kings espoused their relative's
quarrel, seized Avignon, Benevento and Ponte Corvo, and united in a
peremptory demand for the suppression of the Jesuits (January 1769).
Driven to extremities, Clement consented to call a Consistory to
consider the step, but on the very eve of the day set for its meeting he
died (2nd of February 1769), not without suspicion of poison, of which,
however, there appears to be no conclusive evidence.

A contemporary account of Clement was written by Augustin de Andres y
Sobinas, ... _el nacimiento, estudios y empleos de ... Clem. XIII_.
(Madrid, 1759). Ravignan's _Clement XIII. e Clement XIV._ (Paris,
1854) is partisan but free from rancour; and appends many interesting
documents. See also the bibliographical note under Clement XIV.
_infra_.; and the extended bibliography in Hergenroether, _Allg.
Kirchengesch._ (1880), iii. 509. (T. F. C.)

CLEMENT XIV. (Lorenzo Ganganelli), pope from 1769 to 1774, son of a
physician of St Arcangelo, near Rimini, was born on the 31st of October
1705, entered the Franciscan order at the age of seventeen, and became a
teacher of theology and philosophy. As regent of the college of S.
Bonaventura, Rome, he came under the notice of Benedict XIV., who
conceived a high opinion of his talents and made him consulter of the
Inquisition. Upon the recommendation of Ricci, general of the Jesuits,
Clement XIII. made him a cardinal; but, owing to his disapproval of the
pope's policy, he found himself out of favour and without influence. The
conclave following the death of Clement XIII. was the most momentous of
at least two centuries. The fate of the Jesuits hung in the balance; and
the Bourbon princes were determined to have a pope subservient to their
hostile designs. The struggle was prolonged three months. At length, on
the 19th of May 1769, Ganganelli was chosen, not as a declared enemy of
the Jesuits, but as being least objectionable to each of the contending
factions. The charge of simony was inspired by Jesuit hatred; there is
absolutely no evidence that Ganganelli pledged himself to suppress the
order.

The outlook for the papacy was dark; Portugal was talking of a
patriarchate; France held Avignon; Naples held Ponte Corvo and
Benevento; Spain was ill-affected; Parma, defiant; Venice, aggressive;
Poland meditating a restriction of the rights of the nuncio. Clement
realized the imperative necessity of conciliating the powers. He
suspended the