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mistress of the vatican.pdf - End Time Deception

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Mistress <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Vatican<br />

although <strong>the</strong> queen had converted under his pontificate, his successor<br />

would reap all <strong>the</strong> credit.<br />

When Olimpia left <strong>the</strong> pope’s bedroom periodically to allow his cardinal<br />

advisors in for an audience, she usually found Decio Azzolini waiting<br />

in <strong>the</strong> antechamber, and <strong>of</strong>ten Francesco Cherubini, <strong>the</strong> pope’s auditor.<br />

These men greeted Olimpia with great courtesy. Oddly, <strong>the</strong> secretary <strong>of</strong><br />

state, who should also have been waiting, was nowhere to be found, not<br />

even in his <strong>of</strong>fice. After a while, it occurred to Olimpia that Cardinal<br />

Chigi was avoiding her.<br />

Indeed, her suspicion proved correct. Chigi’s distaste for Olimpia had<br />

become so overpowering that he stationed a groom as a lookout; seeing<br />

Olimpia coming out <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> bedchamber, <strong>the</strong> groom would race to Chigi’s<br />

<strong>of</strong>fice crying that Olimpia was on her way. Chigi would quietly slip<br />

away to hide from her.<br />

One day Olimpia instructed a butler to ask Cardinal Chigi what she<br />

had ever done to him to make him run away from her. She did not expect<br />

cardinals to bow on bended knee before her, she added, but why<br />

could Chigi not greet her once in <strong>the</strong> antechamber, as <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r cardinals<br />

did?<br />

Cardinal Chigi politely sent word that he could be <strong>of</strong> no service to<br />

her in <strong>the</strong> papal palace, where he had urgent work to do, and a sick<br />

pontiff to attend to, and was <strong>of</strong>ten on his knees imploring God’s mercy<br />

for Innocent. But if she ever needed anything from him, she should let<br />

him know and he would gladly call on her at <strong>the</strong> Palazzo Pamphili—a<br />

polite way <strong>of</strong> saying women had no business walking in and out <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

papal palace. To which Olimpia bellowed, “Thank God I don’t need<br />

anything from him!” 8<br />

That would change. Soon.<br />

There was an etiquette to seventeenth-century dying. The individual<br />

approaching earthly dissolution must summon relatives, friends, and<br />

even enemies to ga<strong>the</strong>r at his bedside for a rousing final speech. Even a<br />

q<br />

q<br />

[ 357 ]

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