during sixteenth-century renovations. On 26 September 1255, Alexander IV canonized S. Clare of Assisi and he also confirmed, on 29 October 1255, in the Bull Benigna Operatio, the reality of the stigmata attributed to S. Francis of Assisi. On 14 May 1254, shortly before his death, Innocent IV had granted Sicily, nicolaus de Curbio, OFM, Vita Innocentii Papae IV, Ludovico Antonio Muratori, Rerum Italicarum Scriptores Tomus Tertius pp. 592–592e. Bernardus Guidonis, Vita Alexandri Papae IV, Ludovico Antonio Muratori, alexis François Artaud de Montor, Histoire des souverains Pontifes Romains Tome III, pp. 1–11. Augustinus Theiner, Caesaris S. R. E. Cardinalis Baronii, laderchii Annales Ecclesiastici Tomus Vigesimus Primus 1229-1256. August Karst, Geschichte Manfreds vom Tode Friedrichs II, bourel de la Roncière Les Registres d Alexandre IV Tome premier. F. Gregorovius, History of Rome in the Middle Ages, Volume V.2 second edition, revised Book X, Chapter 1, pp. 335–358. F. Tenckhoff, Papst Alexander IV. S. Andreotta, La famiglia di Alessandro IV e labbazia di Subiaco, rodríguez de Lama, La documentación pontificia de Alejandro IV. Raoul Manselli, Alessandro IV, Dizionario dei Papi. The Crusades, c.1071 – c, herbermann, Charles, ed. Pope Alexander IV. Attribution This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh
12.
Grand Inquisitor
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Grand Inquisitor was the lead official of the Inquisition. The title usually refers to the inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition. Secretaries-general of the Roman Inquisition were often styled as Grand Inquisitor but the role, the most famous Inquisitor General was the Spanish Dominican Tomás de Torquemada, who spearheaded the Spanish Inquisition. Council of Inquisition, List of Grand Inquisitors
13.
Pope Urban IV
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Pope Urban IV, born Jacques Pantaléon, was Pope from 29 August 1261 to his death in 1264. He was not a cardinal, only a few popes since his time have not been Cardinals, including Gregory X, Urban V, Urban IV was the son of a cobbler of Troyes, France. He studied theology and common law in Paris and was appointed a canon of Laon, at the First Council of Lyon he attracted the attention of Pope Innocent IV, who sent him on two missions in Germany. One of the missions was to negotiate the Treaty of Christburg between the pagan Prussians and the Teutonic Knights and he became Bishop of Verdun in 1253. In 1255, Pope Alexander IV made him Patriarch of Jerusalem and he had returned from Jerusalem, which was in dire straits, and was at Viterbo seeking help for the oppressed Christians in the East when Alexander IV died. After a three-month vacancy, Pantaléon was chosen by the eight cardinals of the Sacred College to succeed him in an election that concluded on 29 August 1261. He chose the name of Urban IV. Urban IV endeavoured without success to stir up a crusade to restore the Latin Empire, Urbain initiated construction of the Basilica of St. Urbain, Troyes, in 1262. The festival of Corpus Christi was instituted by Urban IV on August 11,1264, Urban asked Thomas Aquinas, the Dominican theologian, to write the texts for the Mass and Office of the feast. This included such famous hymns as the Pange lingua, Tantum ergo, frederick IIs heir Manfred was immersed in these struggles. Urban IVs military captain was the condottiere Azzo dEste, nominally at the head of a league of cities that included Mantua. Charles was Count of Provence by right of his wife, maintaining a base for projecting what would be an expensive Italian war. For two years Urban IV negotiated with Manfred regarding whether Manfred would aid the Latins in regaining Constantinople in return for confirmation of the Hohenstaufen rights in the realm. Before the arrival in Italy of his candidate Charles, Urban IV died at Perugia on 2 October 1264 and his successor was Pope Clement IV, who immediately took up the papal side of the arrangement. Tannhäuser, a prominent German Minnesänger and poet, was a contemporary of Pope Urban IV—the pope died in 1264, and the Minnesänger died shortly after 1265. Two centuries later, the became a major character in a legend which grew up about the Minnesänger. The legendary account makes Tannhäuser a knight and poet who found the Venusberg, the home of Venus. After leaving the Venusberg, Tannhäuser is filled with remorse and travels to Rome to ask Pope Urban IV if it is possible to be absolved of his sins, Urban replies that forgiveness is as impossible as it would be for his papal staff to send forth green leaves
14.
Holy See
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The Holy See, also referred to as the See of Rome, is the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, the episcopal see of the Pope, and an independent sovereign entity. It serves as the point of reference for the Catholic Church everywhere. Today, it is responsible for the governance of all Catholics, organised in their Particular Churches, Patriarchates, as an independent sovereign entity, holding the Vatican City enclave in Rome as sovereign territory, it maintains diplomatic relations with other states. Diplomatically, the Holy See acts and speaks for the whole church and it is also recognised by other subjects of international law as a sovereign entity, headed by the Pope, with which diplomatic relations can be maintained. The creation of the Vatican City state was meant to ensure the diplomatic, in Greek, the adjective holy or sacred is constantly applied to all such sees as a matter of course. The word see comes from the Latin word sedes, meaning seat, while Saint Peters basilica in Vatican City is perhaps the church most associated with the Papacy, the actual cathedral of the Holy See is the church of Saint John Lateran within the city of Rome. The Pope governs the Catholic Church through the Roman Curia, the Secretariat of State, under the Cardinal Secretary of State, directs and coordinates the Curia. The incumbent, Archbishop Pietro Parolin, is the Sees equivalent of a prime minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Secretary of the Section for Relations with States of the Secretariat of State, acts as the Holy Sees minister of foreign affairs. Parolin was named in his role by Pope Francis On 31 August 2013, mamberti was named in his role by Pope Benedict XVI in September 2006. The Secretariat of State is the body of the Curia that is situated within Vatican City. The others are in buildings in different parts of Rome that have rights similar to those of embassies. The Roman Rota handles normal judicial appeals, the most numerous being those that concern alleged nullity of marriage and it also oversees the work of other ecclesiastical tribunals at all levels. The most important of these is the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, the Prefecture of the Papal Household is responsible for the organization of the papal household, audiences, and ceremonies. The Holy See does not dissolve upon a Popes death or resignation and it instead operates under a different set of laws sede vacante. The government of the See, and therefore of the Catholic Church, canon law prohibits the College and the Camerlengo from introducing any innovations or novelties in the government of the Church during this period. In 2001, the Holy See had a revenue of 422.098 billion Italian lire, the Guardian newspaper described Mennini and his role in the following manner. Paolo Mennini, who is in effect the popes merchant banker, Mennini heads a special unit inside the Vatican called the extraordinary division of APSA – Amministrazione del Patrimonio della Sede Apostolica – which handles the patrimony of the Holy See. The Holy See has been recognized, both in practice and in the writing of modern legal scholars, as a subject of public international law, with rights
15.
Papal election, 1277
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After six months of deliberation, the cardinals eventually elected their most senior member Giovanni Gaetano Orsini as Pope Nicholas III. From the end of the election until Nicholas IIIs first consistory on March 12,1278, initially, the cardinals met only once a day for balloting and returned to their respective habitations after the scrutinies. For two months, voting proceeded uneventfully along national lines with the French and Roman cardinals evenly divided, after six months the impatient magistrates of Viterbo locked the cardinals in the town hall. Konrad Eubel, Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi, vol
16.
Orsini family
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The Orsini family is an Italian noble family, it was one of the most influential princely families in medieval Italy and renaissance Rome. Members of the Orsini include popes Celestine III, Nicholas III, according to their family legend, the Orsini are descended from the Julio-Claudian family of ancient Rome. This is fanciful, as is the connection to the German families of Anhalt, Baden. The Orsini were related to the Boboni family existing in Rome in the 11th century, the first members always used the surname of Boboni-Orsini. The first known member is one Bobone, in the early 11th century, father of Pietro, in turn father of Giacinto dei Boboni. The Boboni surname was lost with his children, who were called de domo filiorum Ursi, two of them, Napoleone and Matteo Rosso the Great considerably increased the prestige of the family. The former was the founder of the first southern line, which disappeared with Camillo Pardo in 1553 and he obtained the city of Manoppello, later a countship, and was gonfaloniere of the Papal States. Matteo Rosso, called the Great, was the lord of Rome from 1241. Two of his sons and Napoleone were also Senators, Matteo ousted the traditional rivals, the Colonna, from Rome and extended the Orsini territories southwards up to Avellino and northwards to Pitigliano. During his life the family entered firmly in the Guelph party, the most distinguished of his sons was Giovanni Gaetano, elected pope as Nicholas III, he named the nephew Bertoldo as count of Romagna and had two nephews and a brother created cardinals. The rise of the Orsini did not stop after Nicholas death, bertoldos son, Gentile II, was two times Senator of Rome, podestà of Viterbo and, from 1314, Gran Giustiziere of the Kingdom of Naples. He married Clarice Ruffo, daughter of the counts of Catanzaro and his son Romano, called Romanello, was Royal Vicar of Rome in 1326, and inherited the countship of Soana through his marriage with Anastasia de Montfort, Countess of Nola. After his death, his two sons divided his fiefs, forming the Pitigliano and the southern line. Roberto, Gentile IIs grandson, married Sibilla del Balzo, daughter of the Great Senechal of the Kingdom of Naples, among his sons, Giacomo was created cardinal by Gregory XI in 1371, while Nicola obtained the counties of Ariano and Celano. The latter was also Senator of Rome and enlarged the territories in Lazio. His second son, Raimondello Orsini del Balzo, supported Charles III coup détat in Naples against Queen Joan I, under king Ladislaus he was among the few Neapolitan feudataries who were able to maintain their territorial power after the royal war against them. However, at his death in 1406 the southern Orsini fiefs were confiscated, the links with the court increased further under Sergianni Caracciolo, Joans lover and Great Senechal. A younger brother of Giannantonio married one of Sergiannis daughters, however, the Orsini changed side when Alfonso V of Aragon started his conquest of the Kingdom of Naples
17.
Caetani
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Caetani, or Gaetani, is the name of an Italian noble family which played a great part in the history of Pisa and of Rome, principally via their close links to the papacy. The Caetani, or Gaetani family has Roman and Gothic origins, according to family tradition they were descendants of the Dukes of Gaeta, and traced their maternal ancestry to the Roman gens Anicia through the Counts of Tusculum. The founder of the house was Marinus I, Duke of Fondi, son of Docibilis II of Gaeta and his successor was Constantine, who took the name Cagetanus and ruled in the latter half of the 10th century. In the late century, a descendant of his, Crescentius, was duke. This Crescentius was the father of two people, his successor, Marinus, and his son John from Pisa, who was Pope Gelasius II. Marinus was succeeded by his son Crescentius, who defended his uncle the pope resolutely from imperialist attacks. The pope conferred on them the fiefs of Sermoneta, Bassiano, Ninfa and San Donato, the Caetani proved brave warriors and formed a bodyguard to protect Boniface VIII from his many foes. During the 14th and 15th centuries their feuds with the Colonna caused frequent disturbances in Rome and the Campagna, sometimes amounting to civil war. In 1500 Pope Alexander VI, in his attempt to crush the great Roman feudal nobility, confiscated the Caetani fiefs and gave them to his daughter Lucrezia Borgia, until this century, there were two lines of the Caetani family - Caetani and Gaetani DellAquila dAragona. The Caetani family has died out. In 1642, Francesco, the 7th Duke of Sermoneta, acquired by marriage the county of Caserta and his son Gelasio Caetani rose to fame during the First World War as a military mining engineer. His niece Topazia married the composer Igor Markevitch and was the mother of the conductor Oleg Caetani, who uses his mothers surname without, however, being a member of the Italian noble family. Gaetani dellAquila dAragona, Princes of Piedimonte, and Dukes of Laurenzana, founded by Onorato Gaetani dellAquila, Dount of Fondi, Traetto, Alife and Morcone, Lord of Piedimonte and Gioia, in 1454. The additional surname of Aragona was assumed after the marriage of Onorato Gaetani, Duke of Traetto, with Lucrezia of Aragon, natural daughter of King Ferdinand I of Naples. The duchy of Laurenzana, in the kingdom of Naples, was acquired by Alfonso Gaetani by his marriage in 1606 with Giulia di Ruggiero, the lordship of Piedimonte was raised to a principality in 1715. The family is represented by Don Ferdinando Gaetani DellAquilla DAragona, Prince of Piedimonte and Duke of Laurenzana. Original 1922 Almanach de Gotha entry for the Caetani family, link to the original universally-recognised genealogical reference document, with details of family honours
18.
Vicovaro
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Vicovaro is a comune in the Metropolitan City of Rome in the Italian region Lazio, located about 45 kilometres northeast of Rome. The area of Vicovaro was inhabited as early as the Neolithic, during the Roman domination, it was known as Vicus Varronis, Vicus Vari or Vicus Valerius. In the 13th century it was a fief of the Orsini, palazzo Cenci Bolognetti, a former residence of the Orsini. It includes parts of a rocca with cylindrical towers, remains of the keep, church of San Giacomo, commissioned by Giovanni Antonio Orsini to Giovanni Dalmata and others. Church of San Pietro Monastery of San Cosimato Varia
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Nettuno
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Nettuno is a town and comune of the Metropolitan City of Rome in the Lazio region of central Italy,60 kilometres south of Rome. A resort city and agricultural center on the Tyrrhenian Sea, in the Mediterranean Sea it has a population of approximately 46,000 and its name is perhaps in honour of the Roman god Neptune. It has a touristic harbour hosting about 860 boats and a shopping center, there is also an extensive yacht club. Nettuno is the city of the D. O. C, Nettuno is one stop south of Anzio on the local train from Rome. According to a theory, the town would be a survival of the Roman Antium. Giuseppe Tomassetti considered Nettuno the real heir and continuer settlement of the ancient Antiates, instead Beatrice Cacciotti doubted about an ancient and not medieval origin of the town. Indeed, Nettuno and nearby Anzio were the theatre of an Allied forces landing and the ensuing Anzio-Nettuno battle during World War II, American forces were surrounded by Germans in the caves of Pozzoli in February 1944 for a week, suffering heavy casualties. Nettuno is a popular tourist destination, Nettuno is also a center of pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint Maria Goretti, in which a crypt houses the mortal remains of the saint. The church keeps also a priceless polychromed wooden statue of Our Lady of Grace and it was originally Our Lady of Ipswich, although it left England after the Reformation. The privately owned Villa Costaguti-Borghese at Nettuno, built 1648, has gardens in a landscape park designed about 1840. The Borghese Gladiator was discovered at Nettuno, at the north edge of town is the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery and Memorial, where over 7,800 U. S. soldiers are buried. Nettuno Baseball Club is one of the most important Italian baseball teams, Baseball was taught to the local people by American soldiers after their landing in World War II
20.
Bomarzo
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Bomarzo is a town and comune of the province of Viterbo, in the lower valley of the Tiber. It is located 14.5 kilometres east-northeast of Viterbo and 68 kilometres north-northwest of Rome, the citys current name is a derivation of Polymartium, first mentioned in the Historia Langobardorum by Paulus Diaconus. The etymology polis martium, city of Mars, suggests a Roman origin, however, archeological evidence for a Roman city has not been found so far. It was a fiefdom of the Orsini family, whose castle is at the edge of the densely built town. Lante was elevated to the title of Duke of Bomarzo, a bishopric was established around 400 AD, which in 700 gained territory from the suppressed Diocese of Ferento. In 1015, it was suppressed and its territory transferred to the Diocese of Bagnoregio, the bishopric was nominally restored as a titular see in 1969. It is the work of Pier Francesco Orsini, called Vicino, a condottiero or mercenary and he was greatly devoted to his wife Giulia Farnese, daughter of Galeazzo Farnese, Duke of Latera, and when she died, he created the gardens. The design has been attributed to Pirro Ligorio, a known architect. The many monstrous statues appear to be unconnected to any rational plan and appear to have been strewn almost randomly about the area, enigmatic verses in Italian by Annibale Caro, Bitussi and Cristoforo Madruzzo, some of them now eroded, were inscribed onto stone beside the sculptures. Next to an exedra is a tilting building, the so-called Casa Storta or Twisted House. A small octagonal temple was added about twenty years later to honor Orsinis wife, in recent years, a number of the stone sculptures have had fences put around them. The surreal nature of the Parco dei Mostri appealed to Jean Cocteau and the great surrealist Salvador Dalí, the poet André Pieyre de Mandiargues wrote an essay devoted to Bomarzo. Niki de Saint Phalle was inspired by Bomarzo when she created her Tarot Garden in Tuscany, the story behind Bomarzo and the life of Pier Francesco Orsini are the subject of a novel by the Argentinian writer Manuel Mujica Láinez, Bomarzo. Mujica Láinez himself wrote a libretto based on his novel, which was set to music by Alberto Ginastera, the opera Bomarzo premièred in Washington in 1967 but in Argentina it was banned by the military dictatorship. The Dutch magic-surrealist painter Carel Willink used several of the statue groups in his paintings, including The Eternal Cry. A mystery novel by Linda Lappin, Signatures in Stone, investigates the symbolism of the Sacred Grove, its relation to the myth of Persephone, arbeiten von Werner Engelmann und ethnographische Objekte im Vergleich. Herausgegeben von Werner Engelmann und Bruno J. Richtsfeld, münchen 1989, S.18 -36. E. Berger Foundation, Bomarzo Bomarzo gallery Gorgeous Grotesques, by Paula de la Cruz, GARDEN DESIGN, Nov/Dec 2009
21.
Nerola
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Nerola is a town and comune of the Metropolitan City of Rome, Latium, Italy. The name Nerola is probably derived from the Sabine word nero or nerio, in the site traces of a Roman era villa have been found, which legend attributes as belonging to Nero himself. Within the comune is the frazione of Acquaviva, on the ancient Via Salaria, no longer a residential bishopric, Aquaviva is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see. At the end of the 12th century, the fiefdom was granted to the Orsini family, at the end of the 15th century, the castle was subsequently reinforced with strong towers and other defensive fortifications around the village. Near the castle, the chiesa vecchia was built in 1483, in 1867, the castle was occupied by a contingent of partisans of Giuseppe Garibaldi who were fighting against papal troops. Since passing to Marquis Ferrari-Frey in 1939, the castle has been restored and now houses a hotel
22.
Monterotondo
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Monterotondo is a town and comune in the Metropolitan City of Rome, central Italy. According to some historians, Monterotondo is the heir of ancient Sabine town of Eretum, the name derives from the medieval corruption of the original Mons Eretum. In the Middle Ages, due to its location across the Via Salaria, initially under the Capocci family, it was sold in the 12th century to the Orsini, who held it until the 18th century. In 1432 it was seized by the condottiero Niccolò Fortebraccio, in 1634 the Barberini acquired the town, restoring or enlarging several edifices, and building the Cathedral. On 28 April 1864 the Rome and Monterotondo Rail Road was opened for service, in 1943, after the Italian armistice with the Allies,800 German paratroopers tried unsuccessfully to reconquer it. The Baroque Duomo Church of Madonna delle Grazie Palazzo Orsini, including frescoes by Girolamo Siciolante, archaeological museum, with remains from Eretum, Crustumerium and Nomentum
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Roman Senate
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The Roman Senate was a political institution in ancient Rome. It was one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, during the days of the kingdom, it was little more than an advisory council to the king. The last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, was following a coup détat led by Lucius Junius Brutus. During the early Republic, the Senate was politically weak, while the executive magistrates were quite powerful, since the transition from monarchy to constitutional rule was most likely gradual, it took several generations before the Senate was able to assert itself over the executive magistrates. By the middle Republic, the Senate had reached the apex of its republican power, the late Republic saw a decline in the Senates power, which began following the reforms of the tribunes Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus. After the transition of the Republic into the Principate, the Senate lost much of its power as well as its prestige. Following the constitutional reforms of the Emperor Diocletian, the Senate became politically irrelevant, when the seat of government was transferred out of Rome, the Senate was reduced to a municipal body. This decline in status was reinforced when the emperor Constantine the Great created an additional senate in Constantinople, the Senate in Rome ultimately disappeared at some point after AD603, although the title senator was still used well into the Middle Ages as a largely meaningless honorific. However, the Eastern Senate survived in Constantinople, until the ancient institution finally vanished there c. 14th century, the senate was a political institution in the ancient Roman kingdom. The word senate derives from the Latin word senex, which means old man, the early Roman family was called a gens or clan, and each clan was an aggregation of families under a common living male patriarch, called a pater. When the early Roman gentes were aggregating to form a common community, over time, the patres came to recognize the need for a single leader, and so they elected a king, and vested in him their sovereign power. When the king died, that power naturally reverted to the patres. The senate is said to have created by Romes first king, Romulus. The descendants of those 100 men subsequently became the patrician class, Romes fifth king, Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, chose a further 100 senators. They were chosen from the leading families, and were accordingly called the patres minorum gentium. Romes seventh and final king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, executed many of the men in the senate. During the years of the monarchy, the senates most important function was to new kings. While the king was elected by the people, it was actually the senate who chose each new king
24.
San Eustachio
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SantEustachio is a Roman Catholic titular church and minor basilica in Rome, named for the martyr Saint Eustace. It is located on Via di SantEustachio in the rione SantEustachio, a block west of the Pantheon and via della Rotonda, and a block east of SantIvo alla Sapienza, the church was founded in the 8th century, or possibly even earlier. The church was recorded as a diaconia at the end of the pontificate of Pope Gregory II and it is mentioned in some documents dating from the 10th and 11th centuries, where this church is called in platana referring to the tree planted in the garden of the martyr Eustace. The emperor Constantine I had previously built an oratory on this same spot and this church was called ad Pantheon in regione nona e iuxta templum Agrippae. At the end of the 12th century during the pontificate of Pope Celestine III, in the 16th century, it was a favoured praying-place for St Philip Neri. In the 17th and 18th centuries it was almost completely rebuilt, the church was designed in the Roman Baroque style. The new high altar, in bronze and polychrome marble, was added by Nicola Salvi in 1739, the choir and the sacristy were designed by Canevari and built by Giovanni Moscati. The church was elevated to basilica status in 1918. The facade was built under the direction of Cesare Corvara with the collaboration of other architects and it consists of two sections, with the upper section standing back. The lower part is marked with four pilasters and two columns, all with Ionic capitals with in the middle of each capital a small head of a deer, the spirals of the volutes are connected by a small laurel wreath. On the right side of the facade a plaque was placed in memory of the flood of the Tiber River in 1495, the top section is divided by four pilasters with on each side a large volute. In the middle is a window with an arcuated cornice. On top is a pediment with in its middle a circular window surrounded with palm branches. On top of the pediment stands a head with a cross between the antlers (done by the sculptor Paolo Morelli, in reference to the legend of Saint Eustace. An iron gate, made by Gian Battista Contini, closes off the porch, the square Romanesque campanile is situated on the back of the church at its left side. Construction was started in 1196 under the pontificate of Pope Celestine III, the top part can be dated back to the end of the 12th century, while the base is somewhat older and can be dated at ca. The interior has an architectural plan and consists of a single nave. Its construction was carried out in mature Baroque style under the supervision of the architects Cesare Corvara, the nave is marked on each side by three pilasters resting on a broad base
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Todi
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Todi is a town and comune of the province of Perugia in central Italy. It is perched on a tall two-crested hill overlooking the east bank of the river Tiber, commanding distant views in every direction. In the 1990s, Richard S. Levine, a professor of architecture at the University of Kentucky, chose Todi as the sustainable city, because of its scale. After that, the Italian press reported on Todi as the worlds most livable city. According to the legend, said to have recorded around 1330 BC by a mythological Quirinus Colonus, Todi was built by Hercules, who here killed Cacus. Historical Todi was founded by the ancient Italic people of the Umbri, in the 8th-7th century BC, the name means border, the city being located on the frontier with the Etruscan dominions. It probably was still under the influence when it was conquered by the Romans in 217 BC. According to Silius Italicus, it had a line of walls that stopped Hannibal himself after his victory at the Trasimeno. In most Latin texts, the name of the town took the form Tuder, christianity spread to Todi very early, through the efforts of St. Terentianus. Bishop St. Fortunatus became the saint of the city for his heroic defense of it during the Gothic siege. In Lombard times, Todi was part of the Duchy of Spoleto, after the 12th century the city started to expand again, the government was held first by consuls, and then by podestà and a peoples captain, some of whom achieved wide fame. In 1244 the new quarters, housing mainly the new classes, were enclosed in a new circle of walls. In 1290 the city had 40,000 inhabitants, Communal autonomy was lost in 1367 when the city was annexed to the Papal States, the local overlordship shifted among various families. In July 1849 Todi received Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was fleeing after the failed attempt of the Republic of Rome. Todi is the birthplace of the Franciscan poet Jacopone da Todi, the whole landscape is sited over some huge ancient Roman cisterns, with more than 500 pits, which remained in use until 1925. Todi Cathedral is a Gothic edifice on the Lombard plan, said to be erected over an ancient Roman building, the current church was almost totally rebuilt after a fire in 1190. The main feature of the squarish façade is the central great rose-window, of the same period is the wooden door of the portal, by Antonio Bencivenni from Mercatello, of which only the four upper panels remain today. The church follows the plan of the Latin cross, with a nave, bonifacio VIII allegedly had a second aisle on one side, commonly known as La navatina
26.
Siena
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Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena, the historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. It is one of the nations most visited tourist attractions, with over 163,000 international arrivals in 2008, Siena is famous for its cuisine, art, museums, medieval cityscape and the Palio, a horse race held twice a year. Siena, like other Tuscan hill towns, was first settled in the time of the Etruscans when it was inhabited by a called the Saina. A Roman town called Saena Julia was founded at the site in the time of the Emperor Augustus, the first document mentioning it dates from AD70. Some archaeologists assert that Siena was controlled for a period by a Gaulish tribe called the Senones, according to local legend, Siena was founded by Senius and Aschius, two sons of Remus and thus nephews of Romulus, after whom Rome was named. Supposedly after their fathers murder by Romulus, they fled Rome, taking them the statue of the she-wolf suckling the infants. Additionally they rode white and black horses, giving rise to the Balzana, some claim the name Siena derives from Senius. Other etymologies derive the name from the Etruscan family name Saina, Siena did not prosper under Roman rule. It was not sited near any major roads and lacked opportunities for trade and its insular status meant that Christianity did not penetrate until the 4th century AD, and it was not until the Lombards invaded Siena and the surrounding territory that it knew prosperity. Siena prospered as a trading post, and the constant streams of pilgrims passing to, the oldest aristocratic families in Siena date their line to the Lombards surrender in 774 to Charlemagne. This ultimately resulted in the creation of the Republic of Siena, the Republic existed for over four hundred years, from the late 11th century until the year 1555. During the golden age of Siena before the Black Death in 1348, in the Italian War of 1551–59, the republic was defeated by the rival Duchy of Florence in alliance with the Spanish crown. After 18 months of resistance, Siena surrendered to Spain on 17 April 1555, the new Spanish King Felipe II, owing huge sums to the Medici, ceded it to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, to which it belonged until the unification of Italy in the 19th century. A Republican government of 700 Sienese families in Montalcino resisted until 1559, the picturesque city remains an important cultural centre, especially for humanist disciplines. The city lies at 322 m above sea level, the Siena Cathedral, begun in the 12th century, is a masterpiece of Italian Romanesque-Gothic architecture. Its main façade was completed in 1380, the original plan called for an ambitiously massive basilica, the largest then in the world, with, as was customary, an east-west nave. However, the scarcity of funds, in due to war and plague, truncated the project
27.
Pope Stephen II
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In sources prior to the 1960s, this Pope is sometimes called Stephen III and Pope-elect Stephen is sometimes called Stephen II. See Pope-elect Stephen for a detailed explanation, Pope Stephen II was Pope from 26 March 752 to his death in 757. He succeeded Pope Zachary following the death of Pope-elect Stephen, Stephen II marks the historical delineation between the Byzantine Papacy and the Frankish Papacy. The Lombards to the north of Rome had captured Ravenna, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire Exarchate of Ravenna, in 751, relations were very strained in the mid-8th century between the papacy and the Eastern Roman emperors over the support of the Isaurian Dynasty for iconoclasm. Likewise, maintaining control over Rome became untenable as the Eastern Roman Empire itself was beset by the Abbasid Caliphate to the south. As a result, Rome was unable to secure support from Constantinople to push back Lombard forces. Stephen turned to Pepin the Younger, the recently crowned King of the Franks, on 6 January 754, Stephen re-consecrated Pepin as king. In return, Pepin assumed the role of ordained protector of the Church and set his sights on the Lombards, as well as addressing the threat of Islamic Al-Andalus. Pepin invaded Italy twice to settle the Lombard problem and delivered the territory between Rome and Ravenna to the papacy, but left the Lombard kings in possession of their kingdom. Prior to Stephens alliance with Pepin, Rome had constituted the city of the Duchy of Rome. At Quiercy the Frankish nobles finally gave their consent to a campaign in Lombardy, known as the Donation of Pepin, no actual document has been preserved, but later 8th century sources quote from it. Stephen now anointed Pepin at Saint-Denis in a ceremony that was evoked in the coronation rites of French kings until the end of the ancien regime in 1789. The gift included Lombard conquests in the Romagna and in the duchies of Spoleto and Benevento, for the first time, the Donation made the pope a temporal ruler over a strip of territory that extended diagonally across Italy from the Tyrrhenian to the Adriatic. Pepin confirmed his Donation in Rome in 756, and in 774 Charlemagne confirmed the donation of his father, in, Massimo Bray, Enciclopedia dei Papi, Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Vol.1, Rome,2000, OCLC313504669, pp. 660–665. Rudolf Schieffer, Stephan II in, Lexicon of the Middle Ages, Vol.8, LexMA-Verlag, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-89659-908-9, Col. 116–117. Catholic Encyclopedia, Papal States, section 3, Collapse of the Byzantine Power in Central Italy Medieval Sourcebook, in, Salvador Miranda, The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, online at fiu. edu, Website of Florida International University, retrieved 28 December 2011
28.
Pope Paul I
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Pope Paul I was Pope from 29 May 757 to his death in 767. He first served as a Roman deacon and was employed by his brother, Pope Stephen II. Paul and his brother Stephen had been educated for the priesthood at the Lateran palace, the new popes reign was dominated by relations with the Frankish and Lombard kings and with the Eastern emperor. He adopted an independent tone in informing the imperial Exarch in Ravenna of his election, Paul was likely concerned of the danger posed by the Lombard king Desiderius. The Lombards held the cities of Imola, Osimo, Bologna, and Ancona, which were claimed by Rome, on his return from suppressing a revolt in Benevento, Desiderius visited Rome and compelled Paul to write to Pepin asking him to concede all the Lombard claims. He promised to return Imola, but on condition that the pope should persuade Pepin to send back Lombard hostages held by the Franks, Pepin found it advisable to maintain good relations with Desiderius, and Paul apparently accomplished little by his double-dealing. Later, however, Pepin gave the pope some support and acted as arbiter between the Roman and Lombard claims, in 765, papal privileges were restored in Beneventine and Tuscan territory and partially in Spoleto. Meanwhile, the alienation from Constantinople grew greater, several times, especially in 759, Paul feared that the Eastern Roman Emperor would send an armament against the city of Rome. Paul lived in continual dread lest Eastern Roman ambitions turn the Frankish influence in favor of the Lombards and this was actually attempted, but Pepin held to his original foreign policy regarding Italy. Paul died in Rome on 28 June 767, List of Catholic saints List of popes Kirsch, J. P. Pope Paul I
29.
Pope Celestine III
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Pope Celestine III, born Giacinto Bobone, reigned from 30 March or 10 April 1191 to his death in 1198. He was born into the noble Orsini family in Rome and served as a Cardinal-Deacon prior to becoming pope and he was ordained as a priest on 13 April 1191 and he ruled the church for six years, nine months, and nine days before he died aged 92. He was buried at the Lateran, considered by the Roman Curia as an expert on Spain, Bobone conducted two legatine missions to Spain in and as the Cardinal-Deacon of Santa Maria in Cosmedin. He subsequently nearly excommunicated the same Henry VI for wrongfully keeping King Richard I of England in prison and he placed Pisa under an interdict, which was lifted by his successor Innocent III in 1198. He condemned King Alfonso IX of León for his marriage to Theresa of Portugal on the grounds of consanguinity, then, in 1196, he excommunicated him for making peace with the Muslims while making war on Castile. Following his marriage with Berengaria of Castile, Celestine excommunicated Alfonso, in 1198, he confirmed the statutes of the Teutonic Knights as a military order. He would have resigned the papacy and recommended a successor shortly before his death, the interdict in the thirteenth century, a question of collective guilt, Oxford University Press,2007. Gregorovius, Ferdinand, History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages Volume IV, part 2, moore, John Clare, Pope Innocent III, to root up and to plant, BRILL,2003. The Lives of the Popes in the Middle Ages Volume X, sikes, Thomas Burr, History of the Christian Church, from the first to the fifteenth century, Eliott Stock,1885. The New Cambridge Medieval History, Vol.1, Ed, david Luscombe, Jonathan Riley-Smith, Cambridge University Press,2004. Urban, William, The Teutonic Knights, Greenhill Books,2003, Pope Celestine III, Diplomat and Pastor, ed. Damian J. Smith, John Doran, Ashgate Publishing,2008. Initial text from the 9th edition of an old encyclopedia
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Cardinal (Catholicism)
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A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical leader, considered a Prince of the Church, and usually an ordained bishop of the Roman Catholic Church. The cardinals of the Church are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, the duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and making themselves available individually or in groups to the Pope as requested. Most have additional duties, such as leading a diocese or archdiocese or managing a department of the Roman Curia, a cardinals primary duty is electing the pope when the see becomes vacant. During the sede vacante, the governance of the Holy See is in the hands of the College of Cardinals. The right to enter the conclave of cardinals where the pope is elected is limited to those who have not reached the age of 80 years by the day the vacancy occurs. In 1059, the right of electing the pope was reserved to the clergy of Rome. The term was applied in this sense as early as the century to the priests of the tituli of the diocese of Rome. The Church of England retains an instance of this origin of the title, which is held by the two senior members of the College of Minor Canons of St Pauls Cathedral. In Rome the first persons to be called cardinals were the deacons of the seven regions of the city at the beginning of the 6th century, when the word began to mean principal, eminent, or superior. The name was given to the senior priest in each of the title churches of Rome. By the 8th century the Roman cardinals constituted a class among the Roman clergy. They took part in the administration of the church of Rome, by decree of a synod of 769, only a cardinal was eligible to become pope. In 1059, during the pontificate of Nicholas II, cardinals were given the right to elect the pope under the Papal Bull In nomine Domini. For a time this power was assigned exclusively to the cardinal bishops, Cardinals were granted the privilege of wearing the red hat by Pope Innocent IV in 1244. In cities other than Rome, the name began to be applied to certain church men as a mark of honour. This meaning of the word spread rapidly, and from the 9th century various episcopal cities had a class among the clergy known as cardinals. The use of the title was reserved for the cardinals of Rome in 1567 by Pius V, in the year 1563 the influential Ecumenical Council of Trent, headed by Pope Pius IV, wrote about the importance of selecting good Cardinals. The earlier influence of temporal rulers, notably the French kings, in early modern times, cardinals often had important roles in secular affairs
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Papal consistory
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A papal conclave is a meeting of the College of Cardinals convened to elect a new Bishop of Rome, also known as the Pope. The pope is considered by Roman Catholics to be the successor of Saint Peter. The conclave has been the procedure for choosing the pope for almost a thousand years, conclaves are now held in the Sistine Chapel of the Apostolic Palace. Since the Apostolic Age, the Bishop of Rome, like other bishops, was chosen by the consensus of the clergy, the body of electors was more precisely defined when, in 1059, the College of Cardinals was designated the sole body of electors. Since then, other details of the process have developed, in 1970, Pope Paul VI limited the electors to cardinals under 80 years of age. A two-thirds supermajority vote is required to elect the new pope, the procedures relating to the election of the pope have undergone almost two millennia of development. As the Christian communities became established they started to elect bishops, chosen by the clergy and laity of the community with the assistance of the bishops of neighbouring dioceses. St. Cyprian says that Pope Cornelius was chosen Bishop of Rome by the decree of God and of His Church, by the testimony of all the clergy, by the college of aged bishops. As was true for bishops of dioceses, the clergy of the Diocese of Rome was the electoral body for the Bishop of Rome. Instead of casting votes, the bishop was selected by consensus or by acclamation. The candidate would then be submitted to the people for their approval or disapproval. This lack of precision in the election procedures occasionally gave rise to rival popes or antipopes. The right of the laity to refuse the person elected was abolished by a Synod held in the Lateran in 769, the pope was also subjected to oaths of loyalty to the Holy Roman Emperor, whose task it was to provide security and public peace in Rome. The cardinal bishops were to meet first and discuss the candidates before summoning the cardinal priests, through much of the Middle Ages and Renaissance there were a small number of cardinals, down to as few as seven under either Pope Alexander IV or Pope John XXI. Difficult travel further reduced the number arriving at the conclave, with a small electorate an individual vote was significant, and was not easily shaken from familial or political lines. Conclaves could last months and even years, lengthy elections resumed and continued to be the norm until 1294, when a Benedictine hermit was elected Pope Celestine V. Celestine reinstated the strict conclave, but soon resigned the papacy. Beginning with Pope John XXIIIs attempts to broaden the representation of nations in the College of Cardinals, though this remains the theoretical limit, John Paul II exceeded this for short periods of time with knowledge of impending retirements. Originally, lay status did not bar election to the Bishop of Rome, Bishops of dioceses were sometimes elected while still catechumens, such as the case of St. Ambrose
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Deacon
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Deacon is a ministry in Christian Churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. In many traditions the diaconate, the term for an office, is a clerical office. The word deacon is derived from the Greek word diákonos, which is a standard ancient Greek word meaning servant, waiting-man, minister, or messenger. One commonly promulgated speculation as to its etymology is that it literally means through the dust, female deacons are mentioned by Pliny the Younger in a letter to the emperor Trajan dated c. The title deaconess is not found in the Bible, however, a woman, Phoebe, is mentioned at Romans 16, 1–2 as a deacon of the church in Cenchreae. Nothing more specific is said about her duties or authority, the exact relationship between male and female deacons varies. A biblical description of the qualities required of a deacon, and of his household, can be found in 1 Timothy 3, prominent historical figures who played major roles as deacons and went on to higher office include Saint Athanasius of Alexandria, Thomas Becket and Reginald Pole. On June 8, A. D.536 a serving Roman deacon was raised to Pope and his father, Pope Agapetus, had died and the office had been vacant for over a month. The title is used for the president, chairperson, or head of a trades guild in Scotland. The diaconate is one of the orders in the Catholic, Anglican, Eastern Orthodox. The other major orders are those of bishop and presbyter, the diaconate continued in a vestigial form as a temporary, final step along the course toward ordination to priesthood. In Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican churches, deacons assist priests in their pastoral and administrative duties and they have a distinctive role in the liturgy of the Eastern and Western Churches. In the Eastern Church, deacons have a profound presence in the Divine Liturgy. In the Western Church, Pope St. Today, deacons are also granted permission to preach, beginning around the fifth century, there was a gradual decline in the permanent diaconate in the Latin church. It has however remained a part of the Eastern Catholic Churches. These men are known as permanent deacons in contrast to those continuing their formation, there is no sacramental or canonical difference between the two, however, as there is only one order of deacons. The permanent diaconate formation period in the Roman Catholic Church varies from diocese to diocese as it is determined by the local ordinary, although they are assigned to work in a parish by the diocesan bishop, once assigned, deacons are under the supervision of the parish pastor. Unlike most clerics, permanent deacons who also have a profession have no right to receive a salary for their ministry
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Canon (priest)
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A canon is a member of certain bodies subject to an ecclesiastical rule. This way of life grew common in the eighth century, in the eleventh century, some churches required clergy thus living together to adopt the rule first proposed by Saint Augustine that they renounce private wealth. Those who embraced this change were known as Augustinians or Canons Regular, in the Roman Catholic Church, the members of the chapter of a cathedral or of a collegiate church are canons. Depending on the title of the church, several languages use specific titles, e. g. in German Domherr or Domkapitular in a Dom, Stiftsherr in a prelature that has the status of a Stift. One of the functions of the chapter in the Roman Catholic Church was to elect a Vicar Capitular to serve during a sede vacante period of the diocese. All canons of the Church of England have been secular since the Reformation, mostly, however, they are ordained, that is, priests or members of the clergy. Today, the system of canons is retained almost exclusively in connection with cathedral churches, a canon is a member of the chapter of priests, headed by a dean, which is responsible for administering a cathedral or certain other churches that are styled collegiate churches. The dean and chapter are the body which has legal responsibility for the cathedral. The title of Canon is not a permanent title and when no longer in a position entitling preferment, however, it is still given in many dioceses to senior parish priests as a largely honorary title. It is usually awarded in recognition of long and dedicated service to the diocese, honorary canons are members of the chapter in name but are non-residential and receive no emoluments. They are entitled to call themselves canon and may have a role in the administration of the cathedral, in some Church of England dioceses, the title Prebendary is used instead of canon when the cleric is involved administratively with a cathedral. Honorary canons within the Roman Catholic Church may still be nominated after the Second Vatican Council, on the demise of the Kingdom of France this honour became transferred to the Presidents of the Republic, and hence is currently held by François Hollande. This applies even when the French President is not Catholic, as is the case with the atheist Hollande, the proto-canon of the papal basilica of Saint Mary Major is the King of Spain, currently Felipe VI. The rank of lay canon is especially conferred upon diocesan chancellors and it has traditionally been said that the King of England is a canon or prebendary of St David’s Cathedral, Wales. However, this is based on a misconception, the canonry of St Mary’s College, St David’s became the property of the Crown on the dissolution of the monasteries. The Sovereign was never a canon of St David’s, even as a layman, though he or she may occupy the first prebendal stall, a canon professor is a canon at an Anglican cathedral who also holds a university professorship. Section 2 of the Church of England Measure 1995 was passed for the purpose of enabling Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. Historically, the chair in Greek at the university was also a canon professorship and this canonry was transferred to the Lightfoot Professor of Divinity in 1940
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Genoa
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Genoa is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015,594,733 people lived within the administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of Genoa, over 1.5 million people live in the wider metropolitan area stretching along the Italian Riviera. Genoa has been nicknamed la Superba due to its glorious past, part of the old town of Genoa was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2006. The citys rich history in notably its art, music. It is the birthplace of Christopher Columbus, Niccolò Paganini, Giuseppe Mazzini, Genoa, which forms the southern corner of the Milan-Turin-Genoa industrial triangle of north-west Italy, is one of the countrys major economic centres. The city has hosted massive shipyards and steelworks since the 19th century, the Bank of Saint George, founded in 1407, is among the oldest in the world and has played an important role in the citys prosperity since the middle of the 15th century. Today a number of leading Italian companies are based in the city, including Fincantieri, Selex ES, Ansaldo Energia, Ansaldo STS, Edoardo Raffinerie Garrone, Piaggio Aerospace, the Genoa area has been inhabited since the fifth or fourth millennium BC. In ancient times this area was frequented and inhabited by Ligures, Phoenicians, Phocaeans, Greeks, and Etruscans. The city cemetery, dating from the 6th and 5th centuries BC, testifies to the occupation of the site by the Greeks, but the fine harbour probably saw use much earlier, perhaps by the Etruscans. In the 5th century BC was founded the first oppidum at the foot of the today called the Castle Hill which now is inside the medieval old town. The ancient Ligurian city was known as Stalia, so referred to by Artemidorus Ephesius and Pomponius Mela, Ligurian Stalia was overshadowed by the powerful Marseille and Vada Sabatia, near modern Savona. Stalia had an alliance with Rome through a foedus aequum in the course of the Second Punic War, the Carthaginians accordingly destroyed it in 209 BC. The town was rebuilt and, after the Carthaginian Wars ended in 146 BC. it received municipal rights, the original castrum thenceforth expanded towards the current areas of Santa Maria di Castello and the San Lorenzo promontory. Trades included skins, wood, and honey, goods were shipped to the mainland, up to major cities like Tortona and Piacenza. Among the archeological remains from the Roman period, an amphitheatre was also found, another theory traces the name to the Etruscan word Kainua which means New City and still another from the Latin word ianua, related to the name of the God Janus, meaning door or passage. The latter is in reference to its position at the centre of the Ligurian coastal arch. The Latin name, oppidum Genua, is recorded by Pliny the Elder as part of the Augustean Regio IX Liguria, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Ostrogoths occupied Genoa
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Lyon
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Lyon or Lyons is a city in east-central France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, about 470 km from Paris and 320 km from Marseille. Inhabitants of the city are called Lyonnais, Lyon had a population of 506,615 in 2014 and is Frances third-largest city after Paris and Marseille. Lyon is the capital of the Metropolis of Lyon and the region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, the metropolitan area of Lyon had a population of 2,237,676 in 2013, the second-largest in France after Paris. The city is known for its cuisine and gastronomy and historical and architectural landmarks and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Lyon was historically an important area for the production and weaving of silk. It played a significant role in the history of cinema, Auguste, the city is also known for its famous light festival, Fête des Lumières, which occurs every 8 December and lasts for four days, earning Lyon the title of Capital of Lights. Economically, Lyon is a centre for banking, as well as for the chemical, pharmaceutical. The city contains a significant software industry with a focus on video games. Lyon hosts the headquarters of Interpol, Euronews, and International Agency for Research on Cancer. Lyon was ranked 19th globally and second in France for innovation in 2014 and it ranked second in France and 39th globally in Mercers 2015 liveability rankings. These refugees had been expelled from Vienne by the Allobroges and were now encamped at the confluence of the Saône and Rhône rivers, dio Cassius says this task was to keep the two men from joining Mark Antony and bringing their armies into the developing conflict. The Roman foundation was at Fourvière hill and was officially called Colonia Copia Felix Munatia, a name invoking prosperity, the city became increasingly referred to as Lugdunum. The earliest translation of this Gaulish place-name as Desired Mountain is offered by the 9th-century Endlicher Glossary, in contrast, some modern scholars have proposed a Gaulish hill-fort named Lugdunon, after the Celtic god Lugus, and dúnon. It then became the capital of Gaul, partly due to its convenient location at the convergence of two rivers, and quickly became the main city of Gaul. Two emperors were born in city, Claudius, whose speech is preserved in the Lyon Tablet in which he justifies the nomination of Gallic senators. Today, the archbishop of Lyon is still referred to as Primat des Gaules, the Christians in Lyon were martyred for their beliefs under the reigns of various Roman emperors, most notably Marcus Aurelius and Septimus Severus. Local saints from this period include Blandina, Pothinus, and Epipodius, in the second century AD, the great Christian bishop of Lyon was the Easterner, Irenaeus. Burgundian refugees fleeing the destruction of Worms by the Huns in 437 were re-settled by the commander of the west, Aëtius. This became the capital of the new Burgundian kingdom in 461, in 843, by the Treaty of Verdun, Lyon, with the country beyond the Saône, went to Lothair I
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Curia
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A curia, plural curiae, is an assembly, council, or court, in which public, official, or religious issues are discussed and decided. In ancient Rome, the populace was divided into 30 curiae, which met in order to confirm the election of magistrates, witness the installation of priests, the making of wills, lesser curiae existed for other purposes. The word curia came to denote the places of assembly, especially the senate. Similar institutions existed in towns and cities of Italy. In medieval times, a council was often referred to as a curia. Today, the most famous curia is the Curia of the Roman Catholic Church which assists the Roman Pontiff in the government of the Church. The word curia is thought to derive from Old Latin coviria, in this sense, any assembly, public or private, could be called a curia. In addition to the Roman curiae, voting assemblies known as curiae existed in towns of Latium. During the republic, local curiae were established in Italian and provincial municipia, in imperial times, local magistrates were often elected by municipal senates, which also came to be known as curiae. By extension, the word came to mean not just a gathering. The most important curiae at Rome were the 30 that together made up the comitia curiata, traditionally ascribed to the kings, each of the three tribes established by Romulus, the Ramnes, Tities, and Luceres, was divided into ten curiae. In theory, each gens belonged to a curia, although whether this was strictly observed throughout Roman history is uncertain. Each curia had a name, said to have been derived from the names of some of the Sabine women abducted by the Romans in the time of Romulus. However, some of the curiae evidently derived their names from districts or eponymous heroes. The curiae were probably established geographically, representing specific neighborhoods in Rome, only a few of the names of the 30 curiae have been preserved, including Acculeia, Calabra, Faucia, Foriensis, Rapta, Veliensis, Tifata, and Titia. Each curia had its own sacra, in which its members, known as curiales, worshipped the gods of the state and other deities specific to the curia, each curia had a meeting site and place of worship, named after the curia. Originally, this may have been an altar, then a sacellum. The curia was presided over by a curio, who was always at least 50 years old, the curio undertook the religious affairs of the curia
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Nicholas (popes)". Encyclopædia Britannica. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 649–651. Article "Nicholas III" in Volume 19 (1911), p. 650 (a brief twenty lines by Carlton Huntly Hayes).
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the 
