Who he was
The son of a gardener, he is said to have minded pigs as a boy before joining the Franciscans (Minorites) at Montalto. He became a noted preacher, an inquisitor at Venice, bishop, and cardinal under St Pius V, then lived quietly in study during the reign of Gregory XIII. As pope he ruled with great energy for five years.
What he is remembered for
He cleared the Papal States of the bandits who had overrun them, filled the papal treasury, and rebuilt much of Rome: he finished the dome of St Peter's, raised the great obelisks, built the Lateran Palace and the Vatican Library, and brought water into the city by the Acqua Felice. He fixed the number of cardinals at seventy and set up the permanent congregations of cardinals that still shape the Roman Curia.
Sources
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