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Pope Nicholas IV

Pope
Nicholas IV
NicholasIV.jpg
Papacy began 22 February 1288
Papacy ended 4 April 1292
Predecessor Honorius IV
Successor Celestine V
Orders
Consecration 1281
Created Cardinal 12 March 1278
by Nicholas III
Personal details
Birth name Girolamo Masci
Born (1227-09-30)30 September 1227
Lisciano, Marche, Papal States, Holy Roman Empire
Died 4 April 1292(1292-04-04) (aged 64)
Rome, Papal States
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Coat of arms {{{coat_of_arms_alt}}}
Papal styles of
Pope Nicholas IV
C o a Niccolo IV.svg

Pope Nicholas IV (Latin: Nicolaus IV; 30 September 1227 – 4 April 1292), born Girolamo Masci, Pope from 22 February 1288 to his death in 1292. He was the first Franciscan to be elected pope.

Jerome Masci (Girolamo Masci) was born on 30 September 1227 at Lisciano, near Ascoli Piceno. He was a pious, peace-loving man whose goals as a Franciscan friar were to protect the Church, promote the crusades, and root out heresy. According to Heinrich of Rebdorf, he was a Doctor of Theology. As a Franciscan friar, he had been elected the Order's superior (minister) for Dalmatia during the Franciscan general chapter held at Pisa in 1272. Pope Gregory X (1271-1276), was sending a legate to the Greek Emperor, Michael Palaiologos, in 1272, to invite the participation of Greek prelates in the Second Council of Lyons. The Pope's ambition was to achieve a reunion of Eastern and Western Christendom. St Bonaventure, then Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor (Franciscans) was asked to select four Franciscans to accompany the Legation as Nuncios. He chose Friar Jerome Masci as one of the four. When Bonaventure, died suddenly during the fifth session of the Order's General Chapter at Lyons on 15 July 1274, Friar Jerome Masci was elected to succeed him as the Franciscan Minister General, even though he was absent at the time, only then returning with the Greek delegates from the embassy to Constantinople.

Jerome was the associate of John of Vercelli, Master General of the Dominican Order, when the latter was sent by Pope Nicholas III (Giovanni Caetani Orsini) on 15 October 1277, to arrange a peace between Philip IV of France and Alfonso III of Aragon. Jerome and John of Vercelli were again appointed to the same task on 4 April 1278. At the same time, Jerome was ordered to continue for the time being as the Franciscan Minister General.


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