Clement XIV

(1705–74)

   Pope.

   Clement XIV was born Giovanni Ganganelli and he was a member of the Franciscan Order. He became a Cardinal in 1759 and, in 1769, after a long, acrimonious conclave, he was elected Pope. Clement is remembered as the Pope who suppressed the Jesuit Order. It has been conjectured that his election was the result of a secret agreement. In any event in 1773, in obedience to the wishes of his French and Spanish allies, who had gone so far as to threaten schism over the issue, Clement issued the brief ‘Dominus ac Redemptor’ and the order was suppressed. However, Catherine II of Russia and Frederick II of Prussia ignored the instruction and the order continued to work in their domains. Despite bowing to the pressure of the Catholic princes, Clement continued to face the erosion of papal power in an age of anti-clericalism and increased secularism.

   J.C.H. Aveling, The Jesuits (1981);

   M.P. Harney, The Jesuits in History (1941).