mistress of the vatican.pdf - End Time Deception

Mistress of the Vatican
that visitors saw. A house in mourning had all mirrors covered, as well
as the chairs and tables, and black cloth was draped around all doorways
and windows. Atop each door was hung the Pamphili family coat
of arms, painted colorfully on large sheets of paper. The household used
only black candles. The master of the stables covered the carriages in
black and put black trappings on the horses. After the eight-month
mourning period was over, the mountain of black cloth was usually sold
back to the dealers.
While Olimpia was now legally entitled to administer her own
Maidalchini-Nini money, Gianbattista insisted that she officially take
charge of administering the Pamphili patrimony as well, which included
payments for the comforts of his two sisters, Agatha and Prudenzia,
in their convents. Being appointed administrator of a noble
family’s finances was a rare honor for a woman, but the ambassador of
Mantua remarked that Olimpia deserved it for her “great intelligence
and economy.” 7 He added, however, that the real reason was Gianbattista’s
fear that if he did not show his sister-in-law sufficient respect, she
would take all her money away from the Pamphilis by remarrying. Indeed,
rumors abounded that Olimpia was going to marry Mario Frangipani,
the scion of a line of princes stretching back much farther than
the Colonnas, just to make Anna Colonna mad.
But Olimpia probably never considered a third marriage. First of all,
now that she was forty-eight, there was no longer any talk of immuring
her in a convent to protect her virtue. Tottering on the brink of the
grave as she was, her advanced age alone would ensure her chastity.
And surely she enjoyed being under no man’s thumb—even a hypothetical
thumb, since no matter whom Olimpia married, she would run
the show. Moreover, Olimpia was now fulfilling the responsibilities of a
cardinal, doing much of her brother-in-law’s work. Anyone who wanted
something from him was obliged to meet first with Olimpia, who
would render a judgment and then tell Cardinal Pamphili what to say.
“It was said that if one wanted some favor from the Cardinal, he
would have to ask the sister-in-law,” Gregorio Leti explained. “But those
who needed her for some affair were not permitted to address themselves
to others. When they left the Cardinal little satisfied, he never
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