View source for Pope Benedict XI

{{Short description|Head of the Catholic Church from 1303 to 1304}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type=Pope
| honorific-prefix= [[List of popes|Pope Blessed]]
| name=Benedict XI
| image=39 Benedetto XI (cropped).jpg
| caption=1352's fresco by [[Tommaso da Modena]] at the church of Saint Nicholas in [[Treviso]]
| title=[[Bishop of Rome]]
| birth_name=Nicola Boccasini
| church = [[Catholic Church]]
| term_start=22 October 1303
| term_end=7 July 1304
| predecessor=[[Pope Boniface VIII|Boniface VIII]]
| successor=[[Pope Clement V|Clement V]]
| ordination = 1300
| ordinated_by =
| consecration = March 1300
| consecrated_by =
| cardinal = 4 December 1298
| created_cardinal_by = [[Pope Boniface VIII|Boniface VIII]]
| rank =
| motto = ''Illustra faciem Tuam super servum Tuum'' ("Let Your Face shine upon Your servant")
| feast_day = 7 July
| beatified_date =24 April 1736
| beatified_place = [[Rome]], [[Papal States]]
| beatified_by = [[Pope Clement XII]]
| attributes= {{unbulleted list|Dominican habit|Papal vestments|[[Papal tiara]]}}
| patronage = [[Treviso]]
| birth_date=1240
| birth_place= [[Treviso]], [[Kingdom of Italy (medieval)|Italy]]
| death_date= {{death date and age|1304|7|7|1240|df=y}}
| death_place=[[Perugia]], [[Papal States]]
| previous_post= {{unbulleted list|[[Master of the Order of Preachers]] (1296–1303)|[[Santa Sabina|Cardinal-Priest of Santa Sabina]] (1298–1300)|[[Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia]] (1300–1303)}}
| other=Benedict
| coat_of_arms=Coat of arms of Pope Benedict XI.svg
}}

'''Pope Benedict XI''' ({{lang-la|Benedictus PP. XI}}; 1240 – 7 July 1304), born '''Nicola Boccasini''' (Niccolò of Treviso), was head of the [[Catholic Church]] and ruler of the [[Papal States]] from 22 October 1303 to his death.<ref>Conradus Eubel, ''Hierarchia catholica medii aevi'' I editio altera (Monasterii 1913), p. 13.</ref>

Boccasini entered the [[Dominican Order|Order of Preachers]] in his native [[Treviso]]. He studied at [[Venice]] and [[Milan]] before becoming a teacher in Venice and in other Dominican houses. He served two terms as Provincial Prior of [[Lombardy]], before being elected Master of the Order in 1296. Two years later he was made cardinal. He was appointed Bishop of [[Bishop of Ostia|Ostia]], and served as papal legate first to Hungary, and then to France. He was with [[Pope Boniface VIII]] when Boniface was attacked by French forces at [[Anagni]].

He was beatified with his cultus confirmed by [[Pope Clement XII]] in 1736. He is a patron of [[Treviso]].

==Early life==
Niccolò Boccasini was born in [[Treviso]] to Boccasio, a municipal notary (died 1246), whose brother was a priest; and Ber(n)arda, who worked as a laundress for the Dominican friars of Treviso. Niccolò had a sister, Adelette.<ref>Mortier, II, pp. 319–320.</ref> The family lived outside the walls of Treviso, in a suburb called S. Bartolommeo.<ref>Fietta, p. 222.</ref> In 1246, a Dominican friar left a sum of money in his will to Bernarda and her children, recently orphaned. A condition was that if Niccolò were to enter the Dominican Order he would receive half of the entire legacy.<ref>Mortier, p. 320 and n. 3.</ref> From the age of six, it seems, Niccolò was destined for the monastic life. His first teacher was his uncle, the priest of S. Andrea.<ref>Fietta, p. 225 and n. 1.</ref>

He entered the [[Dominican Order|Order of Preachers]] in 1254, at the age of fourteen, taking the habit of a novice in his native Treviso.<ref>Mortier, p. 320. Fietta, p. 226, with notes 1 and 2.</ref> He was taken to Venice by his Prior and presented to the Provincial, who assigned him to the convent of SS. Giovanni e Paolo in Venice. For the next seven years or so, Niccolò pursued his basic education in Venice. Toward the end of this period, he served as tutor to the young sons of Romeo Quirini of Venice, whose brother was a Canon in the Cathedral of Treviso.<ref>Fietta, p. 226, n. 3; pp. 228–229. One of these children, Bartolommeo Quirini later became Bishop of Trent, in 1304, at the hands of Pope Benedict.</ref> In 1262, Niccolò was transferred to Milan, to the new ''studium'' of S. Eustorgio. He spent the next six years at S. Eustorgio.<ref>Fietta, p. 229.</ref> By the end of his term at S. Eustorgio he must have become a professed member of the Order of Preachers; the actual date, however, is unknown. As a professed brother he served in the responsible position as a lecturer in the ''studium'' in Venice, that is to say, he was in charge of the elementary education of the brothers in his convent. Each convent had its ''lector''. He served as ''lector'' for fourteen years, from 1268 to 1282, according to Bernardus Guidonis. In 1276 he is attested as being ''lector'' at the Dominican convent in his native Treviso, a post he was still holding in 1280. In February 1282 he is found at Genoa, again as ''lector''. He was not a professor, since he had never taken a university degree, being one of the last popes who was not a university graduate.<ref>Mortier, 322-323. Fietta, pp. 231–234.</ref>

==Office and responsibility==
In 1286, at the meeting of the Provincial Chapter, which took place that year in Brescia, Fr. Niccolò was elected Provincial Prior of Lombardy.<ref>Fietta, p. 236. Benedikt Maria Reichert (editor), ''Cronica ordinis praedicatorum ab anno 1170. usque ad 1333'' Part 1 (Rome 1897), pp. 102-104.</ref> As Provincial of Lombardy, Fr. Niccolò's lifestyle changed considerably. Instead of being firmly attached to a single convent for years, he would instead become peripatetic, moving from one convent to another on visits of inspection, encouragement and correction. In Lombardy at the time there were some fifty-one convents.<ref>Mortier, p. 323. Bernardus Guidonis, however, states that, when the Province of Lombardy was divided in 1303, there were thirty-three convents. Jacobus Echard, ''Scriptores Ordinis Praedicatorum recensiti'' Tomus primus (Paris 1719), p. vii. There were also convents of nuns which were under his jurisdiction.</ref> He also had responsibility as an Inquisitor, a task for which popes considered Franciscans and Dominicans especially suited.<ref>On 26 August 1289 Pope Nicholas IV wrote to all the Inquisitors of the Dominican Order in Lombardy and the March of Genoa, urging them to pursue their work against heretics with energy: Augustus Potthast, ''Regesta pontificum Romanorum'' II, no. 23053.</ref> He also had the responsibility of convening the Provincial Chapters. In 1287, the Chapter was at Venice; in 1288, it was at Rimini; in 1289 at the General Chapter, which was held at Trier, Fr. Niccolò was released from the office of Provincial of Lombardy, having completed his three-year term. It is probable that, without office, he returned to a convent, possibly that of Treviso—though the evidence is scanty and based on wills and codicils.<ref>Fietta, p. 244.</ref> He was elected Provincial Prior of Lombardy again, however, at the Provincial Chapter held at Brescia in 1293. In 1294 it was held at Faventia, in 1295 at Verona, and in 1296 at Ferrara, where Fr. Niccolò's successor was elected, since he had a new assignment.

===Master General of the Order of Preachers===
At the Capitulum Generale of the Order of Preachers, which was held at Strasbourg in 1296, Frater Niccolò of Treviso was elected [[Master of the Order of Preachers]],<ref>Reichert, ''Cronica ordinis praedicatorum'', p. 104.</ref> and issued ordinances that forbade public questioning of the legitimacy of [[Pope Boniface VIII]]'s papal election (which had taken place on Christmas Eve, 1295) on the part of any Dominican.

===Cardinalate===
Boccasini was elevated to the cardinalate on 4 December 1298 by Boniface VIII, and assigned the title of [[Cardinal-Priest of Santa Sabina]].<ref>Eubel, pp. 12-13.</ref> He entered the Roman Curia on 25 March 1299 and thus began to receive his share of the profits of the Chamber of the College of Cardinals.

He was promoted to the rank of Cardinal-Bishop of the See of Ostia on 2 March 1300 and also received [[episcopal consecration]]. On 13 May 1301 he was appointed Apostolic Legate to Hungary. He made his official departure on 22 June 1301 and returned on 10 May 1303.<ref>Eubel, p. 13, note 1.</ref> He also served as [[papal legate]] to France.

When Pope Boniface VIII was seized at [[Anagni]] in September 1303, Boccasini was one of only two cardinals to defend the Pope in the Episcopal Palace itself. The other was Pedro Rodriguez, Bishop of Sabina. They were imprisoned for three days.<ref>Augustinus Theiner (Editor), ''Caesaris S. R. E. Cardinalis Baronii, Od. Raynaldi et Jac. Laderchii Annales Ecclesiastici'' Tomus Vigesimus Tertius, 1286–1312 (Barri-Ducis: Ludovicus Guerin 1871), under the year 1303, § 41, pp. 330–331; Ludovico Antonio Muratori, ''Rerum Italicarum Scriptores'', p. 672.</ref> On Monday 10 September they were liberated by forces led by Cardinal Luca Fieschi, and on 14 September the Pope and his retinue returned to Rome, with an escort organized by Cardinal Matteo Rosso Orsini.<ref>Gregorovius V. 2, pp. 588-594.</ref>

==Papacy==
===Papal election===
{{main|Papal conclave, 1303}}
The conclave to elect the successor of Boniface VIII was held in the [[Archbasilica of St. John Lateran|Basilica of Saint John Lateran]] and the [[College of Cardinals]] desired an appropriate candidate who would not be hostile towards [[Philip IV of France|King Philip IV of France]]. After one ballot in a conclave that lasted a day, Boccasini was elected as pope.

===Actions===
He was quick to release King Philip IV from the [[excommunication]] that had been put upon him by Boniface VIII. Nevertheless, on 7 June 1304, Benedict XI excommunicated Philip IV's implacable minister [[Guillaume de Nogaret]] and all the Italians who had played a part in the seizure of his predecessor at Anagni. Benedict XI also arranged an armistice between Philip IV of France and [[Edward I of England]].

After a brief pontificate that spanned a mere eight months, Benedict XI died suddenly at [[Perugia]]. As original reports had it, suspicion fell primarily on Nogaret with the suspicion that his sudden death was caused by [[poison]]ing.<ref name="Catholic">{{Catholic|wstitle=Pope Benedict XI|inline=1}}</ref> There is no direct evidence, however, to either support or disprove the contention that Nogaret poisoned the pope. Benedict XI's successor, [[Pope Clement V|Clement V]] was in France when elected and never journeyed to [[Rome]]. His successors resided principally in [[Avignon]], inaugurating the period sometimes known as the [[Avignon Papacy|Babylonian Captivity]]. He and the French popes who succeeded him were completely under the influence of the kings of France.

Benedict XI also celebrated two [[Papal consistory|Consistories]] for the purpose of creating new cardinals. The first, on 18 December 1303, elevated Fr. Nicholas Alberti da Prato, OP, the Bishop of Spoleto; and Fr. William Macclesfield (Marlesfeld), OP, of Canterbury, Prior of the English Province of the Dominicans.<ref>Macclesfeld may have been dead at the time that he was created cardinal.</ref> On 19 February 1304 he elevated Walter Winterburn, OP, of Salisbury, the confessor of King Edward I of England, who did not want to part with him, and kept him in England for some time. By the time he arrived in Perugia on 28 November 1304, Pope Benedict was dead.<ref>Bernardus Guidonis, quoted in J. Catalano, ''Sacrarum Caeremoniarum sive Rituum Ecclesiasticorum Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae Libri Tres'' (Romae 1750), p. 59.</ref> Cardinal Winterburn died at Genoa on 24 September 1305.<ref>Eubel, p. 13.</ref> It cannot escape notice that all three new cardinals were members of the Dominican Order.

Benedict XI was the author of a volume of sermons and commentaries on the [[Gospel of Matthew]], the [[Psalms]], the [[Book of Job]], and the [[Book of Revelation]].<ref name="Catholic"/><ref>Jacobus Echard, ''Scriptores Ordinis Praedicatorum recensiti'' Tomus I (Paris 1719), pp. 444-447.</ref>

===Stories===
Cardinal [[Caesar Baronius]] (1538–1607) wrote that, on the Monday of Easter week in 1304, Benedict XI was celebrating Mass, but a pilgrim interrupted it, because he wanted the pope to hear his confession. Rather than telling him to find another time or another priest to have his confession, the Pope left the Mass to hear his confession and then returned to continue the Mass.<ref>Leonard of Port Maurice. ''Counsels to Confessors''. Loreto Publications, 2008</ref> This appears to be an anecdote, appropriate for a sermon recommending frequent confession, placed in an age when twice annual confession was the norm. It is unlikely that a pilgrim would attempt to interrupt a Mass, that a priest would interrupt a Mass for some other function, or that the protocols of the papal Court would permit such an unfettered close approach to the pontiff during a sacred service.

There is also a story that, at the General Chapter of the Dominicans at Lucca in May 1288, the Provincial of the Roman Province, Thomas de Luni predicted to Fr. Niccolò that he would someday be pope. On another occasion, when he was in Venice, a friar of Torcello predicted that he would be Provincial, Master General, Cardinal and Pope.<ref>Fietta, pp. 242-243: "''Ce sont la bien entendu des legendes que ne prirent corps qu' après l' evénement, mais il ne serait pas impossible qu' elles aient eu pour origine quelque anecdote authentique''."</ref>

===Beatification===
[[File:Lorenzo maitani (attr.), monumento di benedetto XI, 1305 circa, 01.jpg|thumb|left|190px|Tomb of Benedict XI.]]
{{Infobox saint
|image           = B Benedikt XI.jpg
|name            = Pope Blessed<br>Benedict XI<br>[[Order of Preachers|O.P.]]
|birth_name      = Niccolò Boccasini
|birth_date      = 1240
|birth_place     = [[Treviso]], [[Republic of Venice]]
|death_date      = 7 July 1304 (aged 63-64)
|death_place     = [[Perugia]], [[Papal States]]
|titles          = [[Pope]]; [[Confessor]]
|venerated_in    = [[Roman Catholic Church]]
|feast_day       = 7 July
|attributes      = [[Papal regalia and insignia|Papal vestments]]<br>[[Papal tiara]]<br>[[Religious habit|Dominican habit]]
|patronage       = [[Treviso]]
|beatified_date  = 24 April 1736
|beatified_place = [[Rome]], Papal States
|beatified_by    = [[Pope Clement XII]] }}
Benedict XI earned a reputation for holiness and the faithful came to venerate him. His tomb gained a reputation for the amount of miracles that emerged from the site. [[Pope Clement XII]] approved his cultus on 24 April 1736 which acted as his formal [[beatification]]. [[Pope Benedict XIV]] extended his veneration to the [[Republic of Venice]] in 1748 after a request from the Venetians.

====Papal numbering====
A note on the numbering: Pope [[Benedict X]] (1058–1059) is now considered an [[antipope]] by the Catholic Church. At the time of Benedict XI's election, however, Benedict X was still considered a legitimate pope, and thus the man the Catholic Church officially considers the tenth true Pope Benedict, Niccolo Boccasini, took the official number XI rather than X. This has advanced the numbering of all subsequent Popes Benedict by one digit. Popes Benedict XI-Benedict XVI are, from an official point of view, the 10th through 15th popes by that name.{{Citation needed|date=August 2021}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography|Christianity|History}}
*[[List of popes]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* Ch. Grandjean (editor), ''Le Registre de Benoit XI'' (Paris 1905).
* Jacobus Echard, ''Scriptores Ordinis Praedicatorum recensiti'' Tomus I (Paris 1719), pp.&nbsp;444–447.
* Bernard Guidone, "Vita Benedicti Papae XI," and "Vita Clementis Papae V," in Ludovicus Antonius Muratori, ''Rerum Italicarum Scriptores'' Tomus Tertius (Milan 1723), 672–679.
* A. Touron, ''Histoire des hommes illustres de l' Ordre de Saint D''ominique Tome premier (Paris 1743), pp.&nbsp;655–704.
* J.-B. Christophe, ''L' histoire de la papauté pendant le XIV. siècle'' Tome premier (Paris: L. Maison 1853) 78-175.
* Lorenzo Fietta, ''Niccolò Boccasini e il suo tempo'' (Padova 1874).
* Martin Souchon, ''Die Papstwahlen von Bonifaz VIII bis Urban VI'' (Braunschweig: Benno Goeritz 1888).
* Charles Grandjean, "Benoît XI avant son Pontificat, 1240–1303," ''Mélanges d' archéologie et d' histoire ''8 (1888), 219–291.
* Paul Funke, ''Papst Benedikt XI.'' (Munster 1891).
* Heinrich Finke, ''Aus den Tage Bonifaz VIII. Funde und Forschungen'' (Münster 1902).
* Ferdinando Ferretton, ''Beato Benedetto XI Trivigiano'' (Treviso:Enrico Martinelli 1904).
* Daniel Antonin Mortier, ''Histoire des Maîtres généraux de l' Ordre des Frères Prêcheurs'' II (Paris 1905), pp.&nbsp;319–353.
* Ferdinand Gregorovius, ''History of Rome in the Middle Ages'', Volume V.2 second edition, revised (London: George Bell, 1906), Book X, chapter 6.
* Heinrich Finke, ''Acta Aragonensia. Quellen zur deutschen, italianischen, franzosischen, spanischen, zur Kirchen- und Kulturgeschichte aus der diplomatischen Korrespondenz Jaymes II. (1291–1327)'' (Berlin und Leipzig 1908)
* Ingeborg Walter, "[http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/beato-benedetto-xi_%28Enciclopedia-dei-Papi%29/ Benedetto XI], bl." Enciclopedia dei Papi (2000).
* Marina Benedetti, ''Benedetto XI, frate Predicatore e papa'' (Milano: Biblioteca francescana, 2007).
* {{BBKL|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070613080545/http://www.bautz.de/bbkl/b/benedikt_xi_p.shtml |band=1|spalte=486|autor=Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz|artikel=Benedikt XI}}
* Vito Sibilio: ''Benedetto XI. Il papa tra Roma e Avignone'' (= ''Dissertationes historicae.'' Band 30). Roma 2004. ([http://www.mgh-bibliothek.de/da/da621/da621.pl?seite=330.gif&start=330 Fachbesprechung])
* {{LexMA|1|1860|1861|Benedikt XI|Georg Schwaiger}}
* {{EnciclopediaDeiPapi|Verfasser=Ingeborg Walter|ID=beato-benedetto-xi_(Enciclopedia-dei-Papi)/|Lemma=Benedetto XI, beato|Band=2|SeiteVon=|SeiteBis=|Kommentar=|kurz=}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Benedictus XI|Pope Benedict XI}}
{{EB1911 poster|Benedict}}
* {{BBKL|b/benedikt_xi_p|band=1|autor= Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz |artikel= Benedikt XI., Papst (Nicolaus Boccasini)|spalte=486}}
* [http://www.bartleby.com/210/7/076.html "St. Benedict XI., Pope and Confessor"], ''Butler's Lives of the Saints''

{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|ca}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Stephen of Besançon]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Masters General of the Dominican Order|Master General of the Dominican Order]]|years=1296–1298}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Albert of Chiavari]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Leonardo Patrasso]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia]]|years=1300–1303}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Nicolò Albertini]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Boniface VIII]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Pope]]|years=22 October 1303 – 7 July 1304}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Clement V]]}}
{{s-end}}
{{Popes}}
{{Catholicism}}
{{History of the Catholic Church}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benedict 11}}
[[Category:1240 births]]
[[Category:1304 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Treviso]]
[[Category:Popes]]
[[Category:Italian popes]]
[[Category:Cardinal-bishops of Ostia]]
[[Category:Italian Dominicans]]
[[Category:Italian beatified people]]
[[Category:Dominican beatified people]]
[[Category:Dominican popes]]
[[Category:Masters of the Order of Preachers]]
[[Category:14th-century Italian Roman Catholic bishops]]
[[Category:13th-century Italian Roman Catholic bishops]]
[[Category:14th-century popes]]
[[Category:Beatified popes]]
[[Category:Papal legates to Hungary]]
[[Category:Beatifications by Pope Clement XII]]