Sede Vacante 1591

ENRICO CARDINAL CAETANI (1550-1599), of a distinguished Roman family, was born on August 6, 1550, nephew of Cardinal Niccolò Caetani. He obtained a doctorate in canon and civil law from the University of PerugiaHe was Patriarch of Alexandria (1585), and had served as Legate in Bologna (1585-87), and Nuncio to France and to Poland. He was created Cardinal by Sixtus V on December 18, 1585, and was sent to France as Legatus a latere (1589-1590) to deal with the crisis over the struggle for the French throne Henri (IV) de Bourbon had been excommunicated in 1585 (and again in 1591). Despite instructions from the Pope to maintain a balance among the competing interests, which included Philip II of Spain (who was proposing his son as a candidate), Caetani joined the Duc de Mayenne and the Holy League in proclaiming the Cardinal de Lorraine as King Charles X. Unfortunately, the Duc was defeated at the Battle of Ivry, and the Cardinal died shortly thereafter (1589). With Henri de Bourbon besieging Paris, Caetani was recalled to Rome. He was named Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church on October 26, 1587, and presided over the Interregna of 1590, that of 1591, and that of 1591-1592. He died on December 13, 1599. The Dean of the Sacred College was Alfonso Cardinal Gesualdi, .Cardinal Serbelloni having died on March 18, 1591.

The Governor of the conclaves was Msgr.Alfonso Visconti. The nephew of Cardinal Antonio Maria Sauli, he was born in 1552 in Milan. He took degrees in Civil and Canon Law at Pavia. In Rome he became an Oratorian, but left to pursue a career in ecclesiastical government. He was Nuncio to Austria from 1589 to 1591. He was governor of Borgo and of the two conclaves of 1591 and 1592. He became Bishop of Cervia in 1591, was Nuncio to Hungary (1595-1598), and was sent on missions to Poland and Naples. He was made a cardinal priest on March 3, 1599 (S. Giovanni a Porta Latina). In 1601 he became Archbishop of Spoleto. He died in 1608.

Pope Gregory XIV (Sfondrati) died in the night between October 15 and 16, 1591. His life had been despaired of three times before (and he had received Extreme Unction four times). Some cardinals were already on their way to Rome at the time of his death, believing that one of his crises had already been fatal. Fifty-six or fifty-seven cardinals entered conclave on October 27 (Novaes, 248). On the second day of voting, October 29, Cardinal Giovanni Antonio Fachinetti, though seventy-two years of age and in chronic ill health, was elected as Innocent IX. He was crowned in private on November 3 (Oldoino), or in public in the portico of St. Peter's (Ciacconio). On the 8th of November he took solemn possession of the Lateran Basilica. On the 18th of December, though ill, he made a pilgrimage of Rome's seven pilgrimage churches and caught a chill. He died on December 30, 1591, and was buried on January 8, 1592.

The second Interregnum lasted from December 30, 1591 to January 30, 1592. There were sixty-five cardinals. Fifty-two cardinals entered conclave on January 10, 1592. Two parties were in evidence, one led by Cardinal Andrea Peretti di Montalto (the nephew of Sixtus V) and the Spanish party which was supporting Giulio Antonio Cardinal Santorio (of Caserta, a Spanish subject). On the 11th, there was a disgraceful spectacle in the Sistine Chapel, as the Spanish party attempted to install Cardinal Santorio by acclamation. Despite a demonstration that went on for seven hours, vigorously resisted by Cardinals Altemps, Gesualdi and Colonna. Forced to undertake a scrutiny, the Spaniards could muster only 30 votes by secret ballot, five short of the number needed to elect at the moment. The two Colonna cardinals, Marcantonio and Ascanio, were in opposite camps, the one in the Pauline Chapel, the other in the Sistine.. The elder, Marcantonio, sent a message to Ascanio, who thereupon announced that he would not support Santorio because he was not given by God. The enthusiasm for Santorio collapsed. Of the seven Cardinals who were on the list of acceptable candidates supplied by King Philip II, only the seventh, Cardinal Aldobrandini could muster support outside the Spanish faction. On January 30, Pietro Cardinal Aldobrandini (Clement VIII) was finally elected.

On February 2, 1591, Clement VIII was consecrated bishop by Cardinal Alfonso Gesualdi, Dean of the College of Cardinals. On the 9th he was crowned by Francesco Cardinal Sforza, the Cardinal Protodeacon, and on April 12 he took possession of the Lateran Basilica.

For details of the Interregna of 1591, see Giuseppe de Novaes, Elementi della storia de' sommi pontefici da San Pietro sino al ... Pio Papa VII third edition, Volume 8 (Roma 1822) 248-252; and Volume 9. 5-6. L. Ranke, History of the Popes. Their Church and State II (tr. E. Fowler) (New York 1901),Book VI, section 4, pp.158-161; Alexis François Artaud de Montor, Histoire de pontifes V (Paris 1851), pp. 33-35. G. Moroni, Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica Vol. 36 (Venezia 1846) p. 11-12; Vol. 14 (Venezia 184 ), p. 44.. For Cardinal Santorio: Charles Berton, Dictionnaire des cardinaux (1857) 1503.