Paul V.

Paul V., originally named Camillo Borghese, was born in Rome in 1552. In his early life he was a distinguished canonist and theologian; and, after the ordinary prelatial career at Rome, he rose first to the post of nuncio at the Spanish court, and afterwards to the cardinalate under Clement VIII. On the death of Leo XI. in 1605 Cardinal Borghese was elected to succeed him. His pontificate is rendered memorable by the celebrated conflict with the republic of Venice, into which he was plunged at the very outset of his reign. The original ground of dispute was the question of the immunity from the jurisdiction of civil tribunals conceded to the clergy, who claimed to be tried by ecclesiastical tribunals alone. This claim the senate resisted; and further causes of dispute were added by a mortmain law, and a law prohibiting the establishment of new religious orders or associations unless with the sanction of the senate. Each party remaining inflexible in its determination, Paul issued a brief, directing a sentence of excommunication against the doge and senate, and placing the republic under an interdict, unless submission should be made within twenty-four days. The senate persisted, and an animated conflict, as well of acts as of writings, ensued, in the latter of which the celebrated Fra Paolo Sarpi, on the side of the republic, and on the papal side Bellarmino and Baronius were the leaders. By the intervention of Henry IV. of France the dispute was accommodated in 1607, but not until the pope had been compelled to abandon his claims. Paul's administration was vigorous on behalf of orthodoxy, and he did a great deal for the promotion of useful public works, for the embellishment of the city, the restoration and preservation of antiquities, the improvement of the museums and libraries, and, above all, for the pious and charitable institutions of Rome. Paul died January 28, 1621, and was succeeded by Gregory XV. See T. A. Trollope's Paul the Pope, and Paul the Friar (1860).