Stefano Borgia

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Stefano Borgia 1762

Stefano Borgia (born December 3, 1731 in Velletri , Italy , † November 23, 1804 in Lyon ) was a cardinal of the Roman Church .

Life

Stefano Borgia was the second-born son of his parents Camillo Borgia (1681–1763) and Maddalena Gagliardi (1708–1778) at the age of nine to their uncle Alessandro Borgia (1682–1764), Archbishop of Fermo , entrusted for education. In Fermo he studied philosophy and theology under the guidance of his uncle. In 1752 he received his doctorate in theology from the University of Fermo . Further training, which should enable him to pursue a career at the Curia, was completed by Stefano Borgia as a member of the Accademia dei Nobili Ecclesiastici in Rome, where he completed his canonical studies with a doctorate in 1757.

First offices at the Curia

Map of the Benevento area from the Memorie istoriche 1763

At the end of 1758 the newly elected Pope Clement XIII. the young prelate the office of governor of the papal exclave Benevento , which Stefano Borgia assumed in 1759. During his five-year tenure, Borgia successfully demonstrated his administrative skills. During this time he also began to write a three-volume history of the city of Benevento, the Memorie istoriche della pontificia città di Benevento dal secolo VIII al secolo XVIII .

After the end of his term as governor, he returned to Rome in 1764, where he became secretary of the Congregation of Indulgences and Relics in October . This office gave him enough freedom to continue his historical studies. In the same year he was ordained a deacon , on March 25, 1765 he was ordained a priest .

Borgia's career at the Curia only made further progress under Clement XIV , who in 1770 appointed him secretary of the Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide , which is now the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples , responsible for worldwide missions . Until his ascension as a cardinal in 1789, Borgia worked in this office for a progressive missionary policy. He was also a member of the Congregation for Bishops' Exams since 1771 as examiner for canon law and in 1776 he became one of the consultors of the Congregation Index .

Cardinalate

With the elevation to cardinal on March 30, 1789, Borgia resigned from the office of secretary of the Missionary Congregation. On August 3, 1789, he was awarded the title Church of San Clemente as a cardinal priest . In addition, as a cardinal member, he continued to belong to the Congregation for Mission and five other congregations, and from 1793 he was the visitor and protector of the hospitals in Perugia , Viterbo , Todi , Spoleto and Narni . Borgia only received a more prominent office in 1795 when he became prefect of the Congregation of the Index . Shortly before the occupation of Rome by French troops (February 1798), Pius VI. Borgia together with two other cardinals with the administration of the city of Rome.

After the proclamation of the Roman Republic (February 15, 1798), Cardinal Borgia also had to leave the papal territories. He retired to Padua , where, as the deputy prefect of the Propaganda Congregation (May 25, 1798 - September 27, 1800), he tried to maintain the organization of missionary activities. He also took part in the conclave in Venice , which was held after the death of Pius VI. met.

Together with Pope Pius VII, elected in Venice , Cardinal Borgia returned to Rome in July 1800 and there became one of the protagonists of the first papal restoration. Borgia was now also in front of the newly established Congregazione degli Affari Economici and was also appointed prefect of studies of the Collegio Romano and prefect of the Propaganda Congregation in 1802 .

In November 1804 he was one of the cardinals who were to accompany the Pope to the coronation of Napoleon Bonaparte in Paris, but the 72-year-old Borgia fell ill on the journey and died on November 23, 1804 in Lyon of a lung disease.

Alessandro Borgia (1783–1872), head of the order (Grand Master-Governor) of the Sovereign Order of Malta , was his nephew.

Scholar, collector and patron

Stefano Borgia became a figure known throughout Europe not so much because of his church offices, but rather as a scholar and collector who stimulated and supported numerous studies. An essential basis for this was Borgia's extensive scholarly correspondence, which he used not only to exchange information about his own research projects and those of his correspondents, but also to expand the Borgianum Museum in his parents' house in Velletri.

This museum emerged from a small family collection of the Borgias, which mainly comprised ancient finds from the area and coins. Stefano Borgia's grandfather, Clemente Erminio Borgia, is considered to be the founder. But only at the instigation of the grandson, who as secretary of the Missionary Congregation also had worldwide contacts, did it develop in the 1780s into the Europe-wide known Museum Borgianum , an ethno-antiquarian private museum, which unlike many others of its time for interested scientists and Was easily accessible to visitors.

The organizing principle of the Museum Borgianum can be understood with the help of contemporary descriptions : Its historical objects were grouped into ten departments: Egyptian, Volscan, Etruscan, Greek, Roman, Indian (or Asian), Arabic, Nordic, Mexican and Christian. These pieces - cult objects, coins, paintings, manuscripts, maps - were exhibited and kept in the rooms of the Palazzo Borgia in Velletri, while the natural history cabinet and contemporary Asian objects such as a Chinese writing set were housed in the casino of the Borgia family. The Egyptian, Arabic and Indian sections of the museum were outstanding in terms of both the scope and the quality of the objects. The Mexican section included the Poblano-Mixtec illuminated manuscript , known today as Codex Borgia .

However, just a few years after Borgia's death, the Borgianum Museum was in disarray due to an inheritance dispute between the Borgia family and the Missionary Congregation and the family's financial difficulties. Today his pieces are distributed in various Vatican, Roman and Neapolitan museums and libraries.

In 1793 he was elected honorary member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences .

Selection of works

  • Memorie istoriche della pontificia città di Benevento dal secolo VIII. Al secolo XVIII .; divise in tre parti / raccolte ed illustrate da Stefano Borgia. Roma 1763, 1764, 1769.
  • De cruce Vaticana ex dono Iustini Augusti in Parasceve majoris hebdomadæ publicæ venerationi exhiberi solita commentarius. Cui accedit ritus salutationis Crucis in Ecclesia Antiochena Syrorum servatus, nunc primum syriace & latine editus, adnotationibusque inlustratus auctore S. Borgia. Romae 1779.
  • Commentarius de Cruce Veliterna . Romae 1780.
  • Breve Istoria del Dominio Temporale della Sede Apostolica nelle due Sicilie; descritta in tre libri. Roma 1788.
  • Difesa del dominio temporale della Sede Apostolica nelle Due Sicilie: in risposta all scritture pubblicate in contrario. Roma 1791.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Etienne Borson: Lettre a M. le medecin Allioni [...] sur les beaux arts et en particulier sur le cabinet d'antiquités et d'histoire naturelle de SE monseigneur le cardinal Borgia a Velletri , Rome 1796 and Paulinus a Sancto Bartholomaeo : Vitae Synopsis Stephani Borgiae SRE Cardinalis Amplissimi S. Congr. de Propaganda Fide Praefecti , Romae 1805, Pars II, Caput VII and VIII.
  2. ↑ Holger Krahnke: The members of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen 1751-2001 (= Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class. Volume 3, Vol. 246 = Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Mathematical-Physical Class. Episode 3, vol. 50). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-82516-1 , p. 46.
predecessor Office successor
Hyacinthe-Sigismond Gerdil Prefect of the Congregation De Propaganda Fide
1802–1804 		Antonio Dugnani
personal data
SURNAME Borgia, Stefano
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Cardinal of the Roman Church
DATE OF BIRTH December 3, 1731
PLACE OF BIRTH Velletri , Italy
DATE OF DEATH November 23, 1804
Place of death Lyon