SEDE VACANTE 1829
(February 10, 1829—March 31, 1829)
Pietro Cardinal Galeffi
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SEDE VACANTE MDCCCXXIX Arms of Pietro Francesco Card. Galeffi, Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, surmounted by the Ombrellone, crossed keys, and the Cardinal's Hat with fifteen tassels on each side. Above, the Holy Spirit and rays of light. Berman, p. 207 #3263. |
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SEDE • VACAN TE • MDCCCXXIX Arms of Pietro Francesco Card. Galeffi, Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, surmounted by the Ombrellone, crossed keys, and the Cardinal's Hat with fifteen tassels on each side. The Holy Spirit above. Berman, p. 208 #3263. |
Camerlengo
Born in 1770 at Cesena, a relative of Pope Pius VI, Pietro Francesco Galeffi was created cardinal on July 11, 1803. He was deported to France in 1809 along with Pope Pius VII; in 1810 he was exiled to Sedan, and only able to return to Italy after Napoleon's exile. He became Archpriest of S. Pietro in Vaticano and Prefect of the Congregation of the Fabric of St. Peter's in 1820, as well as Bishop of Albano. In 1830 he exchanged Albano for Porto-Santa Rufina-Civitavecchia. On December 20, 1824, he became Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, a post which he held until his death on June 18, 1837.
Msgr. Mario Mattei (1792-1870) was Reverendae Camerae Apostolicae Thesaurius Generalis (Papal Treasurer) at the time of the conclaves of 1829 and 1830-31. He became a cardinal deacon on July 2, 1832 In 1843 he was named Archpriest and president of the Sacred Congregation of the Reverenda Fabbrica di S. Pietro. He became Cardinal Bishop of Frascati in 1844, was translated to Porto and Sta. Rufina in 1854, and became Bishop of Ostia in 1860. He was Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals from 1860 until his death on October 7, 1870.
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AVGVSTINVS | PRINCEPS | CHISIVS | S • R • E • | MARESCHALLVS | PERPETVVS | MDCCCXXIX |
Prince Agostino Chigi (d. 1855) was the Marshal of the Holy Roman Church during both interregna, as he had been in 1823. The Prince's diary for the years 1830-1855, Il tempo di Papa-Re, survives, providing some interesting background information on the agonized death of Pope Pius VIII, the Interregnum, and the Conclave of 1831. There were conspiracies and revolts against the papal government in a number of Italian cities, including Rome.
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Crossed keys, surmounted by Ombrellone. |
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BENEDIC CAPELLETTI PRAEF• VR• ET VICE-CAMERARIVS |
The Governor of Rome (and therefore chief of police) during the two conclaves of 1829-1831 was Msgr. Benedetto Cappelletti (1764-1834). A Benedictine of Monte Cassino, he was essentially a civil and legal administrator, having begun his career in the Apostolic Signatura. He served as papal governor in Viterbo, Macerata (1822), Urbino (1823), and Pesaro. He became governor of the city of Rome in 1829, and held that post until he was named a Cardinal by Gregory XVI on July 2, 1832 as Cardinal Priest of San Clemente. He was named Bishop of Rieti in 1833, and died there the next year.
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AE Arms of the Commune di Roma. surmounted by a crown, with flags and weapons behind. Inscription S.P.Q.R. on bend across the shield. |
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MDCCCXXIX • SEDE VACANTE O(doardus) DE' CINQUE P(aulus) CARANDINI } COSS P(aulus) MARTINEZ P(hilippus) PATRIZI.C(ivitatis) R(omae) P(atricius) The three governing Conservatori, Patricians of Rome Mazio, 909. Spink, #2141. |
cf. R. De Cesare, Il conclavo di Leone XIII , p 277. The Fasti Consulares Capitolini are printed by
Vincenzo Forcella, Inscrizioni delle Chiese e d' altri edificii di Roma Volume I (Roma 1869) 20.
Death of the Pope
Early maneuvering
In a dispatch to the French Foreign Minister, Comte Portalis, on February 17, 1829, the French Ambassador Ordinary in Rome, the Vicomte de Chateaubriand, reported a conversation which he had had with the Papal Secretary of State, Cardinal Bernetti, on February 13 (Chateaubriand, 2-9). Four cardinals appeared to have the early favor of popular opinion: Capellari, Pacca, di Gregorio, and Giustiniani.
It is important to the Diplomatic Body, and especially to the French Ambassador, that the Secretary of State in Rome should be a man of ready intercourse and accustomed to the affairs of Europe. Cardinal Bernetti is the minister who suits us best in every respect; he has committed himself on our behalf with the Zelanti, and the members of the lay congregations; we are bound to wish that he should be re-employed by the next Pope. I asked him with which of the four cardinals he would have most chance of returning to power. He answered: 'With Capellari.'
...Cardinal Pacca is very much enfeebled by age, and his memory, like that of the Senior Cardinal, La Somaglia, is beginning to fail him entirely.
Cardinal di Gregorio would be a suitable Pope. Although he ranks among the Zelanti, he is not without moderation; he thrusts back the Jesuits, who have as many adversaries and enemies here as in France. Neapolitan subject though he be, Cardinal Di Gregorio is rejected by Naples, and still more by Cardinal Albani, the executor of the high decrees of Austria....
The cardinals favourable to the Jesuits are Giustiniani, Odescalchi, Pedicini and Bertalozzi. The cardinals opposed to the Jesuits, owing to different causes and different circumstances, are Zurla, Di Gregorio, Bernetti, Capellari and Micara.
On February 28, the Consular Agent in Rome of the Duke of Modena, Ceccopieri, wrote to his Foreign Minister, the Marquis Molza (Bianchi, 429-430)
Tre cardinali sono stati sopra gli altri distincti in questi giorni dai loro eminentissimi colleghi e col maggior numero de' loro voti pel papato nella ballotazione, questi sono Pacca, Gamberini, e De Gregorio. Dicesi però che De Gregorio abbia l' esclusiva della Francia, e contro Pacca dicesi essersi molto adoperato il cardinale Zurla, il quale ha posto in vista dei votanti che quel cardinale pottrebe forse non essere immeritevole di soglio, ma che le persone che lo circodano sono forse di peggiore, o per lo meno di eguale calibro a quelle che circondavano Leone XII.
On the morning of February 23, Cardinal Somaglia celebrated the Mass of the Holy Spirit in St. Peter's; that afternoon, thirty-two cardinals assembled at S. Silvestro, sang the Veni Creator, and marched in procession to the Quirinale Palace, where they were joined by five others. On February 27, three more cardinals entered conclave: Tommaso Arezzo (bishop of Sabina), Giuseppe Morozzo (bishop of Novara), and Vicenzo Macchi (the Apostolic Legate in Ravenna); that evening Cardinal Ruffo of Naples arrived; he entered the Conclave on March 2. On the 3rd Carlo Cardinal Gaysruck arrived from Milan. Giuseppe Cardinal Albani arrived on the same day, with Austrian instructions, and subsequently Cardinal Giuseppe Firrao On the 12th of March de Latil (Rheims), and on the 13th de la Fare (grand-nephew of Cardinal Bernis), and d'Isoard (Auch) entered conclave after a thorough briefing from Chateaubriand (Chateaubriand, 22-23):
We have agreed that they should support the candidates of whom I have already spoken to you, namely, Cardinals Capellari, Oppizzoni, Benvenuti, Zurla, Castiglioni, and lastly, Pacca and Di Gregorio; and that they should reject the Cardinals of the Sardinian faction: Pedicini, Giustiniani, Galleffi, and Cristaldi.
The French cardinals had, of course, also been instructed by the Comte Portalis, the French Foreign Minister, before they left Paris. He provided them with a memorandum which embodied the thinking of King Charles X, advising the cardinals to associate themselves with the Zelanti and resist the efforts of the Austrians (Bianchi, 422-430). King Charles maintained a high opinion of Cardinal Castiglione, Cardinal De Gregorio, Cardinal Brancadoro, and Cardinal Zurla. The leader of the Zelanti, Cardinal Carlo Odescalchi, Prefect of the Congregation of Bishops and Religious, was vigorous in resisting any cardinal proposed by the Crowns.
Balloting
In the first ballot, Cardinal Castiglione received 11 votes, Cardinal Pacca 10, Cardinal de Gregorio 9, and Cardinal Cappellari 7.
On March 7, Crosa, the Sardinian Ambassador in Rome, wrote to Turin (Bianchi, 430-431) that De Gregorio had obtained 24 votes, only four short of election, and that he was being favored by the Ambassadors of France and Spain, probably to stop the Austrians. Cardinal Albani, who had entered the Conclave that day was a personal enemy of De Gregorio, which would affect the latter's chances (Buckingham, 98). Crosa wrote again on March 12 that the Minister of Naples had managed to have smuggled into the Conclave a memorial which denounced De Gregorio for personal laxity as well as political indulgence toward liberal ideas.
In early March a minor scandal erupted; two conclavists were expelled from the Conclave and sent to the Castel S. Angelo for leaking the news that Cardinal De Gregorio was going to be elected within two days. On March 12, the Consul of Modena wrote (Bianchi, 430):
Sono stati espulsi dal Conclave, e rinchiusi nelle prigioni un conclavista (e credo quello del cardinale Ruffo Scilla) ed un facchino. Costoro, ad onta dei giuramento di segretezza, e dal quale sono tutti legati nel porre il piede nel conclave, aveano fatto ben chiaramente conoscere che il cardinale De Gregorio sin da due giorni a questa parte sarebbe stato eletto papa. Tale elezione però è andata in fumo anch'essa per essere entrato il cardinale Albani.
The French Cardinal de Clermont-Tonnerre entered the conclave on March 28. He had with him written instructions from Chateaubriand (32-33):
... Now it is impossible to allow the elevation to the Soverign Pontificate of a cardinal openly belonging to a crown, whether it be the crown of France or any other. Consequently, Monseigneur, I charge you, by virtue of my full powers as His Most Christian Majesty's Ambassador, and taking all the responsibility upon myself alone, to give the exclusion to M. the Cardinal Albani, if, one the one hand, by a fortuitous juncture, or, on the other, by a secret combination, he should come to obtain the majority of the suffrages.
The Election
At the scrutiny on the morning of March 31, Castiglione had 28 votes, de Gregorio 15, Cappellari 4. and Somaglia, Giustiniani and Fransoni one each; the second part of the voting, called the accessio, brought Castiglione 8 more votes, de Gregorio and Somaglia five each, and Giustiniani one. Though Castiglione barely had his two-thirds, another vote was ordered, and he thereupon received 47 votes. Francesco Cardinal Castiglione was elected, with the support of Cardinal Albani and the Austrian interest. He took the name Pius VIII, and named Cardinal Albani as his Secretary of State.
Prince Clemens von Metternich supplied his information about the election to his friend Count Tatischeff on April 6, 1829:
"He was elected at first by a majority of thirty-six; a slight error having appeared in the ballot, Cardinal Castiglione insisted on a fresh one. In this he obtained forty-seven votes—that is to say, almost unanimity. We had placed him at the head of those who would be desirable as Pontiffs. The French Cardinals joined our Cardinals. M. de Chateaubriand, on the contrary, patronised Gregorio.
The new Pope has given Gregorio the post of Grand Pénetencier, which he had just left; and nominated Albani State Secretary. Chateaubriand, in consequence, will have absolution. "
The Sede Vacante had lasted 49 days; the Conclave, which began on February 23, took 36 days. Fifty-one cardinals participated, seven were absent. Pius VIII was crowned in the Vatican Basilica on April 5. On Sunday, May 24, 1830, the Pope took possession of his cathedral church, S. Giovanni Laterano. Concerning the new pope, Chateaubriand noted (31):
Pius VIII is very learned, especially in matters of theology; he speaks French, but with less facility and grace than Leo XII. He is attacked on the right side with partial paralysis, and is subject to convulsive movements: the supreme power will cure him.
Bibliography
An extensive, but discreet account of the Conclave of 1829 is given by Chevalier Alexis François Artaud de Montor, who was a well-informed eyewitness, in his Histoire du Pape Pie VIII (Paris 1844), pages 34-61. The French Ambassador to Rome, the Vicomte de Chateaubriand, wrote extensively in his celebrated Memoires d' outre-tombe about the conclave of 1829, as a person who knew intimately all the participants and witnessed the events personally: The Memoirs of François René Vicomte de Chateaubriand (translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos) Volume VI (London: Freemantle 1902) 1-49. Chateaubriand, however, nursed many grudges, not the least of which was against Comte Portalis, who paid little attention to him and did not make him Ambassador Extraordinary to the Conclave. Richard, Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, was in Rome during the conclave, and was in a position to hear a certain amount of information and gossip:The Private Diary of Richard, Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, K.G. Volume III (London 1862), 70-127.
See also: G. Moroni, Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica Vol 53 (Venezia 1846) p. 175-176 F. Petruccelli della Gattina, Histoire diplomatique des conclaves Volume 4 (Paris: 1866) 366-390 Memoirs of Prince Metternich (1815-1829) (edited by Prince Richard Metternich) (translated by Mrs. Alexander Napier) Volume IV (New York 1881) p. 617. See also: Lucius Lector [Joseph Guthlin], Le Conclave (Paris 1894), 491-494 (Cardinal Albani had authorization to use a veto against Cardinal di Gregorio, but he did not need to use it). Nicomede Bianchi, Storia documentata della diplomazia europea in Italia Volume II (Torino 1865).
