Ercole Consalvi

Ercole Consalvi ( born June 8, 1757 Rome, † January 24, 1824 ) was an Italian cardinal and diplomat of the Papal States. He negotiated the Concordat with Napoleon Bonaparte in 1801 and adopted in 1814 as chief diplomat to the Vatican at the Congress of Vienna in part.

Life

The son of the Marquis di Tosca Ella and Countess of Modena attended from 1766 to 1771 the College of Piaristen in Urbino from 1771 to 1776 the seminary in Frascati, where he was theological, political, and literary studies devoted. After he had studied from 1776 to 1782 in Rome the rights, it was on January 6, 1789 Dr. jur. utr. doctorate. Pope Pius VI. appointed him in April 1783 private chamberlain and in July 1784 for domestic prelates.

As a member of several congregations, as among others of the Apostolic Signatura, the Roman Rota and the Military Commission, he fought against the ideas of the French Revolution. The French exiled him though after the occupation of the Papal States (1798 ); but Pius VII, who had mainly to thank his choice at the conclave in Venice in 1799 Consalvi, elevated him to cardinal deacon in 1800 Sant'Agata dei Goti of and soon after the Secretary of State, as he in 1801 in Paris by Napoléon Bonaparte the Concordat of 1801 was negotiating, where he sent and at the same time supple and pliable showed (see Consalvi paradox ). 1806 was forced to resign as Secretary of State due to its proximity to Napoleon Consalvi. As in 1809, the dispute between the Pope and Napoleon broke out, he approved indeed the excommunication of the former not, could he but faithfully and was therefore deposed and imprisoned by the emperor. As papal legate at the Congress of Vienna he acquired through moderation and prudence the favor of the monarch, even of non-Catholic. He was instrumental in the restoration of the Papal States and was called for by Pius VII again to the Cardinal Secretary of State. The post he held until 1823.

Law of the Papal States

Consalvi regulated the internal administration of the Papal States by the uniformity of the police state producing Motu Proprio of July 6, 1816, He also introduced a new Code of Civil Procedure and a new trade Conduct a simplified financial management and also sought the brigandage in the provinces according to counteract forces. He supported the sciences, and especially the arts. The concordats of the Curia with Russia, Poland, Prussia, Bavaria, Württemberg, Sardinia, Spain and Geneva were his work.

After Pius VII died 1823 Consalvi pulled back from the shops. In the same year he was made an honorary member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. Consalvi died at the age of 66 years on January 24, 1824 in his hometown. His body was interred in the family vault in S. Marcello al Corso, his heart in a tomb in the Pantheon, designed by Thorwaldsen.