‹ The Popes
237th Roman Pontiff
Alexander VII
ALEXANDER Septimus
Fabio Chigi
236th Successor of St Peter · 1655–1667 · Italy · b. Siena, Grand Duchy of Tuscany
1655
Elected
1667
Reign ended
12 years
Length
17th
Century
The Life
Subject of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Great-nephew of Paul V. Commissioned St. Peter's Square. Issued the apostolic constitution Sollicitudo Omnium Ecclesiarum that set the doctrine of Immaculate Conception (1661), almost identical to that of Pius IX nearly two centuries later.
Portrait: Giovanni Battista Gaulli / Wikimedia Commons