Pope Clement VII - Death and Character

Death and Character

In 1533, Johann Widmanstetter (alternately spelled John Widmanstad), a secretary of Pope Clement VII, explained the Copernican system to the Pope and two cardinals. The Pope was so pleased that he gave Widmanstetter a valuable gift.

Towards the end of his life, Clement VII once more gave indications of a leaning towards a French alliance, which was averted by his death in September 1534 in Rome after consuming the death cap mushroom. He was buried in Santa Maria sopra Minerva.

As for the arts, Clement VII is remembered for having ordered, just a few days before his death, Michelangelo's painting of The Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel.

Read more about this topic:  Pope Clement VII

Famous quotes containing the words death and, death and/or character:

    “Time turns the old days to derision,
    Our loves into corpses or wives;
    And marriage and death and division
    Make barren our lives.”
    —A.C. (Algernon Charles)

    “Of Heaven of Hell I have no power to sing,
    I cannot ease the burden of your fears,
    Or make quick-coming death a little thing,
    Or bring again the pleasure of past years,”
    —William Morris (1834–1896)

    “Innocence is lovely in the child, because in harmony with its nature; but our path in life is not backward but onward, and virtue can never be the offspring of mere innocence. If we are to progress in the knowledge of good, we must also progress in the knowledge of evil. Every experience of evil brings its own temptation and according to the degree in which the evil is recognized and the temptations resisted, will be the value of the character into which the individual will develop.”
    —Mrs. H. O. Ward (1824–1899)