GREGORY XIII: (1502-1585) Pope of the Roman Catholic Church 1572-85.

Rare L.S., Ita est U[go], one page, 4to, Rome, n.d. (c.1576-77), to [Fantino Petrignani] the Prefect of the Sacred Palaces, in Latin. The letter, written in a small clerical hand, refers to some administrative proceedings. Bearing the countersignature of an unidentified Papal official. Some very light, minor age wear and a few very small areas of paper loss to the edges, not affecting the text or signatures, otherwise VG

Fantino Petrignani (1539-1600) Italian Archbishop. In 1576 Pope Gregory XIII appointed Petrignani to be Prefect of the Sacred Palaces and later promoted him to Archbishop of Cosenza. In 1580 he was appointed Apostolic Nuncio in the Kingdom of Naples and Spain and also held positions under two other Popes.

In 1572 Cardinal Boncompagni, on becoming Pope, assumed the name of Gregory XIII in hommage to the great reformimg Pope Gregory I. Unlike most of his predecessors, Gregory XIII lived a faultless personal life, and was a model for his simplicity of life. He built the magnificent Gregorian chapel in the Basilica of St. Peter, however Pope Gregory XIII is best known for commissioning and being the namesake for the Gregorian calendar, which remains the internationally accepted civil calendar to this day.