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Joseph Fesch

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His Eminence
His Most Eminent Highness
His Serene Highness

Joseph Fesch
Cardinal,Archbishop of Lyon
Sovereign Prince
Prince of the Empire
Peer of France
Roman Prince
Cardinal Fesch byCharles Meynier,1806
SeeLyon
Installed15 August 1802
Term ended13 May 1839
Other post(s)Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria della Vittoria(1803–1822);in commendam(1822–1839)
Cardinal-Priest of San Lorenzo in Lucina
Grand Almoner of France(1805 - 1814)
Orders
Ordination1787
Consecration15 August 1802
byGiovanni Battista Caprara
Created cardinal17 January 1803
byPius VII
RankCardinal-Priest
Personal details
Born(1763-01-03)3 January 1763
Ajaccio,Republic of Genoa
Died13 May 1839(1839-05-13)(aged 76)
Rome,Papal States
NationalityFrench
DenominationRoman Catholic
Coat of armsJoseph Fesch's coat of arms

Joseph Cardinal Fesch, Prince of the Empire(3 January 1763 – 13 May 1839) was a French priest and diplomat, who was the maternal half-uncle ofNapoleon Bonaparte(half-brother ofNapoleon's mother Laetitia). In the wake of his nephew, he becameArchbishop of Lyonandcardinal.He was also one of the most famous art collectors of his period, remembered for having established theMusée FeschinAjaccio,which remains one of the most important Napoleonic collections of art.

Born inCorsica,he was the son of Swiss-born Franz Faesch and Angela Maria Pietrasanta, and belonged on his father's side to theFaesch family,one of the most prominent patrician families ofBasel.He rose to great prominence in France following Napoleon'scoup d'étatof 1799. Fesch became Archbishop of Lyon in 1802, a Cardinal in 1803, Ambassador to theHoly Seein 1804, a Frenchsenatorandcountin 1805,Grand Almoner of Francein 1805, a sovereign prince in 1806,Prince of the Empire( "French Prince" ) in 1807 (a dignity he shared only with Napoleon's siblings, brother-in-lawJoachim Murat,and adopted sonEugène de Beauharnais), andPeer of Francein 1815, and was named a Prince of thePapal Statesby the Pope. He was a member of theImperial House,and was included in theorder of successionto the French imperial throne[citation needed]in accordance with theFrench constitution of 1804(Title III, Article 9, "The Imperial Family" ).

He was Napoleon's most important diplomat in regard toPope Pius VII,but Napoleon's relationship with his uncle deteriorated as his relationship with the Pope soured. Nevertheless, Napoleon remained loyal to his uncle. Fesch wed his nephew toJoséphine de Beauharnaisin Paris in 1804, the day before Bonaparte was crowned asEmperor of the French,[1]in 1810 he wed Napoleon toMarie Louise of Austria,and in 1811 baptized the Emperor's sonNapoleon II.

After the end of the French Empire in 1815, he was banished from France in 1815, like the rest of the Imperial House. He relocated toRomewith his half-sister Laetitia, and took up residence at thePalazzo Falconieri,dedicating himself to art and to beneficence.

Biography[edit]

Cardinal Joseph Fesch.

Fesch was born atAjaccioinCorsica.His father was FranzFaesch,aSwissofficer in the service of theRepublic of Genoa,whose family belonged to theBaselpatriciateand had been ennobled in theHoly Roman Empirein 1562.Holy Roman Empire,and his mother wasNobileAngela Maria Pietrasanta. His mother had previously been married to Captain Giovanni Geronimo Ramolino, and he had an elder half-sister,Letizia Ramolino,later the mother of Napoleon. With support ofLuciano Buonaparte(1718–1791), archdeacon of Ajaccio, he entered the seminary atAix-en-Provencein 1781. He was ordained as a priest in 1785, and 24 years old, he became himself the archdeacon of Ajaccio. After the 1791 death of Luciano Buonaparte, he became for a time the protector and patron of his sister's family. In 1789, when theFrench Revolutionbroke out, he felt, like the majority of the Corsicans, repugnance for many of the acts of the French government during that period; in particular he protested against the application to Corsica of the act known as theCivil Constitution of the Clergy(July 1790). As provost of the "chapter" in that city he directly felt the pressure of events; for on the suppression of religious orders and corporations, he was constrained to retire into private life.

Palais Fesch,Ajaccio,now houses the Musée Fesch

Thereafter he shared the fortunes of the Bonaparte family in the intrigues and strifes which ensued. Drawn gradually into espousing the French cause againstPasquale Paoliand the Anglophiles, he was forced to leave Corsica and to proceed with Laetitia and her son toToulon,in early autumn, 1793. Failing to find clerical duties at that time (theReign of Terror), he took several posts in civil life, until on the appointment of Napoleon Bonaparte to the command of the French "Army of Italy"he became a commissary attached to that army. This part of his career is obscure, but his fortunes rose rapidly when Napoleon became First Consul, after thecoup d'étatof18 Brumaire(November 1799). When the restoration of theRoman Catholicreligion was in the mind of the First Consul, Fesch resumed his clerical vocation and took an active part in the complex negotiations which led to the signing of theConcordatwith theHoly Seeon 15 July 1801. His reward came in being madeArchbishop of Lyonin August 1802. Six months later he received a further reward for his past services, being raised to the dignity of cardinal.

Appointed by Napoleon on 4 April 1803 to succeedFrançois Cacaulton the latter's retirement from the position of French ambassador atRome,[2]Fesch was assisted byChateaubriand,but soon sharply differed with him on many questions. Towards the close of 1804, Napoleon entrusted to Fesch the difficult task of securing the presence ofPope Pius VIIat the forthcoming coronation of the emperor atNotre Dame,Paris(2 December 1804). His tact in overcoming the reluctance of the pope (it was only eight months after the execution of theduc d'Enghien) received further recognition. He received thegrand cordonof theLegion d'Honneur,became grand-almoner of the empire and had a seat in the French senate. He was to receive further honours. In 1806 one of the most influential of the German clerics,Karl von Dalberg,thenprince-bishop of Regensburg,chose him to be his coadjutor and designated him as his successor.

Subsequent events damaged his prospects. In the course of the years 1806-1807 Napoleon came into sharp collision with the pope on various matters both political and religious. Fesch sought in vain to reconcile them. Napoleon was inexorable in his demands, and Pius VII refused to give way where the discipline and vital interests of the church seemed to be threatened. The emperor several times rebuked Fesch for what he thought to be weakness and ingratitude. It is clear, however, that the cardinal went as far as possible in counselling the submission of the spiritual to the civil power. For a time he was not on speaking terms with the pope; and Napoleon recalled him from Rome.

Affairs came to a crisis in the year 1809, when Napoleon issued atViennathe decree of 17 May, ordering the annexation of thePapal Statesto the French empire. In that year Napoleon conferred on Fesch thearchbishopric of Paris,but he refused the honour. Fesch did however consent to take part in an ecclesiastical commission formed by the emperor from among the dignitaries of theGallican Church,but in 1810 the commission was dissolved. The hopes of Fesch with respect to Regensburg were also damped by an arrangement of the year 1810 whereby Regensburg was absorbed inBavaria.

In the year 1811 the emperor convoked a national council of Gallican clerics for the discussion of church affairs, and Fesch was appointed to preside over their deliberations. Here again, however, he failed to satisfy the inflexible emperor and was dismissed to hisdiocese.The friction between uncle and nephew became more acute in the following year. In June 1812 Pius VII was brought from his first place of detention,Savona,toFontainebleau,where he was kept under surveillance in the hope that he would give way in certain matters relating to the Concordat and in other clerical affairs. Fesch ventured to write to the aged pontiff a letter which came into the hands of the emperor. His anger against Fesch was such that he stopped the sum of 150,000 florins which had been accorded to him.

The disasters of the years 1812-1813 brought Napoleon to treat Pius VII more leniently and the position of Fesch thus became for a time less difficult. However, on the first abdication of Napoleon (11 April 1814) and the restoration of theBourbons,he retired to Rome where he received a welcome. The events of theHundred Days(March–June 1815) brought him back to France; he resumed his archiepiscopal duties atLyonand was further named a member of the senate and apeer of France.On the second abdication of the emperor (22 June 1815), Fesch retired to Rome along with his older sister Letizia. There he spent the rest of his days in dignified ease, surrounded by numerous masterpieces of art, many of which he bequeathed to the cities of Lyon and Ajaccio. He died in Rome in 1839.

Coat of arms[edit]

Coat of arms of Cardinal Joseph Fesch

As a member of the imperial family of France, he was given a newcoat of armsbased on the imperial coat of arms of France (cf.House of Bonaparte). TheFaeschfamily traditionally used a different coat of arms.

Paintings owned by Fesch[edit]

The Fesch collection included almost 16,000 paintings (not all at the same time). The core was Italian works of the Renaissance to the 18th century, but Fesch also had a number ofDutch Golden Age paintingsand contemporary French works,[3]as well as a number of classical sculptures. Fesch was a fairly early collector ofQuattrocentopaintings, or "Italian Primitives". TheMusée Fesch,Ajaccio contains much of Fesch's collection, including works byBotticelli,Giovanni Bellini,Titianand others. Another part, including the works considered most important, was sold by auction in 1845. Paintings not in Lyons or Ajaccio include:[4]

Honours[edit]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Compare:Bingham, Denis Arthur, ed. (1884).A Selection from the Letters and Despatches of the First Napoleon: With Explanatory Notes.Cambridge Library Collection - European History. Vol. 3. Cambridge University Press (published 2010). p. 5.ISBN9781108023429.Retrieved29 November2014.[I]t is still a matter of doubt whether Napoleon and Josephine were ever married at the altar. There is not a scrap of evidence to prove it. The official account relates that on the eve of the coronation the Pope refused to officiate unless the Emperor made Josephine his wife, the Church not recognising the[ir] civil marriage. To avoid a scandal Napoleon consented, and the religious ceremony was secretly performed at the Tuileries by Cardinal Fesch, with the consent of the Pope, and in the presence of Duroc, Berthier, and Talleyrand, on the night of the 1st December, 1804.
  2. ^Goyau,Catholic Encyclopedia.
  3. ^Cardinal Fesch and the art of his time, exhibitionArchived2011-09-28 at theWayback Machine
  4. ^"Standard STAR Web Error Page".
  5. ^NGA FeschArchived2009-05-09 at theWayback Machine
  6. ^"Carlo Crivelli - Saint George - The Met".The Metropolitan Museum of Art, i.e. The Met Museum.
  7. ^Almanach Du Département de L'Escaut Pour L'an 1809-1815, Volume 1;Volume 1809.lA.B. Stéven. p. 6.

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Media related toJoseph Feschat Wikimedia Commons

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