The Oxford Dictionary of Popes J.N.D. KELLY Oxford New York OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 1986Orford University Press, Walton Street, Oxford OX2 DP Osford New York Toronto Delhi Bombay Calcutta Madras Karachi Kuala Lumpur Singapore Hong Kong Tokyo Nairobi Dar es Salaam Cape Town Melbourne Auckland and associated companies in Beirut Berlin Ibadan Nicosia Orford is a trade mark of Oxford University Press ©F.N.D. Kelly 1986 Firs published 1986 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval sysiem, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Orford University Press British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data 262'.13'09 BX955.2 ISBN 0-19-213964-9 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Kdlly J. N. D. Gokn Norman Davidson) The 1, Popes—Biography—Diaionaries. |. Title, BXg55.2.K45 1986 282'.092'2 [B] 85-15599 ISBN 0-19-213964-9 Set by Wyvern Typesetting Lid, Bristol / Printed in Great Britain by c Richard Clay (The Chaucer Press) Ltd, Bep. oF ino Ref BX955.2 2k4S 1966 €6034123-35 EBautopsy showed them to be unfounded. At his funeral the customary eulogies made no reference to his suppression of the Society of Jesus. His reign saw the prestige of the papacy sink to its lowest level for centuries. BullRomCon IV; Levee ed altre opere (Milan, 1831); Letiere, bolle ¢ discorsi (ed. C. Frediani, Florence, 1845); Epistolac et brevia seletora (ed. A. Theiner, Florence, 1854); A. von Reumont, Ganganclli, Papst Clemens XIV: seine Brife und seine Zeit (Berlin, 1847); A. L. de Caraccioli, Vita Florence, 1776); A. Theiner, Geschichte des Pon- tificats Clemens'XIV (Leipzig, 1853); P 38; DHGE. 12, 1411-23 (E. Préclin); EC 3, 1836-41 (P. Paschini); NCE 3, 940-2 (E. D. McShane); DBI 26, 343-62 (M. Rosa); Seppelt 5, 469-84. PIUS VI (15 Feb. 1775-29 Aug. 1799). Bom at Cesena, in Emilia, on 25 Dec. 1717, of aristocratic, impoverished parentage, Giovanni Angelo Braschi graduated doctor oflaws at Cesena (1735), studied at Ferrara, and became secretary to Cardinal Antonio Ruffo, then legate of Ferrara. He acted as Ruffo's aide at the six-month conclave of 1740, and when Ruffo became bishop of Ostia and Velletri administered his dio- ceses. His diplomatic adroitness com- mended him to BENEDICT XIV, who made him (1753) his private secretary. A prelate in 1758, he was appointed treasurer of the apostolic chamber by CLement XIII in 1766; CLEMENT XIV named him cardinal in Apr. 1773. As he had stood aside from recent controversies, he was elected at the 134-day conclave of 1774-5 with the back- ing both of those who, thinking him pro- Jesuit, hoped for some alleviation of Clem- ent XIV's brief dissolving the Society of Jesus, and of the anti-Jesuits, with whom he had a tacit understanding that he would implement Clement's policy. Worthy but worldly, proud of his hand- some appearance, Pius was concerned for ostentation and obsolete protocol, and proved unequal to the challenges of the age. He revived nepotism, assigning substantial allowances to his relatives and building the Palazzo Braschi for his nephew Luigi. Keen tobe remembered as a patron of the arts, he spent lavishly on splendid buildings like the PIUS VI (1775-99) sacristry of St Peter's and the Museo Pio— Clementino, as well as on improving roads and streets. All these extravagances, not least his brave but unsuccessful attempt to drain the Pontine Marshes, bankrupted his treasury. Characteristically, he handed over the freehold of much of the reclaimed marshland to his nephews. Politically Pius had to face a rising tide of secularism and atheism as well as the mounting claims of governments to control the church in their realms. It was fortunate for him that the sovereigns of France, Spain, and Portugal, while tenacious of traditional rights and watchful of his con- duct towards the Jesuits, were relatively well disposed. Naples, however, stiffened its attitude, refusing (to his petty annoyance) feudal homage and claiming for its king the right to present to bishoprics; Pius found it more dignified to withhold canonical investiture. Developments were even more alarming in the empire, where Joseph II (1765-90), influenced by *Febronianism and the Enlightenment, was setting up a system (‘Josephinism’) involving complete religious toleration, the restriction of papal intervention to the spiritual sphere, and the subjection in all respects of church to state. His Toleration Edict of Oct. 1781 sup- pressed certain religious orders and trans- ferred monasteries from the jurisdiction of the pope to that of the diocesan bishops. Pius even journeyed to Vienna in 1782 to dissuade him, but failed to obtain any con- cessions whatsoever. In 1781 the originator of Febronian ideas, J. N. von Hontheim (1701-90), was induced to make a formal, but in fact hollow, retractation, and the ideas flourished unchecked in south and west Germany. When Pius sought (1786) to establish a nunciature at Munich, he was defiantly informed (25 Aug.) by the German archbishops that the German church was controlled by its bishops and did not need Papal intervention. Josephinism spread to ‘Tuscany, where Joseph's brother, Grand Duke Leopold II (emperor 1790-2), planned to make the church independent of the pope. The synod of Pistoia (Sept. 1786), gorPIUS VII (1800-23) presided over by Bishop Scipio de’ Ricci, supported him, adopting the four *Gallican Articles of 1682 and exempting bishops from the pope's authority. Pius eventually exerted himself, forced de’ Ricci to resign, and on 28 Aug. 1794 condemned eigh five of the Pistoian articles in the bull Auc- torem fidei. Meanwhile, in deference to the Bourbon courts, he tried to put pressure on Frederick Il of Prussia (1740-86) and Catherine I] of Russia (1762-96), in whose domains many Jesuits had found refuge, to apply Clement XIV's brief of suppression; buthe failed to persuade Catherine, who set up a novitiate for Jesuits in 1780. In 1783-4 he gave his secret approval to the continued existence of Jesuits in Russia. With the French Revolution a much more ominous chapter opened, Pius was cautious, at first taking no action about the Civil Constitution of the Clergy (12 July 1790), which reorganized the French church and made the clergy salaried offi- cials, But when an oath of loyalty to the regime was demanded of them, he denounced (10 Mar. and 13 Apr. 1791) the Constitution as schismatical, declared the ordinations of the new state bishops sacri- legious, suspended priests and prelates who had taken the civil oath, and condemned the Declaration of the Rights of Man (1789). Diplomatic relations were at once broken off, France annexed the enclaves of Avignon and Venaissin, and the French church was completely split. Pius angered France by giving his support to the First Coalition against her and by hospitably receiving numerous royalist refugees. In 1795 he spurned Spanish offers of medi- ation, and when Napoleon Bonaparte occupied Milan in spring 1796 he rejected the French demand that he withdraw his condemnation of the Civil Constitution and of the Revolution. Napoleon then invaded the papal states, and Pius had to accept peace terms involving a vast indemnity, the handing over of valuable manuscripts and works of art, and the cession of substantial portions of his states (peace of Tolentino: 19 Feb. 1797); his brief Pastoralis sollicitudo (5 July 1796), recognizing the Republic and ordering Catholics to obey it, did not satisfy the Directory. The situation soon deteriorated, and when the French general L. Duphot was Killed in a riot in Rome the Directory ordered the occupation of the papal states. On t5 Feb. 1798 General Louis Berthier entered Rome, proclaimed the Roman Republic and the deposition of Pius as head of state, and forced him to withdraw to Tuscany. For several months he lived at the charterhouse at Florence, cut off from almost all his advisers, but able to use the nuncio to Florence as secretary of state. ‘The Directory planned to banish him to Sardinia, but his precarious health ruled that out. When war broke out afresh, fearful of attempts to rescue him, it had him con- veyed from Florence (28 Mar. 1799) via Turin actoss the Alps to Briancon (30 Apr.) and then Valence (13 July). He died a prisoner in the citadel there, and was buried in the local cemetery; his body was trans- ferred to St Peter's, Rome, in Feb. 1802. At his death, after one of the longest pontifi- cates in history, many assumed that the destruction of the holy see had at last been accomplished, and the fortunes of the papacy had indeed reached their nadir under him; but Pius had left instructions (13 Jan. 1797 and 13 Nov. 1798) for the holding ‘of the next conclave in emergency conditions. BullRomCon V-X; J. M. Gendry, Pie VI (Paris, 1907); Flory, Pie V7 (Paris, 1942); A. Latreille, L'Eglise catholique et la Révolution francaise, vol. 1 Paris, 1946); P 39 and 40; DTC 12, 1653-69 (G. Bourgin); NCE 11, 398-400 (A. Latreille); LAK 8, 532 £.(H. Raab). PIUS VII (14 Mar. 1800-20 July 1823). The conclave after Pius VI's death, in agreement with his wish that the senior cardinal should convene it at the place of his choice, met in Venice under Austrian pro- tection. A fourteen-week stalemate was broken by the compromise election of Luigi Barnaba Chiaramonte. Of noble parentage, born at Cesena, in Emilia, on 14 Apr. 1742, 302