POPE GREGORY XIII – HIS ORDINATIONS AS SUBDEACON, DEACON, PRIEST, and BISHOP

My friend and research colleague from Milan has made an excellent discovery. In reviewing the inventory of the Archivio Boncompagni-Ludovisi of the Vatican Secret Archives, he found references to the ordinations of Ugo Boncompagni, the future Pope Gregory XIII, as subdeacon, deacon, priest, and bishop. He obtained scans of the certificates of ordination of Ugo Boncompagni to the three major orders and of his consecration as bishop.

In 2008, the inventory of the Boncompagni-Ludovisi collection kept in the Vatican Secret Archives was published. [Collectanea Archivi Vaticani 63] Archivio Boncompagni Ludovisi : inventario. Vol 3 : (bb. 564-712). Città del Vaticano Archivio Segreto Vaticano, 2008.  p. 74.

 In volume 3, the content of file 592 contains:

  folder 2 (ff 3-5) the certificate of ordination of Ugo Boncompagni as subdeacon,  deacon, and priest;

 folder 3 (ff 6-8) the certificate of consecration of Ugo Boncompagni as Bishop of Vieste.

 On 20 July 1558 Ugo Boncompagni was appointed Bishop of Vieste. He was ordained subdeacon, deacon, and priest on 31 July 1558 at Rome, in the chapel of relics of the sacristy of St. Peter’s Basilica by Bishop Girolamo Maccabei of Castro in Lazio.

 On 6 August 1558, Father Ugo Boncompagni was consecrated Bishop of Vieste at Rome, in the Sistine Chapel, by Bishop Girolamo Maccabei of Castro in Lazio, assisted by Bishop Baldo Ferratini of Lipari and Bishop Ludovico Simonetta of Pesaro.

 Bishop Boncompagni resigned the see of Vieste in 1560 and was created a cardinal in 1565. He was elected Pope on 13 May 1572, taking the name of Gregory XIII. He died in Rome on 10 April 1585.