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SEDE VACANTE

1846

June 1, 1846—June 16, 1846

CAMERLENGO

TOMMASO CARDINAL RIARIO SFORZA (1782-1857), Patrician of Naples, was born at Naples, the tenth child and youngest son of Nicola Riario Sforza, third Duca Riario Sforza, sixth Marchese di Corleto, etc.; and Giovanna di Somma, daughter of Don Gennaro, seventh Principe del Colle, eighth Marchese di Circello. Tommaso was named Governor of the papal territory of Macerata in 1814. In 1816 he became Prefect of the Papal Household. He was created Cardinal Deacon of S. Giorgio in Velabro on March 10, 1823, and finally ordained priest on September 28 at the age of 41. As a cardinal he participated in the Conclaves of 1823, 1829, 1831 and 1846. In January 1843 he became Prefect of the Congregation on Good Government. He was named Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church on April 3, 1843, a post which he held until his death on March 14, 1857. [His medal: Mazio #915]

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The Dean of the College of Cardinals was Cardinal Luigi Micara. He had been created a cardinal by Leo XII in pectore in December of 1824, and was proclaimed on March 13, 1826. He was assigned the titular church of SS. Quattro Coronati. He served as Prefect of the SC of Rites, and then as Prefect of the SC of Ceremonies. In 1837 he was promoted to be Suburbicarian Bishop of Frascati, and in 1844 to be Dean of the Sacred College and Suburbicarian Bishop of Ostia e Velletri. He died on May 24, 1847.

The Governor of the Conclave was Msgr. Alerame Pallavicini, Maggiordomo de' Sacri Palazzi Apostolici.

The Marshal of the Conclave was Prince Agostino Chigi, Mareschallus Perpetuus Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae

Msgr. Pietro Marini, was born in Rome in 1794. He was educated at the Roman Seminary and the Roman University La Sapienza , taking a degree in Canon and Civil Law. Most of his career was in posts associated with the legal administration of the Papal States or the Church, the Apostolic Segnatura and the Roman Rota. He was nominated Prefect of the City of Rome, and thus head of the police force, on April 22, 1845, and installed on April 28. . At the time of the Conclave, he was also Vice-Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church. He was created Cardinal Deacon on December 21, 1846 in Pius IX's first consistory, and received the deaconry of S. Nicola in Carcere. He died in 1863 (See Marini, Pietro Cardinal Marini,. pp. 35-48)

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Pope Gregory XVI died on June 1, at 9:15 a.m., according to Prince Chigi (Diario del Principe Don Agostino Chigi [Tolentino 1906], 175): "Il Papa ieri cominciò a peggiorare fortissimamente, essendosegli caricato il petto, ed il tracollo è andato precipitosamente sempre crescendo nella notte, talmente che questa mattina alle 13,15 italiane (ossia 9,15 di Francia) è passato all' altra vita."

The Cardinals

Cardinals attending:

A list of the Cardinals who participated in the Coronation is given in L' ami de la réligion, p. 29. Cardinal Giacomo Monico, the Patriarch of Venice had arrived by then. The name of Cardinals Mai and Bernetti are omitted. Bernetti's gout was well-known.

1. Luigi Micara (aged 71), OFM Cap, Suburbicarian Bishop of Ostia e Velletri (died May 24, 1847). Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals.
2. Vicenzo Macchi (aged 75), Suburbicarian Bishop of Porto e Santa Rufina (died September 30, 1860).
3. Luigi Lambruschini (aged 70), Suburbicarian Bishop of Sabina (died May 12, 1854).
4. Pietro Ostini (aged 71), Suburbicarian Bishop of Albano (died April 4, 1849).
5. Castruccio Castracane degli Antelminelli (aged 66), Suburbicarian Bishop of Palestrina (died February 22, 1852).
6. Mario Mattei (aged 53), Suburbicarian Bishop of Frascati (died October 7, 1870), Archpriest of the Vatican Basilica.
   
   
7. Carlo Oppizzoni (aged 77), Cardinal Priest of S. Lorenzo in Lucina (died April 13, 1855). Archbishop of Bologna.
8. Giacomo Filippo Fransoni (aged 70), Cardinal Priest of S. Maria in Ara Coeli (died April 20, 1856) Prefect of the SC de propaganda fide.
9. Benedetto Colonna Barberini di Sciarra (aged 57), Cardinal Priest of S. Maria in Trastevere (died April 10 1863).
10. Francesco Serra-Cassano (aged 63), Cardinal Priest of Ss. XII Apostoli (died August 17, 1850). Archbishop of Capua
11. Ugo Pietro Spinola (aged 55), Cardinal Priest of S. Martino ai Monti (died January 21, 1858) Pro-Datary of Gregory XVI .
12. Luigi Brignole (aged 49), Cardinal Priest of S. Cecilia (died June 23, 1853).
13. Costantinio Patrizi Naro (aged 47), Cardinal Priest of S. Silvestro in Capite (died December 17, 1876). Vicar-General of Rome, Archpriest of the Liberian Basilica (S. Maria Maggiore).
14. Giuseppe Alberghini (aged 75), Cardinal Priest of S. Prisca (died September 30, 1847).
15. Paolo Polidori (aged 68), Cardinal Priest of S. Prassede (died April 23, 1847).
16. Ambrogio Bianchi, OSB Cam.(aged 74), Cardinal Priest of SS. Andrea e Gregorio al Monte Celio (died March 3, 1856). Prior-General of the Camaldolese Congregation
17. Gabriele Della Genga Sermattei (aged 45), Cardinal Priest of S. Girolamo dei Croati (died February 10, 1861). Legate in Urbino and Pisa.
18. Luigi Amat di San Filippo e Sorso (aged 50), Cardinal Priest of S. Maria in Via (died March 30, 1878). Legate in Ravenna.
19. Angelo Mai (aged 64), Cardinal Priest of S. Anastasia (died September 9, 1854). Prefect of the S.C. of the Index.
20. Giovanni Soglia Ceroni (aged 66), Cardinal Priest of SS. Quattro Coronati (died August 12, 1856). Bishop of Osimo.
21. Chiarissimo Falconnieri-Mellini (aged 51), Cardinal Priest of S. Marcello (died August 22, 1859). Archbishop of Ravenna.
22. Antonio Francesco Orioli, OFM Conv. (aged 67), Cardinal Priest of S. Maria sopra Minerva (died February 20, 1852).
23. Antonio Tosti (aged 69), Cardinal Priest of S. Pietro in Montorio (died March 20, 1866).
24. Giuseppe Mezzofanti (aged 71), Cardinal Priest of S. Onofrio (died March 15, 1849).
25. Filippo De Angelis (aged 54), Cardinal Priest of S. Bernardo alle Terme (died July 8, 1877). Archbishop of Fermo.
26. Gabriele Ferretti (51), Cardinal Priest of SS. Quirico e Giulitta (died September 13, 1860) .
27. Charles Acton (aged 43), Cardinal Priest of S. Maria della Pace (died June 23, 1847).
28. Ferdinando Maria Pignatelli (aged 76), Cardinal Priest of S. Maria della Vittoria (died April 10, 1853). Archbishop of Palermo.
29. Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti (aged 54), Cardinal Priest of Ss. Marcellino e Pietro (died February 7, 1878). Archbishop-Bishop of Imola.
30. Gaspare Bernardo Pianetti (aged 66), Cardinal Priest of S. Sisto (died January 30, 1862). Bishop of Viterbo and Toscanella.
31. Luigi Vannicelli-Casoni (aged 45), Cardinal Priest of S. Callisto (died April 21, 1877).Legate in Bologna.
32. Lodovico Altieri (aged 40), Cardinal Priest of S. Maria in Portico (died August 11, 1867).
33. Tommaso Gizzi (aged 58), Cardinal Priest of S. Pudenziana (died June 3, 1849). Legate in Forlì.
34. Cosimo Corsi (aged 48), Cardinal Priest of Ss. Giovanni e Paolo (died October 7, 1870) Bishop of Jesi.
35. Antonio Maria Cadolini (aged 75), Cardinal Priest of S. Clemente (died August 1, 1851). Bishop of Ancona.
36. Fabio Maria Asquini (aged 33), Cardinal Priest of S. Stefano al Monte Celio (died December 22, 1878).
37. Antonio Maria Cagiano de Azevedo (aged 48), Cardinal Priest of S. Croce in Gerusalemme (died January 13, 1867). Bishop of Senigaglia.
38. Nicola Clarelli Parracciani (aged 47), Cardinal Priest of S. Pietro in Vincoli (died July 7, 1872). Bishop of Montefiascone and Corneto.
39. Domenico Caraffa di Traetto (aged 40), Cardinal Priest of S. Maria degli Angeli (died June 17, 1879). Archbishop of Benevento.
40. Lorenzo Simonetti (aged 57), Cardinal Priest of S. Lorenzo in Panisperna (died January 9, 1855).
41. Giacomo Piccolomini (aged 50), Cardinal Priest of S. Balbina (died August 17, 1861) .
42. Sisto Riario Sforza (aged 35), Cardinal Priest of S. Sabina (died September 29, 1877). Archbishop of Naples.
    
    
43. Tommaso Riario Sforza (aged 64), Cardinal Deacon of S. Maria in Via Lata (died March 14, 1857) .
44. Tommaso Bernetti (aged 66), Cardinal Deacon of S. Lorenzo in Damaso (died March 21, 1852).
45. Ludovico Gazzoli (aged 72), Cardinal Deacon of S. Eustachio (died February 12, 1858) .
46. Adriano Fieschi (aged 58), Cardinal Deacon of S. Maria ad Martyres (died February 6, 1858).
47. Luigi Ciacchi (aged 80)), Cardinal Deacon of S. Angelo in Pescheria (died December 17, 1865)).
48. Giuseppe Ugolini (aged 63), Cardinal Deacon of S. Adriano al Foro (died December 19, 1867).
49. Francesco Saverio Massimo (aged 40), Cardinal Deacon of S. Maria in Domnica (January 11, 1848).
50. Giovanni Serafini (aged 59), Cardinal Deacon of S. Maria in Cosmedin (died February 1, 1855).

Cardinals not attending:

1. Karl Kajetan Gaisruck (aged 76), Cardinal Priest of S. Marco (died November 19, 1846) Archbishop of Milan
2. Francisco Javier de Cienfuegos y Jovellanos (aged 70), Cardinal Priest of S. Maria del Popolo (died ) Archbishop of Seville.
3. Giacomo Monico (aged 69), Cardinal Priest of SS. Nereo ed Achilleo (died April 25, 1851) Patriarch of Venice.
4. Placido Maria Tadini, O.Carm. (aged 86), Cardinal Priest of S. Maria in Traspontina (died November 22, 1847). Archbishop of Genoa.
5. Engelbert Sterckx (aged 53), Cardinal Priest of S. Bartolomeo all’Isola (died December 4, 1867). Archbishop of Mechelen
6. Hugues-Robert-Jean-Charles de La Tour d'Auvergne-Lauraguais (aged 77), Cardinal Priest of S. Agnese fuori le mure (died July 20, 1851) Bishop of Arras.
7. Louis-Jacques-Maurice de Bonald (aged 58), Cardinal Priest of Santissima Trinità al Monte Pincio (died February 25, 1870). Archbishop of Lyon.
8. Friedrich Johannes Jacob Celestin von Schwarzenberg (aged 37), Cardinal-Priest of S. Agostino (died March 27, 1885). Archbishop of Salzburg.
9. Francesco di Paola Villadicani (aged 66, Cardinal Priest of Ss. Bonifacio ed Alessio (died June 13, 1861). Archbishop of Messina.
10. Ignazio Giovanni Cadolini (aged 51), Cardinal Priest of S. Susanna (died April 11, 1850). Archbishop of Ferrara
11. Guilhermo Enrique de Carvalho (aged 53), Cardinal Priest without titulus (died November 15, 1857). Patriarch of Lisbon.
12. Joseph Bernet (aged 75), Cardinal Priest without titulus (died July 5, 1846). Archbishop of Aix.

Preliminaries

The novendiales began in St. Peter's on June 5. On the 9th, the Ministers of France, Russia and Naples were received by the Sacred College, and on the 10th the Minister of Hannover. Count Lutzow was representing Austria, Count Castillo Spain, Count di Broglio Sardinia, Count Ludolf Naples, and Count Pellegrino Rossi France. On the 13, the last of the masses was sung and the Funeral Oration pronounced. The leading candidate was Cardinal Luigi Lambruschini, who had been installed as Gregory XVI's Secretary of State under pressure of and with the support of Prince Metternich; he was widely known to be the Austrian candidate. His equally conservative nemesis, Cardinal Tommaso Bernetti, was supported by the Prussians and Russians. The French Ambassador, Count Pellegrino Rossi, chose therefore (in the absence of instructions from Paris) to oppose Lambruschini and to support Cardinals Gizzi, Falconieri, Micara, and Soglia, the moderates and liberals (see Ceccaroni, 32). Lambruschini's chief supporter, Cardinal Mattei, in a pre-conclave effort to stampede the electors, made known to Rossi that Lambruschini had twenty or more votes pledged to him, expecting no doubt that Rossi would move into the Lambruschini camp while there was still political profit to be gained. Though Rossi indicated his support, he also informed Bernetti and Micara what Lambruschini and Mattei were doing.   Micara, a Capuchin, a liberal, and a sincere reformer, responded loudly in and out of congregation against these manipulations.

 
Cardinal Lambruschini                         Cardinal Gizzi        

 

On Sunday, June 14, the Conclave began (Chigi, p. 177): "Oggi è seguito l' ingresso dei Cardinali in Conclave, ed il S. Collegio è venuto processionalmente nelle consuete forme da S. Silvestro al palazzo Quirinale, ma colla pioggia. Il Conclavo non si è chiuso questa sera per non essere assicurata in qualche parte la clausura, e quest' atto è stato differito a dommatina. As the cardinals arrived at the Quirinale Palace they were met by several of the infirm cardinals who had not taken part in the procession: Micara (the Dean of the Sacred College), Alberghini, Polidori, Gizzi, and Bernetti.

The Conclave of 1846 was a very short one, lasting only two days. There was a certain urgent quality to the proceedings, since the Italian cardinals dreaded the application of Austrian influence upon the election (in the form of an exclusiva against Cardinal Mastai-Ferretti), and the Austrian agent, Cardinal Gaisrück of Milan, had not yet arrived in Rome. (This story, which lacks documentary proof, is rejected by De Cesare, Dal conclave, xxxvi-xxxvii.) This sentiment against Austria was being urged on by the French Ambassador, Counte Pellegrino Rossi, who was later (September 16, 1848) Pius IX's first minister. Pellegrino himself was contemplating an exclusiva against Lambruschini.

Balloting

On the first ballot (according to Legge, pp. 41-42), Cardinal Lambruschini, the Austrian candidate, had 32 votes, Cardinal Mastai-Ferretti received 16 votes, and Cardinal Mai 6 votes. Ceccaroni, however, states (p. 34) that Cardinal Mastai, who was the third scrutator, read out 15 votes for Lambruschini and thirteen for himself. This is more likely. Nonetheless, the statement persists that Lambruschini had a majority of the votes on the first ballot, even though the fact was that he was the most hated man in Italy. Popular sentiment, according to Prince Chigi, was entirely of the opinion that Cardinal Tommaso Gizzi, the Apostolic Legate of Forli, would be elected.

On the second ballot, according to Legge, Mastai is said to have received 42, Lambruschini 6, and Mai 2. But Ceccaroni has it that Mastai's total on the second ballot rose to seventeen. But all those statements were in the nature of campaign propaganda, outside conclave and among supporters of various interests, rather than statements of facts.

According to Goddes de Liancourt and Brennan, with whom Ceccaroni is in agreement, the first ballot on the monring of June 15 gave Lambruschini 15 votes and Mastai-Feretti 13; in the evening scrutiny Lambruschini fell to 13 and Mastai-Ferretti obtained 17; on the morning of June 16, Lambruschini fell to 11 votes, and Mastai-Ferretti rose to 27; in the evening, Lambruschini obtained only 10, while Mastai-Ferretti received 36. Giovanni Cardinal Mastai-Ferretti, the Bishop of Imola, was elected on the fourth ballot, (taking the name Pius IX), with 36 of the 50 votes (according to Chigi, p. 178; Johnson says 37), in the belief that he was a "moderate progressive," an appraisal which events would demonstrate within two years to have been quite mistaken. Pius IX was crowned on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica on September 21, 1846, by Tommaso Cardinal Riario-Sforza, the Cardinal Protodeacon.

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Aftermath

On August 8, Pius appointed Pasquale Cardinal Gizzi, who had a reputation as a moderate, to be his Secretary of State (a biographical notice in L' ami de la réligion 30 [1846] 631-632). On October 3, the Pope agreed to establish a commission for better administration, and he established a Council of Ministers. On November 9, Pius IX took possession of his Cathedral Church, the Lateran Basilica; this was the last such elaborate public procession and ceremonial.

A political censorship was established on March 15, 1847, by order of Cardinal Gizzi. On June 12, a Council of Ministers was actually established, with Cardinal Gizzi at its head, but Gizzi was forced out of office in July (5th or 17th), replaced by the Pope's cousin, Cardinal Ferretti. On July 19 and 20 there were vigorous demonstrations in the city of Rome against its governor, Monsignor Gaspare Grassellini (Cardinal from 1856-1875). On September 7th and 8th, anti-Austrian demonstrations took place. In November, Cardinal Giacomo Antonelli [photo at right], the former Treasurer of the Apostolic Chamber (Ministry of Finance), was appointed president of the Consulta di Stato by the Pope.

On March 14, 1848, Pius issued a Fundamental Statute for the Papal States (Johnston, Theocracy, 345-355). though this granted only limited local self-government and fell far short of the idea of a Constitution. On March 21, the news of the revolt against the Emperor and Metternich in Vienna reached Rome. The 'Circolo Romano', founded in the previous year, invited the Pope to assume the leadership of Italy against Austrian occupation. On April 4, the Pope officially announced his disapproval of the revolution in Bologna against the Austrians. On May 1, Pius refused another invitation from the 'Circolo Romano' and declined to support the liberation from Austria (Risorgimento). Count Rossi, the Interior Minister, was assassinated on November 15, 1848, and the Pope was expelled from his throne and his state. On the advice of Cardinal Antonelli, he fled to Gaeta, in Neapolitan territory.

A Constituent Assembly met in Rome on February 5, 1849, and on the evening of the 8th it was solemnly decreed that the temporal sovereignty of the pope should cease, on the grounds that the Pope had fled and deserted his subjects. Rome was a Republic from February 9, 1849 until April 12, 1850 (coins of the Roman Republic were issued). After his 'restoration', the Pope was able to resist Italian unification only with the support of French troops; in 1860 the Papal States were annexed to the Kingdom of Italy, in 1870 Rome itself.

A coin of the Roman Republic: