SEDE VACANTE

(August 29,1799 — March 14, 1800)

Cardinal Braschi-Onesti

      
Cardinal Gerdil                            Cardinal Maury                         Cardinal Herzan

In March, 1799, Pope Pius VI (Braschi), who had been deposed as ruler of the Papal States (which had been organized into the Roman Republic by the French) was living in retirement in the Carthusian Monastery at Florence (the Foresteria of the Certosa at Galluzzo, built by Boccacio's friend, Niccolò Acciaiuoli). He was without most of his attendants. Plans to rescue him provoked the French authorities to order his deportation to France. On March 28, he was removed, first to Turin and then to Briançon, and finally to Valence (July 13, 1799). There he died on August 29, a prisoner of the Directory. While living in Florence, he had considered the problem of electing a successor while Rome was in the hands of his enemies. When the Pope died, there was no Camerlengo in office. Carlo Card. Rezzonico, the incumbent, had died on January 26, 1799, and Pius VI had not appointed a successor.

Pius VI, however, had made plans. In an ordinance issued on November 13, 1798 [ Quum Nos, superiore anno ], the pope specified that the city where the largest number of cardinals was to be found at the time of his death was to be the scene of the subsequent election. Some cardinals had made for Naples, hoping to be free both of Austrian and French influence. But when a democratic revolution there forced the King to retire to Sicily, and a counter-revolution brought the King back and turned the country over to an orgy of vengeance presided over by Dionigio Cardinal Ruffo, the cardinals set sail for Venice. The Benedictine monastery of S. Giorgio was made available to the Dean of the Sacred College, Cardinal Albani, through the good offices of the Emperor in Vienna, who agreed to finance the Conclave and guaranteed its safety, since Austria was at the time in possession of Venice and much of the Po Valley.

On October 19, 1799, Romualdo Cardinal Braschi-Onesti assumed the functions of the Camerlengo during the Sede Vacante, being the late pope's nephew (but he was not appointed Camerlengo until Pius VII issued an Apostolic Brief to that effect on October 30, 1800). The traditional novendiales were held for the dead pope, concluding on October 31. Cardinal Maury (the only French cardinal at the conclave) wrote to Louis XVIII on October 26, 1799 that there was a radical party ("le parti des Jacobins") forming among the cardinals; he names Cardinals Zelada, Caprara, the two Dorias, Roverella, Vincenti, Dugnani and Rinnucini. By November 2, there were thirty-three cardinals assembled in Venice (Maury, letter to Louis XVIII of November 2; p. 248). Maury believed that they were dividing up into two factions, one supporting the seventy-eight year-old Cardinal Archetti, a successful papal diplomat in Poland and Russia; and the other favoring Giacinto Cardinal Gerdil, though he was already eighty-two years old (see also Maury's letter of November 16, p. 254). The voting indicates that Maury was quite wrong. Gerdil reached his maximum of fourteen votes on the morning of December 19, and quickly faded from favor; Archetti never had more than two votes. Maury reports as heresay that the Spanish were secretly supporting the candidacy of the seventy-eight year-old Andrea Cardinal Giovanetti, Archbishop of Bologna. There were forty-five cardinals at the time of Pope Pius VI's death, but due to the difficulties of the times only thirty-five were able to assemble in Venice for the Conclave (Maury, writing on the eve of the opening, p. 260-261). The ceremonies began on November 30, 1799

Also unable to reach Venice was the secretary of the College of Cardinals, Msgr. Negroni (detained in Rome due to the revolution that brought into being the First Roman Republic), who would have served as Secretary of the Conclave. In his place, a pro-Secretary was elected by the cardinals, Msgr. Ercole Consalvi, Auditor of the Sacred Roman Rota and Protonotary Apostolic, a protege of Henry Stuart, Cardinal York.. The Dean of the Sacred College, Giovanni Francesco Cardinal Albani, presided. Prince Chigi was the Marshal of the Holy Roman Church. Msgr. Caraffa was the Majordomo of His Holiness and governor of the conclave.

In a letter to King Louis XVIII of December 14, 1799, Cardinal Maury noted that Cardinal Herzan, the Austrian Emperor's agent, had arrived, and also mentioned his own belief that he had uncovered a scheme in which Cardinal Braschi was involved to make Cardinal Luigi Gonzaga-Valenti (favored by the Spanish) pope, with the office of Secretary of State going to Cardinal Ignacio Busca. Maury continued, however, to cast his vote for Bernardino Cardinal Honorati, at least until December 21, believing that Braschi had lost his senses. The Neapolitans, who were in occupation of Rome, constituted another factor: they were wary of any candidate favored by the Emperor in Vienna, for fear that this would lead to their ejection from the Papal States.

On December 28, Maury reports a conversation he had had with Cardinal Herzan (Maury, p. 285-286) in which the latter complained that Vienna wanted him to promote, instead of Bellisomi, the candidacy of Cardinal Mattei, who (as Herzan said) did not have three votes in his favor. Bellisomi continued to receive nineteen or twenty votes, and Herzan continued to explain that Mattei was acceptable to Vienna, Madrid and Naples. Working strenuously, Cardinal Antonelli managed at one point to pull together a few of his supporters, Herzan's few, some of Cardinal Gerdil's adherents, and a few from Bellisomi to produce thirteen votes for Cardinal Mattei, but the little faction immediately fell apart during the accessio. On January 4, 1800, Bellisomi's party, led by Braschi and Albani, still had its nineteen-votes. Braschi had had a confrontation with Herzan, and declared that Mattei would never be pope. On January 11, Cardinal Maury wrote to Louis XVIII that Bellisomi needed only five votes to win during many scrutinies. (Maury, 300) It was the same on the 18th, with Bellisomi fixed at nineteen and Mattei at ten (Maury. 302; in fact, Mattei had a consistent thirteen) On the 8th of February, "nos scrutins sont toujours les mêmes." On the 15th, "nos scrutins sont toujours uniformes. On n' y veut rien changer....," a situation which persisted on the 22nd. Cardinal Gerdil has left among his papers a tally sheet which gives the details of the votes from December 2 to January 14.

By then, however, it had been proposed that a commission should be appointed of members disagreeable to neither Mattei nor Bellisomi. After four days of discussion, he majority appointed Braschi and Albani, the minority Antonelli and Flangini. After two conferences, it was agreed that each side would name five acceptable soggetti, Bellisomi's party named Albani, Calcagnini, Honorati, Borgia and Chiaramonti; the opposition proposed Antonelli, Valenti, Giovanetti, Archetti, and Livizzani; each side would then prepare a list of the probable votes that each side would be likely to give to each of the ten soggetti; the two lists would be exchanged simultaneously (Maury, 332-334). The returns, however, were manipulative and failed in their intent—to identify a candidate on which both sides could agree. The minority offered not a single vote to any soggetto on the majority list.

On March 1, there was a sudden change in the deadlock. Four of Bellisomi's supporters announced their willingness to vote for Valenti. (Maury, 338-342) Valenti has been consistently receiving a small number of votes at every scrutiny, between three and eight. This offer embarassed Cardinal Antonelli considerably, who believed that he was the leader of the minority; he continued to campaign for Mattei. To compound embarassments, Cardinal Valenti, who was infirm, was appointed Scrutator at the next round of balloting, which consequently took more than an hour longer than usual and exposed the weaknesses of the recently spotlighted soggetto to a cruel scrutiny of a different sort. (Maury, p. 345). The weekly letter of March 8 began, "Le scrutin ne varie point, au milieu de tant d'efforts pour en changer la direction." The Dean of the Sacred College, Cardinal Albani, had a conference with Antonelli, at the conclusion of which it seemed that both sides would be able to agree on Cardinal Gerdil. But when the deal was taken to Cardinal Herzan to obtain the approval of the Emperor's representative, Herzan stated that Gerdil would receive a Veto (exclusiva) (Maury, 351-352; Consalvi, 255-258). At that point it seemed (to Maury) that the only cardinal on the majority side who could hope to secure votes was Guido Cardinal Calcagnini, bishop of Osimo, "ce sauvage virtueux", but Maury believed him to be unelectable. Nonetheless, Antonini approached Albani and Braschi with the proposal that they should make an effort to get him the votes, and for a time it looked as though they might succeed.

In a letter of Wednesday, March 12, Maury (pp. 360-371) informed King Louis that the conclave was in chaos. A special messenger had arrived from Madrid with authorization for Cardinal Lorenzana to cast a formal Veto (exclusiva) against Mattei. Suddenly Calcagnini's candidacy seemed highly viable, if not a certainty, though the fortunate man consulted Maury privately as to whether it was possible to refuse an election. Hauzan announced that he was by no means opposed, as Imperial minister, to Calcagnini's election, but as an individual he could not vote for him; this was a kiss of death (Consalvi, 260-261). Calcagnini had enemies, too, and it was apparent that he would not get their votes. His candidacy collapsed as quickly as it seemed certain to lead him to election. The minority was certainly in disarray, and three or four members began to talk seriously about Chiaramonti, the Bishop of Imola. Maury, too, thought that he would be a good choice. (Consalvi, 263-271). Consalvi and Maury thought it might be better to proceed through indirection. The matter of convincing the cardinals individually in favor of this new candidacy was entrusted to the Roman, Father Francesco Pinto Poloni, Maury's conclavist. Braschi was approached, and was friendly to the proposal, but he did not want to proceed without taking counsel with Cardinal Albani, the Dean of the College and a much respected participant in the conclave with considerable influence on a number of his colleagues. (Consalvi, 273, 284)

Another letter of Maury, written at noon on Friday, the 14th, raced to Louis XVIII with its news. On Wednesday evening, a portentous meeting took place, between Braschi and Antonelli. Cardinal Antonelli agreed to offer the majority all his votes in favor of Cardinal Chiaramonti (Consalvi, p. 274-277). Antonelli also approached Herzan, and convinced him of the merits of the plan, though Herzan asked for some time to consider; finally he agreed, though some of his friends, the older cardinals, had doubts (Consalvi, 278-280) The agreement became public by Thursday at the beginning of the scrutiny, and by evening it was obvious that Chiaramonti would be successful. The cardinals went in a group to kiss Chiaramonti's hand (Consalvi, 281-284).

On March 14, Gregorio Barnaba Cardinal Chiarimonti, Cardinal Priest of S. Callisto, was elected, taking the name Pius VII. The vote was unanimous. The Conclave had lasted three months and fourteen days, the vacancy six months and sixteen days. The coronation of the new Pope took place in Venice, before the doors of St. Mark's Basilica, on March 21, the Feast of St. Benedict, despite some hesitations, even from Pius VII himself, because appropriate representatives of various princes were not present (Maury, 378-379). The crown was placed on his head by Antonio Cardinal Doria-Pamfilj, the Cardinal Protodeacon.

Subsequent events indicate that there was much unhappiness in Rome and in Italy. It required the assistance of Austrian military forces to introduce the pope to his flock and send the Neapolitans (by which is meant the troops of the restored Ferdinand IV) back to Naples. The reappearance of General Bonaparte in Italy and the battle of Morengo (June 14, 1800) immensely complicated the situation. The Pope entered Rome on July 3, 1800.

 

There were no coins or medals to commemorate the proceedings of the Sede Vacante in Venice.

 

 

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