THE HISTORY OF THE MASS AND HOLY MOTHER CHURCH

     It is a fact that Dante placed many of the popes in Purgatory, and a few in his "Inferno" but Hadrian's successor Pope John XXI was the only one Dante placed in Heaven. There are some unique things about John XXI. First of all, he was the first and only Portuguese Pope, having been born Pedro Juliani, son of a physician in Lisbon in 1215. He followed in the footsteps of many of his predecessors by attending the learned University of Paris where he, too, studied under Saint Thomas Aquinas, Saint Albert the Great, and Saint Bonaventure. Like his father he became a physicial and began teaching medicine at the University of Siena. Through acquaintances and the influence of his predecessor Hadrian V, he became the personal physician to Gregory X and stayed on in the Vatican after Gregory's death. Gregory ordained Pedro and promoted him to Archbishop of Braga and then Cardinal of Tusculum. He wrote innumerable books, including The Soul and two books on medicine The Eye (opthamalmology) and The Poor Man's Treasury which highlighted ways of curing various illnesses. One of the illnesses not covered was the jealousies among the cardinals when it came time to elect Hadrian's successor. They had gathered in Viterbo where Hadrian had passed away and a bitter battle between two favorite sons once again forced a stalemate. One of these candidates, Cardinal Orsini who would be elected the next time, swung his block toward Cardinal Juliani and he was elected on September 8, 1276. Because he was so often referred to as "Pedro of Spain," few realized his roots were in Portugal. He chose John XXI even though there had been no John XX since the last John had been Pope John XIX who died in 1032. Perhaps because of historian error or the confusion as to numerical designation, this stems back all the way to Pope John XV. Regardless, Pedro took the name John XXI and was crowned as the one-hundred eighty-seventh successor of Peter two weeks later on September 20th. In deference to Cardinal Orsini who he trusted and leaned on so and was indebted for his generous act of swinging the votes in his favor, he assigned most of the power to him. Orsini counseled John XXI but make no mistake, the decision making did not come from the Pope but rather Cardinal Orsini. Orsini was a strong advocate of the policies set forth by Gregory X, but, because of the harsh circumstances of the last conclave, John degreed that there would be free papal elections. Other than that, few decisions were made that did not have Orsini's stamp on it. One was the fact that John refused to confirm Charles of Anjou as Senator of Rome and imperial vicar in Tuscany, something Charles and many of the people thought would be a fait accomplis. Rather John insisted Charles reconcile with King Rudolf I of Habsburg. It was a trade-off, so to speak, for if Charles were willing to acknowledge Rudolf as Holy Roman Emperor, then the Pope would recognize Charles as a Senator and royal vicar. Being from Portugal and spending more time in Spain as well as France, John sought to also reconcile the Spanish king Alfonso X of Castile with the French monarch King Philip III. The Holy Father was able to obtain the promise from both that the churches, their income, and property would be respected in both countries. John also turned his attention East, trying to resurrect the reconciliation with the Byzantine court, but Emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus was still perturbed by the demands made by Innocent V. Yet, still playing politics in hopes of staving off any threat from Charles' overtures to recapture Constantinople, he strung John along even though he himself would die a few years later and his successor Andronicus and the Patriarch John Beccus would make full submission to Rome.

     John did much in reinstating tithing in England and western Europe, exacting papal taxes and correcting previous abuses. Long a man of the sciences, John dallied in astronomy as well as medicine and healing of souls, even having a special room built in the papal palace in Viterbo where he could view the stars at night. It was here where he died as the room, hastily built, collapsed on top of him in much the same manner as the frescoes fell on the poor unsuspecting Franciscan Friars at Assisi late last year. He died a six days later of internal injuries on May 20, 1277. It was a shock to the Christian world who felt so confident that a man of great health, relative young in age, and so knowlegable in the medical arts would live a long time. It was not to be. What was to be, was the continuation of the same policies because Cardinal Orsini would be elected the next pontiff six months later and carry out much of what he began over the next three years.

Next installment: Pope Nicholas III: Political prowess punctuates the Papacy.