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ERCOLE See also: Italian See also: cardinal and states-See also: man, was See also: born at See also: Rome on the 8th of See also: June 17 57
.
His grandfather, Gregorio Brunacci, of an See also: ancient See also: family of See also: Pisa, had changed his name in See also: order to become heir to a certain See also: march'ese di
See also: Consalvi
.
Ercole, who was the eldest of five See also: children early See also: left orphans, began his See also: education at the Piarist See also: college at See also: Urbino
.
Removed thence on account of the cruel treatment he and his See also: brother received, he went to the college opened at that See also: time by Cardinal See also: Henry of
See also: York at See also: Frascati
.
Here Consalvi soon became one of the cardinal's favourite proteges
.
In 1776 he entered the Academia Ecclesiastica at Rome, in which See also: Pope See also: Pius VI. took a strong See also: personal See also: interest
.
This led to his being appointed in 1783 camariere segreto to the pope, an office which involved the duty of receiving those who desired an See also: audience
.
Next See also: year he was made a domestic prelate and shortly afterwards a member of the See also: Congregation del buon governo
.
His further promotion was rapid; at the instance of Pope Pius, who thought his talents would be best employed at the See also: bar, he became votante di segnatura, and, on the first vacancy, auditor of the See also: Rota for Rome
.
This last See also: post left him plenty of leisure, which he used for travelling and cultivating the society of interesting See also: people, a taste which earned him the title of Monsignore Ubique
.
When the outbreak of the French Revolution made a reorganization of the papal army necessary, this was carried out by Consalvi as assessor to the new military Congregation
.
In 1798, when the French occupied Rome, Consalvi was imprisoned in the See also: castle of St Angelo, together with other papal officials, in See also: retaliation for the See also: murder of General Duphot; a proposal to See also: whip him through the streets was defeated by the French general in command, but, after three months' confinement, he was deported with a See also: crowd of galley slaves to Naples, and his See also: property was confiscated as that of " an enemy of the See also: Roman republic." He managed with difficulty to reach Pius VI., who had sought See also: refuge in the Certosa of t' e Val d' Erna, and was See also: present at his See also: death-See also: bed
.
As secretary to the conclave which assembled in the monastery ofSee also: San Giorgio Maggiore at Venice, Consalvi had the difficult task of corresponding with the various governments and organizing the See also: assembly at a time when the Revolution had confused allissues and reduced the individual cardinals to beggary
.
In this his See also: diplomatic ability was conspicuously evident, and it was also largely+owing to his influence that Cardinal Chiaramonte was elected as Pius VII
.
(March 14, 1800)
.
On the 3rd of June the new pope re-entered Rome; on the rith of See also: August Consalvi was appointed cardinal-deacon and secretary of See also: state, or See also: prime See also: minister
.
The See also: appointment was an admirable one; for Consalvi possessed just the qualities necessary to supplement those of Pius
.
The pope was above all a religious man, of a gentle and contemplative character; the cardinal was pre-eminently a man of affairs
.
Their personal sympathy for each other continued to the end, though at the outset at least their See also: political views differed
.
Pius, who had openly expressed sympathy with the new liberties of See also: France, was accused of " Jacobinism "; Consalvi, brought up in the legitimist atmosphere of the entourage of Cardinal York, was a convinced supporter of the divine right of See also: kings generally and of See also: Louis XVIII. in particular
.
But, though opposed to the principles of the Revolution, Consalvi was far from being a
See also: blind obscurantist, and he recognized the urgent need for reform in the See also: system of papal See also: government
.
In this, despite bitter opposition, he made many significant changes
.
He permitted laymen to hold certain public offices, under surveillance of the prelates, organized a guard from among the Roman See also: nobility, decreed a See also: plan for redeeming the See also: base coinage, permitted the communes a certain degree of municipal liberty, and promised the liquidation of the public See also: debt
.
In the long debates between Rome and France about the Concordat Consalvi took the leading See also: part
.
In June 18oi he arrived in See also: Paris, where his handsome presence, urbane See also: manners, and conspicuous ability made him a general favourite
.
Even See also: Napoleon, though enraged at the firmness with which he maintained the papal claims, could not resist his personal fascination
.
It was largely owing to Consalvi's combined firmness and tact that the Concordat, as ultimately signed, was See also: free from the objectionable clauses on which the First See also: Consul had at first insisted
.
During the pope's See also: absence in Paris, at the See also: coronation of Napoleon, Consalvi remained as virtual See also: sovereign in Rome; and his regency was rendered remarkable by a See also: great inundation, caused by the overflow of the See also: Tiber, during which he exposed himself with heroic humanity for the preservation of the sufferers
.
Not long after the return of the pope the amity between the Vatican and the Tuileries was again broken
.
Rome was full of See also: anti-revolutionary and anti-See also: Napoleonic strangers from all parts of See also: Europe
.
The emperor was irritated; and his ambassador, Cardinal See also: Fesch, kept up the irritation by perpetual complaints directed more especially against Consalvi himself
.
" Tell Consalvi," wrote the conqueror, still flushed with See also: Austerlitz, " that if he loves his country he must either resign or do what I demand." Consalvi did accordingly resign on the 17th of June 1807, and when in i8o8 General Miollis entered Rome, and the temporal power of the pope was formally abolished, he broke off all relations with the French, though several of them were his intimate See also: friends
.
In 1809 he was at Paris, and, in a remarkable interview, received from Napoleon's own lips an See also: apology for the treatment he had received
.
With unbending dignity, however, he retained his antagonism; and shortly afterwards he was one of the thirteen cardinals who refused to attend the ceremony of the emperor's See also: marriage with See also: Marie Louise
.
For this display of independence he was imprisoned at See also: Reims, and not released till some three years later, when Napoleon had extorted terms from the See also: captive pope at See also: Fontainebleau
.
On his See also: release Consalvi hastened to his master's assistance; and he was soon after allowed to resume his functions under the restored pontificate at Rome
.
In 1814 Consalvi went, as the pope's representative, to See also: England to meet and confer with the allied sovereigns, and later in the year was sent as papal plenipotentiary to the congress of Vienna
.
Here he was successful in obtaining the restitution to the pope of the See also: Marches (See also: Ancona, Treviso and See also: Fermo) and Legations (Bologna, See also: Ferrara and See also: Ravenna), but he failed to prevent See also: Austria from annexing the ancient papal possessions on the left See also: bank of the Po and obtaining the right to garrison Ferrara and See also: Comacchio
.
This led to his presenting at the close of the congress
a formal protestatio, in which he not only denounced the failure of the See also: Powers to do See also: justice to the See also: church, but also their refusal to re-establish that " centre of political unity," the
See also: Holy Roman See also: Empire
.
The rest of Consalvi's See also: life was devoted to the See also: work of re-organizing the States of the Church, and bringing back the allegiance of Europe to the papal See also: throne
.
He was practically governor of Rome; and Pius was so much under his control that `" Pasquin " said the pope would have to wait at the See also: gates of See also: paradise till the cardinal came from purgatory with the keys
.
Not was the affectionate confidence of the pope misplaced
.
Consalvi's See also: rule, in times of singular difficulty and unrest, was characterized by wisdom and moderation
.
He had to See also: steer a See also: middle course between the extremes represented by the Carbonari on the one See also: hand and the Sanfedisti on the other, and he consistently refused to employ the cruel and inquisitorial methods in vogue under his successors
.
His See also: foreign policy was guided by the traditional antagonism of the papacy to See also: German domination in See also: Italy, and generally by a See also: desire to free the Holy See as far as possible from the political entanglements of the age
.
Thus he resisted all Metternich's efforts to draw him into his " system "; stoutly maintained the See also: doctrine of non-intervention against the majority of the Powers of the See also: continental See also: alliance; protested at the congress of Troppau against the suggested application of the principle of intervention to the States of the Church; and at See also: Verona joined with See also: Tuscany in procuring the rejection of Metternich's proposal for a central committee, on the See also: model of the See also: Mainz Commission, to discover and punish political offences in Italy
.
On the death of Pius VII
.
(August 21, 1823), Consalvi retired to his See also: villa of See also: Porto d' Anzio; and, though he accepted from the new pope the honorary office of See also: prefect of the college De Propaganda Fide, his political career was closed
.
He died on the 24th of See also: January 1824
.
By his will he directed that all the presents he had received should be sold, and the proceeds applied to the completion of See also: Thorwaldsen's monument of Pius VII. in St See also: Peter's
.
Consalvi, besides being a statesman, was a man of wide and varied interests
.
As a See also: young abate he had followed the fashion of writing verses, and to the end he remained a notable See also: patron of the arts and sciences, See also: music being his See also: main passion
.
For the city of Rome he did much; ancient buildings were excavated and preserved by his direction; chairs of natural science and archaeology were founded in the university; and extensive purchases were made for the Vatican museum, which was augmented by the addition of the beautiful Braccio Nuovo, or new wing
.
Cardinal Consalvi's Memoires were published in two vols. by S
.
Cretineau-Joly (Paris, 1864)
.
Other collections of documents are:—C. von Duerm, Correspondance du Cardinal Consalvi avec le See also: Prince C. de Metternich, 1815 (See also: Louvain and Brussels, 1899); S
.
Rinieri, Correspondenza inedita dei Cardinali Consalvi e Pacca, 1814–1815 (See also: Turin, 1903)
.
See J
.
L
.
Bartholdy, Ziige aus dem Leben See also: des Cardinal Hercule Consalvi (See also: Stuttgart, 1824) ; Cardinal Wiseman, Recollections of the Last Four Popes (See also: London, 1858) ; Cretineau-Joly, L'Eglise romaine en face de la Revolution (1859) ; Ernest See also: Daudet, Le Cardinal Consalvi (Paris, 1866) ; E
.
L . Fischer, Cardinal Consalvi (Mainz, 1899) ; Dr Fredrik Nielsen,See also: bishop of See also: Aarhus, Hist. of the Papacy in the lgth Century (2 vols., Eng. trans. by A
.
J
.
See also: Mason, D.D., London, 1906), which treats of Consalvi's work in great detail
.
For other general authorities see Cambridge See also: Modern See also: History, See also: bibliographies to vol. ix. See also: chap. vii., by L
.
G
.
Wickham-Legg, and vol. x. chap. v., by Lady See also: Blennerhassett
.
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