Pope Nicholas IV (; 30 September 1227 – 4 April 1292), born Girolamo Masci, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 22 February 1288 to his death on 4 April 1292. He was the first Franciscan to be elected pope. Early life Jerome Masci (Girolamo Masci) was born on 30 September 1227 at Lisciano, near Ascoli Piceno. He was a pious, peace-loving man whose goals as a Franciscan friar were to protect the Church, promote the crusades, and root out heresy. According to Heinrich of Rebdorf, he was a Doctor of Theology. As a Franciscan friar, he had been elected the Order's superior (minister) for Dalmatia during the Franciscan general chapter held at Pisa in 1272. Pope Gregory X (1271-1276), was sending a legate to the Byzantine emperor, Michael VIII Palaiologos, in 1272, to invite the participation of Byzantine prelates in the Second Council of Lyons. The pope's ambition was to achieve a reunion of Eastern and Western Christendom. St Bonaventure, then minister general of the Order of Friars Minor (Franciscans), was asked to select four Franciscans to accompany the legation as nuncios. He chose Friar Jerome Masci as one of the four. When Bonaventure died suddenly during the fifth session of the Order's General Chapter at Lyons on 15 July 1274, Friar Jerome Masci was elected to succeed him as the Franciscan minister general, even though he was absent at the time, only then returning with the Byzantine delegates from the embassy to Constantinople. Jerome was the associate of John of Vercelli, master general of the Dominican Order, when the latter was sent by Pope Nicholas III (Giovanni Caetani Orsini) on 15 October 1277, to arrange a peace between Philip IV of France and Alfonso III of Aragon. Jerome and John of Vercelli were again appointed to the same task on 4 April 1278. At the same time, Jerome was ordered to continue for the time being as the Franciscan Minister General. In 1278 Jerome was made cardinal priest by Pope Nicholas III, and at some point after 16 May 1279 was assigned the titular church of Santa Pudenziana. Even after his appointment as a cardinal, he was allowed to remain as minister general of the Franciscans until the next general chapter. In the event, however, he was unable to attend the chapter for reasons of ill health, as a letter of apology