Pope Benedict XII

Pope Benedict XII (Latin: Benedictus XII; 1285 – 25 April 1342), born Jacques Fournier,[1] was head of the Catholic Church from 30 December 1334[2] to his death in April 1342.[3] He was the third Avignon pope. Benedict was a careful pope who reformed monastic orders and opposed nepotism. Unable to remove his capital to Rome or Bologna, he started the great palace at Avignon. He decided against a notion of Pope John XXII by saying that souls may attain the "fulness [sic] of the beatific vision" before the Last Judgment.[4] Whilst being a stalwart reformer, he attempted unsuccessfully to reunite the Orthodox Church and Catholic Church, almost 3 centuries after the Great Schism; he also failed to come to an understanding with Emperor Louis IV.

Pope Benedict XII
Bishop of Rome
Effigy of Benedict XII
Papacy began	30 December 1334
Papacy ended	25 April 1342
Predecessor	John XXII
Successor	Clement VI
Orders
Consecration	1317 by Niccolò Alberti
Created cardinal	18 December 1327 by John XXII
Personal details
Birth name	Jacques Fornier
Born	1285 Saverdun, Kingdom of France
Died	25 April 1342 (aged 57) Avignon, County of Provence
Coat of arms
Other popes named Benedict

Early life

Little is known of the origins of Jacques Fournier. He is believed to have been born in Canté in the County of Foix around the 1280s to a family of modest means. He became a Cistercian[5] monk and left the countryside to study at the University of Paris. In 1311 he was made Abbot of Fontfroide Abbey and quickly became known for his intelligence and organizational ability. In 1317 he was made Bishop of Pamiers. There he undertook a rigorous hunt for Cathars,[6] such as Guillaume Bélibaste, which won him praise from religious authorities, but alienated the local people.

His efforts against the Cathars of Montaillou in the Ariège were carefully recorded in the Fournier Register, which he took to Rome and deposited in the Vatican Library.[7] His transcription was edited by Jean Duvernoy and has been documented by Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie's pioneering microhistory, Montaillou, village occitan.

In 1326, upon the successful rooting out of the last – it was believed – Cathars of the south, he was made Bishop of Mirepoix in the Ariège, and, a year later, in 1327, he was made a cardinal.

Accession to papacy

Fournier succeeded John XXII as pope, after being elected in the Conclave of 1334. The Conclave opened on 13 December, and it appeared that there might be a quick election. A two-thirds majority were prepared to elect Cardinal Jean-Raymond de Comminges, the Bishop of Porto, if he would only swear in advance to agree not to return the papacy to Rome. Comminges refused to make any promises in order to get elected. The Conclave therefore ground on through lengthy discussions. As Fournier himself said, "... in the discussion held over the election of a future pope, they could certainly have agreed on others more conspicuous for the repute of their great merits...",[8] in other words, there were a number of possible candidates. The Cistercian cardinal, Jacques Fournier, was elected on the evening of 20 December 1334, after Vespers, on the eighth day of the Conclave.[9]

The election of Fournier happened as the result of an accident. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia:

The cardinals in conclave, most of whom opposed a return to Rome, demanded of Cardinal de Comminges whose election seemed assured, the promise to remain at Avignon. His refusal precipitated an unexpected canvass for candidates. On the first ballot, 20 December, 1334, many electors, intending to sound the mind of the conclave, voted for the unlikely Cardinal Fournier, who, though he was one of the few men of real merit in the college, was but lightly regarded because of his obscure origin and lack of wealth and following. He amazed the conclave by receiving the necessary two-thirds vote. On 8 January, 1335, he was enthroned as Benedict XII.[10]

Papal policy and activity

Benedict XII was a reforming pope who did not carry out the policies of his predecessor. He chose to make peace with Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV, and as far as possible came to terms with the Franciscans, who were then at odds with the Roman See. He tried to curb the luxuries of the monastic orders, though without much success. He also ordered the construction of the Palais des Papes in Avignon.

Benedict spent most of his time working on questions of theology. He rejected many of the ideas developed by John XXII. In this regard, he promulgated an apostolic constitution, Benedictus Deus, in 1336. This dogma defined the Church's belief that the souls of the departed go to their eternal reward immediately after death, as opposed to remaining in a state of unconscious existence until the Last Judgment.[11] Though some claim that he campaigned against the Immaculate Conception, this is far from clear. He engaged in long theological debates with other noted figures of the age, such as William of Ockham and Meister Eckhart.

Though born a Frenchman, Benedict felt no patriotism towards France nor her king, Philip VI.[5] From the start of his papacy, relations between him and Philip were frigid.[5] After being informed of Philip's plan to invade Scotland, Benedict hinted that King Edward III of England would most likely win, regardless.[5]

Works

• Formulare advocatorum et procuratorum Romane curie et regii parlamenti (in Latin). Venezia: Ottaviano Scoto il giovane. 1536.

See also

• List of popes

References

1. George L. Williams, Papal Genealogy:The Families and Descendants of the Popes, (McFarland & Company Inc., 1998), 42.
2. Takashi Shogimen, Ockham and Political Discourse in the Late Middle Ages, (Cambridge University Press, 2007), 156.
3. Mike Carr, Merchant Crusaders in the Aegean, 1291-1352, (The Boydell Press, 2015), 103.
4. Rockwell, William Walker (1911). "Benedict" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 718.
5. Jonathan Sumption, Trial by Battle, Vol.1, (Faber and Faber, 1990), 152-153.
6. Lutz Kaelber, Schools of Asceticism: Ideology and Organization in Medieval Religious Communities, (The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1998), 219.
7. Norman Davies, Europe: A History, (Oxford University Press, 1996), 411.
8. habito super electionis futuri papae celebratione tractatu, licet consentire potuissent in alios majorum meritorum claritate conspicuos, et plurium virtutum titulis insignatos: Baronio (ed. Theiner), Vol. 25, p. 21, under the year 1334, 46.
9. Martin Souchon, Die Papstwahlen von Bonifaz VIII bis Urban VI (Braunschweig: Benno Goeritz 1888), pp. 45-46. J. P. Adams, Sede Vacante 1334. Retrieved: 2016-06-26.
10. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 2. Encyclopedia Press. 1913. p. 430. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
11. "Benedictus Deus on". Papalencyclicals.net. Archived from the original on 2013-05-31. Retrieved 2013-06-23.

Bibliography

• Baronio, Cesare (1872). Augustinus Theiner (ed.). Annales ecclesiastici: A. D. 1-1571 denuo excusi et ad nostra usque tempora perducti ab Augustino Theiner (in Latin). Tomus vigesimus quintus (25). Barri-Ducis: Typis et sumptibus Ludovici Guerin.[1333-1356]
• Guillemain, B. (1952). La politique bénéficiale du Pape Benoît XII. Paris: École des Hautes Études.
• Mahn, J. B. (1950). Le Pape Benoit XII et les Cisterciens. Paris: École des Hautes études.
• Melville, G. (1982). "Source Documents on the Pontificate of Benedict XII," in: Historisches Jahrbuch 102 (1982), pp. 144-182.
• Vidal, Jean-Marie (1905). "Notice sur les oeuvres du Pape Benoit XII." in: Revue d'histoire écclesiastique 6 (1905), pp. 557-565.

Further reading

Murphy, Cullen. God's Jury, - The Inquisition and the Making of the Modern World. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2012.