Julius III (Iulius III), born Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte on 10 September 1487 in Rome, from a Tuscan family originally from Monte San Savino, governed the Roman Church from 7 February 1550 (elected; crowned on 22 February[1]) to 23 March 1555. Trained as a jurist rather than as a theologian, he had been the first of the three co-presiding legates of the Council of Trent under Paul III: he opened its first session on 13 December 1545.[2][3][4]
His election came at the end of one of the longest conclaves in history -- ten weeks and sixty-one ballots -- after the English cardinal Reginald Pole had fallen two votes short of the tiara and del Monte emerged as a compromise candidate between the French faction of Henry II, the imperial faction of Charles V, and the Farnese group.[5][6]
The pontificate alternated between major decisions and a gradual withdrawal from affairs. Julius III reopened the Council of Trent for its second period (1551-1552), when the decrees on the Eucharist, penance, and extreme unction were defined; he reconciled England under Mary Tudor with Rome by sending Cardinal Pole as legate (1554); he founded the German College, entrusted to the Jesuits (1552), and supported the young Society of Jesus of Saint Ignatius of Loyola.[7][8][9]
Yet historical memory has especially retained the shadow: a pope who, once his reforming zeal had cooled, withdrew to his Villa Giulia, where he spent most of his time "in ease and comfort", and whose nepotism culminated in the Innocenzo del Monte scandal, when a young boy was raised to the cardinalate. The great blemish of his pontificate, Catholic historiography says, was nepotism.[10][11] To understand Julius III is to hold together the competent jurist who reopened Trent and protected the Jesuits, and the man of pleasure who left reform unfinished -- without confusing the holiness of the Church with the personal holiness of her pontiffs.
Why Julius III puzzles historians
Few pontificates show so clearly the contrast between the acts and the man. In five years Julius III made three decisions that would weigh heavily on the Counter-Reformation: the reopening of the Council of Trent, the foundation of the German College, and decisive support for the Jesuits, not to mention the spectacular reconciliation of England. None was minor; all announced the Tridentine Church.[12][13]
And yet the same pope went down in history as a lover of country retirement, more attached to his villa and amusements than to the government of Christendom.[14][15] The notice in the Catholic Encyclopedia and Pastor's synthesis pass the same judgment: the energy of Trent's legate faded once the tiara had been obtained.[16][17]
This double face makes him instructive. It shows that a pontificate can be fruitful through its institutions and disappointing through its holder; that Providence uses imperfect instruments; and that the distinction between office and person -- between the indefectibility of the Church and the possible mediocrity of a pope -- is not a late apologetic excuse, but the condition for understanding this pontificate without being mistaken about it.
The principal sources
The pontificate of Julius III is documented by papal acts, diplomatic dispatches from the imperial, French, and Venetian embassies, and the great historiographical tradition on the Renaissance papacy.
| Source | Nature | Contribution for Julius III |
|---|---|---|
| The Catholic Encyclopedia, article "Pope Julius III" (vol. 8, 1910) | Catholic encyclopedia entry | overall biography, dates, judgment on nepotism |
| Ludwig von Pastor, History of the Popes, vol. XIII | major documented synthesis | detailed account of the pontificate from archival sources |
| New Catholic Encyclopedia / Encyclopedia.com, article "Julius III" | scholarly notice | reform commission, second period of Trent |
| Decrees of the Council of Trent, sessions XIII and XIV (1551) | conciliar sources | Eucharistic and sacramental doctrine of the second period |
| Bull Dum sollicita (31 August 1552) | papal act | foundation of the German College |
| Giorgio Vasari, The Lives (1568) | contemporary artistic source | Villa Giulia, protection of Michelangelo |
As with all Renaissance popes, the rule is to distinguish public facts (acts, bulls, conciliar sessions, consistorial dates), which are well established, from court rumors, which must be reported prudently without being treated as certainties or suppressed.
Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte: the jurist who became cardinal
A Tuscan family in curial service
Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte was born on 10 September 1487 in Rome -- the place given by the Catholic Encyclopedia (vol. 8: "Born at Rome, 10 September, 1487") --, where his family was established in the service of the curia, while noting its Tuscan origin at Monte San Savino, near Arezzo.[18][19] His uncle, Antonio Maria Ciocchi del Monte, was a renowned canonist and influential cardinal: it was in his wake that the nephew made his career in the Church and in law.[20]
The canonist: Perugia, Siena, and the curia
The future pope studied jurisprudence at Perugia and Siena, then theology under the Dominican Ambrosius Catharinus.[21] Contemporaries regarded him as a brilliant canonist rather than a theologian -- a trait that would mark his whole pontificate, in which he excelled in procedure and administration more than in doctrine.[22][23] He succeeded his uncle as archbishop of Siponto (c. 1512), then became bishop of Pavia in 1520.[24][25]
Hostage of the Imperials during the Sack of Rome (1527)
Under Clement VII, del Monte was vice-legate of Perugia, then twice prefect of Rome.[26][27] During the terrible Sack of Rome in 1527, when imperial troops devastated the city, he was among the prelates handed over as hostages to the Imperials to guarantee the execution of the agreements between the pope and the emperor.[28][29] The episode shaped his knowledge of the great powers and helps explain the distrust later shown toward him by the imperial faction at the conclave.
Cardinal and first of the co-presiding legates of the Council of Trent (1545)
Created cardinal-priest of San Vitale on 22 December 1536 by Paul III, del Monte became one of the pope's trusted men for the great affair of the century: the convocation of a general council.[30][31] Appointed first of the co-presiding legates of the council in February 1545, he opened its first session on 13 December 1545 with a brief allocution.[32][33][34]
"The council was opened on 13 December 1545; Cardinal del Monte, the first of the three legates, presided over it." -- after The Catholic Encyclopedia, article "Council of Trent"[35]
This presidency was decisive for what followed: in the eyes of Europe it made him the man of the council. It also worried Charles V, because del Monte had supported the transfer of the council from Trent to Bologna in 1547 -- a decision the emperor considered a hostile maneuver.[36][37]
The conclave of 1549-1550: ten weeks and sixty-one ballots
The death of Paul III and the issue of Trent
Paul III died on 10 November 1549. The conclave that opened on 29 November 1549 was, at the time, the largest in history -- up to fifty-one cardinals present -- and one of the longest.[38] Two issues dominated it: should the Council of Trent be reopened, and under what conditions (Charles V wanted it, Henry II opposed it)? And who would receive the duchies of Parma and Piacenza, claimed both by the emperor and by the House of Farnese?[39]
Reginald Pole two votes from the tiara
The great favorite of the first weeks was the English cardinal Reginald Pole, a respected spiritual figure close to Catholic reform. On 5 December 1549, he received twenty-six votes, only two short of the required two-thirds majority.[40] But Pole refused to be elected by a nocturnal "acclamation", preferring to await a regular vote -- and the staggered arrival of the French cardinals, beginning on 11 December, caused his lead to melt away: he would never again gather more than twenty-three or twenty-four votes.[41]
The compromise candidate
Initially opposed by both camps -- by the Imperials because of his role in the transfer of the council, by the French because of his modest birth and rumors about his private life -- del Monte eventually won contradictory support: the French because of his supposed hostility to the Empire, the Farnese because he promised to support Ottavio Farnese's claim to Parma, and some Imperials because, while Charles V's initial instructions had expressly excluded him from the list of candidates[42], his last letter, shortly before 7 February 1550, no longer excluded him by name[43][44] On 7 February 1550, at the sixty-first ballot[45], he was elected "unanimously" by accessus and took the name Julius III.[46] He was crowned on 22 February 1550.[47]
Why the name Julius III?
The choice of name is attested as a fact: del Monte took the name of Julius III[48][49]. But its reason is documented by none of the principal sources: neither the notice in the Catholic Encyclopedia nor Pastor gives the reason for it. The hypothesis of a tribute to Julius II -- the pope who had created his uncle Antonio Maria cardinal at the consistory of 10 March 1511 -- therefore remains a hypothesis: plausible, but unattested.[50] If it is correct, the name first expressed family gratitude -- perhaps a foreshadowing of the weight kinship would carry in this pontificate.
The Council of Trent, second period (1551-1552)
Because this article's angle is the pontificate, the doctrine and the detailed canons are treated in the dedicated article on the Council of Trent. What matters here is Julius III's own role: reopening the interrupted council and maintaining its second period against political headwinds.
The reopening of 1 May 1551
From the start of his reign, Julius III restored Charles V's confidence by bringing the council back to Trent and convoking its resumption. The second period opened on 1 May 1551, under the presidency of Cardinal Marcello Crescenzi.[51][52] It was a diplomatic success: the pope reconciled the imperial demand for a council on imperial soil with Roman authority.
The Eucharistic and sacramental decrees
This second period was dogmatically major. The thirteenth session (11 October 1551) promulgated the great decree on the Real Presence and transubstantiation, against Protestant doctrines.[53][54] The fourteenth session (25 November 1551) defined the sacraments of penance and extreme unction.[55][56]
"If anyone denies that in the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist there are contained truly, really, and substantially the Body and Blood [...] of Our Lord Jesus Christ [...], let him be anathema." -- Council of Trent, session XIII, canon 1 (11 October 1551)[57]
These definitions, made possible by the reopening willed by Julius III, formed the basis of Tridentine sacramental theology for the following centuries.
The suspension of 28 April 1552
War caught up with the council. In March 1552 Maurice of Saxony, at the head of the Protestant princes and allied with France, took up arms again against Charles V and marched toward the Tyrol, threatening Trent itself.[58] Faced with the collapse of the military situation, the council was suspended sine die on 28 April 1552.[59][60] It would not reopen until 1562, under Pius IV, for its third and final period. Julius III therefore did not see Trent completed, but it was under his pontificate that the sacraments received their definition there.
The reconciliation of England (1554)
The most brilliant success of the reign came from across the Channel. After the death of Edward VI, the accession of Mary Tudor (1553), a fervent Catholic, opened the possibility of England's return to Roman communion, twenty years after Henry VIII's schism.[61]
Julius III sent as legate Cardinal Reginald Pole -- the former favorite of the conclave of 1550, himself English and the queen's cousin. On 30 November 1554, before Parliament, Pole solemnly absolved the kingdom and reconciled it with the Holy See.[62][63]
"An envoy was dispatched by the English Parliament to Julius III to inform him of the country's formal submission." -- after the article "Pope Julius III"[64]
The reconciliation would be short-lived -- Mary died in 1558 and the accession of Elizabeth I overturned it -- but at the time it remained a triumph for Rome and the diplomatic high point of the pontificate.
The German College and support for the Jesuits (1552)
Facing the advance of Protestantism in Germany, Julius III made a decision of immense consequence for the Counter-Reformation: the foundation of the German College (Collegium Germanicum) in Rome, intended to form a solid and Roman-minded German clergy.[65]
The initiative belonged to Cardinal Giovanni Morone and Saint Ignatius of Loyola; the pope approved it, endowed it with an annual income, and consecrated it by the bull Dum sollicita of 31 August 1552.[66][67] Its direction was entrusted to the Society of Jesus; Ignatius opened the college on the following 28 October.[68]
"Julius III confirmed the constitution of the Society of Jesus on 21 July 1550, and founded the German College to train German priests in Rome on 31 August 1552, endowing it with an annual income." -- Encyclopedia.com, article "Julius III"[69]
On 21 July 1550, in fact, Julius III had already confirmed and completed the rule of the Society of Jesus by the bull Exposcit debitum, extending Paul III's initial approval.[70][71] Through these acts, this pope often judged indolent armed the Church for two centuries of missionary and doctrinal reconquest: the German College would form generations of bishops of the Catholic Reformation.
The War of Parma and impossible neutrality (1551-1552)
The promise made to the Farnese during the conclave soon turned against the pope. Ottavio Farnese, grandson of Paul III, refusing to surrender Parma, allied himself with France. Julius III, at first favorable to the Farnese, then shifted to the side of Charles V and entered a war for Parma (1551-1552) alongside the Imperials.[72][73]
The campaign went badly: costly and indecisive, it diverted the pope from reform and accelerated the suspension of the council, of which it was one of the political causes.[74][75] Weary of the venture, Julius III made peace in 1552, renouncing the military adventure. The episode revealed the limit of his policy: unable to impose himself between France and the Empire, he finally chose withdrawal and neutrality -- at the cost of his prestige.
The Jubilee of 1550
The Holy Year of 1550 had been proclaimed by Paul III, who died before he could open it. The new pope therefore opened and presided over the Jubilee shortly after his coronation: a few days after his election, he opened the Holy Year promulgated by his predecessor by the bull Si pastores ovium, dated 24 February 1550.[76] Tens of thousands of pilgrims came to Rome. The Jubilee gave the beginning of the pontificate a popular splendor and inscribed Julius III in the long tradition of Roman Holy Years, begun by Boniface VIII in 1300.
The patron: Villa Giulia, Palestrina, Michelangelo
The Villa Giulia
After the momentum of the first months, Julius III withdrew more and more from daily government to devote himself to his amusements and to the construction of his pleasure residence, the Villa Giulia, outside Rome.[77] He employed the greatest artists: the architect Vignola (Jacopo Barozzi), assisted by Bartolomeo Ammannati and Giorgio Vasari, while Michelangelo himself was consulted.[78][79] The pope is said to have spent most of his time there "in ease and comfort".[80]
This taste for leisure fed the reputation of a pontiff who was more Renaissance prince than pastor. The Catholic Encyclopedia sums up the picture: withdrawn to the "luxurious palace" of the Villa Giulia, the pope spent there, it writes, "most of his time in ease and comfort" -- an image that, whether fair or exaggerated, clung to his memory.[81][82]
Palestrina and the Cappella Giulia
The patronage of Julius III nevertheless left an enduring mark on the history of sacred music. In 1551 the pope appointed Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina maestro of the Cappella Giulia, the choir of Saint Peter's Basilica.[83] In 1554 Palestrina dedicated his first book of Masses (Missarum liber primus) to him; its engraved frontispiece shows him kneeling as he presents his work to the pope.[84]
"Palestrina dedicated to Julius III his first book of Masses, published in 1554; the pope had taken him into his service as master of the Cappella Giulia." -- after the standard musicological notices[85]
In January 1555 Julius III even admitted Palestrina among the singers of the Sistine Chapel without examination and although he was married -- an irregular favor that would be annulled after the pope's death, but which testifies to the high esteem shown to the greatest polyphonist of the Catholic Reformation.[86]
The protection of Michelangelo
Julius III was also the pope who confirmed and protected Michelangelo as architect of the new Saint Peter's Basilica. Against the deputati of the Fabbrica who criticized the old master, the pope maintained his full authority over the building site, ensuring the continuity of the work begun under Julius II.[87][88] Vasari reports the pontiff's affection and confidence in the artist, whom he defended to the end.[89]
The shadow of the pontificate: Innocenzo del Monte and nepotism
The great stain of the reign, even by the admission of Catholic historiography, was nepotism.[90] It took an especially shocking face in Innocenzo Ciocchi del Monte.
Innocenzo was a young boy of very modest condition -- a beggar picked up in the streets of Parma, employed as a servant in the del Monte household, whose age is variously given as between fourteen and seventeen.[91] Once pope, Julius III had him adopted by his brother, then raised him to the cardinalate at his first consistory, on 30 May 1550.[92] The young man proved completely unfit for the office.
Contemporaries were openly scandalized. According to the standard historical synthesis, Cardinals Reginald Pole and Gian Pietro Carafa (the future Paul IV) are said to have warned the pope against the scandal that the elevation of a fatherless young man could not fail to arouse -- remarks reported at second hand, whose exact text goes back to no identified dispatch or primary source.[93] The poet Joachim du Bellay, then in Rome, mocked in Les Regrets (1558), in sonnet CV ("De voir mignon du Roy un courtisan honneste"): "Un Ganymède avoir le rouge sur la teste".[94]
The exact nature of the relationship between the pope and his protege remains debated: contemporary rumors were grave and persistent, but they belong as much to scandalous court chronicle as to proven fact. What is historically certain is the unworthiness of a promotion that made an uneducated adolescent a prince of the Church -- an abuse of nepotism that the reformed Church of Trent would precisely work to abolish.
The unfinished attempt at reform
It would be unjust to reduce Julius III to this scandal alone. At the beginning of his pontificate, the jurist resumed the work of reform: in 1550 he established a reform commission including Cardinals de Cupis, Carafa, Sfondrato, Crescenzi, Cibo, and Pole, and issued more than fifty briefs on ecclesiastical discipline.[95][96]
On 16 September 1552, he set in motion a comprehensive reform touching benefices, relations between regular and secular clergy, monastic discipline, clerical dress, and curial administration.[97] But his death prevented the publication of the implementing bull, and the momentum faded as the pope withdrew from affairs.[98][99] Reform would wait for his successors -- Marcellus II, then especially Paul IV and Saint Pius V -- to pass from intentions to acts.
Chronology of the pontificate
- 10 September 1487Birth
Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte is born in Rome, into a Tuscan family from Monte San Savino.
- 6 February 1545First president of the Council of Trent
Paul III appoints him first president-legate; he opens the first session on 13 December 1545.
- 7 February 1550Election
Elected on the 61st ballot after a ten-week conclave; crowned on 22 February 1550.
- 30 May 1550Cardinalate of Innocenzo del Monte
At his first consistory, the pope raises his young protege to the cardinalate -- the source of the reign's great scandal.
- 21 July 1550Confirmation of the Jesuits
Bull Exposcit debitum confirming and completing the rule of the Society of Jesus.
- 1 May 1551Reopening of the Council of Trent
Beginning of the second period; decrees on the Eucharist (11 Oct.), penance and extreme unction (25 Nov.).
- 28 April 1552Suspension of the council
The revolt of Maurice of Saxony and the war force Trent to be suspended sine die.
- 31 August 1552German College
Bull Dum sollicita founding the German College, entrusted to the Jesuits.
- 30 November 1554Reconciliation of England
The legate Reginald Pole reconciles Mary Tudor's England with Rome.
- 23 March 1555Death
Julius III dies in Rome; he is buried at the Vatican.
Assessment: a transitional pope
The shadows
The personal assessment is heavy. Julius III left the image of a pope who, with reform barely begun, preferred rest to government; whose nepotism reached a scandalous degree with Innocenzo del Monte; and whose War of Parma was a costly political mistake.[100][101]
The lights
And yet the institutions he carried forward are among the most enduring of the Counter-Reformation. The reopening of Trent allowed the definition of the sacraments; the German College and support for the Jesuits armed the Church for reconquest; the reconciliation of England, however brief, was a diplomatic summit; and the patronage of Palestrina gave the liturgy its purest music.[102][103][104]
Why Julius III still matters
Julius III is the hinge pope between the worldly papacy of the Renaissance and the austere papacy of the Catholic Reformation. With him the age of prince-pontiffs ends; after him would come Marcellus II, the uncompromising Paul IV, and the holy reformer Pius V. His pontificate illustrates a truth the Catholic faith holds without embarrassment: the Church can be served by mediocre instruments without ceasing to be holy, because her holiness comes from Christ and not from the perfection of her ministers.
Further reading
- The Council of Trent (1545-1563) -- the great assembly over which Julius III presided and which he later reopened.
- Pope Paul III (1468-1549) -- his predecessor, who convoked the council and appointed him legate.
- Pope Paul IV (1476-1559) -- Cardinal Carafa, the uncompromising reformer who soon succeeded him.
- Pope Julius II (1443-1513) -- the pontiff whose name he took.
- Saint Ignatius of Loyola and the Society of Jesus -- which he confirmed and to which he entrusted the German College.
Notes and References
Crowned on 22 February 1550 by Cardinal Innocenzo Cibo (Cybo), as senior cardinal-deacon (protodeacon). Source independent of Wikipedia: S. Miranda, The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, notice on Innocenzo Cibo (consistory of 23 September 1513), http://cardinals.fiu.edu/bios1513.htm (verified passage): "Participated in the conclave of 1549-1550, which elected Pope Julius III. He crowned Pope Julius III on February 22, 1550"; "Cardinal protodeacon".
1 47"Pope Julius III", The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 8, New York, Robert Appleton Company, 1910, New Advent, https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08564a.htm. Verified passages: birth and death ("Born at Rome, 10 September, 1487 ; died there, 23 March, 1555"), training ("studied jurisprudence at Perugia and Siena, and theology under the Dominican, Ambrosius Catharinus"), election ("duly elected on 7 February, 1550, after a conclave of ten weeks"), withdrawal to the Villa Giulia ("He withdrew to his luxurious palace, the Villa Giulia... Here he spent most of his time in ease and comfort"), and the judgment: "The great blemish in his pontificate was nepotism".
2 10 16 18 20 21 22 24 26 28 30 32 42 46 49 64 80 81 90 100"Council of Trent", The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 15, New York, 1912, New Advent, https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15030c.htm. Verified passages: "Cardinals Giovanni del Monte, Marcello Cervini, and Reginald Pole were appointed in February, 1545, as the papal legates to preside at the council"; first session set for 13 December 1545, held "after the first president of the council, Cardinal del Monte, had celebrated"; second period reopened on 1 May 1551; session XIII on the Eucharist (11 October 1551); session XIV on penance and extreme unction (25 November 1551); suspension on 28 April 1552.
3 7 12 33 35 51 54 56 60 102Art. "Julius III", Encyclopaedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Julius-III. Verified passages: "he served as co-president of the Council of Trent in 1545, with cardinals Cervini (later Pope Marcellus II) and Pole"; "Elected pope on Feb. 7, 1550... he appointed a commission that recommended resumption of the Council of Trent, which Julius reopened on May 1, 1551".
4 34Second-hand synthesis: art. "1549–1550 papal conclave", Wikipedia, compiling L. von Pastor (vol. XIII) and K. M. Setton, The Papacy and the Levant. The following belong to this synthesis: precise figures and mechanics -- 26 votes for Pole on 5 December 1549, arrival of the French cardinals from 11 December onward, 61 ballots, refusal of an election by nocturnal acclamation, Charles V's last letter no longer excluding del Monte by name. The central fact -- Pole two votes short of the tiara -- is corroborated by the Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 12, art. "Pole, Reginald" ("nearly two-thirds of the votes"), and by the Catholic Historical Review 89/2 (2003) ("twenty-six votes (two short of the required majority)"). The framework, for its part, is carried at primary level by the Catholic Encyclopedia, art. "Pope Julius III": ten-week conclave, election on 7 February 1550 "although the emperor had expressly excluded him from the list of candidates", compromise between "the adherents of Farnese and the French party", promise on Parma kept in favor of Ottavio Farnese.
5 36 38 39 40 41 43 45 48 72Ludwig von Pastor, Histoire des papes depuis la fin du Moyen Âge, vol. XIII (Julius III, Marcellus II, Paul IV), French trans., Paris, Plon. Detailed account of the conclave, the War of Parma, the pope's withdrawal, and nepotism from Roman archives and diplomatic dispatches; reference of the English edition given by the bibliography of the New Catholic Encyclopedia: The History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages, London--St. Louis, 1938--1961, vol. 13, pp. 1--335. Text consulted at the level of the "Jules III (1550-1555)" chapter of the online mirror (no exact pagination available): the reform commission is given there as appointed as early as March 1550; the exact list of its members is quoted verbatim from the New Catholic Encyclopedia (see [^nce]).
6 11 14 17 23 37 44 63 73 101Julius III, bull Dum sollicita, 31 August 1552, founding the Collegium Germanicum in Rome; initiative of Cardinal Giovanni Morone and Saint Ignatius of Loyola; direction entrusted to the Society of Jesus, opening on 28 October 1552. Verified passages: The Catholic Encyclopedia ("at the instance of St. Ignatius issued the Bull of foundation for the Collegium Germanicum on 31 August, 1552, and granted it an annual subsidy") and art. "Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum" ("established on 31 August 1552... with the bull Dum sollicita... initiative... taken by Cardinal Giovanni Morone and Ignatius Loyola... formally opened it on 28 October"). The Latin text of the bull was not consulted directly.
8 13 65 66 68 71 103"Pope Julius III", The Catholic Encyclopedia (ref. above) and L. von Pastor, vol. XIII: dispatch of Cardinal Reginald Pole as legate to England under Mary Tudor; solemn reconciliation of the kingdom with Rome on 30 November 1554. Date confirmed by History of Parliament Online ("On 30 November the Pope's representative, Reginald Pole, formally forgave Parliament and the English people") and by the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Reginald Pole entry: "on St Andrew's day (30 November), Pole formally...").
9 61 62On the Villa Giulia (today the National Etruscan Museum): the distribution of roles -- first design by Vignola (Jacopo Barozzi, 1551-1553), nymphaeum and gardens by Ammannati under Vasari's supervision -- follows the standard art-historical synthesis (art. "Villa Giulia", § Design), reported here at second hand; the decisive point -- Michelangelo consulted for the Vigna Giulia -- is attested at primary level by Vasari himself (see [^vasari]). The pope's withdrawal to his villa is attested by the Catholic Encyclopedia: "He withdrew to his luxurious palace, the Villa Giulia... Here he spent most of his time in ease and comfort"; the New Catholic Encyclopedia (see [^nce]) confirms that he "erected the luxurious Villa Giulia at the Porta del Popolo".
15 77 78 82The Catholic Encyclopedia (vol. 8) decides for Rome: "Born at Rome, 10 September, 1487". Some secondary notices indicate Monte San Savino (Tuscany), the family's home -- for instance the biographical notice "Julius III" (On This Day: "Birthplace: Monte San Savino, Tuscany"). The Ciocchi del Monte family was Tuscan, established in the service of the Roman curia.
19Verified passage from The Catholic Encyclopedia, art. "Pope Julius III": "In 1512 he succeeded his uncle Antonio del Monte as Archbishop of Siponto (Manfredonia), and in 1520 as Bishop of Pavia, retaining, however, the administration of Siponto". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church ("Julius III" entry) gives 1511 for Siponto: the "c. 1512" in the body of the article maintains this caution.
25Verified passages from The Catholic Encyclopedia, art. "Pope Julius III": "Later he became vice-legate of Perugia, and under Clement VII was twice appointed prefect of Rome"; "After the Sack of Rome (1527) he was one of the hostages given by Clement VII to the Imperialists, and would have been killed by the imperial Landsknechte in the Campo di Fiori, had he not been secretly liberated by Cardinal Pompio Colonna". The New Catholic Encyclopedia renders the same office as "served two terms as governor of Rome".
27 29Created cardinal-priest of the title of San Vitale on 22 December 1536 by Paul III. See The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, biographical dictionary (cardinals.fiu.edu).
31The fact is attested -- "The new pope took the name of Julius III" (The Catholic Encyclopedia, art. "Pope Julius III") -- but the reason is given by none of the principal sources (neither the notice nor L. von Pastor, History of the Popes, vol. XIII). The family link, for its part, is documented: Antonio Maria Ciocchi del Monte was created cardinal by Julius II at the consistory of 10 March 1511 (see The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, consistory of 10 March 1511; GCatholic.org, "Cardinals Created by Julius II"). The interpretation in terms of gratitude therefore remains an unattested hypothesis.
50"Julius III, Pope", New Catholic Encyclopedia / Encyclopedia.com, https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/julius-iii-pope (online article, no pagination; passages verified verbatim): "As early as 1550 he appointed a commission of Cardinals Domenico de Cupis, Gian Pietro Caraffa (later Paul IV), Francesco Sfrondato, Marcello Crescenzi, Innocenzo Cibo, and Reginald Pole to prepare a schema of reform. He wrote more than 50 briefs on reform, and on Sept. 16, 1552, he initiated a program to control the conferring of benefices, the relationships between regular and secular clergy, monastic discipline, clerical dress, and changes in curial administration. He planned a bull to implement these measures, but his death prevented its publication."; same article (verified verbatim): Jesuit constitution confirmed on 21 July 1550, German College founded on 31 August 1552 "at the suggestion of St. Ignatius", "appointed Michaelangelo chief architect of St. Peter's", Villa Giulia "erected" at the Porta del Popolo, scandal of the hat given to "a youth of 17, who was adopted by his brother, Baldovino del Monte".
52 67 69 70 74 96 99Council of Trent, session XIII, Decree on the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist, 11 October 1551 (canons on the Real Presence and transubstantiation). Text in H. Denzinger, Enchiridion symbolorum, nos. 1635 ff. (Schönmetzer numbering, verified: session XIII opens at no. 1635 -- old Denzinger-Bannwart numbering: 873a). Latin verified word for word against the promulgated conciliar text (Concilium Tridentinum, Latin ed.: "Si quis negaverit in sanctissimo Eucharistiae sacramento contineri vere realiter et substantialiter corpus et sanguinem una cum anima et divinitate Domini nostri Iesu Christi ac proinde totum Christum sed dixerit tantummodo esse in eo ut in signo vel figura aut virtute: anathema sit" -- only punctuation differs). Complete Latin text of canon 1: "Si quis negaverit, in sanctissimo Eucharistiae sacramento contineri vere, realiter et substantialiter corpus et sanguinem una cum anima et divinitate Domini nostri Iesu Christi, ac proinde totum Christum; sed dixerit tantummodo esse in eo ut in signo vel figura aut virtute: anathema sit."
53 57Council of Trent, session XIV, decrees on the sacraments of penance and extreme unction, 25 November 1551. See Denzinger, Enchiridion symbolorum, nos. 1667 ff. (Schönmetzer numbering, verified: the doctrine of session XIV on penance opens at no. 1667 -- old Denzinger-Bannwart numbering: 893a).
55In March 1552 Maurice of Saxony, allied with France, renewed the war against Charles V and marched toward the Tyrol, threatening Trent. The council was suspended sine die on 28 April 1552. Sources: The Catholic Encyclopedia, article "Council of Trent"; L. von Pastor, History of the Popes, vol. XIII.
58 59 75Official Jubilee site, "Jubilees throughout History" (iubilaeum2025.va), verified passage: "1550: Proclaimed by Paul III, presided over by Julius III"; "A few days after his election, Pope Julius III opened the Holy Year promulgated by his predecessor Paul III, with the issuing of the Bull Si pastores ovium, dated 24 February 1550." The title of the bull and its date are thus corroborated; 24 February 1550 is the date of the bull, the site not specifying the day of the rite of opening of the Holy Door. Title corroborated by GCatholic.org ("Documents Issued in 1550": Bull Si pastores ovium proclaiming the Jubilee of 1550).
76Giorgio Vasari, Le Vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori e architettori (Florence, 1568), "Life of Michelangelo", English trans. by Mrs. Jonathan Foster (London, Bohn, 1850-1852), vol. 5, "Life of Michelagnolo Buonarroti" -- verified passages (Wikisource, scan pp. 312-313 of vol. 5): "In the same year, Pope Julius confirmed the Motu-proprio of Paul III. in respect to the fabric of San Pietro, and although the Sangallican faction found great fault with what Michelagnolo had ordered for the building, the Pontiff would at that time hear nothing of all they could say"; "Nor would he suffer anything to be done without Michelagnolo's advice either at the Vigna Julia or the Belvedere".
79 87 89On musical patronage: Julius III appointed Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina maestro of the Cappella Giulia (choir of Saint Peter's) in 1551; Palestrina dedicated to him his Missarum liber primus (first book of Masses) in 1554, whose engraved frontispiece shows him kneeling before the pope; in January 1555 (the 13th according to Grove), Julius III admitted him to the Sistine Chapel without examination although he was married -- a favor annulled under Paul IV with a small pension. See The Catholic Encyclopedia, art. "Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina" (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11421b.htm) and Grove Music (R. Sherr, 1994).
83 84 85 86 104Julius III confirmed Michelangelo's authority over the Saint Peter's building site against the Fabbrica's critics, guaranteeing the continuity of the project: Vasari, Lives, "Life of Michelangelo" (exact reference in [^vasari]). Corroborated by the New Catholic Encyclopedia / Encyclopedia.com, art. "Julius III" (passage verified verbatim, see [^nce]): "appointed Michaelangelo chief architect of St. Peter's".
88On Innocenzo Ciocchi del Monte: a young boy of modest condition picked up in the streets of Parma and employed as a servant in the del Monte household -- the Catholic Encyclopedia specifies "a youth of seventeen", adopted by Balduino, the pope's brother --, then created cardinal at the consistory of 30 May 1550; the same notice speaks of the "very disagreeable rumours" aroused by this elevation. The warning attributed to Cardinals Pole and Carafa is reported only at second hand, by the standard synthesis (after Wikipedia, art. "Pope Julius III", which quotes the English formula "the evil suppositions to which the elevation of a fatherless young man would give rise"): no dispatch or identified primary source gives its text. Joachim du Bellay, Les Regrets (Paris, 1558), sonnet CV -- text verified word for word against the validated Wikisource text from the 1558 edition: v. 1 "De voir mignon du Roy un courtisan honneste," and v. 8 "Un Ganymède avoir le rouge sur la teste:" (numbering CV = 105th sonnet, verified; no translation is offered in the article, the quotation being given in the original 1558 French). Sources: "Pope Julius III", The Catholic Encyclopedia; "Pope Julius III", Wikipedia (second-hand synthesis elements).
91 92 93 94On reform: all the elements in the body of the article (1550 commission and its exact composition, more than fifty briefs, 16 September 1552 program on benefices, regular and secular clergy, monastic discipline, clerical dress and curia, implementing bull unpublished owing to the pope's death) are quoted verbatim from the New Catholic Encyclopedia (see [^nce]). In addition, Pastor, vol. XIII, "Jules III" chapter (online mirror, no exact pagination available): commission appointed as early as March 1550.
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