Zusammenfassung / Abstract
Cardinal Pier Luigi Carafa’s Death and Autopsy in the Conclave of 1655: Medicine and Ceremony in the Sacred College” – When Cardinal Pier Luigi Carafa dies in the Conclave of 1655, his body is immediately brought into a remote chamber of the Apostolic Palace, washed and autopsied. This is not the only instance in which the body of the cardinal is being subjected to the watchful eyes of the medics the conclave employs: As a sick man, as a dying man and after his death, Carafa’s inability to properly fulfill his duties in the conclave becomes a liability to the legitimacy of the electoral system and thus the College of Cardinals, which is the reason why it has to be assessed, evaluated, decided and notarized by medical professionals, thereby externalizing this ceremonially difficult process to the field of medical science.