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mistress of the vatican.pdf - End Time Deception

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Eleanor Herman<br />

preme satisfaction on his face gazing out <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> windows overlooking<br />

<strong>the</strong> Piazza Navona and, later, those in <strong>the</strong> rear <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> house overlooking<br />

<strong>the</strong> Piazza Pasquino. He was glad to be home.<br />

On <strong>the</strong> morning <strong>of</strong> August 12, 1630, Gianbattista burst forth from<br />

his cocoon blazing in red robes, leading a brilliant cavalcade to <strong>the</strong> Vatican.<br />

There, in a magnificent ceremony in <strong>the</strong> Sistine Chapel along with<br />

<strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r new cardinals, he <strong>of</strong>ficially received <strong>the</strong> red hat again from<br />

<strong>the</strong> pope. Olimpia attended <strong>the</strong> ceremony, beaming from her seat <strong>of</strong><br />

honor.<br />

Having been created cardinal, Gianbattista was required to give huge<br />

tips to all <strong>of</strong> his servants at <strong>the</strong> Piazza Navona house—from his private<br />

secretary to <strong>the</strong> little boy who shoveled horse manure in his stables. And<br />

countless employees <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Vatican were to receive tips—<strong>the</strong> dozens <strong>of</strong><br />

secretaries, notaries, and <strong>of</strong>fice managers who had pushed his laborious<br />

paperwork through <strong>the</strong> system. The pope’s personal servants also had<br />

<strong>the</strong>ir hands out, and Gianbattista would have handsomely tipped <strong>the</strong><br />

papal master <strong>of</strong> ceremonies, clerks, singers, trumpet blowers, butlers,<br />

buglers, grooms, doormen, and gardeners at <strong>the</strong> proscribed rates. The<br />

protocol in Il perfetto maestro di casa declared that <strong>the</strong> papal servants<br />

alone received a total <strong>of</strong> 1,162 scudi. It was a huge amount, yet <strong>the</strong>re was<br />

simply no way to get out <strong>of</strong> paying it without acquiring a terrible reputation<br />

for avarice as soon as <strong>the</strong> coveted red hat was plunked on one’s<br />

head.<br />

As cardinal, Gianbattista received a new honorific. On June 10, 1630,<br />

<strong>the</strong> pope decreed that effective immediately all cardinals were no longer<br />

to be called “Most Reverend” as <strong>the</strong>y had been for centuries, but were to<br />

be addressed by <strong>the</strong> more honorable “Your Eminence,” and were to take<br />

precedence immediately after kings. Feeling outranked by this title,<br />

European princes claimed for <strong>the</strong>mselves <strong>the</strong> title <strong>of</strong> “Highness” instead<br />

<strong>of</strong> “Excellency.” Furious at this title inflation, <strong>the</strong> pope instructed his<br />

cardinals to continue addressing <strong>the</strong> princes as “Excellency,” with <strong>the</strong><br />

result that such letters bounced back to <strong>the</strong>m unopened. “My Master<br />

receives no Letters from him that knows not his Merit,” wrote one<br />

prince’s secretary. 9 Ano<strong>the</strong>r stated, “<strong>the</strong> Cardinal has a drunken Secretary,<br />

and one that did not know what Titles Princes deserv’d.” 10<br />

[ 88 ]

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