Niccolò Coscia

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Niccolò Cardinal Coscia

Niccolò Paolo Andrea Coscia (born January 25, 1682 in Pietradefusi , † February 8, 1755 in Naples ) was an Italian clergyman, bishop and cardinal of the Roman Church .

Life

Origin and early years

Niccolò Coscia came from a humble background. He was the eldest of six children of Vincenzo Coscia and his wife Girolama Gemma, followed by two brothers and three sisters. When he was baptized on January 27, 1682, he was given the name Niccolò Paolo Andrea. As a teenager he met Vincenzo Maria Cardinal Orsini , the Archbishop of Benevento and later Pope Benedict XIII. know when he was on a pastoral trip through the archdiocese. The cardinal encouraged the boy to pursue an ecclesiastical career and, in May 1696, shaved the fourteen-year-old's first tonsure . Orsini also supervised the education of the young Niccolò, which he completed on March 30, 1715 at the University of La Sapienza in Rome with a doctorate to Doctor iuris utriusque .

First activities and priesthood

Already in October 1703 Cardinal Orsini had given his protégé a canonical at the collegiate church of San Bartolomeo in Benevento. Coscia got to know the ecclesiastical administration in the Archbishop's Curia . He received on 28 March 1705, the sacrament of holy orders and was private secretary to Cardinal Orsini. Coscia exchanged the canon of San Bartolomeo in April 1708 for a place in the Metropolitan Chapter of the Cathedral of Benevento, and at the same time he was appointed Chancellor of the Archbishop's Curia. He continued to be chamberlain, treasurer, archpriest and infuled abbot of San Lorenzo d'Aprice in the archdiocese . As a conclavist , he accompanied Cardinal Orsini to the conclaves of 1721 and 1724 . After Orsini's election as Pope, Coscia followed him to Rome, where he worked for the Roman Curia on June 7, 1724 .

Bishop and Cardinal

On June 26, 1724 Niccolò Coscia was appointed titular archbishop of Traianopolis . The episcopal ordination donated him on 23 July of the same year his longtime patron, Pope Benedict XIII. self; Co - consecrators were Pierre-Guérin de Tencin , Archbishop of Embrun , and Cesare Lucini , Bishop of Gravina . On January 29, 1725 he was appointed Papal Assistant to the Throne .

In the consistory of June 11, 1725, Pope Benedict XIII. him to cardinal priests and awarded him with the red hat, the pro illa vice to the titular church raised Diakonie of Santa Maria in Domnica . A scandal broke out in the consistory when twenty of the twenty-six cardinals present spoke out against Coscia's cardinal elevation. The Pope, however, was unimpressed and appointed Archbishop Coscia cardinal. On September 5, 1725 he became coadjutor archbishop of Benevento, while the administration of the archdiocese remained with the pope until his death; Archbishop Coscia received the pallium on February 21, 1726 . On February 21, 1730 he succeeded Benedict XIII, who died on that day. as Archbishop of Benevento after.

The cardinal's behavior had created a hostile atmosphere against him in the Holy Quorum . Coscia was not the only Beneventine who was close to the Pope, but he was the one who had gathered an inner circle, which were commonly referred to as “ i beneventani ”. Montesquieu described them as follows: “[…] it is the Beneventines who made his [sc. Benedict XIII.] Guide weakness, and because they are people of nothing, they encourage the people of nothing and drive those who come within their reach to retreat […] “It is said that in August 1725 Coscia had amassed about 2 million scudi . In sharp contrast to the ascetic way of life of the Pope, he had lavishly furnished his apartment in the Vatican and looted the rooms reserved for the princes. His attitude towards the Orsini Pope was extremely familiar, something that in the Beneventine dialect is called rivolgendoglisi .

Although it was very difficult for Benedict XIII. to approach, since the Beneventines had set up high hurdles against this, someone had nevertheless been able to reveal the system of Coscia to the Pope, but that does not seem to have further burdened the cardinal. In January 1727 the Pope was given evidence that Coscia had embezzled 11,000 Scudi, but the Pope was only compelled to request an official report from Cardinal Coscia.

After the death of Benedict XIII. Cardinal Coscia hid himself in Rome and then fled to Cisterna in the domain of Prince Michelangelo Gaetani , Duke of Caserta, who gave the cardinal refuge and protection regardless of his behavior. Cardinal Coscia charged the Holy Quorum that an election would be void without his participation and was allowed to attend the conclave . It took him forty days to get to Rome, where he arrived with the Duke of Caserta; the latter accompanied him into the city until the cardinal had safely reached the conclave.

After the election of Pope Clement XII. Cardinal Coscia resigned on January 8, 1731 in protest against the Archdiocese of Benevento. He fled to Naples in March of the same year, which resulted in the confiscation of all of his property. In March 1732 he returned to Rome to face the allegations made against him. During the trial he lived in Santa Prassede . On May 9, 1733, he was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment and excommunication for extortion, forgery and treason . In addition, he had to pay substantial damages. He was detained in Castel Sant'Angelo , but treated there with consideration. On February 23, 1734, Clemens XII. the excommunication and in July 1738 he again granted Cardinal Coscia the right to vote in the conclave. As early as 1735, the cardinal was allowed to be treated for his gout in various thermal baths . After the death of Clemens XII. he was released and was allowed to participate in the 1740 conclave, in which Pope Benedict XIV was elected. He was the last cardinal so far to be removed from office.

Last years and death

In 1741 Niccolò Coscia retired to Naples into private life. On January 8, 1742, Pope Benedict XIV ordered a resumption of the trial of Cardinal Coscia and released him from the remainder of his imprisonment, restored him to the full rights of the Cardinalate and acquitted him of all charges. Cardinal Coscia's will is dated May 1, 1753.

He was buried in the Jesuit church Gesù Nuovo in Naples.

Appreciation

In local historiography, the tendency is to see Niccolò Coscia as the victim of the reaction to the pontificate of Benedict XIII. to see and largely relieve him. The majority of historians, on the other hand, see him as the sole cause of the grievances that overshadowed Benedict's term in office, and assign Coscia the entire responsibility for this. However, neither of the two positions is convincing. Rather, three points must be distinguished here: On the one hand, the accumulation of benefits that Coscia granted in the trial against him and that caused him the displeasure of the Holy College. Secondly, the deficit in the budget of the Papal States , however, it can not be blamed, since Benedict XIII. specified the basic lines of financial and economic policy very precisely. Thirdly, he was blamed for political errors, particularly in the case of the Sicilian Tribunal, which were committed by the Pope himself and his negotiators and for which Cardinal Coscia was ultimately not responsible.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ According to Franca Petrucci:  COSCIA, Niccolò. In: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). already on January 25, 1682.
  2. ↑ According to Franca Petrucci:  COSCIA, Niccolò. In: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). there were nine cardinals.
  3. ^ Charles de Montesquieu: Voyage de Gratz à la Haye. Italy. In: R. Caillois (Ed.): Oeuvres complètes. Paris 1973, p. 674.
  4. ^ A b c Franca Petrucci:  COSCIA, Niccolò. In: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI).
  5. ↑ Deposed cardinals (847-1725). In: Salvador Miranda : The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. ( Florida International University website ), accessed November 29, 2017.
predecessor Office successor
Vincenzo Maria Orsini OP Archbishop of Benevento
1725–1731 		Sinibaldo Doria
personal data
SURNAME Coscia, Niccolò
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Coscia, Niccolò Paolo Andrea (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian clergyman, bishop and cardinal of the Roman Church
DATE OF BIRTH January 25, 1682
PLACE OF BIRTH Pietradefusi
DATE OF DEATH February 8, 1755
Place of death Naples