Pope Clement XII
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Pope Clement XII |
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| Bishop of Rome | |
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| Papacy began | 12 July 1730 |
| Papacy ended | 6 February 1740 |
| Predecessor | Benedict XIII |
| Successor | Benedict XIV |
| Orders | |
| Consecration | 18 June 1690 by Flavio Chigi |
| Created Cardinal | 17 May 1706 by Pope Clement XI |
| Personal details | |
| Birth name | Lorenzo Corsini |
| Born |
7 April 1652 Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany |
| Died | 6 February 1740 (aged 87) Rome, Papal States |
| Previous post |
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| Coat of arms |  |
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Papal styles of Pope Clement XII |
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| Reference style | His Holiness |
| Spoken style | Your Holiness |
| Religious style | Holy Father |
| Posthumous style | None |
Pope Clement XII (Latin: Clemens XII; 7 April 1652 – 6 February 1740), born Lorenzo Corsini, was Pope from 12 July 1730 to his death in 1740.
Clement presided over the growth of a surplus in the papal finances. He thus became known for building the new façade of the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano, beginning construction of the Trevi Fountain, and the purchase of Cardinal Alessandro Albani's collection of antiquities for the papal gallery. In his 1738 bull In eminenti apostolatus, he provides the first public papal condemnation of Freemasonry, helping bring about the Catholic Church's longstanding opposition to the order.
Lorenzo Corsini was born in Florence in 1652 as the son of Bartolomeo Corsini, Marquis of Casigliano and his wife Elisabetta Strozzi, the sister of the Duke of Bagnuolo. Both of his parents belonged to the old Florentine nobility. He was a distant relative of Saint Andrea Corsini.
Corsini studied at the Jesuit Collegio Romano in Rome and also at the University of Pisa where he earned a doctorate in both civil law and canon law.
Corsini practiced law under the able direction of his uncle, Cardinal Neri Corsini. After the death of his uncle and his father, in 1685, Corsini, now thirty-three, would have become head of the Corsini. Instead he resigned his right of primogeniture and from Pope Innocent XI (1676–89) he purchased, according to the custom of the time, for 30,000 scudi, a position of prelatial rank and devoted his wealth and leisure to the enlargement of the library bequeathed to him by his uncle. Corsini’s home on the Piazza Novona, was the center of Rome’s scholarly and artistic life.
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