Conclavist
Encyclopedia
A conclavist was a personal aide of a cardinal
present in a papal conclave
. The term is sometimes used to refer to all present with a conclave, including the cardinal-electors, but is more properly applied only to the non-cardinals. Conclavists played an important historical role in the negotiations of papal elections and in the evolution of secrecy (or the lack thereof), writing many of the extant accounts of papal elections.
Three popes have been elected from former conclavists, including Pope Pius VI
(a conclavist in the 1740 conclave). Other conclavists have later been elevated to the cardinalate, such as Pierre Guérin de Tencin
(1721), Niccolò Coscia
(1724), Christoph Anton Migazzi
(1740), and Carlo Confalonieri (1922).
Pope Paul VI
in effect eliminated the role of the historical conclavist by banning private aides and creating a common support staff.
in the election of a pope
predates the creation of the papal conclave, with different degrees of involvement characterizing papal selection before 1059
. The concept of papal elections as an exclusive event dates to the use of the Basilica of St. John Lateran
, which was too small to accommodate "the whole people", as the site of papal elections during the Byzantine Papacy
(537-752). The modern conception of the papal election as the exclusive provenance of the College of Cardinals
dates to Pope Nicholas II
's 1059 bull In Nomine Domini
, which limited suffrage to the cardinal-bishops.
The word conclavist comes from conclave (derived from the Latin cum clave, meaning "with a key"), which evolved during the thirteenth century, being formalized by Pope Gregory X
's Ubi periculum
in 1274, promulgated during the Second Council of Lyon
. The procedure of locking in the papal elections was intermittently used until, and exclusively used after, 1294. The norms on the number and type of individuals that could accompany them varied from conclave to conclave until the mid fifteenth century, when the role of the conclavist "had become defined".
The allowable number of conclavists was increased by two by the time of the papal conclave, 1484
and these were housed above the cells of the cardinal electors, all of whom could be housed in the same chapel due to their small number. Limitations on the number of conclavists were often viewed as only a suggestion: during the papal conclave, 1549-1550, when cardinals were limited to two conclavists, some had three or more, and one snapshot of the occupants of the conclave suggests an average of seven conclavists per cardinal. Attempts to reduce the total number of people in the conclave—including many ambassadors and foreign agents—proved unsuccessful. The number of the conclavists ensured that the various bookmakers of Rome were well-informed, streamlining the practice of gambling on papal elections
.
Conclavists were compensated for the inconvenience of being locked in the conclave by the ransacking of the furnishings of the cell of the newly elected pope and by the expectation of money and benefice
s.
A frequent choice of conclavist was the brother or nephew of the cardinal elector, until Pope Pius IV
(1559-1565) banned this practice. Pius IV issued a apostolic constitution
on the subject of conclavists; he limited cardinals to two conclavists, except for princes and the most senior cardinals, whom he permitted three. In addition to the restriction on relatives, Pius IV required that the conclavist have been in the service of the cardinal for at least one year prior to the conclave. He also decreed that the conclavists collectively be paid 10,000 crowns from the papal treasury
and 2,000 more from vacant benefices. He banned the practice of sacking the cell of the elected pope, but the practice continued nonetheless.
A document from the seventeenth century entitled "Advice for the Conclavist" describes the duties and rewards of the practice: conclavists were expected to care for the physical needs of the cardinal elector (e.g. making his bed and warming his food), gather information, spread disinformation, carry a heavy purse for distributing funds to minor conclave servants in exchange for information, possess wine and food in his cell for entertaining, and carry disguises for himself and his boss so they could move from cell to cell unrecognized.
The erudite abbot
Felice Gualterio, of the noble family from Orvieto
and younger brother of the conclavist Sebastiano Gualterio, in his treatise "The Conclavist" underscores that sentiment: "I wish my conclavist would transform himself, if it were possible, into the nature of a chameleon
, as this animal takes on the quality of the colours of all things which he comes near to and so, speaking and dealing with humans, he would be able to satisfy everyone's nature".
Unlike a cardinal, who—in the case of illness, certified under oath by a physician—may leave a conclave, a conclavist cannot. In 1621, forty conclavists died during the conclave (along with eight cardinals) due to a bout of malaria
. Two conclavists were forcibly ejected from the papal conclave, 1829
on March 15 for being agents of Austria
. During the papal conclave, 1878
(the first in the Vatican since 1775) a common kitchen was used from meals and cardinals were barred from receiving food from the outside; as this reduced the chances for communicating with the outside world during meals, the cardinals began objecting to eating with the conclavists and staff and were given a separate table.
Throughout history, conclavists have almost exclusively been men; however, during the papal conclave, 1939
, Cardinal Pacelli (who was elected Pope Pius XII
) was allowed to bring several German nuns, including Pascalina Lehnert, into "Cell No. 13" as his conclavists.
Anecdotal accounts have often blamed conclavists for the breach of secrecy in papal elections. For example, after the papal conclave, 1903
, before the election of Giuseppe Sarto as Pope Pius X
was announced, several conclavists apparently attempted to signal his election from the window by "imitating the sewing motions of a tailor, sarto in Italian". The papal conclave, 1963
was the first swept for listening devices, and there are contradictory accounts of a conclavist using a small radio to alert the CIA (or, alternatively, the Vatican Radio
) of the results of the election before flushing the device down the toilet.
(1963-1978) reformed the rules of the conclave in an attempt to promote secrecy; he replace the allowance of two conclavists per cardinal with a set of common secretaries and servants. Paul VI's reforms in effect eliminated the conclavists, increasing the space available for the rapidly expanding size of the College of Cardinals
(the common secretaries and servants numbered about seventy in the two 1978 papal conclaves
). Since the reign of Paul VI, the only non-cardinals present in conclave after the pronunciation of Extra omnes ("everyone out") by the master of papal liturgical celebrations
are the master himself and the priest chosen to give a homily
on the subject of electing the pope, and even they depart after the homily.
Cardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
present in a papal conclave
Papal conclave
A papal conclave is a meeting of the College of Cardinals convened to elect a Bishop of Rome, who then becomes the Pope during a period of vacancy in the papal office. The Pope is considered by Roman Catholics to be the apostolic successor of Saint Peter and earthly head of the Roman Catholic Church...
. The term is sometimes used to refer to all present with a conclave, including the cardinal-electors, but is more properly applied only to the non-cardinals. Conclavists played an important historical role in the negotiations of papal elections and in the evolution of secrecy (or the lack thereof), writing many of the extant accounts of papal elections.
Three popes have been elected from former conclavists, including Pope Pius VI
Pope Pius VI
Pope Pius VI , born Count Giovanni Angelo Braschi, was Pope from 1775 to 1799.-Early years:Braschi was born in Cesena...
(a conclavist in the 1740 conclave). Other conclavists have later been elevated to the cardinalate, such as Pierre Guérin de Tencin
Pierre Guérin de Tencin
Pierre-Paul Guérin de Tencin , French ecclesiastic, was archbishop of Embrun and Lyon, and a cardinal. His sister Claudine was a spur to his career....
(1721), Niccolò Coscia
Niccolò Coscia
Niccolò Coscia was an Italian Roman Catholic cardinal.He was born at Pietradefusi, near Avellino. In 1725 he was appointed as Cardinal of Santa Maria in Domnica by Pope Benedict XIII, whose secretary he had been when the future pope was Archbishop of Benevento.Coscia held the effective government...
(1724), Christoph Anton Migazzi
Christoph Anton Migazzi
Count Christoph Cardinal Anton Migazzi was Prince Archbishop of Vienna.- Biography :...
(1740), and Carlo Confalonieri (1922).
Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI
Paul VI , born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding Pope John XXIII, who had convened the Second Vatican Council, he decided to continue it...
in effect eliminated the role of the historical conclavist by banning private aides and creating a common support staff.
Background
The participation of the laityLaity
In religious organizations, the laity comprises all people who are not in the clergy. A person who is a member of a religious order who is not ordained legitimate clergy is considered as a member of the laity, even though they are members of a religious order .In the past in Christian cultures, the...
in the election of a pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
predates the creation of the papal conclave, with different degrees of involvement characterizing papal selection before 1059
Papal selection before 1059
There was no fixed process for papal selection before 1059. Popes, the bishops of Rome and the leaders of the Catholic Church, were often appointed by their predecessors or secular rulers...
. The concept of papal elections as an exclusive event dates to the use of the Basilica of St. John Lateran
Basilica of St. John Lateran
The Papal Archbasilica of St. John Lateran , commonly known as St. John Lateran's Archbasilica and St. John Lateran's Basilica, is the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome and the official ecclesiastical seat of the Bishop of Rome, who is the Pope...
, which was too small to accommodate "the whole people", as the site of papal elections during the Byzantine Papacy
Byzantine Papacy
The Byzantine Papacy was a period of Byzantine domination of the papacy from 537 to 752, when popes required the approval of the Byzantine Emperor for episcopal consecration, and many popes were chosen from the apocrisiarii or the inhabitants of Byzantine Greece, Byzantine Syria, or Byzantine Sicily...
(537-752). The modern conception of the papal election as the exclusive provenance of the College of Cardinals
College of Cardinals
The College of Cardinals is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church.A function of the college is to advise the pope about church matters when he summons them to an ordinary consistory. It also convenes on the death or abdication of a pope as a papal conclave to elect a successor...
dates to Pope Nicholas II
Pope Nicholas II
Pope Nicholas II , born Gérard de Bourgogne, Pope from 1059 to July 1061, was at the time of his election the Bishop of Florence.-Antipope Benedict X:...
's 1059 bull In Nomine Domini
In Nomine Domini
In nomine Domini, named for its Latin incipit , is a papal bull of Pope Nicholas II and canon of the Council of Rome, promulgated on April 13, 1059, establishing cardinal-bishops as the sole electors of the pope, with the consent of cardinal-deacons and cardinal-priests In nomine Domini, named...
, which limited suffrage to the cardinal-bishops.
The word conclavist comes from conclave (derived from the Latin cum clave, meaning "with a key"), which evolved during the thirteenth century, being formalized by Pope Gregory X
Pope Gregory X
Pope Blessed Gregory X , born Tebaldo Visconti, was Pope from 1271 to 1276. He was elected by the papal election, 1268–1271, the longest papal election in the history of the Roman Catholic Church....
's Ubi periculum
Ubi periculum
Ubi periculum was a document promulgated by Pope Gregory X during the Second Council of Lyon in 1274 that established the papal conclave as the method of selection for a pope...
in 1274, promulgated during the Second Council of Lyon
Second Council of Lyon
The Second Council of Lyon was the fourteenth ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, convoked on 31 March 1272 and convened in Lyon, France, in 1274. Pope Gregory X presided over the council, called to act on a pledge by Byzantine emperor Michael VIII to reunite the Eastern church with the West...
. The procedure of locking in the papal elections was intermittently used until, and exclusively used after, 1294. The norms on the number and type of individuals that could accompany them varied from conclave to conclave until the mid fifteenth century, when the role of the conclavist "had become defined".
From the 15th century
From the mid-fifteenth century, cardinals were permitted only one conclavist each, usually a servant. This man servant served as a secretary and confidant to his cardinal master, and an intermediary between the cardinals. Many cardinals preferred to delegate the negotiation of "promises of favors" to their conclavist, which "played so major a role in papal elections for the next three centuries". Clandestine meetings between conclavists were often influential on the outcome of the conclave. According to Baumgartner, "talented conclavists could achieve a great deal for their masters, but because so much of what they did was behind the scenes, it is difficult to assess accurately their place in the elections, although many conclavists wrote diaries and memoirs detailing the events of the conclaves and their roles".The allowable number of conclavists was increased by two by the time of the papal conclave, 1484
Papal conclave, 1484
The papal conclave from August 26–29, 1484 elected Pope Innocent VIII after the death of Pope Sixtus IV.-The election:At the death of Sixtus IV, the conclave of cardinals that met to elect his successor numbered thirty-two surviving cardinals, a greater number than at any time since the close of...
and these were housed above the cells of the cardinal electors, all of whom could be housed in the same chapel due to their small number. Limitations on the number of conclavists were often viewed as only a suggestion: during the papal conclave, 1549-1550, when cardinals were limited to two conclavists, some had three or more, and one snapshot of the occupants of the conclave suggests an average of seven conclavists per cardinal. Attempts to reduce the total number of people in the conclave—including many ambassadors and foreign agents—proved unsuccessful. The number of the conclavists ensured that the various bookmakers of Rome were well-informed, streamlining the practice of gambling on papal elections
Gambling on papal elections
Gambling on papal elections has at least a 500-year history. Betting on 16th-century papal conclaves are among the first documented examples of gambling on election outcomes...
.
Conclavists were compensated for the inconvenience of being locked in the conclave by the ransacking of the furnishings of the cell of the newly elected pope and by the expectation of money and benefice
Benefice
A benefice is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The term is now almost obsolete.-Church of England:...
s.
From Pius IV
Pope Pius IV
Pope Pius IV , born Giovanni Angelo Medici, was Pope from 1559 to 1565. He is notable for presiding over the culmination of the Council of Trent.-Biography:...
(1559-1565) banned this practice. Pius IV issued a apostolic constitution
Apostolic constitution
An apostolic constitution is the highest level of decree issued by the Pope. The use of the term constitution comes from Latin constitutio, which referred to any important law issued by the Roman emperor, and is retained in church documents because of the inheritance that the canon law of the...
on the subject of conclavists; he limited cardinals to two conclavists, except for princes and the most senior cardinals, whom he permitted three. In addition to the restriction on relatives, Pius IV required that the conclavist have been in the service of the cardinal for at least one year prior to the conclave. He also decreed that the conclavists collectively be paid 10,000 crowns from the papal treasury
Apostolic Camera
The Apostolic Camera, or in Latin Camera Apostolica or Apostolica Camera, is the central board of finance in the Papal administrative system, which at one time was of great importance in the government of the States of the Church, and in the administration of justice, led by the Camerlengo of the...
and 2,000 more from vacant benefices. He banned the practice of sacking the cell of the elected pope, but the practice continued nonetheless.
A document from the seventeenth century entitled "Advice for the Conclavist" describes the duties and rewards of the practice: conclavists were expected to care for the physical needs of the cardinal elector (e.g. making his bed and warming his food), gather information, spread disinformation, carry a heavy purse for distributing funds to minor conclave servants in exchange for information, possess wine and food in his cell for entertaining, and carry disguises for himself and his boss so they could move from cell to cell unrecognized.
The erudite abbot
Abbot
The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery...
Felice Gualterio, of the noble family from Orvieto
Orvieto
Orvieto is a city and comune in Province of Terni, southwestern Umbria, Italy situated on the flat summit of a large butte of volcanic tuff...
and younger brother of the conclavist Sebastiano Gualterio, in his treatise "The Conclavist" underscores that sentiment: "I wish my conclavist would transform himself, if it were possible, into the nature of a chameleon
Chameleon
Chameleons are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of lizards. They are distinguished by their parrot-like zygodactylous feet, their separately mobile and stereoscopic eyes, their very long, highly modified, and rapidly extrudable tongues, their swaying gait, the possession by many of a...
, as this animal takes on the quality of the colours of all things which he comes near to and so, speaking and dealing with humans, he would be able to satisfy everyone's nature".
Unlike a cardinal, who—in the case of illness, certified under oath by a physician—may leave a conclave, a conclavist cannot. In 1621, forty conclavists died during the conclave (along with eight cardinals) due to a bout of malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
. Two conclavists were forcibly ejected from the papal conclave, 1829
Papal conclave, 1829
The papal conclave held after the death of Pope Leo XII on February 10, 1829 to elect his successor began on February 24, 1829.It took a long time to make a decision because of conflict between secular governments about who should be elected...
on March 15 for being agents of Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. During the papal conclave, 1878
Papal conclave, 1878
The Papal conclave of 1878 resulted from the death of Pope Pius IX in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican on 7 February 1878. The conclave occurred in circumstances different from those of any previous conclave.-Unique circumstances:...
(the first in the Vatican since 1775) a common kitchen was used from meals and cardinals were barred from receiving food from the outside; as this reduced the chances for communicating with the outside world during meals, the cardinals began objecting to eating with the conclavists and staff and were given a separate table.
Throughout history, conclavists have almost exclusively been men; however, during the papal conclave, 1939
Papal conclave, 1939
The Papal conclave of 1939 was convoked on the brink of World War II with the death of Pope Pius XI on 10 February that year in the Apostolic Palace. With all 62 living cardinals in attendance, the conclave to elect Pius' successor began on 1 March and ended a day later, on 2 March, after three...
, Cardinal Pacelli (who was elected Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII
The Venerable Pope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City State, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958....
) was allowed to bring several German nuns, including Pascalina Lehnert, into "Cell No. 13" as his conclavists.
Anecdotal accounts have often blamed conclavists for the breach of secrecy in papal elections. For example, after the papal conclave, 1903
Papal conclave, 1903
The Papal conclave of 1903 was caused by the death of the 93-year-old Pope Leo XIII, who at that stage was the third-longest reigning pope in history....
, before the election of Giuseppe Sarto as Pope Pius X
Pope Pius X
Pope Saint Pius X , born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, was the 257th Pope of the Catholic Church, serving from 1903 to 1914. He was the first pope since Pope Pius V to be canonized. Pius X rejected modernist interpretations of Catholic doctrine, promoting traditional devotional practices and orthodox...
was announced, several conclavists apparently attempted to signal his election from the window by "imitating the sewing motions of a tailor, sarto in Italian". The papal conclave, 1963
Papal conclave, 1963
The Papal conclave of 1963 was convoked following the death of Pope John XXIII on June 3 of that same year in the Apostolic Palace. After the cardinal electors assembled in Rome, the conclave to elect John's successor began on June 19 and ended two days later, on June 21, after six ballots. The...
was the first swept for listening devices, and there are contradictory accounts of a conclavist using a small radio to alert the CIA (or, alternatively, the Vatican Radio
Vatican Radio
Vatican Radio is the official broadcasting service of the Vatican.Set up in 1931 by Guglielmo Marconi, today its programs are offered in 47 languages, and are sent out on short wave , medium wave, FM, satellite and the Internet. The Jesuit Order has been charged with the management of Vatican...
) of the results of the election before flushing the device down the toilet.
From Paul VI
Pope Paul VIPope Paul VI
Paul VI , born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding Pope John XXIII, who had convened the Second Vatican Council, he decided to continue it...
(1963-1978) reformed the rules of the conclave in an attempt to promote secrecy; he replace the allowance of two conclavists per cardinal with a set of common secretaries and servants. Paul VI's reforms in effect eliminated the conclavists, increasing the space available for the rapidly expanding size of the College of Cardinals
Size of the College of Cardinals
The size of the College of Cardinals has historically been limited by popes, ecumenical councils, and even the College itself. From 1099 to 1986, the total number of cardinals was approximately 2900 The size of the College of Cardinals has historically been limited by popes, ecumenical councils,...
(the common secretaries and servants numbered about seventy in the two 1978 papal conclaves
Papal conclave, 1978
Papal conclave, 1978 may refer to:* Papal conclave, August 1978, the conclave that selected Pope John Paul I* Papal conclave, October 1978, the conclave that selected Pope John Paul II...
). Since the reign of Paul VI, the only non-cardinals present in conclave after the pronunciation of Extra omnes ("everyone out") by the master of papal liturgical celebrations
Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff
The Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff is described in Pastor Bonus as:Art. 182 — § 1. The Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff is to prepare all that is necessary for the liturgical and other sacred celebrations performed by the Supreme Pontiff...
are the master himself and the priest chosen to give a homily
Homily
A homily is a commentary that follows a reading of scripture. In Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Eastern Orthodox Churches, a homily is usually given during Mass at the end of the Liturgy of the Word...
on the subject of electing the pope, and even they depart after the homily.
Other notable conclavists
The following conclavists have written notable historical accounts of conclaves:- Pietro Paolo Gualtieri of ArezzoArezzoArezzo is a city and comune in Central Italy, capital of the province of the same name, located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about 80 km southeast of Florence, at an elevation of 296 m above sea level. In 2011 the population was about 100,000....
, conclavist to Bernardino MaffeiBernardino MaffeiBernardino Maffei was an Italian archbishop and cardinal.He studied jurisprudence at Padua, and during the frequent absence of Dandino acted as secretary to Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, and later to pope Paul III.On 12 March 1547, he was made Bishop of Massa Marittima, then Archbishop of Chieti,...
during the papal conclave, 1549–1550Papal conclave, 1549–1550The papal conclave from November 29, 1549 to February 7, 1550, which was convened after the death of Pope Paul III, and eventually elected Giovanni Del Monte to the papacy as Pope Julius III. It was the second-longest papal conclave of the 16th century, and the largest papal conclave in history in... - Sebastiano Gualterio, bishop of ViterboRoman Catholic Diocese of ViterboThe Roman Catholic diocese of Viterbo is a Catholic ecclesiastical territory in central Italy. It was called historically the diocese of Viterbo e Tuscania. Its name was changed to diocese of Viterbo, Acquapendente, Bagnoregio, Montefiascone, Tuscania e San Martino al Monte Cimino in 1986, and...
, of the noble family from OrvietoOrvietoOrvieto is a city and comune in Province of Terni, southwestern Umbria, Italy situated on the flat summit of a large butte of volcanic tuff...
(also spelled "Gualtieri", but not related to Pietro Paolo Gualtieri), conclavist to Alessandro Farnese during the papal conclave, 1549–1550 - Angelo MassarelliAngelo MassarelliAngelo Massarelli was a notable Roman bishop, notable for having kept the Acts of the Council of Trent, which were the minutes of the council, and published only 300 years after the council was held....
, conclavist to Cardinal CerviniPope Marcellus IIPope Marcellus II , born Marcello Cervini degli Spannochi, was Pope from 9 April 1555 to 1 May 1555, succeeding Pope Julius III. Before his accession as Pope he had been Cardinal-Priest of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme. He is the most recent Pope to choose to retain his birth name as his regnal name...
during the papal conclave, 1549–1550 - Antonio Maria di Savoia di Collegno, conclavist to Cristoforo MadruzzoCristoforo Madruzzothumb|200px|Portrait of Cristoforo Madruzzo by [[Titian]] .[[Museu de Arte de São Paulo]], [[São Paulo]].Cristoforo Madruzzo was an Italian Roman Catholic cardinal and statesman. His brother Eriprando was a mercenary captain who fought in the Italian Wars.-Biography:Madruzzo was born on July 5,...
during the papal conclave, 1549–1550 - Pedro de Toldeo, conclavist and brother to Juan Álvarez de ToledoJuan Álvarez de ToledoJuan Álvarez de Toledo was a Spanish Dominican and Cardinal, from 1538. Considered papabile in the papal conclave , he was initially running second in votes to Reginald Pole...
during the papal conclave, 1549–1550