[Footnote 103: Alexander III. had declared the Colonna who
adhered to the emperor Frederic I. incapable of holding any
ecclesiastical benefice, (Villani, l. v. c. 1;) and the last
stains of annual excommunication were purified by Sixtus V.,
(Vita di Sisto V. tom. iii. p. 416.) Treason, sacrilege, and
proscription are often the best titles of ancient nobility.]