POPES
by Deb McCoy | 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...
by Deb McCoy | 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...
by Deb McCoy | 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...
by Deb McCoy | 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...
by Deb McCoy | Jan 24, 2023 | Popes
Rinaldo di Jenne became pope on December 12, 1254. He was somewhere between 55 and 69 at the time, relatively old for taking on a new life. Matthew of Paris described him as kind and religious, assiduous in prayer and strict in abstinence. Between these...
by Deb McCoy | Jan 24, 2023 | Popes
Pope Innocent IV was born Sinibaldo Fieschi, around 1195. He was the son of Beatrice Grillo and Ugo Fieschi, an up and coming noble. Sinibaldo was educated at the universities of Parma and Bologna and was considered one of the best canonists of his time. Between...
