Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1897-05-17
AT The DOOR OF BORGIAS.
HISTORIC VATICAN APARTMENTS
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
BY Order of Pope BcO-The Creation
of Pope Alexander VI, the Father
of Caesar BOrgia-Tragic,
Unexpected Death.
Erom the New York Herald.

From the New York Herald.
In 1884 Leo XIII. announced to the world
his intention of throwing open to the pub
lie tie famous Borgia apartments in the
vatican. which had remained closed for
nearly 400 years. In the world OF me atlS
this announcement created a great nuiter
of expectation, for in this suite OF rooms
was 10 be found the finest specimens Of
PIuturicChios art, that marvellous painter
OF the fifteenth century, by, some sald 70 pc
"a pupil of PerugiuS, VINO, II ne were such,
far SURPASSED his master, and was by many
considered the peer of Raphael. rms prom
Use has now become an accomplishing IdSIy
and the apartments and their wonderful
paintings are now shown 10 VISITORS 10 the
This act of Leo XIII. has caused a vast
controversy, and nothing seems TO snow
the liberal tendencies of the day more
clearly tina the sides taken in the arFu-
ment between the bigots and the more lib
e-al minded Catholics of ali countries Inc
fact that these apartments were lnS CUn-
Ception of a pope-AleXander VI, a borE!d'
a name which has gone down through MS
tory as synonymous with poison ana an me
abcminable and uncomfortable crimes 70
Wtjch Derverted humanity sometimes yields
gives a basis to the hiEOtS denuncldlLul
of Leo's act. On the other side; there ar
many who contend that Alexander VI; Nas
but the victim of a sons crimes ana lnS
stigma attached to his family name,
In looking through the annals OF NOSE
Gays handed down to US by histories. some
written by men in favor of him, otners ny
men opposed to him., We turn from ths TASK
of trying to discover the truth anna tnls
lahyrinth of caIumnies and batteries, and
we determine to reserve our ludsInent on
Alexander VI. until the secret archlveS
locked IN for 400 years in the Borgta apart
ments are given to the public to judge for
themselves, as Leo has promised. ana
which promise, from present indlcatlons;
has been falthfuLy lulHl4eu III sPilo VI
great opposition.
These documents, which are intended to
show the exact condition OF the vatican
and the fortune of the popes at the I'd
vent of Rodrigo Borgia, are being prepared
by R. p. Ehrle, project OF the vatican
library. and the scholar stevenson, from
the inventories of the state archives OF
the fifteenth century. The first proof
sheets Of this forthcoming work go to
prove that that part Of the vatican when
the Borgia pope afterward rebuilt so mag
nifcently, between 1892 and 1893, was at
the time of his accession to the chair OF
St. Peter, but an unslghtly edihce, con-
structed by Martin v, on his return from
Avignon, having the walls of a fortress
and suitable TO the needs Of that warlike
period.
of ceremonies to Alexander, and who left a
journal which was afterward published IN
1886 in part, and has recently been .puDHShed
in full the following account of AleXander's
life from his youth to his accession TO the
papacy is an interesting one: Burchard
says: His youth was a very dlssolute one.
The laughter of a Roman lady living in
Spain, Rosa VanOzZa. became his lifelong
mistress. By her he had five children, two
of whom. Caesar and Lucretia Borgia, sur
passed their father, If possible in abomina-
BILE crimes.
In l4Al, while ROQrlRO was nNlnE III
Spain, his uncle became pope. This opened
TO him a new career of ambition He went
TO Rome on a promise from the pope OF an
office worth 1900 crowns a year and at the
same time Rosa Vanozza and her children
went to Venice. The pope was charmed
with the pleasing manner and apparent
piety of his nephew and made him cardinal
and vice chancellor in 1856. Rodrigo affect
ed great piety, visited the prisons and the
poor. was diligent in keeping church serv-
ices and soon beguiled the Romans into con-
fdence In his purity. During the pontill-
cate of Plus IL, Paul IL. and SiXtus ",
SUCCESSORS of Calixtus, he remained quiet.
In the pontificate of Innocent WILL, which
began in 14S4, he brought Rosa Vanozza to
Rome and put her in a house near st.
I'm the meantime he was busy buying up
votes for the papal chair, and when limo
cent died Q492) he had purchased a sufti-
cient number Of cardinals to secure his
According to other authorities. Rosa Va
nozza was in reality Rodrigo's wife, and
her decease is said to have preceded his
ordination; Caesar and Iucretia were. in
that case, legitimate. The Able Olivier
goes a step further and OisposeS OF two
andal at one stroke by identifying Rosa
NanoZZa with Giulia FarmeSe, whose
charms during Alexander's pontif1cate, for
ty years afterward. VIGOROUSLY procured
her brothers elevation to the cardinalate.
Tie date of Caesars birth is fixed TO an
iRius at September Is. AS.
Alexander has become a myth. and his
acts are in some respects almost as Legend
I dE LubEC VI lit DAAAAAAAANO III -esAAN |
The peculiar odium attached to
his memoir rests partly on charges or
secret poisoning, which are at least not es-
tablished, and partly on the confusion be-
tween his actions and those Of Caesar Bor-
gia; 49,,
Rome trembles before the duke Caesar
Borgia). The worst times of the empire
seem to have returned, even to the amuse-
ments of the amphitheater, where Caesar, |
whose tastes are those of a Spaniard, de-
six bulls successfully, seVering |
the head of one from his shoulders at a
stroke. The pope looks on helpleSsly at this |
Frankenstein Of his own creation. He loves |
and hugely fears his son." And the Nene-
tian adds that Caesar had pursued his ia
Tiers favorite secretary to his arms, and
there butchered him, the pope's robes being
with the gushing blood.
o the morning of August II. 1903, Pope
Alexander fell i'll. So did Caesar BOrgta-
Every one knows the story Of the supper
given TO the ten cardinals in the villa and
the fatal change of the poisoned cups. This
picturesque tale is almost certainly a fc-
ton. An attempt to destroy ten cardinals
once is inconceivable. It would be easier
TO believe Cardinal Castellesis assertion
that he was to have been the victim, as
his sickness at the time is confirmed from
an Independent source. But his character
does not stand high, and the symptoms of
totally from ~Alexander's, which were those
of an ordinary Roman fever.
The progress Of the pope's malady may
he infinitely traced in Burchard's diary and
the dispatches of the FerTarese envoy. He
expired on the evening of August Is. 1893, I
duly provided with all the needful Sacra-
ments of the church. Ere the corpse was
cold the pontifical apartments were pillaged
the satellites of Caesar BOrgia. At the
funeral a brawl between priests and
soldiers left the body exposed in the center
Of the church, and when II was placed |
upon the altar its shocking decomposition
the surmise of poison. Finally,
of its cerements and wrapped in
an old carpet, it was forced with blows
into a narrow coffin and flung into an OBJ
vault. The body was subsequently
to the Spanish Church of ST.
Mary, of Montserrat. where 1t reposes at
this day"
Another account Of Alexander's death !
quoting. The death scene, as stated I
Tommasi. is in substance as follows:
After the marriage of his daughter, Lu-
rretia, the pope requested Cardinal Corneto
10 lend him his palace for n great fete, |
10 which all the cardinals and nobility were
TO be invited, and at which time some of
them were to be poisoned. BY mistake the
poisoned wine was hande to the pope and
son. Caesar. Both were soon taken i'll.
Caesar recovered. but the pope died the
same night-August Is. 1908,
Nearly everything actually criminal in
A~leNanders pontihCate Is subsequent to the
Treponderance Of Caesar. Though a profit
in public and private life. he was no
malignant tyrant-afable, familiar. easy. |
he justly took credit for his moderation
toward notorious malContents and his in
difference TO personal injuries. These viz
tres. however. as well as his family affcC-
lion, were merely constitutional with him.
as the many beneficial acts OF his admin
were rather prompted by a sense
Of policy than a sense of duty. His ability
as "A ruler is eVinCed by the tranquility he |
In Rome. his efectual provision
against dearth, the regular discharge of
financial obligations and the energetic |
m OGnPnHfOn nf rrGafuI nnrhliR vrnrLE