Sede Vacante 1721

ANNIBALE CARDINAL ALBANI (1682-1751), was born at Urbino on August 15, 1682. His uncle became Pope Clement XI in 1700 (dying on March 19, 1721). He was created Cardinal Deacon on December 23, 1711, being appointed to the Deaconry of S. Eustachio on March 2, 1712. He became Archpriest of St. Peter's Basilica in 1712, where he had long been a Canon, and was promoted to be Cardinal Priest of S. Clemente in March, 1722, for which he was finally ordained a priest in October. He was appointed Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church on March 29, 1719, a post he held until 1747. He became bishop of Sabina on July 24, 1730, and was translated to Porto and Sta. Rufina in 1743. From 1719 he was director of the English hospital of St. John in Jerusalem.

The Governor of the Conclave was Msgr. Bartolomeo Ruspoli. He was born in Rome on August 29, 1697, the eldest son of Francesco Maria Ruspoli, Prince of Cerveteri. He was named secretary of Memorials by Innocent XIII (dei Conti), his maternal grand-uncle, and subsequently Protonotary Apostolic participant. Under Benedict XIII he became Secretary of the S.C. de Propaganda Fide. In 1725 he took minor orders, and on October 2, 1730 was named a Cardinal Deacon of SS. Cosmas and Damian by Clement XII (1730-1740) in his second consistory. In 1731 he became Grand Prior in Rome of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. He died in Rome on May 21, 1741.

This was the first conclave in which a Chigi served as Marshal of the Holy Roman Church. The family of the Savelli, who had been hereditary Marshals for centuries had died out in 1712. Pope Clement XI, in a brief of March 23, 1712, transferred the honor to Prince Augusto Chigi, Prince Farnese. In a brief of September 1, 1740, Pope Benedict XIV granted Prince Augusto's son Prince Augustino (d. 1769) the rights of coadjutor to his father. Augustino's son Prince Sigismondo obtained the succession from Clement XIV. Pius VI suspended the right in 1791, but two years later transferred the right to Prince Augustino, son of Prince Sigismondo. The hereditary succession in the office was not tampered with thereafter until 1968, when the office was abolished by Paul VI. (Barbier de Montault, 9-10).

Pope Clement XI (Albani) died on March 19, 1721. The Conclave of 1721 began on March 31. By April 9, forty cardinals were in attendance, and the number eventually rose to fifty-five, though four of them (the Portuguese da Cunha and Pereira, and the Spanish Belluga and Borgia) who arrived in the neighborhood of Rome did not enter conclave until the day after the successful election of Cardinal dei Conti. Two cardinals (de Noailles and Alberoni) were invited to the Conclave, even though they were excommunicated. On April 28 Cardinal Paracciani left the conclave due to illness, which claimed him on the next day.

The earliest real candidate was Cardinal Paolucci, and he appeared to be wining the second scrutiny; but during the reading of the votes, after he had obtained the two-thirds needed, the Veto (exclusiva) was pronounced against him by Cardinal Althan, the Imperial representative to the Conclave. Finally, on May 8, Michelangelo Cardinal dei Conti was elected with all the votes ecept his own (he voted for the Dean of the College of Cardinals, Tanara), taking the name Innocent XIII. The coronation took place on May 18 in the Vatican Basilica. On Sunday, November 18, 1721, the new pope took possession of the Lateran Basilica.

See: Giuseppe de Novaes, Elementi della storia de' Sommi Pontefici third edition Volume 13 (Roma 1822), 7-9. G. Moroni, Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica Vol. XIV (Venezia 1842) 60-61. Alexis François Artaud de Montor, Histoire des souverains Pontifes Romains, Volume VI (Paris 1851), pp. 329-332. For Ruspoli, Dictionnaire des Cardinaux col. 1485-1486.