Pope Clement X, born Emilio Bonaventura Altieri, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 April 1670 to his death on 22 July 1676. Elected pope at age 79, he has since been ranked as the oldest pope at the time of his election.
The Vatican City State is a neutral nation, which has not engaged in any war since its formation in 1929 by the Lateran Treaty. It has no formal military compact or agreement with neighbouring Italy, although responsibility for defending the Vatican City from an international aggressor is likely to lie primarily with the Italian Armed Forces. When presenting the Lateran Treaty to the Italian parliament in 1929, Benito Mussolini declared: "It is evident that we [the Italian state] will be the necessary guarantors of this neutrality and inviolability [of Vatican City], since, in the remote hypothesis someone wanted to hurt her, he would first have to violate our territory." Although the Vatican City state has never been at war, it was exposed, together with properties of the Holy See in Rome, to bombings during World War II.
Pope Pius IX was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878. His reign of nearly 32 years is the longest of any pope in history. He was notable for convoking the First Vatican Council in 1868 and for permanently losing control of the Papal States in 1870 to the Kingdom of Italy. Thereafter, he refused to leave Vatican City, declaring himself a "prisoner in the Vatican".
The Papal States, officially the State of the Church, were a conglomeration of territories on the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the Pope from 756 to 1870. They were among the major states of Italy from the 8th century until the Unification of Italy, which took place between 1859 and 1870, and culminated in their demise.
The Palatine Guard was a military unit of the Vatican. It was formed in 1850 by Pope Pius IX, who ordered that the two militia units of the Papal States be amalgamated. The corps was formed as an infantry unit, and took part in watch-keeping in Rome. The only occasion on which it saw active service was during the token resistance on 20 September 1870 to the occupation of Rome by Italian government troops.
The black nobility or black aristocracy are Roman aristocratic families who sided with the Papacy under Pope Pius IX after the Savoy family-led army of the Kingdom of Italy entered Rome on 20 September 1870, overthrew the Pope and the Papal States, and took over the Quirinal Palace, and any nobles subsequently ennobled by the pope prior to the 1929 Lateran Treaty.
The Gendarmerie Corps of Vatican City State is the gendarmerie, or military police and security force, of Vatican City, Holy See and its extraterritorial properties. It was founded in 1816 as Corps of Gendarmes by Pope Pius VII, renamed the Central Security Office in 1970, the Security Corps in 1991, and was restored to its original name in 2002.
The Capture of Rome occurred on 20 September 1870, as forces of the Kingdom of Italy took control of the city and of the Papal States. After a plebiscite held on 2 October 1870, Rome was officially made capital of Italy on 3 February 1871, completing the unification of Italy (Risorgimento).
The Roman Court or Papal Curia was reformed by the papal bull Pontificalis Domus issues by Pope Paul VI in 1969. It abolished the role of the old Roman nobility at the papal court with the exception of the position of Prince Assistant to the Papal Throne. The titles abolished, such as the Grand Master of the Sacred Apostolic Hospice and Marshal of the Holy Roman Church and the Sacred Conclave, remain heredity but are now purely honorary.
Lodovico Altieri was an Italian Roman Catholic cardinal. He served in various capacities under various popes and belonged to a noble Roman house making him a descendant of Pope Clement X.
The Pontifical Swiss Guard, also known as the Papal Swiss Guard or simply Swiss Guard, is an armed force and honour guard unit maintained by the Holy See that protects the Pope and the Apostolic Palace within the territory of the Vatican City State. Established in 1506 under Pope Julius II, it is among the oldest military units in continuous operation, and is sometimes called "the world's smallest army".
The Papal Zouaves were an infantry battalion, later regiment, dedicated to defending the Papal States. Named after the French zouave regiments, the Zuavi Pontifici were mainly young men, unmarried and Catholic, who volunteered to assist Pope Pius IX in his struggle against the Italian unificationist Risorgimento.
The Banner of the Holy Roman Church was the battle standard of the Papal States during the Renaissance and a symbol of the Catholic Church. The office of the Gonfalonier of the Church was originally intended to function as its bearer of the Holy See.
The Papal Navy was the maritime force of the Papal States. Loosely constituted, it was sporadically extant from approximately the Battle of Ostia (849) during the pontificate of Leo IV until the ascension of Pope Leo XIII in 1878, when he sold the last remaining Papal warship, the Immacolata Concezione.
The 1644 papal conclave was called upon the death of Pope Urban VIII. It lasted from 9 August to 15 September 1644; the cardinal electors chose Cardinal Giovanni Battista Pamphili, who took office as Pope Innocent X.
Pontificalis Domus was a motu proprio document issued by Pope Paul VI on 28 March 1968, in the fifth year of his pontificate. It reorganized the Papal Household, which had been known until then as the Papal Court.
Vincenzo Maria Altieri (1724–1800) was an Italian Roman Catholic cardinal from 1777 to 1800. He belonged to the Altieri family, one of the noble families of Rome.
The House of Altieri was an ancient noble family of Rome, present in the history of the city since the Middle Ages, yet now extinct in the noble line. In addition to the title of Prince granted by the Pontiffs, branches of the Altieri were also part of the aristocracy of Genoa and of Venice. The family consolidated its position in the ranks of the great senatorial and cardinal aristocracy thanks to dynastic marriages with families like the Colonna, Paluzzi, Chigi, Odescalchi, Doria-Pamphili, Ruspoli, Barberini, Borghese and in more recent times the di Napoli Rampolla, relatives of the famous Cardinal Mariano Rampolla del Tindaro, Secretary of State of Pope Leo XIII, not to mention a multitude of princely families of Europe. Their fiefs consisted of the principality of Oriolo Romano and Vejano and the duchy of Monterano in the Alto Lazio. The Altieri were among the protagonists of the history of the city from the earlier Middle Ages until the second half of the twentieth century, reaching the apogee of their power with Emilio Bonaventura Altieri, elected pope in 1670 under the name of Clement X.
The House of Rospigliosi is an ancient noble Italian family from Pistoia. Attested since the Middle Ages, it became wealthy through agriculture, trade and industry, reaching the apogee of its power and the high nobility status in Rome thanks to Giulio Rospigliosi, elected pope in 1667 with the name of Clement IX.
The papal nobility are the aristocracy of the Holy See, composed of persons holding titles bestowed by the Pope. From the Middle Ages into the nineteenth century, the papacy held direct temporal power in the Papal States, and many titles of papal nobility were derived from fiefs with territorial privileges attached. During this time, the Pope also bestowed ancient civic titles such as patrician. Today, the Pope still exercises authority to grant titles with territorial designations, although these are purely nominal and the privileges enjoyed by the holders pertain to styles of address and heraldry. Additionally, the Pope grants personal and familial titles that carry no territorial designation. Their titles being merely honorific, the modern papal nobility includes descendants of ancient Roman families as well as notable Catholics from many countries. All pontifical noble titles are within the personal gift of the pontiff, and are not recorded in the Official Acts of the Holy See.
