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Clement XI

Pope
Clement XI
Bishop of Rome
Clement XI.jpg
Papacy began 23 November 1700
Papacy ended 19 March 1721
Predecessor Innocent XII
Successor Innocent XIII
Orders
Ordination September 1700
Consecration 30 November 1700
by Emmanuel-Theódose de la Tour d’Auvergne de Bouillon
Created Cardinal 13 February 1690
by Pope Alexander VIII
Personal details
Birth name Giovanni Francesco Albani
Born (1649-07-23)23 July 1649
Urbino, Papal States
Died 19 March 1721(1721-03-19) (aged 71)
Rome, Papal States
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Coat of arms {{{coat_of_arms_alt}}}
Papal styles of
Pope Clement XI
C o a Clemente XI.svg
Reference style His Holiness
Spoken style Your Holiness
Religious style Holy Father
Posthumous style None

Pope Clement XI (Latin: Clemens XI; 23 July 1649 – 19 March 1721), born Giovanni Francesco Albani, was Pope from 23 November 1700 to his death in 1721.

Clement XI was a patron of the arts and of science. He was also a great benefactor of the Vatican Library, his interest in archaeology is credited with saving much of Rome’s antiquity. He authorized expeditions which succeeded in rediscovering various ancient Christian writings, and authorized excavations of the Roman catacombs. He was of Italian and Albanian origin.

Giovanni Francesco Albani was born in 1649 in Urbino to a distinguished family. His mother Elena Mosca (1630-1698) was an Italian, descended from the noble Mosca family of Pesaro, while his father Carlo Albani (1623-1684) was a patrician descended from the noble Albani family that had established itself in Urbino from northern Albania in the 15th century.

Albani was educated at the Collegio Romano in Rome from 1660 onwards. He became a very proficient Latinist and gained a doctorate in both canon and civil law. He was one of those who frequented the academy of Queen Christina of Sweden. He would serve as a papal prelate under Pope Alexander VIII and was appointed by Pope Innocent XII as the Referendary of the Apostolic Signatura. Throughout this time, he also served as the governor of Rieti, Sabina and Orvieto.

Pope Alexander VIII elevated him to the cardinalate in 1690 despite his protests and made him the Cardinal-Deacon of Santa Maria in Aquiro but he later opted for the Diaconia of San Adriano al Forno and later, as the Cardinal-Priest, for the titulus of San Silvestro in Capite. He was then ordained to the priesthood in September 1700 and celebrated his first Mass in Rome on 6 October 1700.


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