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ANTIPOPE FELIX V, THE LAST ANTIPOPE, SO FAR
Photo by Edoardo Bortoli on Unsplash
Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy, was born September 4, 1383 in Chambrey, Savoy (now France). He died on January 7, 1451 as Cardinal Amadeus. In the middle, 1440 – 1449, he was the anti-pope Felix V.
Savoy was a large county covering parts of eastern and southern France, northern Italy and a fragment of Switzerland. When Count Amadeus VII died, when his son was only eight, there was great contention on who was going to be his regent. In the end, his grandmother, Bonne de Bourbon, won against his mother, Bonne de Berry, niece of King Charles VI of France. The grandmother held the regency until he was fourteen and could handle the job himself.
In 1401, Amadeus married Mary of Burgundy although she did not move to Savoy for two more years. They had nine children, only four of whom reached adulthood. It must have been a comfortable marriage. He did not remarry when she died in 1428.
The count’s early rule saw centralization of power. He expanded his territory by purchasing land or inheriting it. Between 1401 and 1422, he campaigned to recover former Savoyard territory around Geneva. In 1416, Emperor Sigismund made Savoy a duchy, a much more elite position. Amadeus became a duke.
In 1428, his duchess died. This marked a turn-around in his life. Slowly, Amadeus rearranged his life. He retired to his castle at Ripaille, near Geneva, and within a few years, he developed a modified monastic order with five others. Louis, his son, became, for all intents and purposes, the duke.
Having been conversant of all political and religious activities, he was known to be sympathetic to conciliarism and to those who approved of limits to papal supremacy. Close to many of the attendees at the Council of Basel, he also encouraged his bishops to attend.
On January 24, 1438, the Council voted to suspend Pope Eugene IV. A year and a half later, the Council deposed Eugene as a heretic. Now there was no generally acknowledged pope.
A year and a half later, amongst what had to be great bickering, the president of the Council, Cardinal Aleman reminded members that “they needed to elect a rich and powerful pope to defend [the Church] from its adversaries “. Since the Council, by this time, only had one cardinal in attendance, it appointed a college of electors (33). After the fourth scrutiny, Amadeus received 26 votes. The Council issued an announcement that Amadeus had been voted in. The semi-retired duke was not there to accept or reject.
On December 15, 1439, the secretary/notary of the Council, Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini, arrived at the castle of Ripaille to give the good news to the duke. It took much negotiation before Amadeus acquiesced on 5 February 1440. He took the oath, taking the name of Felix, and renounced his dukedom, giving it to Louis. He gave his son, Paul, the title Count of Geneva. Then the new pope hired Piccolomini as his own secretary. (This secretary would become Pope Paul II) The new pope headed for Basel.
As in his youth, Felix did some good. He formalized academic lectures in Basel by November 1440. This led the way to the establishment of a university two decades later.
By 1442, Felix must have been tired. He left Basel in November to go to Lausanne, claiming ill health. The Council’s importance shrunk.
In two years, a number of instances occurred to change the Council. Bishop de Mez of Geneva died in the summer of 1444. Then, Jean de Grolee, the chamberlain of Felix, took over that diocese as administrator. Duke Louis ordered the episcopal castle of Thie to be put into the control of the cathedral chapter of Geneva. Felix then named Bishop Bartholomew of Corneto as Vicar in spiritualities and temporalities for Geneva.
Meanwhile, Emperor Sigismund had died and Emperor Frederick III ruled. He ordered the Council members expelled from Basel. Then he had them moved to Lausanne in July 1448, and to be presided over by Felix.
After seven years on the throne, Felix heard that Pope Eugene IV had died and Nicholas V had been elected. Pressure from France, England and Sicily came, urging Felix to resign and accept Nicholas, which he did. The Council, having sat all this time at Lausanne, realized their throne of Peter was empty. So, they, too, elected Nicholas as pope.
As the last act of the Council, on 23 April 1448, ex-antipope Felix was nominated bishop of Sabina, papal legate and Vicar Apostolic of Savoy and the diocese of Lausanne. Pope Nicholas named him cardinal .
Just under three years later, Cardinal Amadeus died at Ripaille.
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About the Author
Debra Booton McCoy is a cradle Catholic and is a native of central New York. She works in the health care field and spends her spare time writing and enjoying her family, two grown children, and husband Bob. Growing up through the Vatican II era, she remembers the traditional teaching of the Church and was witness to the changes. For many years Debra was a Catholic on the sidelines, going to Mass every week, but not living the Faith. When she decided to homeschool her son, she found that she had to teach herself what she had forgotten or never learned. That is when she realized her role.
Debra is a published author, having written a column for a women’s monthly newspaper in the mid-1990s. Debra started a Catholic publishing company in 2013, Lanternarius Press. With that, she published her first book in 2014, an edited version of a French book from the 1800s, “A Catholic Mother Speaks to Her Children” by Marie, Countess de Flavigny. This is an advice book for children. She has also edited and published an advice book for young men, "Conferences for Boys" by Fr. Reynauld Kuenhel. For those who like stories of popes, Debra is writing a series, using many of the articles on this site. The first book is History of the Popes, 34AD - 499AD.
You can visit her website at http://lanternariuspress.net or visit Lanternarius Press on Facebook.
