Today, Pope Benedict began the commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the arrival of the first 150 Swiss Guards on January 22nd, 1506.
Pope Julius II requested that Swiss mercenaries be summoned to protect the Vatican in his war with Venice to restore and expand the papal states.
Ever since, the Swiss Guards have remained.
Incidentally, though he's known as the "Warrior Pope," Julius is better known as one of the foremost patrons of the arts in Renaissance Italy. He commissioned Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel, Raphael to paint four rooms in the Vatican, and Bramante to build a new St. Peter's Basilica.
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Buon Anniversario
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Julius II was also the nephew of Pope Sixtus IV, one of the most notorious of the renaissance Popes. Like Julius, Sixtus IV was very interested in expanding the papacy's temporal authority. However, Sixtus IV appears to have been infinitely more ruthless than his nephew.
He is most well known for his instigation of the Pazzi Conspiracy, a plot against Lorenzo de Medici designed to increase Papal influence over Florence. The plotters assassinated Lorenzo's brother Giuliano de Medici and seriously wounded Lorenzo.
As if the Pope's involvement in this plot wasn't bad enough, what makes the Pazzi Conspiracy even more shocking and despicable is that the conspirators timed their attacks to take place during Mass at Florence's cathedral (reportedly at the very moment of consecration).
Sixtus wasn't all bad. He was a very good administrator, and did a great deal to rebuild Rome, including restoring the aqueduct system that had not been functioning since the collapse of Roman Empire.
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