fwo_822081 - ITALY - PAPAL STATES - PIUS V (Antonio Michele Ghislieri) Blanc (Bianco ou Double Giulio) n.d. Bologne

ITALY - PAPAL STATES - PIUS V (Antonio Michele Ghislieri)

(07/01/1566-01/05/1572)

Antoine Michel Ghisleri was born in Bosco in Lombardy in 1504. At the age of fifteen, he entered the Dominicans. In 1556 Pope Paul IV appointed him Bishop of Sutri, then Cardinal the following year and finally Inquisitor General for the Roman States. In 1560 he obtained the bishopric of Mondovi. After the death of Pius VI and a short period of vacancy, he was elected pope in 1566 under the name Pius V. He excommunicated Elizabeth of England in 1570 and supported Mary Stuart in Scotland. It was under his leadership that the Christian league was formed, whose fleet won the famous battle of Lepanto over the Turks in 1571. He died on May 1, 1572 in Rome, was beatified in 1672 by Pope Clement X and canonized in 1712 by Clement XI..