Felice Peretti, cardinal of Montalto, a member of the Franciscan order, succeeded Gregory XIII. on the Apos tolic throne as Sixtus V. (April 1585–Aug. 159o). His first task was the extirpation of the bandits and the restoration of order within the papal State. In the course of a year the drastic meas ures of this born ruler made this State the safest country in Europe. He introduced a strictly ordered administration, en ' couraged the sciences, and enlarged the Vatican library, housing it in a splendid building erected for the purpose in the Vatican itself. He was an active patron of agriculture and commerce : he even interested himself in the draining of the Pontine marshes. The financial system he almost completely reorganized. With a boldness worthy of Julius II., he devised the most gigantic schemes for the annihilation of the Turkish empire and the con quest of Egypt and Palestine. Elizabeth of England he wished to restore to the Roman obedience either by conversion or by force ; but these projects were shattered by the destruction of the Span ish Armada. Down to his death the pope kept a vigilant eye on the troubles in France. Here his great object was to save France for the Catholic religion, and, as far as possible, to secure her posi tion as a power of the first rank.
In Rome itself Sixtus displayed extraordinary activity. The Pincian, the Esquiline, and the south-easterly part of the Caelian hills received essentially their present form by the creation of the via Sistina, Felice, Belle Quattro Fontane, di Sta Croce in Gerusalemme, etc. ; by the buildings at Sta. Maria Maggiore, the Villa Montalto, the reconstruction of the Lateran, and the aque duct of the Felice, which partially utilized the Alexandrina and cost upwards of 300,00o scudi. The erection of the obelisks of the Vatican, the Lateran, the Piazza del Popolo and the square behind the tribune of Sta. Maria Maggiore lent a lustre to Rome which no other city in the world could rival. The columns of Trajan and Antoninus were restored and bedecked with gilded statues of the Apostles; nor was this the only case in which the high-minded pope made the monuments of antiquity subservient to Christian ideas. His principal architect was Domenico Fontana, who, with Giovanni Giacoma della Porta, completed the uniquely beautiful cupola of St. Peter's which had already been designed by Michelangelo in a detailed model. In Santa Maria Maggiore the pope erected the noble Sistine chapel, in which he was laid to rest. Indeed, the monumental character of Rome dates from this era. (See Pastor, Geschichte der Piipste, x. [1926].) The organizing activity of Sixtus V. was not, however, restricted to the Eternal City, but extended to the whole administration of the Church. The number of cardinals was fixed at 7o—six bishops, 5o priests and 14 deacons. In 1588 followed the new regulations
with respect to the Roman Congregations, which henceforth were to be 15 in number. Thus the pope laid the foundations of that wonderful and silent engine of universal government by which Rome still rules the Catholics of every land.
When we reflect that all this was achieved in a single pontifi cate of but five years' duration, the energy of Sixtus V. appears simply astounding. He was, without doubt, by far the most im portant of the post-Tridentine popes. (L. v. P.) The characteristic features of this period are the splendid progress made by the Catholic Restoration, and the subsequent humiliation of the papacy during the period of absolutism. The influence of the papacy was at a low ebb during the age of en lightenment and the French Revolution. In the 19th century, however, it succeeded, in spite of many obstacles and notwith standing the loss of the Papal States, in regaining its internal and external strength and authority, while its activities in favour of peace during the World War raised it to a position of great dignity and power.
The three popes who, in 1590 and 1591, succeeded the great Sixtus V. held office for very short periods : Urban VII. (Castagna) for 13 days, Gregory XIV. (Sfondrati) for rather more than ten months, and Innocent IX. (Facchinetti) for two months. All three were zealous reformers. Gregory, who took part in the struggle against Henry of Navarre, was a patron of the great musician Palestrina.
Clement VIII., who was a mem ber of the Florentine family of the Aldobrandini, was of a pious and peaceable disposition, and a hard worker. Following the ex ample of Pius V., he made untiring efforts to increase the internal strength of the Church, to remedy abuses, to reform the religious Orders, and to select worthy candidates for the College of Cardi nals and Italian bishoprics. In the interests of purity of doctrine he favoured the Inquisition, re-issued the Index, and had the Clementine Bible printed—although the latter measure was pre mature. He also improved the liturgical books and completed the reform of the breviary. The obstinate heretic and apos tate Giordano Bruno was burnt in i600. Clement also prepared the way for the sol ution which his successors found for the dogmatic dispute between the Dominicans and the Jesuits concerning the efficacy of grace. A great part was played in the re vival of Catholicism in Germany by the Jesuit schools which he developed, particu larly the Collegium Germanicum in Rome, and by the Capuchin monks. The Counter Reformation also made great progress in Switzerland, the Spanish Netherlands, Po land and France.