1227 papal election

Election of Pope Gregory IX

Papal election
1227
Dates and location
19 March 1227
Septizodium,[1] Rome
Key officials
DeanUgolino di Segni
ProtopriestGuala Bicchieri
ProtodeaconOttaviano dei Conti di Segni
Elected pope
Ugolino di Segni
Name taken: Gregory IX
← 1216
1241 →
A fragment of the Septizodium as it looked in the 16th century

The 1227 papal election (19 March), was convoked after the death of Pope Honorius III on 18 March 1227 at Rome.

The cardinals present at Rome assembled in Septizodium[1] on the next day after the death of Honorius III and decided to elect the new Pope by compromissum, meaning not by the whole Sacred College of Cardinals but by the committee of few of them, empowered by the rest to appoint the new Pontiff. The same procedure had been already used in the previous election. The committee numbered three cardinals, among whom were cardinal-bishops Ugolino di Segni of Ostia and Konrad von Urach of Porto (the name of the third one is not registered). Initially the committee elected its member Konrad von Urach with two votes out three, but he refused the tiara. Hereupon the rest of cardinals unanimously elected Ugolino di Segni (another committee member) on 19 March 1227. He reluctantly accepted the high honour, taking the name of Gregory IX.[2]

The new Pope received the pallium in the Vatican Basilica on 21 March 1227, and on the same day was enthroned in the Lateran Basilica. On 11 April 1227, his relative Ottaviano Conti di Segni, archdeacon of the Sacred College, solemnly crowned him in the Basilica di S. Maria in Maggiore.[3]

List of participants

Probably 15 out of 18 cardinals participated in the election:[4]

Elector Cardinalatial title Elevated Elevator Other ecclesiastical titles Notes
Ugolino di Segni Bishop of Ostia e Velletri 19 December 1198 Innocent III Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals Cardinal-nephew; elected Pope Gregory IX
Pelagio Galvani Bishop of Albano ca. 1206/1207 Innocent III
Nicola de Chiaramonte, O.Cist. Bishop of Frascati 6 January 1219 Honorius III
Konrad von Urach, O.Cist. Bishop of Porto e Santa Rufina 6 January 1219 Honorius III Elected Pope but declined
Oliver von Paderborn Bishop of Sabina September 1225 Honorius III
Guido Pierleoni Bishop of Palestrina 18 December 1204 Innocent III Archpriest of the Vatican Basilica
Guala Bicchieri, C.R.S.P. Priest of SS. Silvestro e Martino ai Monti 18 December 1204 Innocent III Protopriest
Stefano di Ceccano, O.Cist. Priest of SS. XII Apostoli 19 May 1212 Innocent III
Tommaso da Capua Priest of S. Sabina 5 March 1216 Innocent III Grand penitentiary
Ottaviano dei Conti di Segni Deacon of SS. Sergio e Bacco 27 May 1206 Innocent III Protodeacon Cardinal-nephew
Rainiero Capocci, O.Cist. Deacon of S. Maria in Cosmedin 5 March 1216 Innocent III
Stefano de Normandis dei Conti Deacon of S. Adriano 5 March 1216 Innocent III Cardinal-nephew
Gregorio Crescenzi Deacon of S. Teodoro 5 March 1216 Innocent III
Gil Torres Deacon of SS. Cosma e Damiano 18 February 1217 Honorius III
Pietro Caputo Deacon of S. Giorgio in Velabro 1219 Honorius III

Absentee cardinal

Probably three cardinals were absent:

Elector Cardinalatial title Elevated Elevator Notes
Stephen Langton S.R.E. cardinalis 27 May 1206 Innocent III Archbishop of Canterbury 1207–1228; resigned his titulus S. Crisogono after receiving episcopal consecration in 1207; external cardinal
Giovanni Colonna di Carbognano Priest of S. Prassede 27 May 1206 Innocent III Rector of Spoleto
Romano Bonaventura Deacon of S. Maria in Portico 5 March 1216 Innocent III Papal Legate in the southern France

Notes

  1. ^ a b Or possibly the Septasolium. There has been confusion about these locations, as described by Dr. J. P. Adams
  2. ^ The Catholic Encyclopedia: Pope Gregory IX; and Gaetano Moroni, vol. XXXII p. 257 and vol. LXXXV, p. 261. Timo Bandhold, p. 9, says that only Konrad von Urach is known to have been a committee member and the rest two members of that body are unknown
  3. ^ Salvador Miranda: Cardinal Ugolino dei conti di Segni (Pope Gregory IX)
  4. ^ The reconstruction is based on: Vatican History: Konklave 1227 Archived 3 November 2018 at the Wayback Machine; F. Bourkle-Young: notes to the papal election of 1227 on The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church (by S. Miranda); and K. Eubel, p. 5 n. 5, but with corrections based on the biographical entries of the respective cardinals in Werner Maleczek, Papst und Kardinalskolleg von 1191 bis 1216, Vienna 1984 and Elfriede Kartusch, Das Kardinalskollegium in der Zeit von 1181-1227, Univ. of Vienna 1948.

Sources

  • Konrad Eubel, Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi, volumen I, 1913
  • F. Bourkle-Young: notes to the papal election of 1227
  • Vatican history
  • The Catholic Encyclopedia: Pope Gregory IX
  • Werner Maleczek, Papst und Kardinalskolleg von 1191 bis 1216, Wien 1984
  • Timo Bandhold, Die Wahl Papst Gregors IX., 2007, ISBN 3-638-81022-4
  • Gaetano Moroni, Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica da S. Pietro sino ai nostri giorni Vol. XXXII and vol. LXXXV, Tipografia Emiliana, Venezia, 1840 - 1861
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