SEDE VACANTE
May 22, 1667—June 20, 1667
ANTONIO CARDINAL BARBERINI, iuniore (1607-1671), was the son of Carlo Barberini and Costanza Magalotti. He was the nephew of Pope Urban VIII (Maffeo Barberini, 1623-1644), of the Capuchin Antonio Card. Barberini, seniore, (1624), and of Lorenzo Card. Magalotti. His brother Francesco became Cardinal on the election of their uncle to the papacy, and his brother Taddeo became Prince of Palestrina and Prefect of Rome. He was the cousin of Francesco Maria Card. Machiavelli (who became cardinal in 1641), and uncle of Carlo Cardinal Barberini (1653). He was Grand Prior in Rome of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.
The accession of his uncle brought Antonio Barberini and his brothers many positions of power, wealth and influence. He became Cardinal Deacon of S. Maria in Aquiro in 1627, and Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church on July 28, 1638, a position which he held until his death on August 3, 1671. In that capacity he presided over the Conclaves of 1644, 1655, 1667 and 1669-1670. The authoritarianism, arrogance and greed of the family ("Quod non fecerunt Barbari, fecerunt Barberini.") brought a strong reaction on the death of Urban VIII. In 1645 Antonio and Taddeo fled to Paris (where Urban VIII had once been ambassador), and remained in exile at the Court of Louis XIV (under the patronage of the Sicilian Giulio Card. Mazzarini) until 1653; he became Grand Almoner of France and a member of the Order of the Holy Spirit. In 1657 he was nominated Archbishop of Rheims, a choice which was approved by Pope Alexander VII. He became Cardinal Bishop of Palestrina in 1661. He died in Rome on August 3, 1671.
Cardinal Barberini was Cardinal Camerlengo during the conclaves of 1644, 1655, 1667 and 1670.
The Governor of the Conclave, Msgr. Girolamo Casanate (1620-1700), was born at Naples on June 13, 1620, the son of a leading senator and sometime diplomat. He studied the law at the University of Naples and practiced as a lawyer. He became the protegé of Giovanni Battista Cardinal Pamfilj, who had been Nuncio to the Court of Naples from 1621-1625, and who convinced Girolamo's father, during a diplomatic visit to Rome, to allow his son to take up the ecclesiastical profession. When Pamfilj became Pope Innocent X in 1644, Casanate was named Chamberlain of Honor, and was appointed papal governor of several cities in the Papal States, Sabina, Fabriano, Camerino, and then Ancona. At Camerino, he became acquainted with Bishop Emilio Altieri, who became Pope Clement X in 1670. From 1658 to 1662 he was Inquisitor at Malta. He was created Cardinal deacon by Clement X on June 12, 1673. In 1693 he was appointed Vatican Librarian. He took part in the conclaves of 1676, 1689 and 1691. He died in Rome on March 3, 1700.
The Marshal of the Conclave was Prince Giulio Savelli (1626-1712), the second son of Prince Bernardino Savelli, Prince of Albano (1606-1658) and Felice Peretti, the heiress of Pope Sixtus V. He married Caterina Aldobrandini, daughter of Pietro Aldobrandini, Duke of Carpentino, and then Caterina Giustiniani. The family was perpetually in financial difficulties: in 1596 they sold Castel Gandolfo to the pope, and in 1650 the duchy of Albano. He succeeded his father as Marshal of the Holy Roman Church in 1658. He had one son, who predeceased him.
Death of Pope Alexander
Pope Alexander VII (Chigi), at the age of sixty-eight, had been suffering from kidney stones for some time, and around the beginning of March he began to fail; in constant severe pain, he was unable to give the Easter blessing. On the 18th of May a severe fever set in, and he died on May 22, 1667 (Novaes, 172-173).
The Conclave of 1667 lasted eigteen days. It began on June 2, with the Mass of the Holy Spirit. Sixty-one cardinals entered conclave on that day; Two others, who were too ill to enter conclave, died on June 5, Pietro Cardinal Sforza Pallavicino and Volumnio Cardinal Bandinelli (Brusoni, 394). Cardinal Albergati-Ludovisi entered conclave on June 6, and Cardinals Donghi and Santa Croce on June 10. Cardinal Chigi, the Cardinal nipote, was working in favor of Scipione Cardinal d' Elci (Archbishop of Pisa, but a Florentine), in order (it is said) to please the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinando II (1621-1670). It is likewise alleged that the same members of the Squadrone volante as had so greatly influenced the election of Alexander VII also operated effectively in producing another new pope.
Election
On the twentieth of June, Giulio Cardinal Rospigliosi, Cardinal Priest of S. Sisto, Titular Bishop of Tarsus, was elected with only two dissenting votes, that of Cardinal Rospigliosi himself and Cardinal Corsini, who voted for Cardinal Chigi. But the final vote-count was not correct—one vote was missing. It was discovered that Cardinal de Retz, who was the scrutator in charge of the balloting, had given his ballot to Cardinal de Vendome to place in the chalice at the appropriate moment; Vendome had somehow not carried out his charge. Nonetheless, the election was held to be valid. Rospigliosi was crowned Clement IX on June 26 in the Vatican Basilica, by Cardinal Rinaldo d' Este, and on Sunday, July 3, he took formal possession of S. Giovanni Laterano.
Bibliography
For the Conclave of 1667, see: Conclave fatto per la Sede Vacante d' Alessandro VII (1669). Girolamo Brusoni, "Life of Clement IX," in Storia delle vite de' pontefice di Bartolommeo Platina e d' altri autori . . fino a Clemente XIII . . . Tomo IV (Venezia Domenico Ferrarin 1765), pp. 394-398, at 394-395; Giuseppe de Novaes, Elementi della storia de' sommi pontefici da San Pietro sino al ... Pio Papa VII third edition, Volume 10 (Roma 1822) 183-184. Gaetano Moroni Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica Volume 14 (Venezia 1841) 54; and F. Artaud de Montor, Histoire des souverains pontifes Romains Tome VI (Paris 1851) 76. John Bargrave, Pope Alexander the Seventh and the College of Cardinals [1672] (Camden Society 1867). Leopold von Ranke, The Popes of Rome (tr. S. Austin) Volume 3 (London: John Murray 1866), pp. 392-394. Leopold von Ranke, History of the Popes, their Church and State (translated by E. Fowler) revised edition, Volume III (New York: The Colonial Press 1901), 41-42. T. A. Trollope, The Papal Conclaves as They Were and as They Are (London 1876), 339-340. A. Bozon, Le cardinal de Retz à Rome (Paris: Plon 1878)) 79-97. Charles Gérin, Louis XIV et le Saint Siège Volume II (Paris 1894), 165-205.
