* 1590 – Niccolò Sfondrati becomes Pope Gregory XIV.

* 1535 – Pope Gregory XIV ( d. 1591 )

Pope Gregory XIV ( 11 February 1535 – 16 October 1591 ), born Niccolò Sfondrati, was Pope from 5 December 1590 until his death in 1591.

On the next day he was elected Pope Gregory XIV he burst into tears and said to the cardinals: " God forgive you!

Gregory XIV levied an army for the invasion of France, and dispatched his nephew Ercole Sfondrati to France at its head.

By coming down solidly on the side of Spanish interests, in part because Gregory XIV was elected due to the influence of the Spanish cardinals, the recent papal policy of trying to maintain a balance between Spain and France was abandoned.

Gregory XIV created five Cardinals, among whom was his nephew Paolo Emilio Sfondrati, his Secretary of State.

In a decree dated 18 April 1591 ( Bulla Cum Sicuti ), Gregory XIV ordered reparations to be made by Catholics in the Philippines to the natives, who had been forced into slavery by Europeans, and he commanded under pain of excommunication of the owners that all native slaves in the islands be set free.

Also in 1591, Gregory XIV modified the Apostolic Constitution Effraenatam of Pope Sixtus V ( 1588 ) so that the penalty for abortion did not apply until the foetus became animated.

The biographers mention that Pope Gregory XIV had a nervous tendency to laughter, which occasionally became irresistible and even manifested itself at his coronation.

* Cardinals created by Gregory XIV

* Defending the Faith website: Gregory XIV

Prior to his short papacy, he had been a Canon Lawyer, diplomat, and chief administrator during the reign of Pope Gregory XIV ( 1590 – 1591 ).

During the reign of the sickly Gregory XIV, who suffered from bouts of malaria, the burden of the papal administration rested on his shoulders.

Even before Gregory XIV died, Spanish and anti-Spanish factions were electioneering for the next Pope.

* February 11 – Pope Gregory XIV ( d. 1591 )

* October 29 – Pope Innocent IX succeeds Pope Gregory XIV as the 230th pope.

* October 16 – Pope Gregory XIV ( b. 1535 )

* December 5 – Gregory XIV succeeds Urban VII as the 229th pope.

Pope Gregory XIV granted and bestowed him the title of Librarian of the Vatican.

He was supported in this effort by a long series of short-term popes ( some very short-term ), such as Innocent IX ( 1591 ), Gregory XIV ( 1590 – 1591 ), etc., who basically followed his strategy.

# REDIRECT Pope Gregory XIV

Ingegneri was close friends with Bishop Nicolò Sfondrato, later Pope Gregory XIV, who was intimately involved with the reforms of the Counter-Reformation and the Council of Trent, and this influence is present in his music, which usually shows the simplification and clarity of the Palestrina style.

Philip succeeded three times with popes Urban VII, Gregory XIV, and Innocent IX.

The first case recorded of the partial exemption of an abbot from episcopal control is that of Faustus, abbot of Lerins, at the council of Arles, AD 456 ; but the exorbitant claims and exactions of bishops, to which this repugnance to episcopal control is to be traced, far more than to the arrogance of abbots, rendered it increasingly frequent, and, in the 6th century, the practice of exempting religious houses partly or altogether from episcopal control, and making them responsible to the pope alone, received an impulse from Pope Gregory the Great.

( The later pope St. Gregory I the Great is not known to have composed any Gregorian chant, the plainsong or " Romish chant ".

The aim of the council was to end the schism ; to this end they deposed Gregory XII and Benedict XIII and elected the new pope Alexander V in 1409.

John XXIII was acknowledged as pope by France, England, Bohemia, Prussia, Portugal, parts of the Holy Roman Empire, and numerous Northern Italian city states, including Florence and Venice ; however, the Avignon Pope Benedict XIII was regarded as pope by the Kingdoms of Aragon, Castile, and Scotland and Gregory XII was still favored by Ladislaus of Naples, Carlo I Malatesta, the princes of Bavaria, Louis III, Elector Palatine, and parts of Germany and Poland.

Gregory VII ( pope 1073 – 1085 ), too, simplified the liturgy as performed at the Roman court, and gave his abridgment the name of Breviary, which thus came to denote a work which from another point of view might be called a Plenary, involving as it did the collection of several works into one.

Henry IV became so filled with hubris over his position, that he renounced Gregory VII and named the bishop of Ravenna pope.

Upon the death of Gregory, the cardinals elected a new pope, Victor III.

Pope Gregory XI's return to Rome in 1377, followed by his death and the controversial election of his successor, Pope Urban VI, resulted in the defection of a number of cardinals and the election of a rival pope based at Avignon in 1378.

Though Alexander and his successor, John XXIII, gained widespread support, especially at the cost of the Avignon pope, the schism remained, now involving not two but three claimants: Gregory XII at Rome, Benedict XIII at Avignon and John XXIII.

Gregory XII's cardinals were accepted as true cardinals by the Council, but the members of the council delayed electing a new pope for fear that a new pope would restrict further discussion of pressing issues in the Church.

This pope assumed the name Gregory VIII, but came to be known as antipope Gregory VIII.

The medieval chronicler Bede says that Augustine sent Laurence back to Pope Gregory I to report on the success of converting King Æthelberht of Kent and to carry a letter with questions for the pope.

Gregory VII died in 1085, and Matilda's forces, with those of Prince Jordan I of Capua ( her off and on again enemy ), took to the field in support of a new pope, Victor III.

Benedict IX soon regretted his resignation and returned to Rome, taking the city and remaining on the throne until July 1046, although Gregory VI continued to be recognized as the true pope.

He issued two other decrees: one confirmed an earlier decree of Pope Gregory X that ordered the shutting of the cardinals in a conclave to elect a new pope ; the second declared the right of any pope to abdicate the papacy, a right that he himself exercised at the end of five months and eight days at Naples on 13 December 1294.

Pope Saint Gregory II ( 669 – 11 February 731 ) was pope from 19 May 715 to his death on 11 February 731.

After Constantine ’ s death on 9 April 715, Gregory was elected pope, and was consecrated as Bishop of Rome on 19 May 715.

The upshot of this was that Gregory refused to pay the additional taxes, he encouraged the Roman populace to drive the imperial governor of Rome from the city, and Leo was unable to impose his will upon Rome, as Lombard pressure kept the exarch of Ravenna from fielding an army to bring the pope to heel.

After this, Eutychius reached an uneasy truce with Gregory, and the pope in return forged a temporary truce between the Lombards and the Byzantines.

Pope Saint Gregory III ( died 28 November 741 ) was pope from 11 February 731 to 28 November 741.

Upon his accession as pope, Gregory immediately appealed to the Byzantine Emperor Leo III to moderate his position on the iconoclastic controversy.