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1799–1800 papal conclave

Thepapal conclavethat followed the death ofPius VIon 29 August 1799 lasted from 30 November 1799 to 14 March 1800 and led to the selection of CardinalBarnaba Chiaramonti,whotook the namePius VII. This conclave was held inVeniceand was the last to take place outside Rome. This period was marked by uncertainty for the papacy and theRoman Catholic Churchfollowing the invasion of thePapal Statesand abduction of Pius VI under theFrench Directory.

Papal conclave
1799–1800
Dates and location
30 November 1799 – 14 March 1800
San Giorgio Monastery,Venice,Archduchy of Austria
Key officials
DeanGianfrancesco Albani
CamerlengoVacant
functions administered byRomualdo Braschi-Onesti
ProtopriestFrancesco Carafa della Spina di Traietto
ProtodeaconAntonmaria Doria-Pamphilj
SecretaryErcole Consalvi
Elected pope
Barnaba Chiaramonti
Name taken:Pius VII
1823→

Historical context

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Pope Pius VI

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Pius VI's reign had been marked by tension between his authority and that of the European monarchs and other institutions, both secular and ecclesiastical. This was largely due to his moderate liberal and reforming pretences. At the beginning of his pontificate he promised to continue the work of his predecessor,Clement XIV,in whose 1773briefDominus ac Redemptorthe dissolution of theSociety of Jesuswas announced. Pro-Jesuit powers remained in support of Pius, thinking him secretly more inclined to the Society than Clement. TheArchduchy of Austriaproved a threat when its ruler,Emperor Joseph II,made internal reforms which conflicted with some of the power of the Papacy. Further, Germanarchbishopshad shown independence at the 1786Congress of Ems,but were soon brought into line.

At the outbreak of theFrench RevolutionPius was compelled to see the independentGallican Churchsuppressed, the pontifical and ecclesiastical possessions in France confiscated, and an effigy of himself burnt by the populace at thePalais Royal.The murder of the republican agentHugo Bassevillein the streets of Rome (January 1793) gave new ground of offence; the papal court was charged with complicity by theFrench Convention,and Pius threw in his lot with theFirst Coalitionagainst theFrench First Republic.

The State of the See

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Napoleon Bonaparte

In 1796Napoléon Bonaparteinvaded theItalian Peninsula,defeated the papal troops and occupiedAnconaandLoreto.He did not continue and conquer Rome, as theFrench Directoryordered, being aware that this would not win favour among the French and Italian populations. Pius sued for peace, which was granted atTolentinoon 19 February 1797. TheTreaty of TolentinotransferredRomagnato Bonaparte's newly formedCispadane Republic(founded in December 1796 out of a merger ofReggio,Modena,BolognaandFerrara) in a hope that the French would not further pursue the Papal lands. Several reforms were made in the French-controlled regions, where much property of the Church was confiscated.

On 28 December 1797, in a riot created by some Italian and French revolutionists, the French generalMathurin-Léonard Duphotof the French embassy was killed and a new pretext furnished for invasion.

Louis Alexandre Berthiermarched to Rome, entered it unopposed on 13 February 1798, and, proclaiming aRoman Republic,demanded of the pope the renunciation of histemporal authority.His actions were at the direction of the French Government, at that time theDirectory.Pius refused and was taken prisoner. On 20 February he was escorted from theVaticantoSiena,and thence to theCertosanearFlorence.The French declaration of war against Grand DukeFerdinand III of Tuscanyled to Pius' removal, though by this time deathly ill, by way ofParma,Piacenza,TurinandGrenobleto the citadel ofValence,where he died six weeks later, on 29 August 1799. Napoleon was not directly involved. He was in the Near East, and did not return to France until November 1799, when he conducted the coup-d'état of 9 November (18 Brumaire).

The Conclave

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With the loss of the Vatican and the pope's other temporal power, the cardinals were left in a remarkable position. All had been expelled from the city of Rome by the French occupying authorities. They were forced to hold the conclave inVenice.This followed anordinanceissued by Pius VI in 1798, which established that when a conclave could not be held in Rome it would be held in the city with the greatest number ofcardinals.

TheBenedictineSan Giorgio Monasteryin Venice was chosen as the location for the conclave, and the voting would be held in its night chapel. The city, along with other northern Italian lands, was held by theArchduchy of Austria,whose rulerFrancis II, Holy Roman Emperor,agreed to defray the costs of the conclave. Since the Secretary of the College of Cardinals was unable to leave Rome to attend, the cardinals elected, in an almost unanimous vote, Msgr.Ercole Consalvias Secretary in his place. Consalvi would prove an influential figure in the election.[citation needed]

San Giorgio, Venice: location of the conclave

The conclave began on 30 November 1799 and the assembled cardinals could not overcome astalematebetween Bellisomi and Mattei until March 1800. Thirty-four Cardinals were present at the start, with the late appearance in conclave on 10 December of CardinalFranziskus Herzan von Harras,who was also the imperial plenipotentiary of Francis II. He bore the Imperial commands, the first of which was to get Cardinal Alessandro Mattei elected Pope. Strangely, by 28 December 1799 Cardinal Herzan had not yet presented his credentials as Imperial plenipotentiary to the College of Cardinals, and thus had no special status.[1]

CardinalCarlo Bellisomi,theBishop of Cesena,seemed a viable candidate (papabile), with some eighteen committed votes. His unpopularity among the Austrian faction, however, who preferred Cardinal Alessandro Mattei, thearchbishop of Ferrara,subjected Bellisomi to the "virtual veto", since the Mattei faction had sufficient numbers to deny Bellisomi a canonically required two-thirds vote.[2]

The conclave considered a third possible candidate, CardinalHyacinthe Sigismond GerdilCRSPbut Austria had rejected him from before the beginning of the Conclave as too old—he was eighty-two. As the conclave was in the third month Cardinal Maury, who supported neither Bellisomi nor Mattei, suggested Gregorio Barnaba Chiaramonti, OSB Cassin., the Bishop of Imola.

In the middle of February, both Herzan and Maury independently calculated that Chiaramonti had about twelve supporters. On 11 March a frank, private conversation took place between Cardinal Antonelli and Cardinal Herzan, in which each frankly admitted that the candidacies of Calcagni, Bellisomi, Gerdil, Mattei, and Valenti were failures. During the conversation Cardinal Dugnani appeared and suggested that Chiaramonti might be considered; numbers of supporters of Mattei were willing to go over to him. On 12 March the Spanish agent, Cardinal Francisco Lorenzana, received news from Madrid that he had permission to formally exclude Cardinal Mattei. It was unnecessary to do so, of course, since Bellisomi's supporters had already given him the virtual veto. On 14 March, with the support of the active and influential Conclave secretary Consalvi, Cardinal Chiaramonti was elected.

Chiaramonti was, at the time, the bishop ofImolain theSubalpine Republic.He had stayed in place after the assumption of hisdioceseby Bonaparte's army in 1797 and famously made a speech in which he stated that good Christians could make good democrats, a speech described as "Jacobin"by Bonaparte himself. Though he could not save ecclesiastical reform and confiscation under the new rule, he did prevent the church being dissolved, unlike that in France.

Due to its temporary siting in Venice, thepapal coronationwas hurried. Having no papal treasures on hand the noblewomen of the city manufactured the famouspapier-mâché papal tiara.It was adorned with their own jewels. Chiaramonti was declared Pope Pius VII and crowned on 21 March at the monastery church of S. Giorgio.

A new pope

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Pius VII byDavid

By theBattle of Marengoon 14 June 1800 the French regained Northern Italy from the forces of Austria. Following this promotion[clarification needed],Bonaparte decided to recognise the new pope and restored the Papal States to those borders set out at Tolentino.

The new pope headed for Rome, which he entered to the pleasure of the population on 3 July. Fearing further invasion he decreed thePapal Statesshould remain neutral between Napoleonic Italy in the north and theKingdom of Naplesin the south. At the time the latter was ruled byFerdinand IV,a member of theHouse of Bourbon.

Ercole Consalvi,the secretary of the conclave, was created a cardinal on 11 August and became the secretary of state of His Holiness. On 15 July France officially re-recognisedCatholicismas its majority (not state) religion in theConcordat of 1801,and the Church was granted a measure of freedom with a Gallician constitution of the clergy. The Concordat further recognised the Papal States and that which it had confiscated and sold during the occupation of the area. In 1803 the reinstatement of the Papal States was made official by theTreaty of Lunéville.

Napoleon pursued secularisation of smaller, independent lands and, through diplomatic pressure, the dissolution of theHoly Roman Empire(1806). The relations between the Church and theFirst French Empiredeclined following the pope's refusal to divorceJérôme BonaparteandElizabeth Pattersonin 1805. The newly crownedemperor of the Frenchrestarted his expansionist policies and assumed control overAncona,Naples (following theBattle of Austerlitz,installing his brotherJoseph Bonaparteas its newking),PontecorvoandBenevento.The changes angered the pope, and following his refusal to accept them, Napoleon, in February 1808, demanded he subsidise France's military conflict with theUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.The pope again refused, leading to further confiscations of territory such asUrbino,AnconaandMacerata.Finally in 1809, on 17 May, the Papal states were formally annexed to the First French Empire and Pius VII was taken to theChâteau de Fontainebleau.

List of participants

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List of absentees

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Cardinal electors by country

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The 35 attending cardinal electors were from 5 modern-day European countries.[a]

Cardinal electors by country
Country Continent Number
Czech Republic Europe 1
France Europe 1
Italy Europe 30
Spain Europe 2
United Kingdom Europe 1
Total 35

Notes

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  1. ^50 countries, if including non-attending cardinal electors

References

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  1. ^Ricard,Memoires... MauryI, p. 286; Duerm, 61-62
  2. ^Walsh, Michael and Walsh, Michael J.,The Conclave,Rowman & Littlefield, 2003, p. 139ISBN9781580511353
  3. ^C. A. Ricard,Correspondence diplomatique et mémoires inédits du Cardinal MauryI (Lille, 1891), 227-228. Charles Duerm,Un peu plus de lumiere sur le Conclave de Venise et sur les commencements du Pontificat de Pie VII. 1799-1800(Louvain 1896), 84.

Bibliography

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  • "Sede Vacante 1799-1800".The Conclave of 1799-1800.Archived fromthe originalon 21 February 2014.Retrieved20 May2014.
  • J. P. Adams,Sede Vacante 1799-1800,Documents concerning the Election of 1800,retrieved: 2017-12-31.
  • "Pope Pius VII".The Popes Pius.Archived fromthe originalon 12 March 2005.Retrieved8 April2005.
  • "Conclaves of the 19th Century (1799-1878)".The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church.Retrieved26 November2014.
  • "Papal State and Papacy, 1799–1809".History of the Papal State.Retrieved9 April2005.
  • R. Obechea,El Cardinel Lorenzana en el conclave de Venezia(1975).(in Spanish)
  • Alberto Lumbroso,Ricordi e documenti sul Conclave di Venezia (1800)(Roma:Fratelli Bocca1903).(in Italian)
  • Charles van Duerm, SJ,Un peu plus de lumière sur le Conclave de Venise et sur les commencements du Pontificat de Pie VII. 1799-1800(Louvain: Ch. Peeters 1896).(in French)
  • Eugenio Cipolletta,Memorie politiche sui conclavi da Pio VII a Pio IX(Milano 1863).(in Italian)
  • Mémoires du Cardinal Consalvi(ed. J. Crétineau-Joly) seconde édition (Paris: Plon 1866), 217–288.(in French)
  • Charles Antoine Ricard (editor),Correspondence diplomatique et mémoires inédits du Cardinal Maury (1792-1817)(Lille 1891) I, 264–379.(in French)
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