Lorenzo Corsini (Clement XII) elected Pope

Pope Clement XII (7 April 1652 – 6 February 1740), born Lorenzo Corsini, was Pope from 12 July 1730 to 6 February 1740.
Born in Florence, the son of Bartolomeo Corsini, Marquis of Casigliano and his wife Isabella Strozzi, sister of the Duke of Bagnuolo, Corsini had been an aristocratic lawyer and financial manager under preceding pontiffs. He is known for building the new façade of the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano, beginning construction of the Trevi Fountain, and the purchase of Alessandro Cardinal Albani's collection of antiquities for the papal gallery. He was created Cardinal-Priest of Santa Susanna in 1706.
Under Pope Benedict XIII (1724–30), the finances of the Papal States had been delivered into the hands of Niccolò Cardinal Coscia and other members of the curia, who had drained the financial resources of the see. After deliberating for four months, the College of Cardinals selected Lorenzo Cardinal Corsini, 78 years old and with failing eyesight, who had held all the important offices of the Roman Curia. Clement XII was one of the oldest men to be elected Pope. (Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger was elected Pope Benedict XVI in the April, 2005 conclave three days after turning 78.) As a Corsini, with his mother a Strozzi, the new pope represented a family in the highest level of Florentine society, with a cardinal in every generation for the previous hundred years.
Corsini was a lawyer, with a degree from the University of Pisa, who had practiced law under the able direction of his uncle, Neri Cardinal Corsini. After the death of his uncle and his father, in 1685, Lorenzo, now thirty-three, would have become head of the Corsini. Instead he resigned his right of primogeniture and from Pope Innocent XI (1676–89) he purchased, according to the custom of the time, for 30,000 scudi, a position of prelatial rank and devoted his wealth and leisure to the enlargement of the library bequeathed to him by his uncle.
In 1696 Corsini was appointed treasurer-gener...

Born at Florence, 7 April, 1652; elected 12 July, 1730; died at Rome 6 February, 1740. The pontificate of the saintly Orsini pope, Benedict XIII, from the standpoint of the spiritual interests of the Church, had left nothing to be desired. He had, however, given over temporal concerns into the hands of rapacious ministers; hence the finances of the Holy See were in bad condition; there was an increasing deficit, and the papal subjects were in a state of exasperation. It was no easy task to select a man who possessed all the qualities demanded by the emergency. After deliberating for four months, the Sacred College united on Cardinal Corsini, the best possible choice, were it not for his seventy-eight years and his failing eyesight.
A Corsini by the father's side and by the mother's a Strozzi, the best blood of Florence coursed through his veins. Innumerable were the members of his house who had risen to high positions in Church and State, but its chief ornament was St. Andrew Corsini, the canonized Bishop of Fiesole. Lorenzo made a brilliant course of studies, first in the Roman College, then at the University of Pisa, where, after five years, he received the degree of Doctor of Laws. Returning to Rome, he applied himself to the practice of law under the able direction of his uncle, Cardinal Neri Corsini, a ma of the highest culture. After the death of his uncle and his father, in 1685, Lorenzo, now thirty-three years old, resigned his right of primogeniture and entered the ecclesiastical state. From Innocent XI he purchased, according to the custom of the time, for 30,000 scudi (dollars) a position of prelatial rank, and devoted his wealth and leisure to the enlargement of the library bequeathed to him by his uncle. In 1691 he was made titular Archbishop of Nicomedia and chosen nuncio to Vienna. He did not proceed to the imperial court, because Leopold advanced the novel claim, which Pope Alexander VIII refused to admit, of selecting a nuncio from a list of thr...

THE conclave which followed the death of Benedict XIII assembled on March 3rd and lasted four months. Except indirectly, by mowing down with systematic consistency the daily crop of candidates, the activities and intrigues of the Sacred College had little bearing on the ultimate issue.

The Dean, Cardinal Pignatelli, fell ill almost at once and there was no other prelate with sufficient influence over his colleagues to maintain or enforce the necessary discipline during his absence. The weather being oppressively hot, the younger cardinals discarded most of their clothing piecemeal, till the precincts of the conclave must have presented the shocking spectacle of a nudist colony! The windows were opened and free communication established with the outer world; the Marquis de Monteleone, the Spanish Ambassador, was smuggled in through an aperture and spent a whole night in the conclave, a most serious infraction of the regulations. Voting became a mere exchange of civilities, the most surprising names appearing on the forms. Cienfugos, the uncompromising leader of the imperialists, was outraged at such levity: "We might be at the dinner-table paying compliments to the ladies instead of at a conclave to elect a Pope!" he exclaimed, his protest being received with supercilious smiles. But when Coscia's name was read out at the scrutiny, then even the least squeamish waxed indignant, and someone proposed that the slip should be preserved and given to the new pope so that he should deal with the culprit. As, however, there was little likelihood of the humourist having signed his own name to such a compromising document it was eventually burnt with the rest. Coscia was present at this scene, as he had managed to sneak into the Vatican by a side entrance and join his colleagues undetected. His reception had been distinctly chilly and the storm which that unfortunate vote had let loose was an ominous forecast of what the future might have in store for him. He almost fain...