Pope Nicholas IV

Pope Nicholas IV (30 September 1227 – 4 April 1292), born Girolamo Masci, was Pope from 22 February 1288 until his death. Originally a Franciscan friar, he had been legate to the Greeks under Pope Gregory X in 1272, succeeded Bonaventure as Minister General of his religious order in 1274, and was made Cardinal Priest of Santa Prassede and Latin Patriarch of Constantinople by Pope Nicholas III, Cardinal Bishop of Palestrina by Pope Martin IV. He succeeded Pope Honorius IV in February 1288 at the end of a papal election that took ten months to conclude. Masci was born at Lisciano, near Ascoli Piceno. He was a pious, peace-loving friar with no ambition save for the Church, the crusades and the extirpation of heresy. He steered a middle...