Pope Pius III

(Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini).

B. at Siena, 29 May, 1439; elected 22 Sept., 1503; d. in Rome, 18 Oct., 1503,

after a pontificate of four weeks. Piccolomini was the son of a sister of Pius II. He

had passed his boyhood in destitute circumstances when his uncle took him into

his household, bestowed upon him his family name and arms, and superintended

his training and education. He studied law in Perugia and immediately after

receiving the doctorate as canonist was appointed by his uncle Archbishop of

Siena, and on 5 March, 1460, cardinal-deacon with the title of S. Eustachio. The

following month he was sent as legate to the March of Ancona, with the

experienced Bishop of Marsico as his counsellor. "The only thing objectionable

about him", says Voigt (Enea Silvio, III, 531), "was his youth; for in the

administration of his legation and in his later conduct at the curia he proved to be

a man of spotless character and many-sided capacity." He was sent by Paul II

as legate to Germany, where he acquitted himself with eminent success, the

knowledge of German that he had acquired in his uncle's house being of great

advantage to him. During the worldly reigns of Sixtus IV and Alexander VI he

kept away from Rome as much as possible. Sigismondo de Conti, who knew him

well tells us that "he left no moment unoccupied; his time for study was before

daybreak; he spent his mornings in prayer and his midday hours in giving

audiences, to which the humblest had easy access. He was so temperate in

food and drink that he only allowed himself an evening meal every other day." Yet

this is the excellent man to whom Gregorovius in his "Lucrezia Borgia", without a

shadow of authority, gives a dozen children—the calumny being repeated by

Brosch and Creighton. After the death of Alexander VI, the conclave could not

unite on the principal candidates, d'Amboise, Rovere, and Sforza; hence the

great majority cast their votes for Piccolomini, who though only sixty-four was,

like his uncle, tortured with gout and was prematurely old. He took the name of

Pius III in honour of his uncle, was crowned on 8 Oct., after receiving priestly and

episcopal orders. The strain of the long ceremony was so great that the pope

sank under it. He was buried in St. Peter's, but his remains were later transferred

to S. Andrea della Valle where he rests by the side of Pius II.

PASTOR, History of the Popes, VI, 185 sqq.; PANVINIO, Continuation of Platina; VON REUMONT,

Gesch. der Stadt Rom; ARTAND DE MONTOR, History of the Popes (New York, 1867).

JAMES F. LAUGHLIN

Transcribed by Herman F. Holbrook

Ut in omnibus glorificetur Deus per Iesum Christum.

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XII

Nihil Obstat, June 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor

Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York