Jean-Baptiste Colonna d'Istria

Jean-Baptiste Colonna d'Istria (born September 4, 1758 in Petreto-Bicchisano , † May 2, 1835 in Rome ) was a French Roman Catholic clergyman and bishop of Nice .

life and work

Training in Corsica and Aix-en-Provence

Colonna d'Istria came from a Corsican noble family. He grew up in his birthplace in southern Corsica and attended the local Franciscan school . Since Corsica had belonged to France since 1770, he studied theology in Aix-en-Provence and obtained a doctorate in theology. There he met Charles Fortuné von Mazenod , who later became Archbishop of Marseille , and Joseph Fesch , who later became Cardinal and Archbishop of Lyon . Mazenod later called him the best seminarian of his generation.

Meeting with Napoleon and calling to Nice

After his ordination in 1782 he went to Pisa and Florence . In 1790 he moved to his hometown in Corsica, where he swore the oath on the civil constitution of the clergy and in 1792 met with Napoleon Bonaparte in a family circle , who was impressed by his religious authenticity and made him Bishop of Nice ten years later. The call reached him in Rome, where he had spent the period from 1792 to 1802. The call was made possible because his exiled predecessor, Charles-Eugène Valperga di Maglione (1740-1803), at the Pope's request, resigned in 1801.

Bishop in Nice

In his long term of office (1802-1833) he convinced through deep piety, holy life, generous care for the poor ("father of the poor"), but also through the energetic re-establishment of a diocese that was defeated by the French Revolution and orphaned for years . He visited the entire (difficult to travel) diocese three times (1806, 1816 and 1823), benefiting from the fact that he spoke French and Italian. Pope Pius VII stayed with him twice , first in 1809 on the outward journey to Fontainebleau , then in 1814 on the return journey.

Abdication and death in Rome

When Nice fell back to the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1814 , political circles in the city began to agitate against the French bishop. He finally gave in to these pressures in October 1833 and resigned from his office for reasons of age. He went to Rome to the Dominican monastery of Santa Sabina , where his brother was prior. There he died after 19 months at the age of 76 without any possessions.

Honors and places of remembrance

Bishop Colonna d'Istria was a member of the Legion of Honor , whose Grand Cross he wore. The inscription on the floor of the church of Santa Sabina in Rome, where he was buried for the first time, recalls him. His remains were transferred to Nice in 1853 and now rest in the Sainte-Réparate cathedral , where the inscription on a wall plate is dedicated to him.

Works

• Decretorum, monitorum, pastoralium adlocutionum . Nice 1831.

literature

• Paul Robert Chapusot: Monseigneur Jean-Baptiste Colonna d'Istria. 1er évêque français de Nice, 1758–1835 . Lethielleux, Paris 1970.

Web links

• Literature by and about Jean-Baptiste Colonna d'Istria in the SUDOC catalog (Association of French University Libraries)
• Short biography , in French, with picture.
• Entry in catholic-hierarchy.org