This unselfishness led to the selection of a man, Michele Ghislieri, whose antecedents rendered him formidable to the still corrupt members of the Roman hierarchy, but whose character was precisely of the stamp required for giving solidity to the new phase on which the Church had entered.

As Pius IV.

had been the exact opposite to Paul IV., so Pius V.was a complete contrast to Pius IV.

He had passed the best years of his life as chief of the Inquisition.

Devoted to theology and to religious exercises, he lacked the legal and mundane faculties of his predecessor.