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Pope Gregory XVI

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Pope Gregory XVI(Latin:Gregorius XVI;Italian:Gregorio XVI;bornBartolomeo Alberto Cappellari;18 September 1765 – 1 June 1846) was head of theCatholic Churchand ruler of thePapal Statesfrom 2 February 1831 to his death in June 1846.[1]He had adopted the nameMauroupon entering thereligious orderof theCamaldolese.

Pope

Gregory XVI
Bishop of Rome
Gregory XVI in 1844
ChurchCatholic Church
Papacy began2 February 1831
Papacy ended1 June 1846
PredecessorPius VIII
SuccessorPius IX
Previous post(s)
Orders
Ordination1787
Consecration6 February 1831
byBartolomeo Pacca
Created cardinal13 March 1826
byLeo XII
Personal details
Born
Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari

(1765-09-18)18 September 1765
Belluno,Republic of Venice
Died1 June 1846(1846-06-01)(aged 80)
Rome,Papal States
SignatureGregory XVI's signature
Coat of armsGregory XVI's coat of arms
Other popes named Gregory

Strongly conservative and traditionalist, he opposed democratic and modernising reforms in the Papal States and throughoutEurope,seeing them as fronts forliberalismandlaicism.Against these trends, Gregory XVI sought to strengthen the religious and political authority of the papacy, a position known asultramontanism.In the encyclicalMirari vos,he pronounced it "false and absurd, or rather mad, that we must secure and guarantee to each one liberty of conscience." He encouraged missionary activity abroad andcondemned the slave trade,which at the time of his pontificate was increasingly suppressed.

He is the most recent pope to take the pontifical name "Gregory",the last to govern the Papal States for the whole duration of his pontificate, and the most recent not to have been a bishop when elected.

Biography

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Early life

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Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari was born atBellunoin theRepublic of Venice,on 18 September 1765, to anItalian lower noble family.His parents were from a small village named Pesariis, inFriuli.His father was a lawyer. At the age of eighteen Bartolomeo Cappellari joined the order of theCamaldolese[2](part of theBenedictinemonastic family) and entered theMonastery of San MicheleinMurano,nearVenice.He was ordained a priest in 1787.[3]As a Camaldolesemonk,Cappellari rapidly gained distinction for histheologicaland linguistic skills, and was assigned to teach philosophy and theology at San Michele in 1787, at the age of 22.

In 1790, at the age of 25, he was appointedcensor librorumfor his Order, as well as for theHoly Officeat Venice.[3]He went to Rome in 1795 and in 1799 published a polemic against the ItalianJanseniststitledII Trionfo della Santa Sede( "The Triumph of the Holy See" ),[4][5]which passed through various editions in Italy and was translated into several European languages. In 1800 he became a member of the Academy of the Catholic Religion, founded byPope Pius VII(1800–1823), to which he contributed memoirs on theological and philosophical questions. In 1805, at the age of 40, he was appointed abbot of theMonastery of San Gregorioon Rome'sCaelian Hill.[6]

When the army of the French EmperorNapoleontook Rome and arrested and deported Pius VII to France in 1809, Cappellari fled toMurano,where he taught in theMonastery of St. Micheleof his Order, where he had first become a monk. From there he and a group of monks moved their little college toPaduain 1814. After Napoleon's final defeat, theCongress of Viennare-established the sovereignty of thePapal Statesover central Italy and Cappellari was called back to Rome to assume the post ofvicar generalof the Camaldolese Order. He was then appointed as Counsellor to theInquisition,and later promoted to be Consultor (29 February 1820) and then, on 1 October 1826,Prefectof the Congregation ofPropaganda Fide( "Propagation of the Faith" ),[6]which dealt with all missionary work outside of theSpanish Empire,including missions to the non-Catholic states in Europe.[7]Twice he was offered a bishopric and twice he refused.[3]

Cardinal

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"The Grand Gala Berlin" is a luxury carriage constructed in Rome during the first half of the nineteenth century. It is the work of two pontiffs:Leo XII,who called for it to be produced in the years 1824–1826, and Gregory XVI, who requested some important modifications.

On 21 March 1825, Cappellari was createdcardinalin pectore(published 13 March 1826) by PopeLeo XII,[8]and shortly afterwards he was asked to negotiate aconcordatto safeguard the rights of Catholics in theUnited Kingdom of the Netherlands,a diplomatic task which he completed successfully. He also negotiated a peace on behalf ofArmenian Catholicswith theOttoman Empire.He publicly condemned thePolish revolutionaries,who he thought were seeking to undermine Russian TsarNicholas I's efforts to support theCatholic royalist causein France by forcing him to divert his troops to suppress the uprising in Poland.[9]

Cappellari had never travelled outside Italy and was most familiar with Venice and Rome. He spoke Italian and Latin fluently, but no other European languages, and did not understand European politics.[10]However, he was proficient inArmenian,andHaruti'iwn Awgerian(Pascal Aucher)'s 1827 Venice edition of works attributed toSeverian of Gabalaand translated into Armenian was dedicated to him.

Pontificate

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Papal election

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Main article:Papal conclave, 1830–31
Coin of Pope Gregory XVI, 1834.
Papal styles of
Pope Gregory XVI
Reference styleHis Holiness
Spoken styleYour Holiness
Religious styleHoly Father
Posthumous styleNone

On 2 February 1831, after a fifty-day conclave, Cappellari was unexpectedly chosen to succeedPope Pius VIII(1829–30). His election was influenced by the fact that the cardinal considered the mostpapabile,Giacomo Giustiniani,wasvetoedby KingFerdinand VII of Spain.[3]There then arose a deadlock between the other two major candidates,Emmanuele de GregorioandBartolomeo Pacca.What finally drove the cardinals to make a decision was a message from the government ofParmanotifying them that revolt was about to break out in the northern Papal States.[10]To resolve the impasse, the cardinals turned to Cappellari, but it took eighty-three ballots for the canonically required two-thirds majority to be reached.[11]

At the time of election, Cardinal Cappellari was not yet a bishop: he is the most recent man to be elected pope prior to his episcopal consecration. He was consecrated as bishop by Bartolomeo Pacca, CardinalBishop of Ostia and Velletrianddean of the Sacred College of Cardinals,[6]withPietro Francesco Galleffi,CardinalBishop of Porto e Santa Rufinaandsub-dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals,and Tommasso Arezzo, CardinalBishop of Sabina,acting as co-consecrators.

The choice of Gregory XVI as hisregnal namewas influenced by the fact that he had beenabbotof the Monastery of San Gregorio on theCoelian Hillfor more than twenty years, and in honour ofGregory XV,the founder of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith.[3]The Monastery of S. Gregorio was the same abbey from whichPope Gregory Ihad dispatched missionaries to England in 596.

Actions

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Pope Gregory XVI leading aEucharistic procession.Painting by Ferdinando Cavalleri

Therevolution of 1830,which overthrew theHouse of Bourbon,had just inflicted a severe blow on the Catholic royalist party in France. Almost the first act of the new French government was to seizeAncona,thus throwingItaly,and particularly thePapal States,into a state of confusion and political upheaval. Gregory issued a proclamation on 9 February 1831, one week after his election, expressing good will towards his subjects.[12]In the course of the struggle that ensued, the Pope found it necessary more than once to call inAustriantroops to fight the red-shirted republicans engaged in a guerrilla campaign.[13]The conservative administration of the Papal States postponed their promised reforms after a series of bombings and assassination attempts. The replacement ofTommaso BernettibyLuigi LambruschiniasCardinal Secretary of Statein 1836 did nothing to appease the situation.

In the northern territories the leaders of the revolt were middle-class gentry opposed to the general inefficiency of the government.[10]

Governance of the papal states

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Gregory XVI and Cardinal Lambruschini opposed basic technological innovations such as gas lighting and railways,[13]believing that they would promote commerce and increase the power of thebourgeoisie,leading to demands for liberal reforms which would undermine themonarchicalpower of the Pope over central Italy. Gregory XVI in fact banned railways in the Papal States, calling themchemins d'enfer( "road tohell",a play on the French for railroad,chemin de fer,literally "iron road" ).[14]

Theinsurrectionsat Viterbo in 1836, in various parts of the Legations in 1840, atRavennain 1843 and atRiminiin 1845, were followed by wholesale executions and draconian sentences of hard labour andexile,but they did not bring the unrest within the Papal States under the control of the authorities. Gregory XVI made great expenditures for defensive, architectural and engineering works, having a monument to Pope Leo XII built by Giuseppe Fabris in 1837.[13]He also lavished patronage on such scholars asAngelo Mai,Giuseppe Mezzofanti,andGaetano Moroni.This largesse, however, significantly weakened the finances of the Papal States.

Monument to Gregory XVI in Saint Peter's Basilica

Other activities

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Encyclicals

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Main article:List of encyclicals of Pope Gregory XVI

Other important encyclicals issued by Pope Gregory XVI wereSollicitudo ecclesiarum,which stated that in the event of a change of government, the church would negotiate with the new government for placement of bishops and vacant dioceses (issued 1831);[15]Mirari Vos,on liberalism and religious indifferentism (issued on 15 August 1832);Quo graviora,on the Pragmatic Constitution in theRhineland(issued on 4 October 1833);Singulari Nos,on the ideas ofHugues Félicité Robert de Lamennais(issued on 25 June 1834), andCommissum divinitus(17 May 1835) on church and state.[16]

Apostolic letters

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In supremo apostolatus,an apostolic letter orpapal bull,was issued by Pope Gregory XVI regarding the institution ofslavery.Issued on December 3, 1839, as a result of a broad consultation among theCollege of Cardinals,the bull resoundingly denounced both the slave trade and the continuance of the institution of slavery.[17][18][19][20]

Canonizations and beatifications

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Gregory XVI canonizedVeronica Giuliani,an Italian mystic, during his papacy. During his reign, five saints werecanonized(notablyAlphonsus Liguori) and thirty-three Servants of God weredeclared Blessed(including the AugustinianSimon of Cascia). In addition, many newreligious orderswere founded or supported and the devotion of the faithful to theBlessed Virgin Maryincreased, both in private and public life.[3]

Consistories

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Main article:Cardinals created by Gregory XVI

The pope created 75 cardinals in 24 consistories, in which the pope elevated 35 cardinals "in pectore",including his future successor Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, who would becomePope Pius IX.The pope also created six additional cardinalsin pectore,though the pope died before these names could be revealed, therefore cancelling their appointments to the cardinalate.

In 1836, the pope wanted to nominate Charles Joseph Benoît Mercy d'Argenteau to the College of Cardinals, but the archbishop refused the nomination because he did not wish to leave his family and home for a possible position in the Roman Curia. Gregory XVI nominated fourin pectorecardinals on 21 April 1845 and one on 24 November 1845; Gregory XVI also named anotherin pectorecardinal in the 12 July 1841 consistory, never revealing his name. According to Philippe Boutry, Alerame Maria Pallavicini (theMaster of the Sacred Palace) was thein pectorecardinal announced on 24 November 1845, however, Pope Pius IX refused to publish his name upon his ascension to the papacy less than a year later.[21]

Death and burial

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On 20 May 1846, he felt himself failing in health. A few days later, he was taken ill with facialerysipelas.At first, the attack was not thought to be very serious, but on 31 May, his strength suddenly failed, and it was seen that the end was near.[3]

Gregory XVI died on 1 June 1846 at 9:15 am at age 80. That morning, he received theExtreme Unctionfrom the sub-sacristanAgostino Proja. After his funeral, he was buried inSaint Peter's Basilica.[22]

See also

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References

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  1. ^Pham 2004,p. 187.
  2. ^McBrien 2000,p. 336.
  3. ^abcdefgToke, Leslie. "Pope Gregory XVI".The Catholic EncyclopediaVol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 20 November 2015
  4. ^McBrien 2000,p. 337.
  5. ^Gregory XVI (Mauro Cappellari) (1832).Il trionfo della Santa Sede e della Chiesa: contro gli assalti dei novatori combattuti e respinti colle stesse loro armi(in Italian). Venice: G. Battaggia.
  6. ^abcPham 2004,p. 322.
  7. ^Salvador Miranda, "Biographical notes on Mauro Cappellari".Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  8. ^McBrien 2000,p. 335.
  9. ^"Pope Gregory XVI to Bring about a Decision"(PDF).C Korten. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 21 January 2019.Retrieved13 July2017.
  10. ^abcChadwick, Owen (2003).A History of the Popes, 1830–1914.Oxford University Press. p. 31.ISBN978-0199262861.
  11. ^J. P. Adams,Sede Vacante 1830–1831..Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  12. ^Pope Gregory XVI,Proclama: Chiamati Dalla Divina,in Italian, published on 9 February 1831, accessed on 22 August 2024
  13. ^abcMcBrien 2000,p. 276.
  14. ^Pham 2004,pp. 20–21.
  15. ^McBrien 2000,p. 339.
  16. ^Pope Gregory XVI.Commissum divinitus,May 17, 1835, Papal Encyclicals Online
  17. ^"Pope Gregory XVI 3 December 1839 Condemning Slave Trade".Retrieved16 February2010.
  18. ^Gillis, Chester (1999).Roman Catholicism in America.Columbia University Press. p. 58.ISBN978-0-231-10871-3.
  19. ^Diène, Doudou (August 2001).From chains to bonds.Berghahn Books. p. 271.ISBN978-1-57181-266-7.
  20. ^"In supremo apostolatus".Papalencyclicals.net. 3 December 1839.Retrieved23 June2013.
  21. ^Salvador Miranda."Gregory XVI (1831–1846)".The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church.Retrieved20 February2022.
  22. ^Catholic Encyclopedia

Sources

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Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Prefect of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith
1 October 1826 – 2 February 1831 		Succeeded by
Carlo Maria Pedicini
Preceded by Pope
2 February 1831 – 1 June 1846 		Succeeded by
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