Agostino Rivarola

Cardinal Agostino Rivarola, contemporary portrait

Edoardo Matania : The assassination attempt on Agostino Rivarola , illustration from Storia del Risorgimento Italiano (1889)

Agostino Rivarola (born March 14, 1758 in Genoa , † November 7, 1842 in Rome ) was a papal diplomat and curial cardinal . He led the restoration of the papal state in Romagna after the French era , sometimes with bloody suppression of constitutional efforts.

Life

Agostino Rivarola, a relative of Cardinal Domenico Rivarola († 1611), studied civil and canon law at the Collegio Clementino in Rome. After initially working as the secretary of several auditors of the Roman Rota , he was in 1793 by Pope Pius VI. appointed speaker at the apostolic signature . In 1797 he fled from the French troops to Genoa and tried unsuccessfully to obtain the release of Pius VI. to negotiate. Rivarola attended the conclave of 1799 as apostolic notary.

Pope Pius VII appointed him governor of Macerata in September 1802 , which he remained until 1807. During this time he was in French captivity, but was later able to return to his hometown of Genoa. In May 1814, as Apostolic Delegate, he succeeded in officially re-establishing papal rule in the Papal States. He was then a member of the Apostolic Chamber and since 1816 papal majordomo .

In the consistory of October 1, 1817 it Pius VII took. As Cardinal Deacon of Sant'Agata in Suburra to the College of Cardinals on. He was ordained deacon only in October 1819 by the later Cardinal Luigi Lambruschini , at the time Archbishop of Genoa . On May 13, 1820, Cardinal Rivarola was appointed Cardinal Protector of the Capuchin Order. He performed the same function from March 1823 for the Augustinian order . In the same year he took part in the conclave that Leo XII. elected to the Pope. Cardinal Rivarola was ordained a priest on October 5, 1823 . In April 1824 Leo XII appointed him. as an extraordinary legate for the Province of Ravenna . There he completely restored papal authority . On a single day, August 31, 1825, he sentenced 508 people to prison terms. So he became a figure of hatred for the pioneers of the Risorgimento . On July 3, 1826, he was called cardinal deacon of Santa Maria ad Martyres . On July 23 of the same year, Cardinal Rivarola survived an assassination attempt in Ravenna in which his carriage was hit by a musket. A cleric he was accompanying was killed. Leo XII. set up a commission of inquiry whose work ended with the execution of five death sentences in May 1828.

The new Pope Pius VIII appointed him protector of the Benedictine Abbey of Monte Cassino on May 18, 1829 . After his death, Cardinal Rivarola took part in the conclave of the years 1830-1831 . As the longest serving cardinal deacon he was cardinal protodiacon from 1834 until his death, which would have given him the task of proclaiming and crowning the new pope in the event of a sedis vacancy . Pope Gregory XVI appointed him Pro-Prefect of the Council Congregation in 1835 . Agostino Rivarola died in 1842 and was buried in the Church of San Marcello .

literature

Maria Luisa Cascella: Agostino Rivarola e la delegazione apostolica di Perugia (1800–1802) . In: Annali della Facolta di Lettere e filosofia , series 2: Studi Storico-Antropologici , published by the Universita degli studi di Perugia, vol. 29-30 (1991 / 92-1992 / 93), pp. 99-128.
Maria Luisa Cascella: Agostino Rivarola. La politica filo-austriaca e la restaurazione nello Stato Pontificio . In: Le radici del Risorgimento. Atti del XX Convegno di studi avellaniti, Fonte Avellana, 28-29-30 agosto 1996 . Centro di Studi avellaniti, Serra Sant'Abbondio 1997, pp. 162-221.

Individual evidence

↑ Harry Hearder: Italy in the age of the Risorgimento, 1790-1870 (= Longman history of Italy , Vol. 6). Longman, London, 4th ed. 1986, ISBN 0-582-49146-0 , p. 105.
^ Maria Luisa Cascella: Agostino Rivarola. La politica filo-austriaca e la restaurazione nello Stato Pontificio . In: Le radici del Risorgimento. Atti del XX Convegno di studi avellaniti, Fonte Avellana, 28-29-30 agosto 1996 . Centro di Studi avellaniti, Serra Sant'Abbondio 1997, pp. 162-221, here p. 213.
↑ Stendhal : Wanderings in Rom (= Collected Works, Vol. 6), translated by Friedrich von Oppeln-Bronikowski and Ernst Diez, 3rd reviewed and expanded edition. Propylaen-Verlag, Berlin 1922, Appendix 4: Mechanism of the Papal Government , p 452-482, here p. 471.

Web links

Commons : Agostino Rivarola - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Rivarola, Agostino. In: Salvador Miranda : The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. ( Florida International University website), accessed December 17, 2015.
Entry on Agostino Rivarola on catholic-hierarchy.org

predecessor	Office	successor
Giuseppe Albani	Cardinal Protodeacon 1834-1842	Tommaso Riario Sforza

personal data
SURNAME	Rivarola, Agostino
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Italian clergyman, papal diplomat and cardinal to the curia
DATE OF BIRTH	March 14, 1758
PLACE OF BIRTH	Genoa
DATE OF DEATH	November 7, 1842
Place of death	Rome

[1] Harry Hearder: Italy in the age of the Risorgimento, 1790-1870 (= Longman history of Italy , Vol. 6). Longman, London, 4th ed. 1986, ISBN 0-582-49146-0 , p. 105.

[2] Maria Luisa Cascella: Agostino Rivarola. La politica filo-austriaca e la restaurazione nello Stato Pontificio . In: Le radici del Risorgimento. Atti del XX Convegno di studi avellaniti, Fonte Avellana, 28-29-30 agosto 1996 . Centro di Studi avellaniti, Serra Sant'Abbondio 1997, pp. 162-221, here p. 213.

[3] Stendhal : Wanderings in Rom (= Collected Works, Vol. 6), translated by Friedrich von Oppeln-Bronikowski and Ernst Diez, 3rd reviewed and expanded edition. Propylaen-Verlag, Berlin 1922, Appendix 4: Mechanism of the Papal Government , p 452-482, here p. 471.