Giovanni Francesco Albani (Cardinal)

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Giovanni Francesco Albani

Giovanni Francesco Albani (born February 26, 1720 in Rome ; † September 15, 1803 there ) was an Italian cardinal of the Roman Church .

Life

origin

Albani came from a noble Italian family who had come as refugees from Albania in the 15th century . His parents were Carlo Albani, Prince of Soriano and Teresa Borromeo. He was a great-nephew of Pope Clement XI. and a nephew of Cardinals Annibale Albani and Alessandro Albani . His own nephew Giuseppe Albani also became a cardinal. The first cardinal in the family was Gian Girolamo Albani in the 16th century .

Church career

Cardinal coat of arms

On April 10, 1747, Pope Benedict XIV raised him to the rank of cardinal as a cardinal deacon, and on May 15, 1747 he was given the title of deaconry of San Cesareo . He was ordained a subdeacon in November 1747 and on March 31, 1748 he was ordained a deacon . He took part in the conclave of 1758 , in which Pope Clement XIII. was chosen. He was ordained a priest in 1759. On February 12, 1759, he became a cardinal priest with the titular church of San Clemente .

On July 21, 1760 he became Cardinal Bishop of Sabina . He received his episcopal ordination on September 21, 1760, Pope Clement XIII. Co- consecrators were Cardinal Giuseppe Spinelli , Bishop of Porto and Santa Rufina and subdean of the College of Cardinals ; Cardinal Flavio Chigi ; Cardinal Camillo Paolucci , Bishop of Frascati and Cardinal Carlo Cavalchini , Bishop of Albano .

After the Jesuits were expelled from the Kingdom of Naples in 1768 , Cardinal Albani was appointed a member of a special congregation by the Pope and advocated the abolition of the Jesuit order . He was a participant in the conclave of 1769 , at which Clement XIV was elected Pope. After the election of this Pope, to whom Albani was in opposition, he refused to continue working for the Holy See. This happened mainly because of the Jesuits, whom Cardinal Albani now supported.

On March 15, 1773 he became Bishop of Porto and Santa Rufina and cardinal subdean. He took part in the conclave from 1774 to 1775 , when Pope Pius VI. was chosen. In the following years he worked towards the readmission of the Society of Jesus. From December 18, 1775 until his death he was Cardinal Bishop of Ostia and Cardinal Dean .

In 1789 he was together with the Cardinal Secretary of State Francesco Saverio de Zelada and the Cardinals Leonardo Antonelli , Hyacinthe Sigismond Gerdil and Filippo Campanelli a member of a special congregation, the Pope Pius VI. and which was supposed to investigate and condemn the Emser puncture of August 25, 1786 and the Synod of Pistoia, which was held from September 18 to 28, 1786, because they allegedly promoted Jansenism .

After the revolution broke out in France , he was asked to form a Congregation for the Affairs of France with Cardinals Vitaliano Borromeo , Leonardo Antonelli , Filippo Campanelli , Guglielmo Pallotta and Gregorio Salviati . This examined the situation that arose from the promulgation of the civil constitution of the clergy and advised the Pope to take tough countermeasures. During the first French occupation of Rome under the short-lived Roman Republic (1798–1799) Albani and his entire family were threatened with imprisonment by General Louis-Alexandre Berthier . Albani fled Rome in February 1798 and hid for some time in the Casamari monastery ; from there he went to Naples in July 1798. When French troops took Rome, they destroyed and looted the cardinal's villa and confiscated his property. Albani stayed in Naples for some time and accepted Cardinal Jean-Siffrein Maury's invitation to Venice .

After Pope Pius VI. Had died on August 29, 1799, it was up to Cardinal Dean Albani to determine the location for the conclave to be held. Pius VI In a bull dated November 13, 1798, in anticipation of the difficult circumstances after his death, instructed the College of Cardinals to choose a place within the territory of a Catholic prince in order to elect his successor. Although shortly after the Pope's death the troops of Naples and Austria recaptured Rome from the French, Cardinal Albani, as cardinal dean, chose Wenig as a place of conclave and placed it under the protection of Emperor Franz II. As cardinal dean, he headed the conclave from 1799–1800 , where Pope Pius VII was elected. The newly elected Pope appointed him together with the Cardinals Aurelio Roverella and Giulio Maria della Somaglia his legate a latere , who vorauszog the Pope to Rome and control of the Papal States by King Ferdinand IV. Was returned to Naples.

Regardless of his old age, Cardinal Albani took part in the negotiations on the Concordat of 1801 with France and later that of the Italian Republic in 1802.

Giovanni Francesco Albani died on September 15, 1803 in Rome and was buried in the canon of Santa Maria Maggiore .

Appreciation

During his tenure - the longest of a cardinal dean - Cardinal Albani was able to lead a conclave from 1799 to 1800 , he participated in a total of four conclaves. During his 56 years as a cardinal, he was seen as a representative of a pro-Austrian and anti-French line.

Apostolic succession

The Apostolic Succession from Cardinal Albani is documented up to Cardinal Scipione Rebiba :

literature

Web links

predecessor Office successor
Fabrizio Serbelloni Cardinal Dean
1775–1803 		Henry Benedict Stuart
Fabrizio Serbelloni Cardinal Bishop of Ostia
1775–1803 		Henry Benedict Stuart
Federico Marcello Lante Cardinal Bishop of Porto
1773–1775 		Carlo Rezzonico
Joaquin Fernando Portocarrero Cardinal Bishop of Sabina
1760–1773 		Carlo Rezzonico
personal data
SURNAME Albani, Giovanni Francesco
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Albani, Giovan Francesco
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian cardinal of the Roman Church
DATE OF BIRTH February 26, 1720
PLACE OF BIRTH Rome
DATE OF DEATH September 15, 1803
Place of death Rome