Pope Pius VI (Italian:Pio VI; bornCount Angelo Onofrio Melchiorre Natale Giovanni Antonio calledGiovanni Angelo orGiannangelo Braschi, 25 December 1717 – 29 August 1799) was head of theCatholic Church and ruler of thePapal States from 15 February 1775 to his death in August 1799.[2][3]
Pius VI condemned theFrench Revolution and the suppression of theCatholic Church in France that resulted from it. French troops commanded byNapoleon Bonaparte defeated the Papal army and occupied thePapal States in 1796. In 1798, upon his refusal to renounce his temporal power, Pius was taken prisoner and transported to France. He died eighteen months later inValence. His reign of more than twenty-four years is thefifth-longest in papal history. He was also the longest-ruling pope of the Papal States.
Braschi was baptized in Cesena two days later on 27 December and was given the baptismal name of Angelo Onofrio Melchiorre Natale Giovanni Antonio.[5] After completing his studies in theJesuit college of Cesena and receiving his doctorate of bothcanon and civil law in 1734, Braschi continued his studies at theUniversity of Ferrara.[6]
Braschi's skill in the conduct of a mission to thecourt of Naples won him the esteem ofPope Benedict XIV.[7] In 1753, following the death of Cardinal Ruffo, Benedict appointed Braschi one of his own secretaries.[8] In 1755, the pope appointed him as acanon of St Peter's Basilica.
In 1758, putting an end to an engagement to be married, Braschi was ordained to the priesthood. He was also appointed in 1758Referendary of theApostolic Signatura and held that position until the following year. He also became the auditor and secretary to CardinalCarlo Rezzonico, the nephew ofPope Clement XIII. In 1766, Clement XIII appointed Braschi treasurer of thecamera apostolica.[8]
Braschi was a conscientious administrator, which was not good news for some. The latter managed to convincePope Clement XIV to curb his zeal by promoting him to the cardinalate and accordingly on 26 April 1773 he was made Cardinal-Priest ofSant'Onofrio.[9] For a brief period of time this rendered him innocuous to the less scrupulous. Left without any specific task, Braschi retired to theAbbey of Saint Scholastica, Subiaco, of which he wascommendatory abbot.[6]
Pope Clement XIV died in 1774 and in the ensuing conclave to choose a successor,Spain,France andPortugal dropped all objections to the election of Braschi, who was one of the more moderate opponents of the anti-Jesuit stance of the late pope.[7]
Braschi received support from those who disliked the Jesuits and believed he would continue the policy of Clement XIV and maintain the provisions of Clement's briefDominus ac Redemptor (1773) which had dissolved the order. On the other hand, the pro-JesuitZelanti faction believed him to be secretly sympathetic towards the order and expected him to remedy the wrongs the Jesuits suffered in the previous pontificate. These various expectations would face Braschi after his election with the virtual impossibility of satisfying either side.[7]
Cardinal Braschi was elected pope on 15 February 1775 and took the name "Pius VI". He was consecrated bishop on 22 February 1775 by CardinalGian Francesco Albani and wascrowned that same day by the CardinalProtodeaconAlessandro Albani.
Pius VI elevated Romualdo Braschi-Onesti as the penultimatecardinal-nephew.
Pius VI first opened ajubilee his predecessor had already convoked, the 1775 Jubilee Year.[citation needed]
The early acts of Pius VI gave fair promise of reformist rule and tackled the problem of corruption in thePapal States. He reprimanded Prince Potenziani, the governor of Rome, for failing to adequately deal with corruption in the city, appointed a council of cardinals to remedy the state of the finances and relieve the pressure ofimposts, called to accountNicolò Bischi for the spending of funds intended for the purchase of grain, reduced the annual disbursements by denying pensions to many prominent people, and adopted a reward system to encourage agriculture.[citation needed]
Besides facing dissatisfaction with this temporising policy, Pius VI also faced elements ofEnlightenment thinking which sought to limit papal authority.Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim, since 1749 bishop of Myriophiriin partibus and auxiliary bishop and vicar-general to the archbishop-elector of Mainz, wrote under the pseudonym of "Febronius", expoundingGallican ideas of national Catholic Churches. Although Hontheim was himself induced (not without public controversy) publicly to retract his positions, they were nevertheless adopted inAustria. There the social and ecclesiastical reforms which had been undertaken by EmperorJoseph II and his ministerKaunitz, as a way of influencing appointments within the Catholic hierarchy, were seen as such a threat touched to papal authority that Pius VI adopted the exceptional course of travelling in person toVienna.[11][7]
The Pope set out from Rome on 27 February 1782 and,[6] though magnificently received by the Emperor, his mission proved a failure. Nevertheless, not many years later he did succeed in curbing the attempts of several Germanarchbishops at theCongress of Ems in 1786 to win greater independence.[7]
On 17 August 1775, Pope Pius VI promulgated with a Papal Decree the authenticity ofOur Lady of Šiluva.[12]
Pius VI saw the development of the Catholic Church in theUnited States of America. He released the American clergy from the jurisdiction of theVicar Apostolic in England,[13] and erected the first American episcopal see, theDiocese of Baltimore in November 1789.
Pius VI elevated 73 cardinals in 23 consistories. He canonized no saints during his pontificate but beatified a total of 39 individuals that includedLawrence of Brindisi andAmato Ronconi.
The pope also set the Papal States' finances on much steadier ground. Pius is best remembered in connection with the expansion of thePio-Clementine Museum, which was begun at the suggestion of his predecessorClement XIV; and with an attempt to drain thePontine Marshes,[7] but Pius VI did successfully drain the marshes nearCittà della Pieve,Perugia, andSpoleto. He also restored theVia Appia.[11] Pius VI also deepened and expanded the harbors ofTerracina and Porto d'Anzio, a major center of Pontifical trade. Pius was a great patron of the arts and humanities; he also added a new sacristy toSaint Peter's Basilica.[6]
At the outbreak of theFrench Revolution in 1789, Pius VI witnessed the suppression of the oldGallican Church as well as the confiscation of pontifical and ecclesiastical possessions in France. He saw the events as a sign of opposition against the social order ordained by God and also viewed it as a conspiracy against the church. The pope condemned both theDeclaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and theCivil Constitution of the Clergy and supported a league against the revolution. He issued two briefs –Quod aliquantum (1791) andCaritas (1791) – to condemn the ecclesiastical reforms that were proposed.
1791 marked the end of diplomatic relations with France and the papalnuncio, Antonio Dugnani, was recalled to Rome as a result.[5] One of the reasons for the breach was the seizure by the revolutionaries of theComtat Venaissin, ending 516 years of Papal rule in Avignon.
KingLouis XVI wasexecuted viaguillotine on 21 January 1793, and his daughterMarie Thérèse petitioned Rome for the canonization of her father. Pius VI hailed the late king as a martyr on 17 June 1793 in a meeting with cardinals, giving hope to a potential possibility of sainthood. In 1820, two decades following the death of Pius VI, theCongregation of Rites put an end to the possible sainthood since it was impossible to prove the king died for religious reasons rather than political ones. Pius VI argued that the main thrust of the revolution was against the Catholic religion and Louis XVI himself.[14] He also wrote that the French revolutionaries abolished "the monarchy, the best of all governments".[15][16]
In 1796,French Republican troops under the command ofNapoleon Bonaparte invaded Italy and defeated the Papal troops. The French occupiedAncona andLoreto. Pius VI sued for peace which was granted atTolentino on 19 February 1797; but on 28 December 1797, in a riot blamed by papal forces on some Italian and French revolutionists, the popular brigadier-generalMathurin-Léonard Duphot, who had gone to Rome withJoseph Bonaparte as part of the French embassy, was killed and a new pretext was furnished for invasion.[7]
GeneralLouis-Alexandre Berthier marched to Rome, entered it unopposed on 10 February 1798, and, proclaiming aRoman Republic, demanded of the pope the renunciation of his temporal authority.[7]
Pius VI's body was embalmed, but was not buried until 30 January 1800 afterNapoleon saw political advantage to burying the deceased Pope in efforts to bring the Catholic Church back into France. His entourage insisted for some time that his last wishes were to be buried in Rome, then behind the Austrian lines. They also prevented aConstitutional bishop from presiding at the burial, as the laws of France then required, so no burial service was held. This return of theinvestiture conflict was settled by theConcordat of 1801.
Pius VI's body was removed from Valence on 24 December 1801 and buried at Rome 19 February 1802, when Pius VI was given a Catholic funeral, attended byPope Pius VII, his successor.
By decree ofPope Pius XII in 1949, the remains of Pius VI were moved to the Chapel of the Madonna below St. Peter's in theVatican Grottoes. His remains were placed in an ancient marble sarcophagus. The inscription on the wall above the container reads:
"The mortal remains of Pius VI, consumed in unjust exile,by order of Pius XII were placed fittingly hereand decorated by a marble ornament most excellent for its art and historyin 1949".
A long audience with Pius VI is one of the most extensive scenes in theMarquis de Sade's narrativeJuliette, published in 1798. Juliette shows off her learning to the Pope (whom she most often addresses as "Braschi") with a verbal catalogue of alleged immoralities committed by his predecessors.[18]
^abcde One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Ott, Michael (1911). "Pope Pius VI". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 12. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
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