Alfonso Borgia was of Spanish origin, born in Valencia at the end of the year 1378. Though he initially supported an antipope, Benedict XIII, Alfonso proved valuable to the Church when he convinced Benedict’s successor, Clement VIII, to submit to Martin V, the true pope. Martin said "thanks friend" by making Alfonso the Bishop of Valencia in 1429. He would become a cardinal at the hands of Eugene IV in 1444 for similar reasons. Alfonso was well-respected, having constantly lived a life of mortification, dedication, and prudence.

 

And so it began… The Church’s first “Borgia Pope” was elected April 8, 1455. Despite being in his mid-70s, Callistus III was chosen for being both diplomatic in delicate political situations and vigorous in pursuing a crusade against the Turks. His crusading effort, though lacking nothing in enthusiasm, didn’t carry much support, and as a result accomplished no real victories. Callistus was hardly as notorious a pontiff as his birth name implies, though he was guilty of elevating several of his Borgia nephews to prominent positions in the Church. Callistus III, who had the second-shortest papacy of the previous 150 years, died on August 6, 1458.

Pope Callistus III is perhaps best known for sanctioning a posthumous retrial to restore the memory of St. Joan of Arc. Joan had been unjustly killed by the English in 1431, deemed a heretic by a jealous bishop for basically being awesome ... but also for embarrassing the English in several consecutive battles. Jean Bréhal, the Church’s Inquisitor-General, and Joan’s own mother, Isabelle Romée, requested the pope to investigate whether or not Joan’s trial was on the up-and-up according to church law. After a nine-month retrial, Bréhal’s ruling in 1456 determined beyond doubt that Joan was a martyr and that Cauchon, the condemning bishop was nothing but a heretic (and a tool) with a secular vendetta.

Fun Fact: One of the sadder (and not very fun) facts of Callistus’ papacy was his starting the ecclesiastical career of the man who would become one of the worst popes the Church has ever seen. Callistus’ nephew, Rodrigo Borgia, whom the pope elevated to the cardinalate in his early 20s, would soon become the notorious Pope Alexander VI.

In 1457, the Mainz Psalter was printed for the Archbishop of Mainz (Germany). It was the first book to be completed entirely by a mechanical process, the first to have a printed date, and the second major work in the West printed with Gutenberg’s movable type.