SIXTUS V. (Pope), was born the 13th December 1521, in La Marca, a village in the signory of Montalto. His father, Francis Peretti, was a gardener, and his mother a servant maid. He was their eldest child, and was called Felix. At the age of nine he was hired out to an inhabitant of the village to keep sheep; but disobliging his master, he was soon after degraded to be keeper of the hogs. He was engaged in this employment when Father Michael Angelo Selleri, a Franciscan friar, asked the road to Assisi, where he was going to preach. Young Felix conducted him thither, and struck the father so much with his conversation and eagerness for knowledge, that he recommended him to the fraternity to which he had come. Accordingly he was received among them, invested with the habit of a lay brother, and placed under the sacristan, to assist in sweeping the church, lighting the candles, and other offices of that nature; for which he was to be taught the responses, and the rudiments of grammar. His progress in learning was so surprising, that at the age of 14 he was thought qualified to begin his novitiate, and was admitted the year following to make his profession.

He pursued his studies with such unwearied assiduity, that he was soon reckoned equal to the best disputants. He was ordained priest in 1545, when he assumed the name of Father Montalto; soon after he took his doctor's degree, and was appointed professor of theology at Siena. It was then that he so effectually recommended himself to Cardinal di Carpi, and his secretary Boffius, that they ever remained his steady friends. Meanwhile the severity and obstinacy of his temper incessantly engaged him in disputes with his monastic brethren. His reputation for eloquence, which was now spread over Italy, about this time gained him some new friends. Among these were the Colonna family, and Father Ghiflieri, by whose recommendation he was appointed inquisitor-general at Venice; but he exercised that office with so much severity, that he was obliged to flee precipitately from that city. Upon this he went to Rome, where he was made procurator-general of his order, and soon after accompanied Cardinal Buon Compagnon into Spain, as a chaplain and confessor to the inquisition. There he was treated with great respect, and liberal offers were made him to induce him to continue in Spain, which, however, he could not be prevailed on to accept.

In the mean time, news were brought to Madrid that Pius IV. was dead, and that Father Ghiflieri, who had been made Cardinal Alexandrino by Paul IV., had succeeded him under the name of Pius V. These tidings filled Montalto with joy, and not without reason, for he was immediately invested by the pontiff with new dignities. He was made general of his order, bishop of St Agatha, was soon after raised to the dignity of cardinal, and received a pension. About this time he was employed by the Pope to draw up the bill of excommunication against Queen Elizabeth.

He began now to cast his eyes upon the papacy; and, in order to obtain it, formed and executed a plan of hypocrisy with unparalleled constancy and success. He became humble, patient, and affable. He changed his dress, his air, his words, and his actions, completely, that his most intimate friends declared him a new man. Never was there such an absolute victory gained over the passions; never was a fictitious character so long maintained, nor the foibles of human nature so artfully concealed. He courted the ambassadors of every foreign power, but attached himself to the interests of none; nor did he accept a single favour that would have laid him under any peculiar obligation. He had formerly treated his relations with the greatest tenderness, but he now changed his behaviour altogether. When his brother Anthony came to visit him, he lodged him in an inn, and sent him home next day, charging him to inform his family that he was now dead to his relations and the world.

When Pius V. died in 1572, he entered the conclave with the other cardinals, but seemed altogether indifferent about the election, and never left his apartment except to his devotion. When solicited to join any party, he declined it, declaring that he was of no consequence, and that he would leave the choice of a Pope entirely to persons of greater knowledge and experience. When Cardinal Buon Compagnon, who assumed the name of Gregory XIII., was elected, Montalto assured him that he never wished for anything so much in his life, and that he would always remember his goodness, and the favours he had conferred on him in Spain. But the new Pope treated him with the greatest contempt, and deprived him of his pension. The cardinals also, deceived by his artifices, paid him no greater respect, and used to call him, by way of ridicule, the Roman beast; the ass of La Marca.

He now assumed all the infirmities of old age; his head hung down upon his shoulders; he tottered as he walked, and supported himself on a staff. His voice became feeble, and was often interrupted by a cough so exceedingly feverish, that it seemed every moment to threaten his dissolution. He interfered in no public transactions, but spent his whole time in acts of devotion and benevolence. Mean time he constantly employed the ablest spies, who brought him intelligence of every particular.

When Gregory XIII. died in 1585, he entered the conclave with the greatest reluctance, and immediately shut himself up in his chamber, and was no more thought of than if he had not existed. When he went to mafs, for which purpose alone he left his apartment, he appeared perfectly indifferent about the event of the election. He joined no party, yet flattered all.

He knew early that there would be great divisions in the conclave, and he was aware that when the leaders of the different parties were disappointed in their own views, they all frequently agreed in the election of some old and infirm cardinal, the length of whose life would merely enable them to prepare themselves sufficiently for the next vacancy. These views directed his conduct, nor was he mistaken in his hopes of success.

Three cardinals, the leaders of opposite factions, being unable to procure the election which each of them wished, unanimously agreed to make choice of Montalto. When they came to acquaint him with their intention, he fell into such a violent fit of coughing that every person thought he would expire on the spot. He told them that his reign would last but a few days; that, besides a continual difficulty of breathing, he wanted strength to support such a weight, and that his small experience rendered him very unfit for so important a charge. He conjured them all three not to abandon him, but to take the whole weight of affairs upon their own shoulders; and declared that he would never accept the mitre upon any other terms: "If you are resolved," added he, "to make me Pope, it will only be placing yourselves on the throne. For my part, I shall be satisfied with the bare title. Let the world call me Pope, and I make you heartily welcome to the power and authority." The cardinals swallowed the bait, and exerted themselves so effectually that Montalto was elected. He now pulled off the mask which he had worn for 14 years. No sooner was his election secured, than he started from his seat, flung down his staff in the middle of the hall, and appeared almost a foot taller than he had done for several years.

When he was asked, according to custom, if he would accept of the Papacy, he replied, "It is trifling to ask whether I will accept what I have already accepted.—However, to satisfy any scruple that may arise, I tell you that I accept it with great pleasure, and would accept another if I could get it; for I find myself able, by the Divine assistance, to manage two papacies." His former complaisance and humility disappeared, together with his infirmities, and he now treated all around him with reserve and haughtiness. The first care of Sixtus V. the name which Montalto assumed, was to correct the abuses, and put a stop to the enormities, which were daily committed in every part of the ecclesiastical state. The lenity of Gregory's government had introduced a general licentiousness of manners, which burst forth with great violence, after that Pontiff's death. It had been usual with former Popes to release delinquents on the day of their coronation, who were therefore accustomed to surrender themselves voluntary prisoners immediately after the election of the Pope. At present, however, they were fatally disappointed.—When the governor of Rome and the keeper of St Angelo waited on his Holiness, to know his intention in this particular, he replied, "What have you to do with pardons, and releasing of prisoners? Is it not sufficient that our predecessor has suffered the judges to remain unemployed these 13 years? Shall we also stint our pontificate with the same neglect of justice? We have too long feer, with inexpressible concern, the prodigious degree of wickedness that reigns in the state to think of granting pardons. Let the prisoners be brought to a speedy trial, and punished as they deserve, to show the world that Divine Providence has called us to the chair of St Peter, to reward the good, and chastise the wicked; that we bear not the sword in vain, but are the ministers of God, and a revenger to execute wrath on them that do evil."

He appointed commissioners to inspect the conduct of the judges, displaced those who were inclined to lenity, and put others of severe dispositions in their room. He offered rewards to any person who could convict them of corruption or partiality. He ordered the syndics of all the towns and signories to make out a complete list of the disorderly persons within their districts, and threatened the strappado for the smallest omission. In consequence of this edict, the syndic of Albino was scourged in the market-place, because he had left his nephew, an incorrigible libertine, out of his list.

He made very severe laws against robbers and assassins. Adulterers, when discovered, suffered death; and they who willingly submitted to the prostitution of their wives, a custom then common in Rome, received the same punishment. He was particularly careful of the purity of the female sex, and never forgave those who attempted to debauch them.

His execution of justice was as prompt as his edicts were rigorous. A Swiss happening to give a Spanish gentleman a blow with his halberd, was struck by him so rudely with a pilgrim's staff that he expired on the spot. Sixtus informed the governor of Rome that he was to dine early, and that justice must be executed on the criminal before he sat down to table. The Spanish ambassador and four cardinals intreated him not to disgrace the gentleman by suffering him to die on a gibbet, but to order him to be beheaded. "He shall be hanged" (replied Sixtus), "but I will alleviate his disgrace by doing him the honour to afflict personally at his death." He ordered a gibbet to be erected before his own windows, where he continued sitting during the whole execution. He then called to his servants to bring in dinner, declaring that the act of justice which he had just seen had increased his appetite. When he rose from table, he exclaimed, "God be praised for the good appetite with which I have dined!"

When Sixtus ascended the throne, the whole ecclesiastical state was infected with bands of robbers, who, from their numbers and outrages, were exceedingly formidable; by his prudent and vigorous conduct, however, he in a short time extirpated the whole of these banditti.

Nor was the vigour of his conduct less conspicuous, in his transactions with foreign nations. Before he had been pope two months he quarrelled with Philip II. of Spain, Henry III. of France, and Henry king of Navarre. His intrigues indeed in some measure influenced all the councils of Europe.

After his accession to the pontificate he sent for his family to Rome, with express orders that they should appear in a decent and modest manner. Accordingly, his sister Camilla came thither, accompanied by her daughter and two grandchildren. Some cardinals, in order to pay court to the pope, went out to meet her, and introduced her in a very magnificent dress. Sixtus pretended not to know her, and asked two or three times. times who she was: Upon this one of the cardinals said, "It is your sister, holy father." "I have but one sister (replied Sixtus with a frown), and she is a poor woman at Le Grotte; if you have introduced her in this disguise, I declare I do not know her; yet I think I would know her again, if I saw her in the clothes she used to wear."

Her conductors at last found it necessary to carry her to an inn, and strip her of her finery. When Camilla was introduced a second time, Sixtus embraced her tenderly, and said, "Now we know indeed that it is our sister: nobody shall make a princess of you but ourselves." He stipulated with his sister, that she should neither ask any favour in matters of government, nor intercede for criminals, nor interfere in the administration of justice; declaring that every request of that kind would meet with a certain refusal. These terms being agreed to, and punctually observed, he made the most ample provision not only for Camilla but for his whole relations.

This great man was also an encourager of learning. He caused an Italian translation of the Bible to be published, which raised a good deal of discontent among the Catholics. When some cardinals reproached him for his conduct in this respect, he replied, "It was published for the benefit of you cardinals who cannot read Latin."

Sixtus died in 1592, after having reigned little more than five years. His death was ascribed to poison, said to have been administered by the Spaniards; but the story seems rather improbable.

It was to the indulgence of a disposition naturally formed for severity, that all the defects of this wonderful man are to be ascribed. Clemency was a stranger to his bosom; his punishments were often too cruel, and seemed sometimes to border on revenge. Pasquin was dressed one morning in a very nasty shirt, and being asked by Martorio why he wore such dirty linen? replied, that he could get no other, for the pope had made his washerwoman a princess, alluding to Camilla, who had formerly been a laundress. The pope ordered strict search to be made for the author of this lampoon, and offered him his life and a thousand pistoles if he would discover himself. The author was simple enough to make his appearance and claim the reward. "It is true (said the pope) we made such a promise, and we shall keep it; your life shall be spared, and you shall receive the money presently: but we have reserved to ourselves the power of cutting off your hands and boring your tongue through, to prevent your being so witty for the future." It is needless to add, that the sentence was immediately executed. This, however, is the only instance of his resenting the many severe fatigues that were published against him.

But though the conduct of Sixtus seldom excites love, it generally commands our esteem, and sometimes our admiration. He strenuously defended the cause of the poor, the widow, and the orphan: he never refused audience to the injured, however wretched or forlorn their appearance was. He never forgave those magistrates who were capable of partiality or corruption; nor suffered crimes to pass unpunished, whether committed by the rich or the poor. He was frugal, temperate, sober, and never neglected to reward the smallest favour which had been conferred on him before his exaltation.

When he mounted the throne, the treasury was not only exhausted, but in debt: at his death it contained five millions of gold.

Rome was indebted to him for several of her greatest embellishments, particularly the Vatican library: it was by him, too, that trade was first introduced into the Ecclesiastical State.