Giacomo Antonelli

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Giacomo Antonelli (* 2. April 1806 in Sonnino , † 6. November 1876 in Rome ) was from 1848 until his death Cardinal Secretary of State of the Papal States .

Cardinal Antonelli (1865)

Life

Giacomo Antonelli, born on the Neapolitan border to a wealthy family, came to Rome when his birthplace was destroyed as a notorious robber's nest by the papal gendarmerie in 1819 and entered the Grand Seminary here, where he soon distinguished himself through his talents .

After he had received the minor ordinations on September 20, 1829 and the major ordination as a deacon in 1840 , Pope Gregory XVI drew him . near him and determined him for a career in statesmanship. Antonelli was promoted to prelate , then worked as an assessor at the Supreme Court of Justice, later as a delegate in Orvieto , Viterbo and Macerata and was appointed Under-Secretary of State in the Administration of the Interior in 1841, second Treasurer in Finance in 1844, but in 1845 appointed Grand Treasurer (Minister of Finance) . As Pius IX. In 1846, when he ascended the papal throne, he eagerly responded to its liberal reform efforts and soon gained a decisive influence on them.

On June 12, 1847 Antonelli received the cardinal's hat as a deacon and became cardinal deacon of Sant'Agata dei Goti on June 14 of the same year , at the same time he entered the first formal Council of Ministers, with the formation of which Pope Pius IX. opened his political reforms. When, at the beginning of March 1848, a ministry mixed with secular and spiritual members took place, Antonelli took over the chairmanship. While the Pope was proclaiming a constitutional law on March 14, Antonelli flattered the national mood by sending the 10,000-strong papal army to the northern border, from where the corps moved into Lombardy in support of the Piedmontese.

After the surrender of the Roman troops at Vicenza on June 16, 1848 , the Pope, at Antonelli's insistence, assured that he had not sent his troops to fight the Austrians . Since then Antonelli operated the connection to Austria and the greatest possible restoration of the old state. The public's indignation at this apostasy from the national cause was so threatening in Rome that Antonelli and his colleagues had to give way to a new ministry. Antonelli now became the secret leader and advisor to the Pope, who on his advice initially appointed Count Pellegrino Rossi in place of Terenzio Mamiani . It was also Antonelli who, after the popular attack on the Quirinal, persuaded the Pope to flee to Gaeta on November 25, 1848 , where Antonelli was given the dignity of State Secretary.

After the restoration of papal power on July 15, 1849 through the French intervention, Antonelli, who had returned to Rome with the Pope on April 12, 1850, headed the newly established Council of State, reorganized the administration, and persecuted his political opponents as hard as possible introduced a strictly absolutist police regiment. He stubbornly rejected all admonitions of the powers that be for moderation and modern reforms, was not prepared to make any concessions to the national wishes of the Italians and accompanied the robbing of the Papal State by the new Kingdom of Italy with impotent protests. The ecclesiastical policy of Pope Pius IX. he supported with his skillfully written notes. From 1868 until his death he also received the title diaconate of Santa Maria in Via Lata .

Even if he himself - inwardly frivolous and religiously indifferent - would sometimes have liked to show himself yielding out of worldly prudence and thereby secure the favor of the powers-that-be, he above all did not want to lose his office and his power and therefore submitted to the wishes of the Pope. He died in Rome on November 6, 1876, leaving behind an important fortune, over which "a not scandal-free trial" ensued between an alleged daughter of Antonelli, Countess Lambertini, and his relatives.

literature

Web links

Commons : Giacomo Antonelli  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans-Joachim Kracht (Ed.): Lexicon of Cardinals 1058-2010. Vol. 1: Cardinals under Benedict XVI., Cardinals 1058–2010: Letter A. Archbishop's Diocesan and Cathedral Library , Cologne 2013, ISBN 978-3-939160-37-3 , p. 431.
predecessor Office successor
Giuseppe Bofondi Cardinal Secretary of State
1848–1876 		Giovanni Simeoni
Giuseppe Ugolini Cardinal
Protodeacon 1867–1876 		Prospero Caterini
personal data
SURNAME Antonelli, Giacomo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman cardinal and secretary of state
DATE OF BIRTH April 2, 1806
PLACE OF BIRTH Sonnino
DATE OF DEATH November 6, 1876
Place of death Rome