When, therefore, in the fifth year after this event, Montalto was elected Pope, men ascribed his elevation in no small measure to his conduct at the present crisis.

Some, indeed, attributed his extraordinary moderation and self-control to the right cause.
'_Veramente costui e un gran frate_!' was Gregory's remark at the close of the consistory when Montalto begged him to let the matter of Peretti's murder rest.

'_Of a truth, that fellow is a consummate hypocrite_!' How accurate this judgment was, appeared when Sixtus V.
assumed the reins of power.

The priest who, as monk and cardinal, had smiled on Bracciano, though he knew him to be his nephew's assassin, now, as Pontiff and sovereign, bade the chief of the Orsini purge his palace and dominions of the scoundrels he was wont to harbor, adding significantly, that if the Cardinal Felice Peretti forgave what had been done against him in a private station, the same man would exact uttermost vengeance for disobedience to the will of Sixtus.

The Duke of Bracciano judged it best, after that warning, to withdraw from Rome.
Francesco Peretti had been murdered on April 16, 1581.