SIXTUS V (FEux Pzarrn, faleks pa reete) : b. near Montalto, 13 Dec. 1521; d. Rome, 27 Aug. 1590. His boyhood was spent as a swineherd; but, giving early indications of an aspiring disposition, he was admitted to the Franciscan order in 1534, and received the usual strict education and instruction of the monasteries. In 1544 he gave instruction in the canon law at Rimini, and in 1546 at Siena. In 1548 he was made priest, doctor of divinity and superintendent of the monastic school of Siena. In 1556 he removed to Venice, where he was appointed superintendent of the Franciscan school, and afterward inquisitor-general. In 1560 he was recalled from Venice, owing to his severity as inquisitor, and proceeded to Rome, where the Pope conferred upon him several dignities. Some years later (1565) he attended the papal legate to Spain as the theologian of the embassy, and while here acquainted him self with the policy of the Spanish court. In 1570 he was made cardinal by Pius V. He was elected to the papal see in 1585, and during his five years' administration devoted himself with great vigor to the reform of abuses both civil and ecclesiastical, Under his immediate prede cessors, Pius V and Gregory XIII, the civil disorder was excessive in the states of the Church, crimes had gene unpunished and hordes of brigands infested the whole country. All
this was now remedied, stern justice was ad ministered on all hands, the country cleared of robbers and under the security thus produced agriculture, commerce and industry flourished anew. Sixtus founded a new university at Fermo, and new colleges at Rome and Bologna; and embellished Rome with numerous and use ful structures, among others the present build ing of the Vatican Library. He published a new edition of the 'Septuagint) in 1587, and one of the 'Vulgate,) with improvements, in 1590, besides corrected editions of the Church Fathers. He displayed the same energy in the spiritual administration of the Church, re-estab lished discipline in the religious orders and founded or reformed several congregations ,of cardinals and other officers. He fixed the num ber of cardinals at 70. He took a part in most of the great events that then agitated Europe. He encouraged and supported Henry III against the Huguenots, Philip II against and Archduke Maximilian when he was a candidate for the Polish crown. The great aim of his foreign policy was the promotion of the cause of Roman Catholicism throughout all Christen dom against Protestantism.