Pope Julius II

Giuliano della Rovere was the nephew of Pope Sixtus IV. As a young man he was sent to study with the Franciscans and kept under his uncle’s wing. Some historians believe that he never actually entered the Franciscan Order; that he remained a lay student or a diocesan cleric (in minor orders) while with the friars. Other historians presume that he may have been a mature/long-term novice with the Conventuals until his uncle, as pope, created him a cardinal at twenty-eight. One way or another, the Conventuals have always claimed him as their own.

Immediately upon Julius’ elevation as a cardinal, and after having received Santi Apostoli as one of his titular churches, he invited his Franciscan confreres to minister there permanently. For thirty years while residing at Santi Apostoli, that he thought of himself as a Franciscan may be further attested to by the regular habit of signing his name frater Julianus.

Believing himself to be a second Julius Caesar, as Pope Julius II, he spent much of his pontificate reclaiming territories and repairing the damage done to the internal structure of the Church by his infamous predecessor, Alexander VI (Rodrigo of the powerful Borgia family).

Toward the end of his days he admitted that he had spent too much time on a battle horse and not enough time on his knees. But it was his swift and capable handling of obstinate opponents – that earned him the epithet, “The Warrior Pope,” – that prevented further anarchy in Church government and further solidified ecclesiastical rights.