(March 7, 1724—May 29, 1724)
Cardinal. Albani
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. Maffeo Farsetti, the Protonotary Apostolic.
Pope Innocent XIII (dei Conti), who was often ill and who suffered from hernia, died of a fever on March 7, 1724, and was buried on March 11. The Interregnum lasted two months and twenty-seven days.
The Conclave of 1724 began on March 20, with thirty-six cardinals in attendance. Innocent XIII had created only three new cardinals: his brother, Bernardo Maria dei Conti, Guillaume du Bois [d. 10 Aug. 1723], and Alessandro Albani; and so the membership of the Sacred College was substantially what it had been three years earlier. Parties formed in favor of Cardinal Piazzi, comprised of Italian nationalists, and in favor of Cardinal Cozzadini. Finally, on May 29, at the afternoon scrutiny, Piero Francesco Cardinal Orsini was elected with 52 votes (his own went to Cardinal Paolucci), taking the name Benedict XIII. The coronation took place on June 4 in the Vatican Basilica. On September 24, 1724, 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), 7-16; 37; 44-46. G. Moroni, Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica Vol. V (Venezia 1840) 9-11. Alexis François Artaud de Montor, Histoire des souverains Pontifes Romains, Volume VI (Paris 1851), pp. 332; 346-347.
