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{{Short description|Head of the Catholic Church from 1831 to 1846}}
{{Infobox pope|
{{more citations needed|date=May 2016}}
English name=Gregory XVI|
{{use dmy dates|date=January 2019}}
image=[[Image:Gregory XVI.jpg]]|
{{Infobox Christian leader
birth_name=Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari|
|type = Pope
term_start=[[February 2]] [[1831]]|
|honorific-prefix = [[List of popes|Pope]]
term_end=[[June 1]] [[1846]]|
|name = Gregory XVI
predecessor=[[Pope Pius VIII|Pius VIII]]|
|title = [[Bishop of Rome]]
successor=[[Pope Pius IX|Pius IX]]|
|image = Gregory XVI.jpg
birth_date={{birth date|1765|9|18|mf=y}}|
|caption = Gregory XVI in 1844
birthplace=[[Belluno]], [[Italy]]|
|birth_name = Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari
dead=dead|death_date={{death date and age|1846|6|1|1765|9|18|mf=y}}|
|church = [[Catholic Church]]
deathplace=[[Rome]], [[Italy]]|
|term_start = 2 February 1831
other=Gregory}}
|term_end = 1 June 1846
'''Pope Gregory XVI''' ([[September 18]] [[1765]] – [[June 1]] [[1846]]), born '''Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari''', named '''Mauro''' as a member of the [[religious order]] of the [[Camaldolese]], was [[Pope]] of the [[Catholic Church]] from [[1831]] to [[1846]]. Strongly [[Conservative Christianity|conservative]] and [[Traditionalist Catholic|traditionalist]], he opposed [[democracy|democratic]] and modernizing reforms in the [[Papal States]] and throughout Europe, seeing them as fronts for [[revolution]]ary [[left-wing politics|leftism]], and sought to strengthen the religious and political authority of the papacy (see [[Ultramontanism]]).
|predecessor = [[Pius VIII]]
|successor = [[Pius IX]]
|ordination = 1787
|ordinated_by =
|consecration = 6 February 1831
|consecrated_by = [[Bartolomeo Pacca]]
|cardinal = 13 March 1826
|created_cardinal_by = [[Pope Leo XII|Leo XII]]
|birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1765|9|18}}
|birth_place = [[Belluno]], [[Republic of Venice]]
|death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1846|6|1|1765|9|18}}
|death_place = Rome, [[Papal States]]
|signature = Gregorius XVI signature.svg
|previous_post = {{Indented plainlist|
* Vicar-General of the Camaldolese Order (1814–1826)
* [[San Callisto|Cardinal-Priest of San Callisto]] (1826–1831)
* [[Congregation for Propagation of the Faith|Prefect of the Congregation for Propagation of the Faith]] (1826–1831)
}}
|coat_of_arms = C o a Gregorius XVI.svg
|other = Gregory
}}


'''Pope Gregory XVI''' ({{langx|la|Gregorius XVI}}; {{langx|it|Gregorio XVI}}; born '''Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari'''; 18 September 1765 – 1 June 1846) was head of the [[Catholic Church]] and ruler of the [[Papal States]] from 2 February 1831 to his death in June 1846.{{sfn|Pham|2004|p=187}} He had adopted the name '''Mauro''' upon entering the [[Religious order (Catholic)|religious order]] of the [[Camaldolese]].
==Early life==
<!-- Unsourced image removed: [[Image:200px-Gregorio 16.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Coat of Arms of Pope Gregory XVI]] -->


Strongly conservative and traditionalist, he opposed democratic and modernising reforms in the Papal States and throughout [[Europe]], seeing them as fronts for [[liberalism]] and [[laicism]]. Against these trends, Gregory XVI sought to strengthen the religious and political authority of the papacy, a position known as [[ultramontanism]]. In the encyclical ''[[Mirari vos]]'', he pronounced it "false and absurd, or rather mad, that we must secure and guarantee to each one liberty of conscience." He encouraged missionary activity abroad and [[abolitionism|condemned the slave trade]], which at the time of his pontificate was increasingly suppressed.
Cappellari was born at [[Belluno]] on [[September 18]] [[1765]] to a [[Nobility of Italy|noble family]]. At an early age he joined the order of the [[Camaldolese]] (part of the [[Benedictine]] monastic family) and entered the [[Monastery]] of San Michele di [[Murano]], near [[Venice]]. As a Camaldolese [[monk]], Cappellari rapidly gained distinction for his [[Christian theology|theological]] and linguistic skills. His first appearance before a wider public was in [[1799]], when he published against the Italian [[Jansenist]]s a controversial work entitled <cite>II Trionfo della Santa Sede</cite>, which, besides passing through several editions in Italy, has been translated into several European languages. In [[1800]] he became a member of the [[Academy of the Catholic Religion]], founded by [[Pope Pius VII]] (1800&ndash;23), to which he contributed a number of memoirs on theological and philosophical questions, and in [[1805]] was made abbot of San Gregorio on the Caelian Hill.


He is the most recent pope to take the pontifical name "[[Pope Gregory (disambiguation)|Gregory]]"<!--Intentional link to DAB page-->, the last to govern the Papal States for the whole duration of his pontificate, and the most recent not to have been a bishop when elected.
When Pius VII was carried off from Rome in [[1809]], Cappellari withdrew to [[Murano]], near Venice, and in [[1814]], with some other members of his order, he moved again, this time to [[Padua]]; but soon after the restoration of the Pope in 1814 he was recalled to Rome, where he received successive appointments as vicar-general of the Camaldolese Order, councillor of the [[Inquisition]], prefect of the Propaganda, and examiner of bishops. In March [[1825]] he was created [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|Cardinal]] ''[[in pectore]]'' by [[Pope Leo XII]] (1823&ndash;29), and shortly afterwards was entrusted with an important mission to adjust a [[concordat]] regarding the interests of the Catholics of [[Walloonia]] in the predominantly Protestant [[United Kingdom of the Netherlands]]. He negotiated peace on behalf of Armenian Catholics with the [[Ottoman Empire]]. He discouraged [[Congress Poland|Polish]] revolutionaries who undermined Tsar [[Nicholas I of Russia|Nicholas I]]'s efforts to support the [[Bourbon Restoration|Catholic royalist cause]] in France, by the necessity of diverting troops to Poland.


==Biography==
==Election as Pope==
{{infobox popestyles|
papal name=Pope Gregory XVI|
dipstyle=[[His Holiness]]|
offstyle=Your Holiness|
relstyle=Holy Father|
deathstyle=none|}}
On [[February 2]] [[1831]], he was, after sixty-four days of conclave, unexpectedly chosen to succeed [[Pope Pius VIII]] (1829&ndash;30) in the papal chair. According to [[Joseph McCabe]], "It was a scandalous choice, for Gregory was notoriously a vulgar glutton, of disputed morals, a heavy wine bibber, fond of erotic novels and of salacious gossip."<ref name="mccabe">{{cite book|last=McCabe|first=Joseph|title=Rome's Syllabus Of Condemned Opinions: The Last Blast Of The Catholic Church's Medieval Trumpet}}</ref>


===Early life===
His election was influenced by the fact that the cardinal considered the most likely ''[[papabile]]'', [[Giacomo Cardinal Giustiniani]], was [[Jus exclusivae|vetoed]] by King [[Ferdinand VII of Spain|Fernando VII]] of [[Mid-nineteenth century Spain|Spain]]. The other major candidates, [[Emmanuele De Gregorio]] and [[Bartolomeo Pacca]], had been candidates in the previous conclave. When a deadlock arose between them, the cardinals turned to Cappellari, but it took as many as eighty-three ballots for a decisive result to be obtained. Gregory XVI was the last man (thus far) elected Pope who was not already a [[bishop]]. In fact, of subsequent Popes only [[Pope Pius XII|Pius XII]] was never the bishop of a diocese.
Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari was born at [[Belluno]] in the [[Republic of Venice]], on 18 September 1765, as the last of five children, to a local [[Nobility of Italy|Italian lower noble family]] from both is parents, notable since the 16th century, aggregated to the local Nobility Council in 1670 and traditionally linked to liberal professions but not to the consecrated life. He was baptized at the parish of Bolzano Bellunese by his uncle Antonio Capellari. His parents were from a small village named Pesariis, in [[Friuli]]. His father Giovanni Battista Capellari was a notary. His mother Giulia Cesa was daughter of a notary. At the age of eighteen Bartolomeo Cappellari joined the order of the [[Camaldolese]]{{sfn|McBrien|2000|p=336}} (part of the [[Benedictine]] monastic family) and entered the [[Monastery of St. Michael (Murano)|Monastery of San Michele]] in [[Murano]], near [[Venice]]. He was ordained a priest in 1787.<ref name=Toke>Toke, Leslie. "[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07006a.htm Pope Gregory XVI]". ''The Catholic Encyclopedia'' Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 20 November 2015</ref> As a Camaldolese [[monk]], Cappellari rapidly gained distinction for his [[Christian theology|theological]] and linguistic skills, and was assigned to teach philosophy and theology at San Michele in 1787, at the age of 22.


In 1790, at the age of 25, he was appointed ''censor librorum'' for his Order, as well as for the [[Venetian Holy Inquisition|Holy Office]] at Venice.<ref name=Toke/> He went to Rome in 1795 and in 1799 published a polemic against the Italian [[Jansenism|Jansenists]] titled ''II Trionfo della Santa Sede'' ("The Triumph of the Holy See"),{{sfn|McBrien|2000|p=337}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Gregory XVI (Mauro Cappellari)|title=Il trionfo della Santa Sede e della Chiesa: contro gli assalti dei novatori combattuti e respinti colle stesse loro armi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O5opAAAAYAAJ|year=1832|publisher=G. Battaggia|location=Venice|language=it}}</ref> which passed through various editions in Italy and was translated into several European languages. In 1800 he became a member of the Academy of the Catholic Religion, founded by [[Pope Pius VII]] (1800–1823), to which he contributed memoirs on theological and philosophical questions. In 1805, at the age of 40, he was appointed abbot of the [[San Gregorio Magno al Celio|Monastery of San Gregorio]] on Rome's [[Caelian Hill]].{{sfn|Pham|2004|p=322}}
At the time of election to the papacy Cardinal Cappellari was not a bishop, so after his election he was consecrated bishop by Cardinal [[Bartolomeo Pacca, seniore]], [[bishop of Ostia and Velletri]], [[dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals]]; the co-consecrators were: [[Cardinal Pier Francesco Galleffi]], [[bishop of Porto e Santa Rufina]], [[sub-dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals]], and [[Cardinal Tommasso Arezzo]], [[bishop of Sabina]].
The choice of Gregory XVI as his [[regnal name]] was influenced by the fact that he had been [[abbot]] of San Gregorio monastery on the Coelian Hill for over twenty years. This was the same abbey from which [[Pope Gregory the Great]] had dispatched many bishops to England in 596.


When the army of the French Emperor [[Napoleon]] took Rome and arrested and deported Pius VII to France in 1809, Cappellari fled to [[Murano]], where he taught in the [[San Michele in Isola|Monastery of St. Michele]] of his Order, where he had first become a monk. From there he and a group of monks moved their little college to [[Padua]] in 1814. After Napoleon's final defeat, the [[Congress of Vienna]] re-established the sovereignty of the [[Papal States]] over central Italy and Cappellari was called back to Rome to assume the post of [[vicar general]] of the Camaldolese Order. He was then appointed as Counsellor to the [[Inquisition]], and later promoted to be Consultor (29 February 1820) and then, on 1 October 1826, [[Prefect]] of the Congregation of ''[[Propaganda Fide]]'' ("Propagation of the Faith"),{{sfn|Pham|2004|p=322}} which dealt with all missionary work outside of the [[Spanish Empire]], including missions to the non-Catholic states in Europe.<ref>Salvador Miranda, "[http://www2.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1825.htm#Cappellari Biographical notes on Mauro Cappellari]". Retrieved 10 May 2016.</ref> Twice he was offered a bishopric and twice he refused.<ref name=Toke/>
==Conservative policies==
The progressive revolution of [[1830]] had just inflicted a severe blow on the Catholic royalist party in France, and almost the first act of the new government there was to seize [[Ancona]], thus throwing [[Italian unification|Italy]], and particularly the [[Papal States]], into an excited condition which seemed to demand strongly defensive measures. In the course of the struggle which ensued, it was more than once necessary to call in Austrian defenders against red shirted republicans engaged in a terrorist campaign. The conservatives postponed their promised reforms after bombings and assassination attempts. Nor did the replacement of [[Tommaso Bernetti|Bernetti]] by [[Luigi Cardinal Lambruschini|Luigi Lambruschini]] in [[1836]] mend matters.


===Cardinal===
Pope Gregory and Cardinal Lambruschini opposed basic technological innovations such as gas lighting and [[Rail transport|railways]], believing that they would promote commerce and increase the power of the [[bourgeoisie]], leading to demands for liberal reforms which would undermine the [[Monarchy|monarchical]] power of the Pope over central Italy. Gregory in fact banned railways in the Papal States, calling them ''chemins d'enfer'' (literally "ways of [[hell]]," a play on the [[French language|French]] for railroad, ''chemin de fer'', literally "iron road"). However, under pressure from the French, Gregory was liberal in forgiving imprisoned revolutionaries, a policy which might have aided the final overthrow of Gregory's successor, [[Pope Pius IX]], as temporal ruler in 1870.
[[File:Grand Gala Berlin.jpg|thumb|right|200px|"The Grand Gala Berlin" is a luxury carriage constructed in Rome during the first half of the nineteenth century. It is the work of two pontiffs: [[Leo XII]], who called for it to be produced in the years 1824–1826, and Gregory XVI, who requested some important modifications.]]
On 21 March 1825, Cappellari was created [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|cardinal]] {{lang|la|in pectore}} (published 13 March 1826) by Pope [[Leo XII]],{{sfn|McBrien|2000|p=335}} and shortly afterwards he was asked to negotiate a [[concordat]] to safeguard the rights of Catholics in the [[United Kingdom of the Netherlands]], a diplomatic task which he completed successfully. He also negotiated a peace on behalf of [[Armenian Catholic]]s with the [[Ottoman Empire]]. He publicly condemned the [[November Uprising|Polish revolutionaries]], who he thought were seeking to undermine Russian Tsar [[Nicholas I of Russia|Nicholas I]]'s efforts to support the [[Bourbon Restoration in France|Catholic royalist cause]] in France by forcing him to divert his troops to suppress the uprising in Poland.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.pan-ol.lublin.pl/wydawnictwa/THist8/Korten.pdf| title=Pope Gregory XVI to Bring about a Decision| publisher=C Korten| access-date=13 July 2017| archive-date=21 January 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190121175236/http://www.pan-ol.lublin.pl/wydawnictwa/THist8/Korten.pdf| url-status=dead}}</ref>


Cappellari had never travelled outside Italy and was most familiar with Venice and Rome. He spoke Italian and Latin fluently, but no other European languages, and did not understand European politics.<ref name=owen>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xtbLJZOKxx8C&pg=PA31 |page=31 |title=A History of the Popes, 1830–1914 |isbn=978-0199262861 |last1=Chadwick |first1=Owen |year=2003 |publisher=Oxford University Press }}</ref> However, he was proficient in [[Armenian language|Armenian]], and [[Haruti'iwn Awgerian]] ([[Pascal Aucher]])'s 1827 Venice edition of works attributed to [[Severian of Gabala]] and translated into Armenian was dedicated to him.
The financial condition in which Gregory XVI left the States of the Church makes it questionable how far his expenditures for defensive, architectural and engineering works, and his magnificent patronage of learning in the hands of [[Angelo Mai|Mai]], [[Giuseppe Mezzofanti|Mezzofanti]], Gaetano, [[Gaetano Moroni|Moroni]] and others, were for the real benefit of his subjects.


==Pontificate==
The [[insurrection]]s at Viterbo in [[1836]], in various parts of the Legations in [[1840]], at [[Ravenna]] in [[1843]] and [[Rimini]] in [[1845]], were followed by wholesale executions and severe sentences, hard labour or [[exile]]; still the Papal States seethed with unrest.


===Papal election===
However, it should be noted that on [[December 3]] [[1839]] Gregory issued the encyclical ''In Supremo Apostolatus'' stating:
{{main|Papal conclave, 1830–31}}
[[File:1 Scudo en argent à l'effigie de Grégoire XVI, 1834.jpg|thumb|Coin of Pope Gregory XVI, 1834.]]
{{Infobox popestyles
|image=C o a Gregorius XVI.svg
|dipstyle=[[His Holiness]]
|offstyle=Your Holiness
|relstyle=Holy Father
|deathstyle=None}}
On 2 February 1831, after a fifty-day conclave, Cappellari was unexpectedly chosen to succeed [[Pope Pius VIII]] (1829–30). His election was influenced by the fact that the cardinal considered the most ''[[papabile]]'', [[Giacomo Giustiniani]], was [[Jus exclusivae|vetoed]] by King [[Ferdinand VII of Spain]].<ref name=Toke/> There then arose a deadlock between the other two major candidates, [[Emmanuele de Gregorio]] and [[Bartolomeo Pacca]]. What finally drove the cardinals to make a decision was a message from the government of [[Duchy of Parma and Piacenza|Parma]] notifying them that revolt was about to break out in the northern Papal States.<ref name=owen/> To resolve the impasse, the cardinals turned to Cappellari, but it took eighty-three ballots for the canonically required two-thirds majority to be reached.<ref>J. P. Adams, [http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/SV1830.html ''Sede Vacante 1830–1831''.]. Retrieved 10 May 2016.</ref>


At the time of election, Cardinal Cappellari was not yet a bishop: he is the most recent man to be elected pope prior to his episcopal consecration. He was consecrated as bishop by Bartolomeo Pacca, Cardinal [[Bishop of Ostia and Velletri]] and [[dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals]],{{sfn|Pham|2004|p=322}} with [[Pietro Francesco Galleffi]], Cardinal [[Bishop of Porto e Santa Rufina]] and [[sub-dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals]], and Tommasso Arezzo, Cardinal [[Bishop of Sabina]], acting as co-consecrators.
{{quote|…the slave trade, although it has diminished in more than one district, is still practiced by numerous Christians. This is why, desiring to remove such a shame from all the Christian nations, having fully reflected over the whole question and having taken the advice of many of Our Venerable Brothers the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, and walking in the footsteps of Our Predecessors, We warn and adjure earnestly in the Lord faithful Christians of every condition that no one in the future dare to vex anyone, despoil him of his possessions, reduce to servitude, or lend aid and favour to those who give themselves up to these practices, or exercise that inhuman traffic by which the Blacks, as if they were not men but rather animals, having been brought into servitude, in no matter what way, are, without any distinction, in contempt of the rights of justice and humanity, bought, sold, and devoted sometimes to the hardest labour… We reprove, then, by virtue of Our Apostolic Authority, all the practices above-mentioned as absolutely unworthy of the Christian name. By the same Authority We prohibit and strictly forbid any Ecclesiastic or lay person from presuming to defend as permissible this traffic in Blacks under no matter what pretext or excuse, or from publishing or teaching in any manner whatsoever, in public or privately, opinions contrary to what We have set forth in this Apostolic Letter. | [http://www.catholic-forum.com/Saints/pope0254j.htm Catholic Forum]}}


The choice of Gregory XVI as his [[regnal name]] was influenced by the fact that he had been [[abbot]] of the Monastery of San Gregorio on the [[Coelian Hill]] for more than twenty years, and in honour of [[Gregory XV]], the founder of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith.<ref name=Toke/> The Monastery of S. Gregorio was the same abbey from which [[Pope Gregory I]] had dispatched missionaries to England in 596.
==Ultramontane pontificate==
The years of Gregory XVI's pontificate were marked by the steady development and diffusion of ultramontane ideas dating back to [[Pope Innocent III]], which were further developed under the guidance of his successor [[Pope Pius IX]] (1846&ndash;78), by the [[First Vatican Council]]. He canonized [[St Veronica Giuliani]], an Italian mystic. He died on [[June 1]] [[1846]].


==References==
===Actions===
[[File:Gregorio XVI nella processione del Corpus Domini.jpg|thumb|Pope Gregory XVI leading a [[Eucharistic procession]]. Painting by Ferdinando Cavalleri]]
{{reflist}}
The [[July Revolution|revolution of 1830]], which overthrew the [[House of Bourbon]], had just inflicted a severe blow on the Catholic royalist party in France. Almost the first act of the new French government was to seize [[Ancona]], thus throwing [[Italian unification|Italy]], and particularly the [[Papal States]], into a state of confusion and political upheaval. Gregory issued a proclamation on 9 February 1831, one week after his election, expressing good will towards his subjects.<ref>Pope Gregory XVI, [https://www.vatican.va/content/gregorius-xvi/it/documents/epistola-chiamati-dalla-divina-9-febbraio-1831.html Proclama: Chiamati Dalla Divina], in Italian, published on 9 February 1831, accessed on 22 August 2024</ref> In the course of the struggle that ensued, the Pope found it necessary more than once to call in [[Austrian Empire|Austrian]] troops to fight the red-shirted republicans engaged in a guerrilla campaign.{{sfn|McBrien|2000|p=276}} The conservative administration of the Papal States postponed their promised reforms after a series of bombings and assassination attempts. The replacement of [[Tommaso Bernetti]] by [[Luigi Lambruschini]] as [[Cardinal Secretary of State]] in 1836 did nothing to appease the situation.

In the northern territories the leaders of the revolt were middle-class gentry opposed to the general inefficiency of the government.<ref name=owen/>

===Governance of the papal states===
Gregory XVI and Cardinal Lambruschini opposed basic technological innovations such as gas lighting and railways,{{sfn|McBrien|2000|p=276}} believing that they would promote commerce and increase the power of the [[bourgeoisie]], leading to demands for liberal reforms which would undermine the [[Monarchy|monarchical]] power of the Pope over central Italy. Gregory XVI in fact banned railways in the Papal States, calling them ''chemins d'enfer'' ("road to [[hell]]", a play on the French for railroad, ''chemin de fer'', literally "iron road").{{sfn|Pham|2004|pp=20–21}}

The [[insurrection]]s at Viterbo in 1836, in various parts of the Legations in 1840, at [[Ravenna]] in 1843 and at [[Rimini]] in 1845, were followed by wholesale executions and draconian sentences of hard labour and [[exile]], but they did not bring the unrest within the Papal States under the control of the authorities. Gregory XVI made great expenditures for defensive, architectural and engineering works, having a monument to Pope Leo XII built by Giuseppe Fabris in 1837.{{sfn|McBrien|2000|p=276}} He also lavished patronage on such scholars as [[Angelo Mai]], [[Giuseppe Mezzofanti]], and [[Gaetano Moroni]]. This largesse, however, significantly weakened the finances of the Papal States.

[[Image:GREGORYXVI.jpg|thumb|right|Monument to Gregory XVI in Saint Peter's Basilica]]

===Other activities===
====Encyclicals====
{{main|List of encyclicals of Pope Gregory XVI}}
Other important encyclicals issued by Pope Gregory XVI were ''Sollicitudo ecclesiarum'', which stated that in the event of a change of government, the church would negotiate with the new government for placement of bishops and vacant dioceses (issued 1831);{{sfn|McBrien|2000|p=339}} ''[[Mirari Vos]]'', on liberalism and religious indifferentism (issued on 15 August 1832); ''[[Quo graviora (1833)|Quo graviora]]'', on the Pragmatic Constitution in the [[Rhineland]] (issued on 4 October 1833); ''[[Singulari Nos]]'', on the ideas of [[Hugues Félicité Robert de Lamennais]] (issued on 25 June 1834), and ''[[Commissum divinitus]]'' (17 May 1835) on church and state.<ref>[http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Greg16/g16commi.htm Pope Gregory XVI. ''Commissum divinitus'', May 17, 1835, Papal Encyclicals Online]</ref>

====Apostolic letters====
''[[In supremo apostolatus]]'', an apostolic letter or [[papal bull]], was issued by Pope Gregory XVI regarding the institution of [[slavery]]. Issued on December 3, 1839, as a result of a broad consultation among the [[College of Cardinals]], the bull resoundingly denounced both the slave trade and the continuance of the institution of slavery.<ref name=ewtn-text/><ref name=gillis-1999/><ref name=Diene-2001/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Greg16/g16sup.htm |title=In supremo apostolatus |publisher=Papalencyclicals.net |access-date=2013-06-23|date=3 December 1839 }}</ref>

====Canonizations and beatifications====
Gregory XVI canonized [[Veronica Giuliani]], an Italian mystic, during his papacy. During his reign, five saints were [[Canonization|canonized]] (notably [[Alphonsus Liguori]]) and thirty-three Servants of God were [[Beatification|declared Blessed]] (including the Augustinian [[Simon of Cascia]]). In addition, many new [[Religious order (Catholic)|religious orders]] were founded or supported and the devotion of the faithful to the [[Veneration of Mary in the Catholic Church|Blessed Virgin Mary]] increased, both in private and public life.<ref name=Toke/>

====Consistories====
{{main|Cardinals created by Gregory XVI}}
The pope created 75 cardinals in 24 consistories, in which the pope elevated 35 cardinals "{{lang|la|[[in pectore]]}}", including his future successor Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, who would become [[Pope Pius IX]]. The pope also created six additional cardinals {{lang|la|in pectore}}, though the pope died before these names could be revealed, therefore cancelling their appointments to the cardinalate.

In 1836, the pope wanted to nominate Charles Joseph Benoît Mercy d'Argenteau to the College of Cardinals, but the archbishop refused the nomination because he did not wish to leave his family and home for a possible position in the Roman Curia. Gregory XVI nominated four {{lang|la|in pectore}} cardinals on 21 April 1845 and one on 24 November 1845; Gregory XVI also named another {{lang|la|in pectore}} cardinal in the 12 July 1841 consistory, never revealing his name. According to Philippe Boutry, Alerame Maria Pallavicini (the [[Prefecture of the Papal Household|Master of the Sacred Palace]]) was the {{lang|la|in pectore}} cardinal announced on 24 November 1845, however, Pope Pius IX refused to publish his name upon his ascension to the papacy less than a year later.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cardinals.fiu.edu/consistories-xix.htm#GregoryXVI|title=Gregory XVI (1831–1846)|publisher=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church|date=|author=Salvador Miranda|accessdate=20 February 2022}}</ref>

===Death and burial===
On 20 May 1846, he felt himself failing in health. A few days later, he was taken ill with facial [[erysipelas]]. At first, the attack was not thought to be very serious, but on 31 May, his strength suddenly failed, and it was seen that the end was near.<ref name=Toke/>

Gregory XVI died on 1 June 1846 at 9:15&nbsp;am at age 80. That morning, he received the [[Extreme Unction]] from the sub-[[sacristan]] Agostino Proja. After his funeral, he was buried in [[Saint Peter's Basilica]].<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07006a.htm ''Catholic Encyclopedia'']</ref>


==See also==
==See also==
* [[Cardinals created by Gregory XVI]]
* [[List of encyclicals of Pope Gregory XVI]]
* [[List of encyclicals of Pope Gregory XVI]]
* [[Rothschild loans to the Holy See#1832 loan under Pope Gregory XVI|1832 Rothschild loan to the Holy See]]
* [[Ludovico Morbioli]]
* [[List of popes]]

==References==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name=ewtn-text>{{Cite web | title = Pope Gregory XVI 3 December 1839 Condemning Slave Trade | accessdate = February 16, 2010 | url = https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/condemning-slave-trade-7859}}</ref>
<ref name=gillis-1999>{{Cite book | publisher = Columbia University Press | isbn = 978-0-231-10871-3 | last = Gillis | first = Chester | title = Roman Catholicism in America | page = 58 | year = 1999 }}</ref>
<ref name=Diene-2001>{{Cite book | publisher = Berghahn Books | isbn = 978-1-57181-266-7 | last = Diène | first = Doudou | title = From chains to bonds | page =271 | date = August 2001 }}</ref>
}}

==Sources==
{{refbegin|2}}
*{{cite book|last=Petruccelli della Gattina|first=Ferdinando |title=Storia arcana del pontificato di Leone XII, Gregorio XVIe Pio IX ossia preliminari della questione romana di E. About con documenti diplomatici per F. Petruccelli de la Gattina|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xGw5AAAAcAAJ|year=1861|publisher=Francesco Colombo|location=Milan|language=it}} (critical)
*{{cite book|last=Sylvain|first=Charles|title=Grégoire XVI. et son pontificat|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=49DnhX95p4IC|year=1889|publisher=Desclée et de Brouwer|location=Paris}}
* {{cite book|last=Nielsen|first=Fredrik Kristian|title=The History of the Papacy in the Nineteenth Century: Leo XII to Pius IX|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wOYxAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA76|volume=II|year=1906|publisher=J. Murray|location=London|pages=51–101|chapter=Chapter XVI: Gregory XVI}}
* {{cite book|last=Fitz-Hardinge Berkeley|first=George|title=Italy in the Making: 1815 to 1846|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X72YMqWnkSsC&pg=PA129|year=1932|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-0-521-07427-8|pages=90–138|chapter=Chapters VII, VIII, IX}}
*{{cite book|author=Ernesto Vercesi|title=Tre pontificati: Leone XII, Pio VIII, Gregorio XVI|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JCg3AAAAMAAJ|year=1936|publisher=Soc. editrice internazionale|location=Torino|language=it}}
*{{cite book|last=Schmidlin|first=Joseph |title=Léon XII, Pie VIII et Grégoire XVI, 1823–1846|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5qMYrgEACAAJ|year=1940|publisher=Vitte|language=fr}}
*Koenig, Duane. “BACKDROP TO REVOLUTION—THE REIGN OF POPE GREGORY XVI.” Quarterly Journal of the Florida Academy of Sciences 9, no. 2 (1946): 131–43. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24313351.
*Korten, Christopher. “DEFINING MOMENTS: THE REASONS MAURO CAPPELLARI BECAME POPE GREGORY XVI.” Archivum Historiae Pontificiae 47 (2009): 17–39. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23565183.
*Korten, Christopher. “Against the Grain: Pope Gregory XVI’s Optimism Toward Russia in His Censure of Polish Clerics in 1831.” The Catholic Historical Review 101, no. 2 (2015): 292–316. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43900025.
*Korten, Christopher. “‘Il Trionfo?’ The Untold Story of Its Development and Pope Gregory XVI's Struggle to Attain Orthodoxy.” The Harvard Theological Review 109, no. 2 (2016): 278–301. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43948562.
*Korten, Christopher. “Pope Gregory XVI’s Chocolate Enterprise: How Some Italian Clerics Survived Financially During the Napoleonic Era.” Church History 86, no. 1 (2017): 63–85. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26292211.
*Quinn, John F. “‘Three Cheers for the Abolitionist Pope!’: American Reaction to Gregory XVI's Condemnation of the Slave Trade, 1840–1860.” The Catholic Historical Review 90, no. 1 (2004): 67–93. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25026521.
*Reinerman, Alan J. “Metternich, Pope Gregory XVI, and Revolutionary Poland, 1831-1842.” The Catholic Historical Review 86, no. 4 (2000): 603–19. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25025819.
*{{cite book|editor=Lefebvre, C.|title=Gregorio XVI|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8JS-MwgCbw8C&pg=PA605|volume=Parte seconda|year=1948|publisher=Pontificia Universita Gregorian|location=Rome|isbn=978-88-7652-439-4}} (laudatory)
*{{cite book|last=Stogre|first=Michael |title=That the World May Believe: The Development of Papal Social Thought on Aboriginal Rights|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c72sjS0RiY4C&pg=PA102|year=1992|publisher=Médiaspaul|location=Sherbrooke, Ontario CA|isbn=978-2-89039-549-7|pages=47–124|chapter=Chapter Two}}
* {{cite book|last=McBrien|first=Richard P.|title=Lives of the Popes|publisher=HarperCollins|date=2000}}
*{{cite book|last=Viaene|first=Vincent|title=Belgium and the Holy See from Gregory XVI to Pius IX (1831–1859): Catholic Revival, Society and Politics in 19th-century Europe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EgwsAQAAMAAJ|year=2001|publisher=Leuven University Press|location=Louvain|isbn=978-90-5867-138-7}}
* {{cite book|last=Pham|first=John-Peter|title=Heirs of the Fisherman|url=https://archive.org/details/heirsoffisherman00pham|url-access=registration|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=2004|isbn=978-0-19-517834-0}}
* Regoli, Roberto, "Gregorio XVI: una ricerca historiografica," ''Archivum Historiae Pontificiae'' 44 (2006), pp.&nbsp;141–171. (laudatory)
*{{cite book|editor=Curran, Charles E.|title=Change in Official Catholic Moral Teachings|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gghti96kHscC&pg=PA69|series=Readings in Moral Theology, no. 13.|year=2003|publisher=Paulist Press|location=New York/Mahwah NJ|isbn=978-0-8091-4134-0|pages=65–79|chapter=5. Reflections on Slavery; 6. The Correction of Common Catholic Teaching}}
*{{cite book|last=Chadwick|first=Owen|title=A History of the Popes, 1830-1914|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xtbLJZOKxx8C&pg=PA57|year=2003|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-19-926286-1|pages=1–61|chapter=Chapter 1}}
*{{cite book|author1=Francesca Longo|author2=Claudia Zaccagnini|author3=Fabrizio Fabbrini|title=Gregorio XVI promotore delle arti e della cultura|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rH8KAQAAMAAJ|year=2008|publisher=Pacini|location=Ospedaletto (Pisa)|language=it|isbn=978-88-7781-950-5}} (laudatory)
*{{cite book|first=Constantin|last=von Wurzbach|author-link=Constantin von Wurzbach|chapter=Cappellari, Bartholomäus Albert|chapter-url=https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/BLK%C3%96:Cappellari,_Bartholom%C3%A4us_Albert|title=Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich|volume=2|publisher=Verlag der typografisch-literarisch-artistischen Anstalt (L. C. Zamarski, C. Dittmarsch & Comp.)|location=Vienna|date=1857|page=275|language=de|title-link=Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich}}
* {{BBKL|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070622161900/http://www.bautz.de/bbkl/g/gregor_xvi.shtml |band=2|spalten=327–330|author=Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz|artikel=Gregor XVI}}
* {{EnciclopediaDeiPapi|Verfasser=Giacomo Martina|ID=gregorio-xvi_(Enciclopedia-dei-Papi)/|Lemma=Gregorio XVI|Band=3|SeiteVon=|SeiteBis=|Kommentar=|kurz=}}
*{{cite book|first= Giacomo |last= Martina |chapter= Gregorio XVI, papa |editor-first= Mario |editor-last= Caravale |volume= 59 |date= 2002 | chapter-url = http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/papa-gregorio-xvi_(Dizionario-Biografico)/ |title=Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani ''(DBI)''|publisher=Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana|location=Rome|language=it|title-link= Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani }}<!--verweist für die Bibliographie auf den Artikel desselben Verfassers in der ''Enciclopedia dei Papi'', Text nicht völlig identisch-->
* {{DNB-Portal|118541897}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
*{{commons category-inline|Gregorius XVI}}
*{{wikisource author-inline}}
*{{wikiquote-inline}}


{{s-start}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|ca}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Giulio Maria della Somaglia]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples|Prefect of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith]]|years=1 October 1826 – 2 February 1831}}
{{s-aft|after=Carlo Maria Pedicini}}

{{s-bef|before=[[Pope Pius VIII|Pius VIII]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Pope Pius VIII|Pius VIII]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Pope]]|years=1831 – 1846}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Pope]]|years=2 February 1831 – 1 June 1846}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Pope Pius IX|Pius IX]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Pope Pius IX|Pius IX]]}}
{{end}}
{{s-end}}


{{Popes}}
{{Popes}}
{{Catholicism}}
{{History of the Roman Catholic Church}}
{{History of the Catholic Church}}

{{Authority control}}


{{Catholicism |uncollapsed}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gregory 16}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gregory 16}}
[[Category:Popes]]
[[Category:Pope Gregory XVI| ]]
[[Category:Italian popes]]
[[Category:Camaldolesians]]
[[Category:People from the Province of Belluno]]
[[Category:1765 births]]
[[Category:1765 births]]
[[Category:1846 deaths]]
[[Category:1846 deaths]]
[[Category:Pope Leo XIII]]
[[Category:People from Belluno]]
[[Category:Italian popes]]

[[Category:Camaldolese Order]]
[[be:Рыгор XVI, папа рымскі]]
[[Category:Italian Benedictines]]
[[ca:Gregori XVI]]
[[Category:Benedictine abbots]]
[[cs:Řehoř XVI.]]
[[Category:Benedictine bishops]]
[[cy:Pab Grigor XVI]]
[[Category:Benedictine popes]]
[[de:Gregor XVI.]]
[[Category:Members of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith]]
[[et:Gregorius XVI]]
[[Category:18th-century Italian people]]
[[es:Gregorio XVI]]
[[Category:19th-century Italian clergy]]
[[eo:Gregorio la 16-a]]
[[Category:19th-century popes]]
[[eu:Gregorio XVI.a]]
[[Category:Burials at St. Peter's Basilica]]
[[fr:Grégoire XVI]]
[[Category:Popes]]
[[ga:Pápa Greagóir XVI]]
[[Category:19th-century Christian abbots]]
[[gl:Gregorio XVI, papa]]
[[ko:교황 그레고리오 16세]]
[[it:Papa Gregorio XVI]]
[[pam:Papa Gregorio XVI]]
[[ka:გრიგოლ XVI]]
[[sw:Papa Gregori XVI]]
[[la:Gregorius XVI]]
[[lt:Grigalius XVI]]
[[hu:XVI. Gergely pápa]]
[[nl:Paus Gregorius XVI]]
[[ja:グレゴリウス16世 (ローマ教皇)]]
[[no:Gregor XVI]]
[[oc:Gregòri XVI]]
[[pl:Papież Grzegorz XVI]]
[[pt:Papa Gregório XVI]]
[[ru:Григорий XVI (папа римский)]]
[[sk:Gregor XVI.]]
[[sl:Papež Gregor XVI.]]
[[fi:Gregorius XVI]]
[[sv:Gregorius XVI]]
[[tl:Gregorio XVI]]
[[th:สมเด็จพระสันตะปาปาเกรกอรีที่ 16]]
[[vec:Papa Gregorio XVI]]
[[war:Papa Gregorio XVI]]
[[zh:額我略十六世]]

Latest revision as of 16:56, 24 December 2024


Gregory XVI
Bishop of Rome
Gregory XVI in 1844
ChurchCatholic Church
Papacy began2 February 1831
Papacy ended1 June 1846
PredecessorPius VIII
SuccessorPius IX
Previous post(s)
Orders
Ordination1787
Consecration6 February 1831
by Bartolomeo Pacca
Created cardinal13 March 1826
by Leo XII
Personal details
Born
Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari

(1765-09-18)18 September 1765
Died1 June 1846(1846-06-01) (aged 80)
Rome, Papal States
SignatureGregory XVI's signature
Coat of armsGregory XVI's coat of arms
Other popes named Gregory

Pope Gregory XVI (Latin: Gregorius XVI; Italian: Gregorio XVI; born Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari; 18 September 1765 – 1 June 1846) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 February 1831 to his death in June 1846.[1] He had adopted the name Mauro upon entering the religious order of the Camaldolese.

Strongly conservative and traditionalist, he opposed democratic and modernising reforms in the Papal States and throughout Europe, seeing them as fronts for liberalism and laicism. Against these trends, Gregory XVI sought to strengthen the religious and political authority of the papacy, a position known as ultramontanism. In the encyclical Mirari vos, he pronounced it "false and absurd, or rather mad, that we must secure and guarantee to each one liberty of conscience." He encouraged missionary activity abroad and condemned the slave trade, which at the time of his pontificate was increasingly suppressed.

He is the most recent pope to take the pontifical name "Gregory", the last to govern the Papal States for the whole duration of his pontificate, and the most recent not to have been a bishop when elected.

Biography

[edit]

Early life

[edit]

Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari was born at Belluno in the Republic of Venice, on 18 September 1765, as the last of five children, to a local Italian lower noble family from both is parents, notable since the 16th century, aggregated to the local Nobility Council in 1670 and traditionally linked to liberal professions but not to the consecrated life. He was baptized at the parish of Bolzano Bellunese by his uncle Antonio Capellari. His parents were from a small village named Pesariis, in Friuli. His father Giovanni Battista Capellari was a notary. His mother Giulia Cesa was daughter of a notary. At the age of eighteen Bartolomeo Cappellari joined the order of the Camaldolese[2] (part of the Benedictine monastic family) and entered the Monastery of San Michele in Murano, near Venice. He was ordained a priest in 1787.[3] As a Camaldolese monk, Cappellari rapidly gained distinction for his theological and linguistic skills, and was assigned to teach philosophy and theology at San Michele in 1787, at the age of 22.

In 1790, at the age of 25, he was appointed censor librorum for his Order, as well as for the Holy Office at Venice.[3] He went to Rome in 1795 and in 1799 published a polemic against the Italian Jansenists titled II Trionfo della Santa Sede ("The Triumph of the Holy See"),[4][5] which passed through various editions in Italy and was translated into several European languages. In 1800 he became a member of the Academy of the Catholic Religion, founded by Pope Pius VII (1800–1823), to which he contributed memoirs on theological and philosophical questions. In 1805, at the age of 40, he was appointed abbot of the Monastery of San Gregorio on Rome's Caelian Hill.[6]

When the army of the French Emperor Napoleon took Rome and arrested and deported Pius VII to France in 1809, Cappellari fled to Murano, where he taught in the Monastery of St. Michele of his Order, where he had first become a monk. From there he and a group of monks moved their little college to Padua in 1814. After Napoleon's final defeat, the Congress of Vienna re-established the sovereignty of the Papal States over central Italy and Cappellari was called back to Rome to assume the post of vicar general of the Camaldolese Order. He was then appointed as Counsellor to the Inquisition, and later promoted to be Consultor (29 February 1820) and then, on 1 October 1826, Prefect of the Congregation of Propaganda Fide ("Propagation of the Faith"),[6] which dealt with all missionary work outside of the Spanish Empire, including missions to the non-Catholic states in Europe.[7] Twice he was offered a bishopric and twice he refused.[3]

Cardinal

[edit]
"The Grand Gala Berlin" is a luxury carriage constructed in Rome during the first half of the nineteenth century. It is the work of two pontiffs: Leo XII, who called for it to be produced in the years 1824–1826, and Gregory XVI, who requested some important modifications.

On 21 March 1825, Cappellari was created cardinal in pectore (published 13 March 1826) by Pope Leo XII,[8] and shortly afterwards he was asked to negotiate a concordat to safeguard the rights of Catholics in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, a diplomatic task which he completed successfully. He also negotiated a peace on behalf of Armenian Catholics with the Ottoman Empire. He publicly condemned the Polish revolutionaries, who he thought were seeking to undermine Russian Tsar Nicholas I's efforts to support the Catholic royalist cause in France by forcing him to divert his troops to suppress the uprising in Poland.[9]

Cappellari had never travelled outside Italy and was most familiar with Venice and Rome. He spoke Italian and Latin fluently, but no other European languages, and did not understand European politics.[10] However, he was proficient in Armenian, and Haruti'iwn Awgerian (Pascal Aucher)'s 1827 Venice edition of works attributed to Severian of Gabala and translated into Armenian was dedicated to him.

Pontificate

[edit]

Papal election

[edit]
Coin of Pope Gregory XVI, 1834.
Papal styles of
Pope Gregory XVI
Reference styleHis Holiness
Spoken styleYour Holiness
Religious styleHoly Father
Posthumous styleNone

On 2 February 1831, after a fifty-day conclave, Cappellari was unexpectedly chosen to succeed Pope Pius VIII (1829–30). His election was influenced by the fact that the cardinal considered the most papabile, Giacomo Giustiniani, was vetoed by King Ferdinand VII of Spain.[3] There then arose a deadlock between the other two major candidates, Emmanuele de Gregorio and Bartolomeo Pacca. What finally drove the cardinals to make a decision was a message from the government of Parma notifying them that revolt was about to break out in the northern Papal States.[10] To resolve the impasse, the cardinals turned to Cappellari, but it took eighty-three ballots for the canonically required two-thirds majority to be reached.[11]

At the time of election, Cardinal Cappellari was not yet a bishop: he is the most recent man to be elected pope prior to his episcopal consecration. He was consecrated as bishop by Bartolomeo Pacca, Cardinal Bishop of Ostia and Velletri and dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals,[6] with Pietro Francesco Galleffi, Cardinal Bishop of Porto e Santa Rufina and sub-dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals, and Tommasso Arezzo, Cardinal Bishop of Sabina, acting as co-consecrators.

The choice of Gregory XVI as his regnal name was influenced by the fact that he had been abbot of the Monastery of San Gregorio on the Coelian Hill for more than twenty years, and in honour of Gregory XV, the founder of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith.[3] The Monastery of S. Gregorio was the same abbey from which Pope Gregory I had dispatched missionaries to England in 596.

Actions

[edit]
Pope Gregory XVI leading a Eucharistic procession. Painting by Ferdinando Cavalleri

The revolution of 1830, which overthrew the House of Bourbon, had just inflicted a severe blow on the Catholic royalist party in France. Almost the first act of the new French government was to seize Ancona, thus throwing Italy, and particularly the Papal States, into a state of confusion and political upheaval. Gregory issued a proclamation on 9 February 1831, one week after his election, expressing good will towards his subjects.[12] In the course of the struggle that ensued, the Pope found it necessary more than once to call in Austrian troops to fight the red-shirted republicans engaged in a guerrilla campaign.[13] The conservative administration of the Papal States postponed their promised reforms after a series of bombings and assassination attempts. The replacement of Tommaso Bernetti by Luigi Lambruschini as Cardinal Secretary of State in 1836 did nothing to appease the situation.

In the northern territories the leaders of the revolt were middle-class gentry opposed to the general inefficiency of the government.[10]

Governance of the papal states

[edit]

Gregory XVI and Cardinal Lambruschini opposed basic technological innovations such as gas lighting and railways,[13] believing that they would promote commerce and increase the power of the bourgeoisie, leading to demands for liberal reforms which would undermine the monarchical power of the Pope over central Italy. Gregory XVI in fact banned railways in the Papal States, calling them chemins d'enfer ("road to hell", a play on the French for railroad, chemin de fer, literally "iron road").[14]

The insurrections at Viterbo in 1836, in various parts of the Legations in 1840, at Ravenna in 1843 and at Rimini in 1845, were followed by wholesale executions and draconian sentences of hard labour and exile, but they did not bring the unrest within the Papal States under the control of the authorities. Gregory XVI made great expenditures for defensive, architectural and engineering works, having a monument to Pope Leo XII built by Giuseppe Fabris in 1837.[13] He also lavished patronage on such scholars as Angelo Mai, Giuseppe Mezzofanti, and Gaetano Moroni. This largesse, however, significantly weakened the finances of the Papal States.

Monument to Gregory XVI in Saint Peter's Basilica

Other activities

[edit]

Encyclicals

[edit]

Other important encyclicals issued by Pope Gregory XVI were Sollicitudo ecclesiarum, which stated that in the event of a change of government, the church would negotiate with the new government for placement of bishops and vacant dioceses (issued 1831);[15] Mirari Vos, on liberalism and religious indifferentism (issued on 15 August 1832); Quo graviora, on the Pragmatic Constitution in the Rhineland (issued on 4 October 1833); Singulari Nos, on the ideas of Hugues Félicité Robert de Lamennais (issued on 25 June 1834), and Commissum divinitus (17 May 1835) on church and state.[16]

Apostolic letters

[edit]

In supremo apostolatus, an apostolic letter or papal bull, was issued by Pope Gregory XVI regarding the institution of slavery. Issued on December 3, 1839, as a result of a broad consultation among the College of Cardinals, the bull resoundingly denounced both the slave trade and the continuance of the institution of slavery.[17][18][19][20]

Canonizations and beatifications

[edit]

Gregory XVI canonized Veronica Giuliani, an Italian mystic, during his papacy. During his reign, five saints were canonized (notably Alphonsus Liguori) and thirty-three Servants of God were declared Blessed (including the Augustinian Simon of Cascia). In addition, many new religious orders were founded or supported and the devotion of the faithful to the Blessed Virgin Mary increased, both in private and public life.[3]

Consistories

[edit]

The pope created 75 cardinals in 24 consistories, in which the pope elevated 35 cardinals "in pectore", including his future successor Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, who would become Pope Pius IX. The pope also created six additional cardinals in pectore, though the pope died before these names could be revealed, therefore cancelling their appointments to the cardinalate.

In 1836, the pope wanted to nominate Charles Joseph Benoît Mercy d'Argenteau to the College of Cardinals, but the archbishop refused the nomination because he did not wish to leave his family and home for a possible position in the Roman Curia. Gregory XVI nominated four in pectore cardinals on 21 April 1845 and one on 24 November 1845; Gregory XVI also named another in pectore cardinal in the 12 July 1841 consistory, never revealing his name. According to Philippe Boutry, Alerame Maria Pallavicini (the Master of the Sacred Palace) was the in pectore cardinal announced on 24 November 1845, however, Pope Pius IX refused to publish his name upon his ascension to the papacy less than a year later.[21]

Death and burial

[edit]

On 20 May 1846, he felt himself failing in health. A few days later, he was taken ill with facial erysipelas. At first, the attack was not thought to be very serious, but on 31 May, his strength suddenly failed, and it was seen that the end was near.[3]

Gregory XVI died on 1 June 1846 at 9:15 am at age 80. That morning, he received the Extreme Unction from the sub-sacristan Agostino Proja. After his funeral, he was buried in Saint Peter's Basilica.[22]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Pham 2004, p. 187.
  2. ^ McBrien 2000, p. 336.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Toke, Leslie. "Pope Gregory XVI". The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 20 November 2015
  4. ^ McBrien 2000, p. 337.
  5. ^ Gregory XVI (Mauro Cappellari) (1832). Il trionfo della Santa Sede e della Chiesa: contro gli assalti dei novatori combattuti e respinti colle stesse loro armi (in Italian). Venice: G. Battaggia.
  6. ^ a b c Pham 2004, p. 322.
  7. ^ Salvador Miranda, "Biographical notes on Mauro Cappellari". Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  8. ^ McBrien 2000, p. 335.
  9. ^ "Pope Gregory XVI to Bring about a Decision" (PDF). C Korten. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 January 2019. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  10. ^ a b c Chadwick, Owen (2003). A History of the Popes, 1830–1914. Oxford University Press. p. 31. ISBN 978-0199262861.
  11. ^ J. P. Adams, Sede Vacante 1830–1831.. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  12. ^ Pope Gregory XVI, Proclama: Chiamati Dalla Divina, in Italian, published on 9 February 1831, accessed on 22 August 2024
  13. ^ a b c McBrien 2000, p. 276.
  14. ^ Pham 2004, pp. 20–21.
  15. ^ McBrien 2000, p. 339.
  16. ^ Pope Gregory XVI. Commissum divinitus, May 17, 1835, Papal Encyclicals Online
  17. ^ "Pope Gregory XVI 3 December 1839 Condemning Slave Trade". Retrieved 16 February 2010.
  18. ^ Gillis, Chester (1999). Roman Catholicism in America. Columbia University Press. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-231-10871-3.
  19. ^ Diène, Doudou (August 2001). From chains to bonds. Berghahn Books. p. 271. ISBN 978-1-57181-266-7.
  20. ^ "In supremo apostolatus". Papalencyclicals.net. 3 December 1839. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  21. ^ Salvador Miranda. "Gregory XVI (1831–1846)". The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
  22. ^ Catholic Encyclopedia

Sources

[edit]
[edit]
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Prefect of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith
1 October 1826 – 2 February 1831
Succeeded by
Carlo Maria Pedicini
Preceded by Pope
2 February 1831 – 1 June 1846
Succeeded by