SEDE VACANTE 1740

February 6, 1740—August 17 , 1740

Cardinal Annibale 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). Annibale 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 this post he was finally ordained a priest in October of the same year. 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.

Pietro Cardinal Ottoboni was the Dean of the Sacred College and Bishop of Ostia and Velletri He left the conclave on February 25 and died of his illness on the 29th.

The Prefect of the Apostolic Palaces and Governor of the Conclave was Don Girolamo Colonna di Sciarra (1708-1763), a Roman noble, the younger brother of Cardinal Prospero Colonna. Their father was the 4th Prince of Carbognano. Don Girolamo was created Cardinal on September 9, 1743, and received the Diaconate of S. Angelo in Pescheria on December 2. He became Vice-Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church in 1753. He was Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church from 1756 until his death.

	AE SEDE • VACANTE The Arms of Prince Girolamo Colonna on a baroque-style shield, surmounted by a clerical hat with six tassels on each side.
	HIERONYM: | COLVMNA I S: PAL: APOST: | PRAEFECTVS | ET • CONCLAVIS | GVBERNATOR | MDCCXXXX Inscription of Prince Girolamo Colonna, Prefect of the Sacred Apostolic Palaces and Governor of the Conclaveh, 1740. Mazio-Jencius, 901. Spink —.

 

"L' origine de tant de médailles remonte à l'époque où le conclave se tenait toujours au palais du Vatican, et où l'on interdisait à tout le monde, pendant tout le temps de sa durée, l'entrée de la cité Léonine, c'est-à-dire du quartier appelé le Borgo. Alors tous ceux qui, soit pour leurs affaires, soit pour tout autre motif, devaient se rendre dans ce quartier du Borgo, étaient arretés en tête du pont Saint-Ange ou de tout autre pont communiquant avec le Vatican; on ne laissait passer que ceux qui étaient porteurs d'une médaille expressément frappée pendant la vacance du siége au nom de l'un des personnages nommés ci-dessus." X. Barbier de Montault, Le Conclave (Roma 1878) 19.

The Treasurer General of the Holy Roman Church and Prefect of the Castel Saint' Angelo was Monsignor Mario Bolognetti.

The Marshal of the Holy Roman Church was Prince Augusto Chigi.

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Death of Clement XII

Pope Clement XII Corsini had been blind since 1732, and was often bedridden. Government was in the hands of his nephew, Neri Maria Cardinal Corsini (r.), who was not particularly competent. The papacy managed to offend the Emperor Charles VI, Philip V of Spain, and Naples. Clement died on February 6, 1740, at 9:30 a.m., lucid to the end. The Conclave of 1740 was a long and contentious one. There were 68 cardinals at the death of Clement XII, though four of them died during the Sede Vacante.

Leaders and Favorites

At the opening of the Conclave, on February 18, 1740, there were thirty-two cardinals in attendance. Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, the Dean of the Sacred College, sang the Mass of the Holy Spirit in St. Peter's (De Brosses, Lettre LI, p. 417). The 'Zelanti' were led by Cardinals Ruffo and Petra. (Cardinal Ruffo's conclavist was Father Giovanni Angelo Braschi, the future pope Pius VI.) Cardinal Niccolò del Giudice (born at Naples) was the head of the Imperial interest, along with Cardinal Sigismund Kollonitz of Vienna. The Emperor did not want a Spanish-leaning pope, and the Spanish did not want an Imperialist. Cardinal Pierre de Tencin represented the French inside the conclave, and the Duc de Saint-Aignan was the French Ambassador (though he was just reassigned to be governor of Burgundy); both were in touch with Cardinal Fleury at Versailles and with the Foreign Minister Jean-Jacques Amelot de Chaillon (1737-1744), but they were struggling with each other over influence and credit. The early favorite was Cardinal Ottoboni, the Dean of the Sacred College (nephew of Pope Alexander VIII), but his death on February 28 ended his chances. It also ended the chances for an early election, since Ottoboni's votes had to find other candidates, and there were many, with no obvious alternative.

According to Boutry (176-177), the conclave began with two large factions, the younger cardinals and the older cardinals. Neither was confident enough to begin putting forth serious candidates (soggetti). Tencin believed it to be his task to keep Albani and Acquaviva together, so that the Camerlengo could influence the actions of Cardinal Neri Corsini, the Papal Nephew. Tencin had remarked some time earlier in a letter to Louis XV that Corsini had enough supporters to exclude anyone he chose, and that he would also be necessary to someone who wanted to be elected (Boutry, 180). Secret French instructions to Tencin recommended Cardinals Bartolomeo Massei (Bishop of Ancona, former Nuncio to France), then Spinola, followed by Corio (of Milan, Governor of Rome), Sacripanti and Aldrovandi. Those cardinals to be excluded were Ruffo, Coscia, Petra, Mosca, Gentile, and Passerini (Boutry, 180-181). But Cardinal Fleury had also given instructions not to employ the formal exclusiva, .despite Tencin's judgment that it should be used on Ruffo or Gentile.

Cardinal Troiano Acquaviva d'Aragona, the representative of the Neapolitan Bourbons and the Spanish Crown (Novaes, 8), kept his own counsel during the proceedings, and declined to cooperate with the designs of the French and the Spanish Bourbons. He did, however, provide the ultimate resolution.

Corsini promoted his soggeti, one after the other. Spinola had his chance, and Porzia, and Ruffo (a favorite of the Zelanti), and Cenci, none of whom made any great impression. But with each attempt, Corsini lost more of his influence with the other cardinals. But finally the more recent cardinals promoted the candidacy of Cardinal Corio, the Governor of Rome. He managed to reach twenty-six votes, but the assistance of Cardinal Acquaviva was not (as expected) forthcoming, and his candidacy was suspended (Boutry, 212).

Late Arrivals

On March 13, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Altieri, the Cardinal Bishop of Palestrina died. Cardinal Lambertini (of Bologna, Bishop of Ancona) entered the conclave on March 5; Cardinal Kollnitz (Vienna), Mosca and Lanfredini (Vicar General of Rome) entered on March 8; D'Elci (Ferrara) on March 20; Marini (Legate in the Romagna) on the 21st; Rohan (Strasbourg) on the 23rd; Lercari, Belluga and de la Tour d'Auvergne (Vienne) by the 27th; followed by Cenci (Benevento). Zinzendorff (Breslau) and Valenti Gonzaga (Legate in Bologna) appear in the voting lists on April 18, and Cibo (Patriarch of Constantinople) on the 20th. Cardinal Zinzendorff had been in Rome for well over a month, suffering from gout, but according to a report of Cardinal Ferrero to the King of Sardinia on April 16 (Petruccelli, 118-119), he would not enter into conclave until the conclave allowed him to bring live pigs into the restricted area, The entrails of a freshly slaughtered pig were part of the prescription for his treatment. Zinzendorff swore that he would not enter conclave until the day the pope was to be elected. He finally gave in on April 23.

Impasse

March and April passed, with no movement on any front. Personal mutual dislike of Tencin and Cardinal Acquaviva made it difficult to unite the French and Spanish factions. Cardinal Corsini himself, who was finding the conclave to be extremely trying, since he was without his female friends and luxuries, was bored and irascible, and easily fell prey to Cardinal Tencin's manipulations (dispatch of 'Walton', April 24 and May 1; Petruccelli, 120-121), as well as to the advice of his friends Alessandro Albani and Domenico Riviera Petruccelli, 120-121). At the end of May there were 55 cardinals in the conclave, of whom 44 were Italians. Thirty-seven votes were needed to elect. Cardinal Serafino Cenci died on June 24. Two others, Cardinals Lorenzo Altieri and Leandro di Porzia, left the Conclave because of illness.

Various names were put forward. Cardinal Domenico Riviera (of Urbino, a curial cardinal) reached seventeen votes at one point, but nobody really wanted him as pope, since his morals were not entirely blameless. Cardinal Corradini, one of the 'old cardinals' (a creature of Clement XI from 1712), explained to Tencin that the only cardinal in the Corsini faction who was in the least acceptable to the Clementine and Benedictine creatures was Cardinal Antonio Gentili (a Roman, the Papal Datary) (Boutry, 202) Unfortunately, Gentili was among the 'unacceptable' cardinals, as enumerated by Fleury, and so Tencin, who had been against Gentili but was now considering him seriously, had to write to Fleury for revised instructions. In the meantime, Tencin would stall.

In mid-June an agreement between Acquaviva and Lambertini produced the name of Cardinal Giuseppe Firrao (a Neapolitan, Bishop of Aversa). Corradini and Annibale Albani offered 24 votes. Tencin was approached and agreed to supply his votes. This might make 48 votes. Cardinal del Giudice was approached to find out what the Imperial faction would do; he asked for 48 hours to think about it. During the night del Giudice met with Tencin and told him to stop supporting someone who was disfavored by the Emperor. Tencin withdrew from his committment. Firrao's chances were ruined (Petruccelli, 126-127, quoting a letter of Cardinal Corsini to Paluzzi, intended for the eyes of the Duke of Modena).

Then, at the suggestion of Tencin to Corsini, perhaps as many as fifteen voters put forward Cardinal Pier Marcello Corradini himself, but his age (82) was against him. This was not a real candidacy, in fact, but a ruse of Tencin, to get Cardinal Acquaviva to use his Spanish veto (Petruccelli, 123-124).

Aldovrandi versus Lanfredini

By the first of July a group of thirty-one voters, including both Spanish and French interests, led by Cardinal Corsini, coalesced around Cardinal Pompeio Aldrovandi of Bologna, Bishop of Montefiascone and Corneto. But Cardinal Albani, the Camerlengo, a personal enemy of Corsini. led another faction of around twenty votes, which pressed for Cardinal Giacomo de Lanfredini (of Florence, a curial cardinal). Albani and Aldrovandi had a long-standing distaste for each other, but an attempt to patch it up failed. (Petruccelli, 128) They excluded each other. Cardinal Aldovrandini hovered at around 31 votes for six weeks. On August 11, he reached 33 votes, but could not find the one vote needed to make himself pope. Tencin complained that they would be in the conclave for ten years. Corradini replied that he would not last ten years, but would live long enough to defeat Aldrovandi. (Petruccelli, 129) On August 16, Aldrovandi wrote to Cardinal Corsini, asking him to withdraw his name from further consideration.

The Election of Lambertini

The Camerlengo, seeing Aldovrandi and Corsini so close to victory in July and early August, had demanded that Del Giudice give serious consideration to the possibility of Lambertini, which he finally agreed to. Del Giudice spoke to Rohan (Petruccelli, 130). On the day after his birthday, the Camerlengo had a conversation with Cardinal Kollowitz in which he remarked that, if the Corsini party would drop Aldrovandi, then there might be a way through, and that if the crowns wanted to propose Lambertini, a number of his cardinals might be willing. Acquaviva, Del Giudice and Rohan were consulted and they agreed. Corsini was consulted, but he remained stubbornly against Lambertini. But several of his cardinals were willing to switch. Finally, however, he accepted the inevitability of the candidacy and informed his voters; some thought that a virtual veto should be attempted, but Corsini did not have the energy or determination for such a move. When Lambertini was told of the frantic negotiations, he was astonished, suspecting that another Bolognese was about to be hung. Finally, realizing that the discussions were serious, he returned to his cell, where Corsini and Tencin briefed him on what was happening. Soon the other cardinals joined them, to kiss Lambertini's hand. The next day he was elected pope. (Petruccelli, 131-132)

Another version of events has it that, a fter many weeks of inconclusive balloting, in the heat of the Roman summer, with masses in Roman churches 'for the election of a Pope', and a three-day service to the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Conclave, one of the electors, Cardinal Troiano Acquaviva di Aragon, proposed his old friend Cardinal Lambertini, the archbishop of Bologna.

Fifty-one cardinals participated in the final ballot on August 17; fifty voted for Lambertini (this was the result after the accessio, of course), while he voted for Aldovrandi. After the election ceremonies were concluded, he went to the cell of Cardinal Corsini, where he ate and gave audience. He offered the position of Secretary of State to Cardinal Corsini, who refused. He then appointed Cardinal Valenti Gonzaga.(Petruccelli, 132).

The election of Prospero Lorenzo Cardinal Lambertini (Pope Benedict XIV) came as a surprise, it is said. He was crowned in the Vatican Basilica on August 22, 1740, by Cardinal Carlo Maria Marini, the Cardinal Protodeacon; and on April 30, 1741 he took possession of the Lateran Basilica.