Pope Pius VII (Italian:Pio VII; bornBarnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti;[a] 14 August 1742 – 20 August 1823) was head of theCatholic Church from 14 March 1800 to his death in August 1823. He ruled thePapal States from June 1800 to 17 May 1809 and again from 1814 to his death. Chiaramonti was also amonk of theOrder of Saint Benedict in addition to being a well-knowntheologian and bishop.
Chiaramonti was madeBishop of Tivoli in 1782, and resigned that position upon his appointment asBishop of Imola in 1785. That same year, he was made acardinal. In 1789, theFrench Revolution took place, and as a result a series of anti-clerical governments came into power in the country. In 1798,[1] during theFrench Revolutionary Wars, French troops underLouis-Alexandre Berthier invaded Rome and capturedPope Pius VI, taking him as a prisoner to France, where he died in 1799. The following year, after asede vacante period lasting approximately six months, Chiaramonti was elected to the papacy, taking the name Pius VII.
Pius at first attempted to take a cautious approach in dealing with Napoleon. With him he signed theConcordat of 1801, through which he succeeded in guaranteeing religious freedom forCatholics living in France, and was present at his coronation asEmperor of the French in 1804. In 1809, however, during theNapoleonic Wars, Napoleon once again invaded thePapal States, resulting in his excommunication through the papal bullQuum memoranda. Pius VII was taken prisoner and transported toFrance. He remained there until 1814 when, after the French were defeated, he was permitted to return to Italy, where he was greeted warmly as a hero and defender of the faith.
Pius lived the remainder of his life in relative peace. His papacy saw a significant growth of theCatholic Church in the United States, where Pius established several new dioceses. Pius VII died in 1823 at age 81.
Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti was born inCesena in 1742, the youngest son ofCount Scipione Chiaramonti (30 April 1698 – 13 September 1750). His mother, Giovanna Coronata (? - 22 November 1777), was the daughter of theMarquess Ghini. Though his family was of noble status, they were not wealthy but rather, were of middle-class stock.
Barnaba attended the Collegio dei Nobili inRavenna but decided to join theOrder of Saint Benedict at the age of 14 on 2 October 1756 as a novice at theAbbey of Santa Maria del Monte in Cesena. Two years after this on 20 August 1758, he became a professed member and assumed the name ofGregorio.[2] He taught at Benedictine colleges inParma andRome, and wasordained apriest on 21 September 1765.
A series of promotions resulted after his relative, Giovanni Angelo Braschi, was electedPope Pius VI (1775–99).[2] A few years before this election occurred, in 1773, Chiaramonti became the personal confessor to Braschi. In 1776, Pius VI appointed the 34-year-oldDom Gregory, who had been teaching at theMonastery ofSant'Anselmo in Rome, as honoraryabbotin commendam of his monastery. Although this was an ancient practice, it drew complaints from the monks of the community, as monastic communities generally felt it was not in keeping with theRule of St. Benedict. He served as librarian at theBasilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls.
In December 1782, the pope appointed Dom Gregory as theBishop of Tivoli, nearRome. Pius VI soon named him, in February 1785, the Cardinal-Priest ofSan Callisto,[3] and as theBishop of Imola, an office he held until 1816.[4]
When theFrench Revolutionary Army invaded Italy in 1797,Cardinal Chiaramonti counseled temperance and submission to the newly createdCisalpine Republic. In a letter that he addressed to the people of his diocese, Chiaramonti asked them to comply "... in the current circumstances of change of government (...)" to the authority of the victorious general Commander-in-Chief of the French army. In hisChristmashomily that year, he asserted that there was no opposition between ademocratic form of government and being a good Catholic: "Christian virtue makes men good democrats.... Equality is not an idea of philosophers but of Christ...and do not believe that the Catholic religion is against democracy."[5]
Following the death of Pope Pius VI, by then virtually France's prisoner, atValence in 1799, theconclave to elect his successor met on 30 November 1799 in the BenedictineSan Giorgio Monastery in Venice. There were three main candidates, two of whom proved to be unacceptable to theHabsburgs, whose candidate,Alessandro Mattei, could not secure sufficient votes. However,Carlo Bellisomi also was a candidate, though not favoured byAustrian cardinals; a "virtual veto"[b] was imposed against him in the name ofFrancis II and carried out by CardinalFranziskus Herzan von Harras.[6]
The tiara made for the coronation of Pope Pius VII inVenice, decorated with jewels donated by local families[7]
After several months of stalemate,Ercole Consalvi proposed Chiaramonti as a compromise candidate.[8] On 14 March 1800, Chiaramonti was elected pope, certainly not the choice of die-hard opponents of theFrench Revolution, and took as his pontifical name Pius VII in honour of his immediate predecessor.[5] He wascrowned on 21 March—in the adjacentmonastery church as Emperor Francis II was not pleased by the choice of the cardinal electors and did not allow them to useSan Marco Basilica for the ceremony[9]—by means of a rather unusual ceremony, wearing apapier-mâchépapal tiara—the French had seized the tiaras held by the Holy See when occupying Rome and forcing Pius VI into exile. The new pope then left for Rome, sailing on a barely seaworthy Austrian ship, theBellona, which lacked even agalley. The twelve-day voyage ended atPesaro and he proceeded to Rome.
One of Pius VII's first acts was appointing theminor clericErcole Consalvi, who had performed so ably as secretary to the recent conclave, to theCollege of Cardinals and to the office ofCardinal Secretary of State. Consalvi immediately left for France, where he was able to negotiate theConcordat of 1801 with theFirst ConsulNapoleon.[10] While not effecting a return to the old Christian order, the treaty did provide certain civil guarantees to the Church, acknowledging "the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman religion" as that of the "majority of French citizens".[11]
The main terms of the concordat between France and the pope included:
A proclamation that "Catholicism was the religion of the great majority of the French" but was not the official religion, maintaining religious freedom, in particular with respect toProtestants.
The arrest of Pius VIIPius VII receivesextreme unction while Napoleon's prisoner in 1812.
Due to a reluctance to align the Papal States with theContinental System, France occupied andannexed the Papal States in 1809 and exiled Pius VII toSavona. On 15 November 1809 Pius VII consecrated the church at La Voglina,Valenza, Piedmont with the intention of the Villa La Voglina becoming his spiritual base whilst in exile. His residency was short lived once Napoleon became aware of his intentions of establishing a permanent base and he was soon exiled to France. Despite this, the pope continued to refer to Napoleon as "my dear son" but added that he was "a somewhat stubborn son, but a son still".
This exile ended only when Pius VII signed the Concordat of Fontainebleau in 1813. One result of this new treaty was the release of the exiled cardinals, including Consalvi, who, upon re-joining the papal retinue, persuaded Pius VII to revoke the concessions he had made in it. This Pius VII began to do in March 1814, which led the French authorities to re-arrest many of the opposing prelates. Their confinement, however, lasted only a matter of weeks, as Napoleonabdicated on 11 April of that year.[12] As soon as Pius VII returned to Rome, he immediately revived theInquisition and theIndex of Condemned Books.
CardinalBartolomeo Pacca, who was kidnapped along with Pope Pius VII, took the office of Pro-Secretary of State in 1808 and maintained his memoirs during his exile. His memoirs, written originally in Italian, have been translated into English (two volumes)[13][14] and describe the ups and down of their exile and the triumphant return to Rome in 1814.
Pius VII's imprisonment did in fact come with one bright side for him. It gave him an aura that recognized him as a living martyr, so that when he arrived back in Rome in May 1814, he was greeted most warmly by the Italians as a hero.[15]
From the time of his election as pope to the fall ofNapoleon in 1815, Pius VII's reign was completely taken up in dealing with France.[16]He and the Emperor were continually in conflict, often involving the French military leader's wishes for concessions to his demands. Pius VII wanted his own release from exile as well as the return of the Papal States, and, later on, the release of the 13 "Black Cardinals", i.e., the cardinals, including Consalvi, who had snubbed the marriage of Napoleon toMarie Louise, believing that his previous marriage was still valid, and had been exiled and impoverished in consequence of their stand,[17] along with several exiled or imprisoned prelates, priests, monks, nuns and other various supporters.
Pius VII joined the declaration of the 1815Congress of Vienna, represented by Cardinal Secretary of StateErcole Consalvi, and urged the suppression of theAtlantic slave trade. This pertained particularly to places such asSpain andPortugal where slavery was economically very important. The pope wrote a letter to KingLouis XVIII of France dated 20 September 1814 and to KingJohn VI of Portugal in 1823 to urge the end of slavery. He condemned the slave trade and defined the sale of people as an injustice to the dignity of the human person. In his letter to the king of Portugal, he wrote: "the pope regrets that this trade in blacks, that he believed having ceased, is still exercised in some regions and even more cruel way. He begs and begs the King of Portugal that it implement all its authority and wisdom to extirpate this unholy and abominable shame."
Under Napoleonic rule, the JewishRoman Ghetto had been abolished and Jews were free to live and move where they would. Following the restoration of Papal rule, Pius VII re-instituted the confinement of Jews to the Ghetto, having the doors closed at nighttime.[19]
Pius VII issued an encyclicalDiu satis in order to advocate a return to the values of theGospel and universalized the feast ofOur Lady of Sorrows for 15 September. He condemnedFreemasonry and the movement of theCarbonari in the papal bullEcclesiam a Jesu Christo in 1821. Pius VII asserted that Freemasons must be excommunicated and it linked them with the Carbonari, an anti-clerical revolutionary group in Italy. All members of the Carbonari were also excommunicated.
Pius VII was a man of culture and attempted to reinvigorate Rome with archaeological excavations in Ostia which revealed ruins and icons from ancient times. He also had walls and other buildings rebuilt and restored theArch of Titus. He ordered the construction of fountains and piazzas and erected the obelisk on thePincian Hill.
The pope also made sure Rome was a place for artists and the leading artists of the time likeAntonio Canova andPeter von Cornelius. He also enriched theVatican Library with numerous manuscripts and books. It was Pius VII who adopted the yellow and whiteflag of the Holy See as a response to the Napoleonic invasion of 1809.
Pius VII created 99 cardinals in nineteen consistories including notable ecclesial figures of that time such as Ercole Consalvi,Bartolomeo Pacca, andCarlo Odescalchi. The Pope also named his two immediate successors as cardinals:Annibale della Genga andFrancesco Saverio Castiglioni (the latter of whom it is said Pius VII and his successor would refer to as "Pius VIII").
The "miracle" of Pius VII in 1811
In addition, Pius VII named 12 cardinals whom he reserved "in pectore". One died before his nomination could ever be published (he was originally nominated in the 1804 consistory),Marino Carafa di Belvedere resigned his cardinalate on 24 August 1807 upon citing a lack of family descendance, andCarlo Odescalchi resigned the cardinalate on 21 November 1838 to enter theSociety of Jesus.[21]
In 1801, according toRemigius Ritzler, Pius VII nominatedPaolo Luigi Silva as a cardinalin pectore, however, he died before his name could be published. As a result, Pius VII added the Archbishop of PalermoDomenico Pignatelli di Belmonte in his place. In the March 1816 consistory, the formerbishop of Saint-MaloGabriel Cortois de Pressigny was among the cardinals createdin pectore in the consistory, though he declined the promotion. Similarly, Giovanni Alliata declined the pope's offer for elevation in the same consistory. According to Niccolò del Re, theVice-CamerlengoTiberio Pacca would have been created a cardinal either in the March 1823 consistory, or a future one held by the pope. However, he suggests that a series of controversies beginning in 1820 prevented the pope from naming him to the Sacred College.[21]
On 15 August 1811 - theFeast of the Assumption - it is recorded that the pope celebrated Mass and was said to have entered a trance and began to levitate in a manner that drew him to the altar. This particular episode aroused great wonder and awe among attendants which included the French soldiers guarding him who were in disbelief of what had occurred.[22]
In 1822, Pius VII reached his 80th birthday and his health was visibly declining. On 6 July 1823, hefractured his hip in a fall in the papal apartments and was bedridden from that point onward. In his final weeks he would often lose consciousness and would mutter the names of the cities that he had been ferried away to by the French forces. With theCardinal Secretary of StateErcole Consalvi at his side, Pius VII died on 20 August at 5 a.m.[25]
An application to commence beatification proceedings were lodged to theHoly See on 10 July 2006 and received the approval of CardinalCamillo Ruini (theVicar of Rome) who transferred the request to theCongregation for the Causes of Saints. The Congregation - on 24 February 2007 - approved the opening of the cause responding to the call of the Ligurian bishops.
On 15 August 2007, the Holy See contacted the diocese of Savona-Noli with the news thatPope Benedict XVI had declared "nihil obstat" (nothing stands against) the cause of beatification of the late pontiff, thus opening the diocesan process for this pope's beatification. He now has the title ofServant of God.[28] The official text declaring the opening of the cause was: "Summus Pontifex Benedictus XVI declarat, ex parte Sanctae Sedis, nihil obstare quominus in Causa Beatificationis et Canonizationis Servi Dei Pii Barnabae Gregorii VII Chiaramonti". Work on the cause commenced the following month in gathering documentation on the late pope.
He has since been elected as the patron of theDiocese of Savona and the patron of prisoners.[29]
In late 2018 the Bishop of Savona announced that the cause for Pius VII would continue following the completion of initial preparation and investigation. The bishop named a new postulator and a diocesan tribunal which would begin work into the cause.[30] The formal introduction to the cause (a diocesan investigation into the late pontiff's life) was held at a Mass celebrated in the Savona diocese on 31 October 2021.[31]
The firstpostulator for the cause was Father Giovanni Farris (2007–18) and the current postulator since 2018 is Fr. Giovanni Margara.
Browne-Olf, Lillian.Their Name Is Pius (1941) pp 59–130online
Caiani, Ambrogio. 2021.To Kidnap a Pope: Napoleon and Pius VII. Yale University Press.ISBN978-0300251333
Hales, E. E. Y. "Napoleon's duel with the Pope"History Today (May 1958) 8#5 pp 328–33.
Hales, E. E. Y.The Emperor and the Pope: The Story of Napoleon and Pius VII (1961)onlineArchived 7 March 2016 at theWayback Machine
Thompson, J. M.Napoleon Bonaparte: His Rise and Fall (1951) pp 251–75
Philippe Boutry: Pio VII. In: Massimo Bray (ed.):Enciclopedia dei Papi. Volume 3: Innocenzo VIII, Giovanni Paolo II. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 2000 (treccani.it)
Michael Matheus, Lutz Klinkhammer (eds.):Eigenbild im Konflikt. Krisensituationen des Papsttums zwischen Gregor VII. und Benedikt XV. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt, 2009,ISBN978-3-534-20936-1.
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