Bertrand de Saint-Martin (died 28 or 29 March 1278) was a French
cardinal
Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to
* Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds
**''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae
***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...
.
He was born in
Arles
Arles ( , , ; ; Classical ) is a coastal city and Communes of France, commune in the South of France, a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône Departments of France, department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Reg ...
.
Career in the Church
He entered the Order of
Benedictines
The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly Christian mysticism, contemplative Christian monasticism, monastic Religious order (Catholic), order of the Catholic Church for men and f ...
and by 1238 was dean of the abbey of Saint-André de Villeneuve at
Avignon
Avignon (, , ; or , ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the Communes of France, commune had a ...
. In 1248 he was elected
bishop of Fréjus
A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role ...
(1248-1264) by the Cathedral Chapter. He was already
consecrated
Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...
on 9 August, when he participated in the dedication of the
Dominican convent of Baume in
Sisteron. He had already been named
Coadjutor The term "coadjutor" (literally "co-assister" in Latin) is a title qualifier indicating that the holder shares the office with another person, with powers equal to the other in all but formal order of precedence.
These include:
* Coadjutor bishop ...
of the
Archbishop of Aix by 20 February 1250. In July 1252 he took part in the final negotiations for a peace between Aix and Marseille. On 13 July 1257, he was present at
Brignoles at a ceremony of
infeudation, between
Charles, Count of Anjou, and Gilbert de Baux. In 1264 he was transferred to the
see of Avignon, and in 1266 to the metropolitan
see of Arles.
Cardinal
Pope Gregory X
Pope Gregory X (; – 10 January 1276), born Teobaldo Visconti, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1 September 1271 to his death and was a member of the Third Order of St. Francis. He was elected at the ...
(1271-1276) created him
Cardinal-Bishop of Sabina on 3 June 1273. He was Legate in
Lombardy
The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...
, perhaps after the time of his creation in June 1273. He participated in the
Second Council of Lyon
The Second Council of Lyon was the fourteenth ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church, convoked on 31 March 1272 and convened in Lyon, Kingdom of Arles (in modern France), in 1274. Pope Gregory X presided over the council, called to ...
(1274). His name appears among signatories of the
papal bull
A papal bull is a type of public decree, letters patent, or charter issued by the pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the leaden Seal (emblem), seal (''bulla (seal), bulla'') traditionally appended to authenticate it.
History
Papal ...
s between 7 March 1274 and 23 March 1275. He pronounced the decision in an arbitration, along with Cardinal
Vicedomino de Vicedominis, at
Lyon
Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...
on 25 April 1275. On 7 June 1275, at Bellicadri, he was assigned the Roman titulus of S. Marcello ''in commendam'' He apparently did not accompany Pope Gregory X in the return trip from Lyon to
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
. His name is not mentioned among the cardinals at
Lausanne
Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...
, who witnessed the oath of fealty of
King Rudolf I. He had joined the
Curia
Curia (: curiae) in ancient Rome referred to one of the original groupings of the citizenry, eventually numbering 30, and later every Roman citizen was presumed to belong to one. While they originally probably had wider powers, they came to meet ...
, however, by the time it was in
Arezzo
Arezzo ( , ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the Province of Arezzo, province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of Above mean sea level, above sea level. As of 2 ...
, since he was one of the three Cardinal-bishops who were present at the death of Gregory X on 10 January 1276.
1276
He participated in the three papal conclaves in 1276. The
first conclave began in the
Episcopal Palace in Arezzo on 21 January, in accordance with the Constitution "
Ubi Periculum" of Gregory X. The conclave was brief. On 21 January, on the first ballot, the cardinals unanimously elected Cardinal
Peter of Tarantaise in
Savoy
Savoy (; ) is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south and west and to the Aosta Vall ...
, OP, the senior Cardinal-Bishop. The new Pope,
Innocent V, died on 22 June 1276, after a reign of five months and one day. The ''Annals of Verona'' state that he had been poisoned, on orders of King Charles I of Sicily.
The second Conclave of 1276 opened in Rome, in the
Lateran Palace
The Apostolic Palace of the Lateran (; ), informally the Lateran Palace (), is an ancient palace of the Roman Empire and later the main pope, papal residence in Rome.
Located on Saint John's Square in Lateran on the Caelian Hill, the palace is ...
, on 2 July. There were thirteen cardinals in attendance; Cardinal
Simon de Brion was acting as
Legate
Legate may refer to: People
* Bartholomew Legate (1575–1611), English martyr
* Julie Anne Legate (born 1972), Canadian linguistics professor
* William LeGate (born 1994), American entrepreneur
Political and religious offices
*Legatus, a hig ...
in
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
. This time the Conclave lasted ten days. A struggle developed between the cardinals who favored the Angevin
Charles of Sicily and the cardinals who were hostile to his influence. Charles had been in Rome since 8 January, and, as Senator of Rome, he was the Governor of the Conclave. He was partisan, and was using pressure to have one of his supporters elected. On 11 July the cardinals settled on Cardinal Ottobono Fieschi of Genoa, the nephew of Pope Innocent IV, who took the name
Adrian V. He was not yet a
priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...
, let alone a
bishop
A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...
. He died on 18 August 1276, after only thirty-nine days in office. He had not been consecrated a bishop, and nor had he been crowned pope. A rumor circulated in German monasteries that he had been poisoned, along with Cardinal
Riccardo Annibaldi.
During his brief tenure of the Apostolic throne, Adrian V appointed Cardinal Bertrand de Saint-Martin and two other cardinals to go to
King Charles I of Sicily, who was in Rome, and invite him to come to
Viterbo
Viterbo (; Central Italian, Viterbese: ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Lazio region of Italy, the Capital city, capital of the province of Viterbo.
It conquered and absorbed the neighboring town of Ferento (see Ferentium) in ...
to swear his feudal oath of allegiance to the pope.
The third Conclave of 1276, should have begun in Viterbo ten days after the death of Pope Adrian V, according to the Constitution of Gregory X, "
Ubi Periculum". The date should have been 28 August or 29 August. However, Pope Adrian had suspended that very constitution while he was still in Rome, shortly after his election. He had summoned a Consistory, in which all the cardinals were present except
Vicedomino de Vicedominis,
Uberto d'Elci,
Guillaume de Bray, and
Simon de Brion (who was serving as papal Legate in France). The meeting discussed the problems that had been encountered in the two conclaves that year, and it was agreed that adjustments and additions were needed. Pope Adrian agreed to rework "Ubi periculum" and issue a new constitution. But in the meantime "Ubi periculum" was suspended. The Conclave did not begin, therefore, in accordance with the regulations of Gregory X. In any case, there were people in Viterbo who were unhappy at the way business was being done. Popular riots erupted in Viterbo, but the leaders were
prelate
A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Minister (Christianity), Christian clergy who is an Ordinary (church officer), ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which me ...
s and members of the papal Curia. A long drawn out Conclave, like the one of 1268-1271, was neither to their taste nor to their pocketbooks. Without a pope, bishops could not be appointed, benefices could not be granted, privileges and concessions could not be granted, and the curia could not collect its fees for those transactions or benefit in them themselves. The Conclave did not begin voting, therefore, until 8 September 1276, but its work was accomplished quickly. On the first ballot, ten cardinals elected the eleventh, the Portuguese cardinal, Peter of
Lisbon
Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...
, who took the name
John XXI (despite the fact that there had been no John XX). John XXI (XX) was crowned in the Cathedral of
St. Lorenzo in Viterbo on 20 September 1276, by Cardinal Giovanni Gaetano Orsini, the Cardinal Protodeacon.
Cardinal Bertrand became ''prior episcoporum'' in September 1276, upon the election of Peter of Lisbon, the Cardinal Bishop of Tusculum to the Papacy. Bertrand was the only cardinal-bishop in the College at that time, and one of only eleven cardinals. No cardinals had been appointed since the Consistory on 3 June 1273, in which Bertrand himself and four others had been elevated. Pope John XXI had an immediate job for Cardinal Bertrand. He was assigned to lead the investigation into the persons responsible for the disorders which took place during the
Sede Vacante
In the Catholic Church, ''sede vacante'' is the state during which a diocese or archdiocese is without a prelate installed in office, with the prelate's office being the cathedral. The term is used frequently in reference to a papal interre ...
. The Pope wanted confessions, and not the sacramental sort. He believed that scriptores and procurators in the Curia were the ringleaders, and if their confessions were not forthcoming within a week, Cardinal Bertrand was to proceed to
inquisition
The Inquisition was a Catholic Inquisitorial system#History, judicial procedure where the Ecclesiastical court, ecclesiastical judges could initiate, investigate and try cases in their jurisdiction. Popularly it became the name for various med ...
.
Death
Pope John XXI was killed suddenly, when the roof of a room in the Episcopal Palace in Viterbo, which had recently been constructed, happened to fall on him. He lingered for a few days, and died on 20 May 1277. The Conclave probably began on 30 or 31 May, but it was no easy business to elect a pope. There were only seven cardinals (Simon de Brion was still Legate in France), and they were bitterly divided, three in the Angevin party, and three in the Imperial. The seventh was the Bishop of Sabina, Bertrand de Saint-Martin, who favored neither party. The chronicle lists Symonus de Tursso (de Brion) as present, and does not mention Geoffrey d'Alatri at all; it is Geoffrey who was present and Simon who was absent. It was not until 25 November that a successful election took place. Cardinal Giovanni Gaetano Orsini, a Roman, became
Pope Nicholas III
Pope Nicholas III (; Wiktionary:circa, c. 1225 – 22 August 1280), born Giovanni Gaetano Orsini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 25 November 1277 to his death on 22 August 1280.
He was a Roman nobleman who h ...
.
For a long time it was thought that Cardinal Bertrand de Saint-Martin died during the
Second Council of Lyon
The Second Council of Lyon was the fourteenth ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church, convoked on 31 March 1272 and convened in Lyon, Kingdom of Arles (in modern France), in 1274. Pope Gregory X presided over the council, called to ...
in 1274 or in 1275, and shortly thereafter was succeeded in the see of Sabina by
Giovanni Visconti, nephew of Gregory X. However, modern research has established that "cardinal Giovanni Visconti" never existed, while Bertrand is attested in the papal documents until the Sede Vacante following the pontificate of
John XXI (died in Viterbo on 16 May 1277). His death has been registered in the contemporary necrologies under 28 March or 29 March. The most probable year of his death seems to be 1278, because contemporary sources mention him as participant in the
papal election, 1277, which took place between May and November, and (by inference) in the first consistory of Pope Nicholas III on 12 March 1278. At that Consistory, no new cardinal-bishop of Sabina had been appointed to replace him, although all the other episcopal seats were then filled. It would seem that Bertrand was still holding his.
Cardinal Bertrand is spoken of as deceased in a letter of Nicholas III of 5 April 1278.
[Jules Gay, ''Registres de Nicolas III'' (Paris 1898), no. 51, p. 13]
Notes
External links
*
Joseph Hyacinthe Albanés: Gallica christiana novissima
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint-Martin, Bertrand De
1278 deaths
13th-century French cardinals
Cardinal-bishops of Sabina
Archbishops of Arles
Bishops of Avignon
Bishops of Fréjus
Deans of the College of Cardinals
French Benedictines
Year of birth unknown