Scholar and scholar: It was like this before reaching the papacy and continued to be as a Pope. Pedro Julião – or Pedro Hispano – was a doctor and teacher before being elected Pope. Admired by many and contested by many others, John XXI had a “tragic” death, leaving a legacy full of scientific works, in the detriment of the governance of the Catholic Church
Pedro Julião or Pedro Hispano – Perhaps to know him by this second name, as he was attributed to streets and avenues, a hospital in Matosinhos, as well as to an institute in the district of Coimbra and a study center in Lisbon. It was the only Portuguese to be crowned Pope in the history of the Catholic Church.
It is necessary to retreat to the thirteenth century to know the history of the only Portuguese Pope. Your papacy is wrapped in mysterious contours, as is your entire life story. Even your date of birth is uncertain: It is believed that Pedro Julião was born in Lisbon, somewhere between 1205 or 1210, but never after 1226.
It is described as a scholarly and scholarly man, dedicating himself to the study of medicine, logic and philosophy. He studied at the Lisbon Episcopal School and later at the University of Paris. It was in the French capital that he met some of the greatest intellectual figures of the time, such as St. Thomas Aquinas. Later, he moved to Italy, where he was a doctor and professor at the University of Siena. It was there that Pedro Julião – or Peter Hispano – wrote some of his most important works, such as Treaty Summulae Logicales, where he included some theses of Aristotle, Greek philosopher who questioned the creation of the world by the hand of God.
He was also the author of Occuli’s work (an ophthalmology treaty that was only discovered in the nineteenth century) and which, like Summulae Logicales, became a reference manual for scholars, widely translated and taught for centuries in European universities. Incidentally, the legend says that, two centuries later, when Italian picture Miguel ãngelo was seriously ill with an eye disease, attributed to intense and thorough work in the Sistine Chapel, resorted to Pedro Julião’s work to find the recipe for an designated ophthalmic eye drops Water wonderful that healed his eyes.
Peter Hispano’s prestige was such that the Italian poet Dante put him in paradise, one of the three fundamental parts of the divine comedy poem (1321), which marks the great names of science at that time. Dante described him as “the one who shines in twelve books,” an allusion to the twelve treaties of his own.
Despite the fame and prestige, there are those who doubt the authorship of the more than 50 works attributed to Pedro Hispano. Several researchers argue that these works should be attributed to three or four other authors, arguing that, at that time, the Iberian Peninsula was known as Hispania, that is, all the stones born there would be “Petrus Hispanus”.
It is certain that Peter Hispano was known as a scholar-he had been before he reached the papacy and continued to be it as a Pope. After the tour of the European universities, he returned to Portugal, where he quickly climbed the Catholic hierarchy – began to perform positions in the Lisbon See, then passed to Porto and later to Guimarães, until he was appointed Archbishop of Braga in 1273. His close relationship with Pope Gregory X, whom he was a personal doctor, led him to be invited to participate in the Ecumenical Council of Lyon.
The year 1276 was a busy year for the Catholic Church. After the death of Gregory X, two popes were elected that same year – Innocent V, whose papacy lasted five months, and Adriano V, who died five weeks after being crowned Pope. Thus, for the third time in the same year, cardinals were called to choose a successor.
At that time the Pope had immense power, since his powers were incumbent upon all the Western Christianity. The unhealthiness of Rome led the city of Viterbo – known as the city of Popes – became the refuge of the popes that abandoned the capital. It was there that the conclaves appeared – as they did at the election of Gregory X, after three weeks, the inhabitants of Viterbo closed the room where the cardinals were gathered, threatening to cut the food, leaving them to bread, water and wine until a new Pope was elected.
A few days later, on September 13 or 20 – once again, the dates are not right – the cardinals announced a surprise name: Pedro Hispano, a cardinal without political connections, had unanimously elected Pope. It was 187 in the chronological order of the popes. He chose the apostolic name João XXI – a curious choice, as in the list of Catholic popes, there was never a Pope John XX.
Pope John XXI was, at the time, one of the leaders of the Catholic Church with the highest level of education. Studied, among other things, philosophy, theology and medicine (Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)
Like his predecessors, his pontificate was short – it lasted only eight months. During this period, John XXI devoted his days to scientific investigation, to the detriment of governance, delegating these administrative affairs to the Cardinal Orisino, which succeeded him as Pope Nicholas III. So much so that John XXI will have reserved for himself the Annex of the Papal Palace in Viterbo, where he was guarding so that he could work with greater peace.
Despite the brief pontificate, John XXI is remembered as the Pope who sought reconciliation with the Greek Orthodox Church – an initiative of Gregory X – as well as relations with the Mongol Empire. He is described as a simple Pope, which earned him criticism from the Roman Curia, as he received both the poor and the rich, and as a peacemaker, as he defended the reconciliation of the great European nations – France, Germânia and Castile – to no avail. He tried to resolve the discord between the Portuguese king D. Afonso III and the Holy See and endeavored in the liberation of the Holy Land, at the time occupied by the Turks, preparing a new crusade.
In May 1277, John XXI was surveying the widening works of the Papal Palace in Viterbo, which he himself had asked, when the building collapsed and was crushed by the rubble. He eventually died days later due to the severity of the injuries. Italian bishop Lorenzo Chiarinelli describes the death of John XXI as “a tragic event.” “According to data we have, it seems that the ceiling collapsed and he was crushed. After a few days of painful agony, he died.”
The death of John XXI, eight months after being elected Pope, is still wrapped in mystery today. At the time, he was considered a divine punishment by those who described him as a wizard or sorcerer, taking into account his dedication to the study of the occult sciences and the anatomy of the human body. There were also those who had theorized that the collapse of the Palace Palace had been caused by an explosion. What is certain is that, to this day, it is not known whether his death was a mere accident or has resulted in an action of his enemies.
He was buried in Viterbo’s Cathedral, but his tomb “walked from side to side”, changing location several times, eventually hidden behind the temple’s entrance door, according to researcher Mendes Pinto, in the legacy of John XXI. It was necessary to wait until the year 2000 for John XXI to be transferred near the high-head of Viterbo Cathedral, where it was initially.
