Pope Innocent XI - Death and Beatification

Death and Beatification

Innocent XI died after a long period of ill health on 12 August 1689. Following his death, he was buried in St Peter's Basilica beneath his funeral monument near the Clementine Chapel, which his nephew, Livio Odescalchi, commissioned. The monument, which was designed and sculpted by Pierre-Étienne Monnot, features the pope seated upon the throne above a sarcophagus with a base-relief showing the liberation of Vienna from the Turks by John III Sobieski, flanked by two allegorical figures representing Faith and Fortitude.

The process of Innocent's beatification was introduced in 1741 by Benedict XIV and continued by Clement XI and Clement XII; but French influence and the accusation of Jansenism caused it to be suspended in 1744. In the 20th century it was reintroduced, and Venerable Pope Pius XII (1939–58) announced his beatification on 7 October 1956.

When his body was exhumed for beatification, it was discovered that it had remained preserved, though 267 years had passed since his death. Innocent XI was subsequently considered by many to be incorrupt, and his body was placed in a glass and bronze-work sarcophagus with his face and hands covered in silver. He is regarded by many Catholics to be the first Pope whose body was discovered to be incorrupt, followed by Pope St. Pius X (1903–14) and Blessed Pope John XXIII (1958–63).

Following his beatification, his sarcophagus was placed under the Altar of St. Sebastian in the basilica's Chapel of St. Sebastian, where it remained until 8 April 2011 when it was moved to make way for the remains of Blessed Pope John Paul II (1978–2005) to be relocated to the basilica from the grotto beneath St. Peter's in honor of his beatification and in order to make his resting place more accessible to the public. Innocent's body was transferred to the basilica's Altar of Transfiguration, which is located near the Clementine Chapel and the entombed remains of Pope St. Gregory the Great (590–604). The altar is also across from Innocent XI's monument, which was his original site of burial before his beatification.

The feast day of Pope Blessed Innocent XI is 12 August, the date of his death.