POPE NICHOLAS III

by | Mar 23, 2023 | Popes

Italy today Giovanni Gaetano Orsini, later Pope Nicholas III, was a Roman born around 1225. His parents were Matteo Rosso Orsini and Perna Caetani. His was a prominent family; at least three of his brothers held influential positions later in their lives.  He got an...

ADRIAN V, POPE FOR A MONTH

by | Mar 8, 2023 | Popes

Ottobuono de’Fieschi was born between 1210 and 1220. His family was a foremost feudal clan of Liguria in the Republic of Genoa, on the Tyrrhenian Sea. He was closely related to the counts of Lavagna. His uncle was Pope Innocent IV. As expected, he seemed to live a...

POPE INNOCENT V, THE FIRST DOMINICAN POPE

by | Feb 21, 2023 | Uncategorized

Pierre de Tarentaise was probably born near Moutiers in the Tarantaise region of Savoy, around 1225. But that is all we know of his early years. Around 1240, he joined the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) at their convent at Lyon, France. Fifteen years later, Pierre...

POPE GREGORY X

by | Feb 14, 2023 | Popes

Teobaldo Visconti lived from about 1210 to 10 January 1276. He was pope from 1 September 1271 til his death. He was born in Piacenza, Lombardy, Italy. As a young layman, he joined the Secular Franciscan Order. Then he attached himself to the household of the...

Pope Clement IV, Another French Pope

by | Feb 8, 2023 | Popes

Guy Foucois was also known as Guy le Gros, which is loosely translated Guy the Fatty. Born around 1190 to a prosperous lawyer, Pierre Foucois and his wife Marguerite Ruffi, Guy was the second French pope in a row. He was from St. Giles du Gard in Languedoc, in...