JAMES GAETANI STEFANESCHI

Cardinal; b. Rome, c. 1270; d. Avignon, France, June 23, 1343. A member of the influential gaetani family, he studied and later taught at the University of Paris. He was obliged to Pope celestine v for his promotion to the office of auditor at the apostolic palace and to boniface viii for the cardinalate, with the title of San Giorgio in Velabro (Dec. 17, 1295). At the time of the Anagni outrage he remained close to the pope, and during the conclave assembled at Perugia in 1305, he was among the adversaries of the candidacy of Bertrand de Got, the future clement v, participating in his election only by way of accession. When action was brought against the memory of Boniface, he acted as the pope's defender, despite the protests of Guillaume de Nogaret. A convinced Ghibelline (see guelfs and ghibellines), he constantly demonstrated his opposition to the line of political action followed by Clement V and john xxii in Italy. Deprived of any influence because of his intransigence, he devoted himself to the production of a number of important liturgical and historical works. His Opus metricum, a rather obscure poem [ed. F. X. Seppelt, Monumenta Coelestiniana (Paderborn 1921) 1–146], is divided into three parts: a life of Celestine V, composed before Dec. 17, 1295; an account of the election and coronation of Boniface VIII, completed after 1300; and an account of Celestine's canonization, written in 1314 and 1315. The cardinal revised the entire work and added a gloss and a dedication to the celestines dated Jan. 28, 1319. His Liber de centesimo seu jubileo anno [ed. D. Quattrocchi, Bessarione 7 (1900) 299–317] concerned the jubilee year. A Roman ceremonial by Stefaneschi (MS 1706 of the Bibliothèque d'Avignon) represents the first redaction in which notes during the pontificate of Clement V and John XXII, not transcribed after 1328, are collected. It is an important source for the study of the papal court in the period, but has been printed only in part. Stefaneschi wrote also a life of St. George the martyr (Capitular Archives of St. Peter's, Rome, MS 129C), and an account of a miracle that took place at Avignon in 1320 (in MS Paris, B.N. lat. 5931, fol. 95–102).

Bibliography: Works. Opus metricum, Acta Sanctorum May 4:437–484. De centesimo anno seu jubileo liber, tr. into Italian by a. frugoni, Il libro del guibileo del cardinale Stefaneschi (Brescia 1950). Extracts from the Roman ceremonial in f. ehrle, "Zur Geschichte des päpstlichen Hofceremoniells im 14. Jahrhundert,"h. denifle and f. ehrle, eds., Archiv für Literatur-und Kirchengeschichte des Mittelalters 5 (1889) 565–602. e. mÜller, Das Konzil von Vienne (Münster 1931) 671–678. l. h. labande, "Le Cérémonial romain de Jacques Cajétan," Bibliothèque de l'École des Chartes 54 (1893) 45–74. g. mollat, "Miscellanea Avenionensia," Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire 44 (1927) 1–5. j. mabillon, Museum italicum, 2 v. (Paris 1687) 2:241–443. Literature. i. hÖsl, Kardinal Jacobus Gaietani Stefaneschi: Ein Beitrag zur Literaturund Kirchengeschichte des beginnenden 14. Jahrhundert (Berlin 1908). Histoire Littéraire de la France 34 (1914) 61. r. morghen, "Il cardinale Jacopo Gaetano Stefaneschi e l'edizione del suo Opus marticum," Bullettino dell'Istituto storico Italiano e Archivio Muratoriano 46 (1930) 1–35. m. andrieu, "L'Ordinaire de la chapelle papale et le cardinal Jacques Stefaneschi," Ephemerides liturgicae 39 (1925) 230–260. a. frugoni, "La figura e l'opera del cardinale Jacopo Stefaneschi …," Atti dell'Accademia nazionale dei Lincei, 8th ser., 5 (1950) 397–424.

[g. mollat]