Pageant of the Popes
25 chapters English Public domain
About this book
This book contains a continuous history of the Papacy from the first century up to the mid-20th, when it was written. The original book has no chapter heads: the breakdown by century was added here. Farrow names every pope and provides extensive background on them. There are good popes, not a few bad popes, anti-popes (at one time there were three claimants to the throne), some popes who reigned less than a week, and numerous popes of humble origin.
The author is not afraid to confront the low points of papal history. Some of the medieval popes lived like Asian despots, and even had harems of concubines. The Renaissance popes, particularly the Borgias, raised nepotism to a high art, while they brought high art into the Vatican. In the 20th century successive Popes made open pacts with both Mussolini and Hitler. Farrow, a devout and very conservative Catholic, points out that the institution has endured and grown for two millennia, in spite of the uneven quality of the popes themselves.
The book is full of interesting facts. For instance, the pope was not declared infallible until a conclave in 1869. Napoleon imprisoned Pius VI, and almost got him to sign over the Vatican to France. There was only one English pope, Adrian IV, but quite a few French pontiffs. There were a number of popes who were related, including fathers and sons. Also of note is a useful chronological table at the end which lists every pope from St. Peter to Pius XII.
Table of contents
25 chapters
01 Start Reading 02 Page Index 03 chronological table 04 First Century 05 Second Century 06 Third Century 07 Fourth Century 08 Fifth Century 09 Sixth Century 10 Seventh Century 11 Eighth Century 12 Ninth Century 13 Tenth Century 14 Eleventh Century 15 Twelfth Century 16 Thirteenth Century 17 Fourteenth Century 18 Fifteenth Century 19 Sixteenth Century 20 Seventeenth Century 21 Eighteenth Century 22 Nineteenth Century 23 Twentieth Century 24 Index 25 Special Pages: Errata
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Pageant of the Popes
25 chapters English Public domain
About this book
This book contains a continuous history of the Papacy from the first century up to the mid-20th, when it was written. The original book has no chapter heads: the breakdown by century was added here. Farrow names every pope and provides extensive background on them. There are good popes, not a few bad popes, anti-popes (at one time there were three claimants to the throne), some popes who reigned less than a week, and numerous popes of humble origin.
The author is not afraid to confront the low points of papal history. Some of the medieval popes lived like Asian despots, and even had harems of concubines. The Renaissance popes, particularly the Borgias, raised nepotism to a high art, while they brought high art into the Vatican. In the 20th century successive Popes made open pacts with both Mussolini and Hitler. Farrow, a devout and very conservative Catholic, points out that the institution has endured and grown for two millennia, in spite of the uneven quality of the popes themselves.
The book is full of interesting facts. For instance, the pope was not declared infallible until a conclave in 1869. Napoleon imprisoned Pius VI, and almost got him to sign over the Vatican to France. There was only one English pope, Adrian IV, but quite a few French pontiffs. There were a number of popes who were related, including fathers and sons. Also of note is a useful chronological table at the end which lists every pope from St. Peter to Pius XII.
Table of contents
25 chapters
01 Start Reading 02 Page Index 03 chronological table 04 First Century 05 Second Century 06 Third Century 07 Fourth Century 08 Fifth Century 09 Sixth Century 10 Seventh Century 11 Eighth Century 12 Ninth Century 13 Tenth Century 14 Eleventh Century 15 Twelfth Century 16 Thirteenth Century 17 Fourteenth Century 18 Fifteenth Century 19 Sixteenth Century 20 Seventeenth Century 21 Eighteenth Century 22 Nineteenth Century 23 Twentieth Century 24 Index 25 Special Pages: Errata
Audiobook
Listen to this edition
Audiobooks are coming soon
Narrated editions will appear here when they are ready to listen.
Membership
Support the archive
$10 / month
Helps fund new texts & growth
Unlimited highlights & annotations
Unlimited bookmarks
Ad free reading experience
Early access to new features
Early access to quality TTS Audiobooks
Priority support & feature requests
4,000 Points monthly for Search usage
Access to point system rewards and value
Cancel anytime. Helps us pay the bills.
Discussion
Community conversation
Discussions are coming soon
Join conversations around this text and its interpretations.
Pageant of the Popes
25 chapters English Public domain
About this book
This book contains a continuous history of the Papacy from the first century up to the mid-20th, when it was written. The original book has no chapter heads: the breakdown by century was added here. Farrow names every pope and provides extensive background on them. There are good popes, not a few bad popes, anti-popes (at one time there were three claimants to the throne), some popes who reigned less than a week, and numerous popes of humble origin.
The author is not afraid to confront the low points of papal history. Some of the medieval popes lived like Asian despots, and even had harems of concubines. The Renaissance popes, particularly the Borgias, raised nepotism to a high art, while they brought high art into the Vatican. In the 20th century successive Popes made open pacts with both Mussolini and Hitler. Farrow, a devout and very conservative Catholic, points out that the institution has endured and grown for two millennia, in spite of the uneven quality of the popes themselves.
The book is full of interesting facts. For instance, the pope was not declared infallible until a conclave in 1869. Napoleon imprisoned Pius VI, and almost got him to sign over the Vatican to France. There was only one English pope, Adrian IV, but quite a few French pontiffs. There were a number of popes who were related, including fathers and sons. Also of note is a useful chronological table at the end which lists every pope from St. Peter to Pius XII.
Table of contents
25 chapters
01 Start Reading 02 Page Index 03 chronological table 04 First Century 05 Second Century 06 Third Century 07 Fourth Century 08 Fifth Century 09 Sixth Century 10 Seventh Century 11 Eighth Century 12 Ninth Century 13 Tenth Century 14 Eleventh Century 15 Twelfth Century 16 Thirteenth Century 17 Fourteenth Century 18 Fifteenth Century 19 Sixteenth Century 20 Seventeenth Century 21 Eighteenth Century 22 Nineteenth Century 23 Twentieth Century 24 Index 25 Special Pages: Errata
Audiobook
Listen to this edition
Audiobooks are coming soon
Narrated editions will appear here when they are ready to listen.
Membership
Support the archive
$10 / month
Helps fund new texts & growth
Unlimited highlights & annotations
Unlimited bookmarks
Ad free reading experience
Early access to new features
Early access to quality TTS Audiobooks
Priority support & feature requests
4,000 Points monthly for Search usage
Access to point system rewards and value
Cancel anytime. Helps us pay the bills.
Discussion
Community conversation
Discussions are coming soon
Join conversations around this text and its interpretations.