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ERCOLE CONSALVI (1757-1824)

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 970 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ERCOLE See also:

CONSALVI (1757-1824)  , 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 See also:heir to a certain See also:march'ese di See also:Consalvi . Ercole, who was the eldest of five See also:children See also:early See also:left orphans, began his See also:education at the Piarist See also:college at See also:Urbino . Removed thence on See also: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 See also:office which involved the See also:duty of receiving those who desired an See also:audience . Next See also:year he was made a domestic See also: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 See also:taste which earned him the See also:title of Monsignore Ubique . When the outbreak of the See also:French Revolution made a reorganization of the papal See also:army necessary, this was carried out by Consalvi as See also: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 See also: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 See also:galley slaves to See also:Naples, and his See also:property was confiscated as that of " an enemy of the See also:Roman See also: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 See also:

conclave which assembled in the monastery of See also:San Giorgio See also:Maggiore at See also: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 See also: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-See also: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 See also:gentle and contemplative See also: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 See also: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 See also: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 See also:liberty, and promised the See also:liquidation of the public See also:debt . In the See also:long debates between Rome and France about the See also: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 See also: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 See also:emperor was irritated; and his See also: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 See also: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 See also:power of the pope was formally abolished, he See also: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 See also:Louise . For this display of See also: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 See also:master's assistance; and he was soon after allowed to resume his functions under the restored pontificate at Rome .

Phoenix-squares

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 See also:congress of See also: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 (See also: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 See also:garrison Ferrara and See also:Comacchio . This led to his presenting at the See also: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 See also: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 See also:allegiance of Europe to the papal See also:throne . He was practically See also:governor of Rome; and Pius was so much under his See also:control that `" Pasquin " said the pope would have to wait at the See also:gates of See also:paradise till the cardinal came from See also: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 See also:wisdom and moderation . He had to See also:steer a See also:middle course between the extremes represented by the See also: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 See also: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 See also: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 See also:majority of the Powers of the See also:continental See also:alliance; protested at the congress of See also: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 See also:committee, on the See also:model of the See also:Mainz See also: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 See also: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 See also:fashion of See also: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 See also:passion . For the See also:city of Rome he did much; ancient buildings were excavated and preserved by his direction; chairs of natural See also:science and See also: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 See also: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 See also:Wiseman, Recollections of the Last Four Popes (See also:London, 1858) ; Cretineau-Joly, L'Eglise romaine en See also:face de la Revolution (1859) ; Ernest See also:Daudet, Le Cardinal Consalvi (Paris, 1866) ; E .

L . See also:

Fischer, Cardinal Consalvi (Mainz, 1899) ; Dr Fredrik Nielsen, See also:bishop of See also:Aarhus, Hist. of the Papacy in the lgth See also: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 See also: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 See also:Lady See also:Blennerhassett .

End of Article: ERCOLE CONSALVI (1757-1824)
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