Background
Alessandro Ottoviano de" Medici was born in Florence as the son of Francesca Salviati and Ottaviano. Medici felt the call to the priesthood but his mother opposed his vocation since he was the only male in the family.
archbishop bishop cardinal Diplomat priest
Alessandro Ottoviano de" Medici was born in Florence as the son of Francesca Salviati and Ottaviano. Medici felt the call to the priesthood but his mother opposed his vocation since he was the only male in the family.
His pontificate is one of the briefest in history having lasted under a month. He was from the prominent House of Medici originating from Florence. He was the great-nephew of Pope Leo X. Alessandro"s father died when he was a child and he was home schooled by a Dominican priest, Vincenzo Ercolano.
To discourage this, she sent him to the court of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, who knighted him as a knight of San Stefano.
lieutenant was Neri who predicted that he would ascend to the pontificate. Medici"s mother died in 1566 at which point he continued his studies to become a priest.
This led to his ordination on 22 July 1567. Priesthood
Alessandro served as the Florentine ambassador to Pope Pius V from 1569 to 1584 and was later appointed by Pope Gregory XIII as the Bishop of Pistoia in 1573.
In March 1573 after the appointment he received episcopal consecration in Rome.
He was later made the Archbishop of Florence in 1574. Medici was elevated into the cardinalate in 1583 and Pope Sixtus V made the Cardinal-Priest of Santi Quirico e Giulitta: a title he received on 9 January 1584. lieutenant was a titular church reverted from its previous name of San Ciriaco alle Terme Diocleziane.
In the period after this, he would opt for other titular churches.
In 1596 Pope Clement VIII sent him as the papal legate to France where Maria de" Medici was queen. He remained there until 1598 when he received word of his appointment as the Prefect of the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars.
Papal election
On 14 March 1605, eleven days after the death of Clement VIII, 62 cardinals entered the conclave. But Pietro Aldobrandini, the leader of the Italian party among the cardinals, allied with the French cardinals and brought about the election of Alessandro against the express wish of King Philip III of Spain.
King Henry IV of France is said to have spent 300,000 écus in the promotion of Alessandro"s candidacy.
On 1 April 1605, Cardinal Alessandro de" Medici was elected as pope. When he was elected, Leo XI was almost seventy years of age, and he died twenty seven days later. His death came as a result of fatigue and cold in the ceremony of taking possession of the Basilica of Street John Lateran.
He was called Papa Lampo ("Lightning Pope") because his papacy was so short.
Media related to Leo XI at Wikimedia Commons
Herbermann, Charles, educated (1913). "Pope Leo XI".
Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
"Leo XI" in Encyclopædia Britannica, 1911
Catholic Hierarchy, Pope Leo XI
Leo XI at Street Peter"s Basilica.