Clement XI

"La Resurrezione" is a product of Handel's apprenticeship in Rome, where it had its premiere on Easter Sunday in 1708 and immediately offended Pope Clement XI.

In the pavement is the gravestone of Clement XI.,

I will, in due Time and Place, give you a Narrative of the Ceremonies of the Holy Week, which, tho’ I was present at once before, during the Pontificate of Clement XI.

Cardinal Noailles, Archbishop of Paris, was at first one of its strongest supporters until the book, after a critical examination by a Papal commission, was condemned by Pope Clement XI. in 1713.

A similar fate awaited a second appeal to Clement XI. in 1701.