Chapter 1 - Rome and Vienna
1.5. Information concerning the pontificate of Pius VI between 1775 and 1787
And so, what were the impressions concerning this new pope? In the theologico-diplomatic conflict between the Holy See and the Empire, the symbolic aspect and the characterization of the opposing parties during this new period of Reform and Counter-reform may be considered a marginal factor, but by no means irrelevant, and should be taken into consideration. Following his mother’s death, Joseph II appeared in official and public iconography in his general’s uniform, without any of the excessive extravagance and ostentation typical of professional military figures, but simply as a means to make himself recognisable to others.121 And the pope? There are many accounts of the reactions of the population of Rome after having seen the pope on the day of his election, as well as the following period.122 The majority of the population was favourable towards the arrival of the new pope who impressed them with his personal charisma, his youthful age (barely fifty-seven years old) and his
“athletic bearing” which certainly distinguished him from his predecessors.123 Moreover, the admiration of the population reflected the same idea which, according to Jeffrey Collins, was that cultivated by the pope himself, to
120 In order to understand the extent of the Jesuit and anti-Jesuit movements during the decades prior to the pontificate of Pius VI, see Venturi, Settecento riformatore, II. La chiesa e la repubblica dentro i suoi limiti, vol. 2, pp. 3-64.
121 Ilsebill Barta-Fliedl, Familienporträts der Habsburger, Dynastiche Repräsentation im Zeitalter der Aufklärung (Wien, 2001), pp. 117–21.
122 Collins, Papacy and Politics, pp. 12–13.
123 Idem, p. 13.
inaugurate a new Augustan era.124 The ambition to become a new Augustus coincides with the remarkable artistic plan deliberately directed at creating an image of dynastic-papal grandeur which was carried out with considerable tenacity by Pius VI. It is comprehensible that from Braschi’s viewpoint, only renewed papal power could counter these times when the Church was in great danger. The battle to demonstrate a public image was part of an authentic challenge that the Church had to sustain against the Enlightenment movement and later against Joseph II.125
He was impressive in aspect, and energetic; contemporaries spoke freely of his physical good looks and refined features.126 He looked younger than his actual age, and apart from a few sporadic occasions, he was in very good health up till 1787, and even later.127As far as his “moral behaviour” was concerned, he seemed above reproach, since he had no embarrassing female “friendships”. The only fault that attracted criticism was a problem that had almost disappeared from the Roman Curia in the eighteenth century, but that he had brought back into the public eye: nepotism. The fact that he had appointed his nephew Romualdo cardinal in 1786 could have been still considered as a Roman habit (he was to be the last nephew-cardinal in the history of papacy)128; but the very
124 “If Braschi began his image campaign in dialogue with his papal precursors, he soon wished to be seen not just as a new Peter, but as a new Caesar”. Collins, Papacy and Politics, p. 36.
125 There is a historiographical tendency to view the pontifical ceremonies and protocols in a negative light, setting them within a wider social and economical controversy. But those ceremonies and that splendour were perfectly instrumental in order to govern the country and even more so to preserve the image of the successor of Peter. Visceglia, La città rituale, Roma e le sue rappresentazioni in età moderna, pp. 119–90.
126 “In the words of one observer, he seemed born to be a sovereign”, Collins, Papacy and politics, p. 7.
127 It took another ten years before there was any news of bad health concerning Pius VI. When he died in 1799, the pope was 82: “Perché le cronache del tempo ci parlino di una nuova malattia del papa occorre arrivare al maggio 1797; egli ormai, è bene ricordarlo, ha 80 anni”. Giovanni Ceccarelli, La salute dei pontefici, nelle mani di Dio e dei medici, Da Alessandro VI a Leone XIII (Milano, 2001), pp. 156-60.
128 Antonio Menniti Ippolito considers that the French Revolution was responsible for having made of Pius VI the last nepotistic pope, and in fact he wrote that : “Gli eventi rivoluzionari, che
rapid social and economic career of his other nephew Luigi, and the construction of a palace in piazza Navona (Palazzo Braschi cost the princely sum of 150.000 scudi), as well as the appropriation of some of the reclaimed land in the Pontine marshland, contributed towards his negative public image.129
Of the five cardinals who followed in the position as Secretary of State, none seemed to have acquired the pope’s trust completely,130 although he did bestow some trust to two other cardinals, Gerdyl and Antonelli, but only in certain cases,131 consulting them only in those matters where he felt their experience was necessary.132 The pope controlled the Curia with suspicion, and in turn was controlled by the monarchs.133 Pius VI was often referred to as a man who did not understand the times in which he was living, especially in relation to the Enlightenment.134
pure furono particolarmente gravosi per le figure dei papi regnanti – Pio VI appunto e Pio VII – risparmiarono alla chiesa romana un nuovo corso nepotista, chissà quanto lungo, chissà quanto solido”. Menniti, Il tramonto della Curia nepotista, p. 158.
129 Luigi became Duke of Nemi and in 1781 he married Costanza Falconieri, a member of the family closest to the pope among the Roman aristocracy. In order to secure an economic future for the first of his two nephews, Luigi, the pope took personal risks, trying to gain possession of Amanzio Lepris’ riches. The legal proceedings between the pope and Lepri’s heirs were concluded in 1789, resolving a situation which was extremely embarrassing for the pope. as stated by Ippolito Menniti: “But an authentic scandal was provoked by the initiative of the pope in inducing the professed member of the Order of Malta, Amanzio Lepri, to declare Luigi as the universal heir to his enormous wealth (estimated at 1,500,000 scudi). It would seem that this great wealth had been accumulated through embezzlement by Lepri’s father who had been Contractor of the Pontifical Customs Houses. In 1785, after his death, the Lepri nephews also laid claim to the inheritance, denouncing the mental infirmity of their uncle at the time of his writing the will in favour of the pope’s nephew. A scandal broke out when they produced a new will and testament which satisfied their ambitions”. Idem, p. 157.
130 In cronological order: Pallavicini from 1775 to 1785, then the position was four months
“vacante”, Boncompagni –Ludovisi from 1785 to september 1789, de Zelada from 1789 to august 1796, Busca from 1796 to april 1797, Giuseppe Doria Pamphili from 1797 to 1799. See the judgement of Filippone, Le relazioni tra Stato Pontificio e la Francia rivoluzionaria, pp. 9-17. 131 Both were appointed cardinals at the beginning of the pontificate in 1775 and in 1777.
132 In the year 1783 Pius VI worked in secret on the problems concerning the German Churches with Della Genga, keeping all the affair hidden from the Curia. Stendhal, Diario di un viaggio in Italia (Milano, 1993), pp. 210-11.
133 During his initial years of government, he was considered by de Bernis as: “Un enfant d’un excellent naturel, mais trop vif, et qui serait capable de se jeter par la fenetre si on n’y prenait garde”. Idem, pp. 193-94.
134 Pellettier, Rome et la Révolution Français, p. 45. Collins made a much stronger statement, writing that: “Pius’s estrangement from his age was perhaps his greatest distinction as a patron. If
How much did the pontificate of Pius VI count as far as Enlightenment was concerned? We will describe some of the fundamental characteristics of the papacy in the next paragraph, as well as the relations with other states.