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'{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}} {{Infobox Christian leader | type = Pope | honorific-prefix = Pope | name = Pius VI | title = [[Bishop of Rome]] | image = Pompeo Batoni - Ritratto di Papa Pio VI (National Gallery of Ireland).jpg | caption = [[Pompeo Batoni]]'s portrait of Pius VI - 1775 | birth_name = Giovanni Angelo Braschi | term_start = 15 February 1775 | term_end = 29 August 1799 | predecessor = [[Clement XIV]] | successor = [[Pius VII]] | ordination = 1758 | ordinated_by = | consecration = 22 February 1775 | consecrated_by = [[Giovanni Francesco Albani]] | cardinal = 26 April 1773 | created_cardinal_by = [[Pope Clement XIV]] | rank = | previous_post = {{unbulleted list|[[Apostolic Signatura|Referendary of the Apostolic Signatura]] (1758–1759)|[[Sant'Onofrio (Rome)|Cardinal-Priest of Sant’Onofrio]] (1773–1775)}} | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1717|12|25}} | birth_place = [[Cesena]], [[Emilia-Romagna]], [[Papal States]] | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1799|8|29|1717|12|25}} | death_place = [[Valence, Drôme|Valence]], [[French First Republic|French Republic]] | motto = ''Floret in Domo Domini'' (it blossoms in the house of God)<ref>{{cite web|title=The Wind was too Strong|url=http://romeartlover.tripod.com/PiusVI.html|publisher=Rome Art Lover|accessdate=12 February 2014}}</ref> | coat_of_arms = C o a Pius VI.svg | other = Pius }} '''Pope Pius VI''' (25 December<ref>Many sources indicate that he was born on 27 December 1717 but this is actually the date of his baptism, cf. Pastor, XXXIX, p. 22</ref> 1717 – 29 August 1799), born '''Count Giovanni Angelo Braschi''', was head of the [[Roman Catholic Church]] and ruler of the [[Papal States]] from 15 February 1775 to his death in 1799.<ref>Eamon Duffy, ''Saints & Sinners: A History of the Popes'', (Yale University Press, 2001), 254.</ref> Pius VI condemned the [[French Revolution]] and the suppression of the [[Gallican Church]] that resulted from it. French troops commanded by [[Napoleon Bonaparte]] defeated the papal troops and occupied the [[Papal States]] in 1796. In 1798, upon his refusal to renounce his temporal power, Pius was taken prisoner and transported to France. He died one year later in [[Valence, Drôme|Valence]]. His reign of over two decades is the [[Longest-reigning popes|fourth-longest]] in papal history. ==Biography== [[File:IOANNES ANGELUS BRASCHIUS.jpg|thumb|160px|Cardinal Braschi c. 1773]] ===Early years=== Giovanni Angelo Braschi was born in [[Cesena]] on [[Christmas]] in 1717 as the eldest of eight children to Count Marco Aurelio Tommaso Braschi and Ana Teresa Bandi. His siblings were Felice Silvestro, Giulia Francesca, Cornelio Francesco, Maria Olimpia, Anna Maria Costanza, Giuseppe Luigi and Maria Lucia Margherita. He was baptized in Cesena on the following 27 December and was given the baptismal name of Angelo Onofrio Melchiorre Natale Giovanni Antonio.<ref name=Miranda>{{cite web|last=Miranda|first=Salvador |title = BRASCHI, Giovanni Angelo (1717-1799)|url=http://www2.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1773-iii.htm|publisher=Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church|accessdate=14 April 2015}}</ref> After completing his studies in the [[Society of Jesus|Jesuit college]] of Cesena and receiving his doctorate of both [[Canon law|canon]] and civil law in 1734, Braschi continued his studies at the [[University of Ferrara]].<ref name=Ott>{{catholic|title=Pope Pius VI|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12131a.htm|last=Ott|first=Michael|volume=12|access-date=30 May 2018|inline=1}}</ref> ===Church career=== Braschi became the private secretary of papal legate Cardinal [[Tommaso Ruffo]]. [[bishop of Ostia|Bishop of Ostia and Velletri]]. Cardinal Ruffo took him as his conclavist at the 1740 papal conclave and when the latter became the Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals in 1740, Braschi was appointed as his [[auditor (ecclesiastical)|auditor]], a post he held until 1753.<ref name=EB1911/> His skill in the conduct of a mission to the [[Kingdom of Naples|court of Naples]] won him the esteem of [[Pope Benedict XIV]].<ref name=EB1911/> In 1753, following the death of Cardinal Ruffo, Benedict appointed Braschi one of his secretaries.<ref name=Duffy>Eamon Duffy, ''Saints & Sinners: A History of the Popes'', 251.</ref> In 1755, the pope appointed him as a [[canon (priest)|canon]] of St Peter's Basilica in 1755. In 1758, putting an end to an engagement to be married, he was ordained to the priesthood. Braschi was also appointed as the Referendary of the [[Apostolic Signatura]] in 1758 and held that position until 1759. He also became the auditor and secretary of Cardinal Carlo Rezzonico, the nephew of [[Pope Clement XIII]]. In 1766, he was appointed as the treasurer of the [[camera apostolica]] by Pope Clement XIII.<ref name=Duffy/> ===Cardinalate=== Those who suffered under his conscientious economics had managed to convince [[Pope Clement XIV]] to elevate him into the cardinalate. Braschi was elevated on 26 April 1773 in [[Rome]] as the [[Sant'Onofrio (Rome)|Cardinal-Priest of Sant'Onofrio]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Richard P. |last=McBrien |title=Lives of the Popes: The Pontiffs from St. Peter to Benedict XVI |location=San Francisco |publisher=HarperCollins |year=1997 |page=[https://archive.org/details/livesofpopespont00mcbr/page/328 328] |isbn=978-0060653033 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/livesofpopespont00mcbr }}</ref> This was a promotion which rendered him innocuous for a brief period of time. He then retired to the Abbey of Subiaco, of which he was commendatory abbot.<ref name=Ott/> ==Papacy== ===Papal election=== {{main|Papal conclave, 1774-1775}} {{Infobox popestyles |image = C o a Pius VI.svg |dipstyle = [[His Holiness]] |offstyle = Your Holiness |relstyle = Holy Father |deathstyle = None |}} Pope Clement XIV died in 1774 and this triggered a conclave to choose a successor. Spain, France and Portugal dropped all objections to the election of Braschi, who was one of the more moderate opponents of the anti-[[Society of Jesus|Jesuit]] stance of the late pope.<ref name=EB1911/> Braschi received support from those who disliked the Jesuits and were of the belief he would continue the actions of Clement XIV and hold true to Clement's brief "[[Dominus ac Redemptor]]" (1773) which saw the dissolution of the order. But the [[zelanti]] faction - pro-Jesuit - believed that he was in secret sympathetic towards the Jesuits and expected reparation for the wrongs suffered in the previous reign. As a result, Braschi - as pope - was led into situations where he gave little satisfaction to either side.<ref name=EB1911/> Cardinal Braschi was elected to the pontificate on 15 February 1775 and took the pontifical name of "Pius VI". He was consecrated into the episcopate on 22 February 1775 by Cardinal [[Gian Francesco Albani]] and was [[Papal coronation|crowned]] that same day by the Cardinal [[Protodeacon]] [[Alessandro Albani]]. ===First actions=== [[Image:branschi-onesti.jpg|thumb|left|155px|Pius VI elevated Romualdo Braschi-Onesti as the penultimate [[cardinal-nephew]].]] Pius VI first opened a jubilee his predecessor convoked and it initiated the 1775 Jubilee Year.<ref name=Miranda/> The earlier acts of Pius VI gave fair promise of reformist rule and tackled the problem of corruption in the [[Papal States]]. Though he was usually benevolent, Pius VI sometimes showed discrimination. He appointed his uncle [[Giovanni Carlo Bandi]] as [[Bishop of Imola]] in 1752, and then as a member of the [[Roman Curia]], cardinal in the consistory on 29 May 1775, but did not proffer any other members of his family. He reprimanded prince Potenziani, the governor of Rome, for failing to adequately deal with corruption in the city, appointed a council of cardinals to remedy the state of the finances and relieve the pressure of [[Tax#Tariff|imposts]], called to account [[Nicolò Bischi]] for the spending of funds intended for the purchase of grain, reduced the annual disbursements by denying pensions to many prominent people, and adopted a reward system to encourage agriculture.<ref name=EB1911/> ===Society of Jesus=== Upon his election, Pius VI ordered the release of [[Lorenzo Ricci]], [[Superior General of the Society of Jesus]], who was held prisoner in the [[Castel Sant'Angelo]], but the general died before the decree of liberation arrived.<ref name=Ott/> It is perhaps due to Pius VI, that the Jesuits managed to escape dissolution in [[White Ruthenia]] and [[Silesia]]. In 1792, the pope considered the universal re-establishment of the [[Society of Jesus]] as a bulwark against the ideas of the [[French Revolution]], but this did not happen.<ref>{{cite web|title = Braschi, Giovanni Angelo (1717-1799)|url=http://www2.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1773-iii.htm|publisher=Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church|accessdate=14 April 2015}}</ref> ===Gallican and Febronian protests=== [[File:Pius VI, Pont.Max. engraving BNF Gallica.jpg|thumb|170px|right|Pius VI]] Besides facing dissatisfaction with this temporising policy, Pius VI met with practical protests tending to the limitation of papal authority. [[Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim]], writing under the pseudonym of "Febronius", the chief German literary exponent of [[Gallican]] ideas of national Catholic Churches, was himself induced (not without scandal) publicly to retract his positions; but they were adopted in [[Austria]] nevertheless. There the social and ecclesiastical reforms which had been undertaken by Emperor [[Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor|Joseph II]] and his minister [[Wenzel Anton, Prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg|Kaunitz]], as a way of influencing appointments within the Catholic hierarchy, touched the supremacy of Rome so nearly that in the hope of staying them Pius VI adopted the exceptional course of visiting [[Vienna]] in person.<ref name=Berkley>{{Cite web |url=https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/people/pope-pius-vi |title="Pope Pius VI", Berkley Center, Georgetown University |access-date=30 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190127094240/https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/people/pope-pius-vi |archive-date=27 January 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=EB1911/> He left Rome on 27 February 1782 and,<ref name=Ott/> though magnificently received by the Emperor, his mission proved a fiasco; he was, however, able a few years later to curb those German [[archbishop]]s who, in 1786 at the [[Congress of Ems]], had shown a tendency towards independence.<ref name=EB1911/> ===Kingdom of Naples=== In the [[Kingdom of Naples]] difficulties necessitating certain concessions in respect of feudal homage were raised by the liberal minister [[Bernardo Tanucci|Tanucci]], and more serious disagreements arose with [[Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor|Leopold II]], later emperor, and [[Scipione de' Ricci]], [[bishop of Pistoia and Prato]], upon the questions of reform in [[Tuscany]]. The papal bull [[Auctorem fidei]] issued on 28 August 1794, is a condemnation of the Gallican and Jansenist acts and tendencies of the Synod of Pistoia (1786).<ref name=EB1911/> ===Other activities=== On 17 August 1775, Pope Pius VI promulgated with a Papal Decree the authenticity of [[Our Lady of Šiluva]].<ref>[https://zenit.org/articles/envoy-named-for-centenary-of-lithuania-apparitions/ "Envoy Named for Centenary of Lithuania Apparitions", ''Zenit'', August 22, 2008]</ref> Pius VI saw the development of the Catholic Church in the [[United States of America]]. He released the American clergy from the jurisdiction of the Vicar Apostolic in England,<ref>[https://catholicsaints.info/new-catholic-dictionary-pope-pius-vi/ “Pope Pius VI”. New Catholic Dictionary. CatholicSaints.Info. 2 June 2017]</ref> and erected the first American episcopal see, the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore|Diocese of Baltimore]] in November of 1789. Pius VI elevated 73 cardinals in 23 consistories. He canonized no saints but he beatified a total of 39 individuals that included [[Lawrence of Brindisi]] and [[Amato Ronconi]]. The pope also set the Pontifical States' finances on much steadier ground. Pius is best remembered in connection with the expansion of the [[Museum of the Vatican| Pio-Clementine Museum]], which was begun at the suggestion of his predecessor [[Pope Clement XIV|Clement XIV]]; and with an attempt to drain the [[Pontine Marshes]],<ref name=EB1911/> but Pius VI did successfully drain the marshes near Citta della Pieve, Perugia, and Spoleto. He also restored the Via Appia.<ref name=Berkley/> Pius VI also deepened and expanded the harbors of Terracina and Porto d'Anizo, a major center of Pontifical trade. Pius was a great patron of the arts and humanities; he also added a new sacristy to St. Peter's Basilica.<ref name=Ott/> ===French Revolution=== {{main|French Revolution}} [[File:Morte di S. S. Pio VI.jpg|thumb|170px|left|The death of Pope Pius VI]] At the outbreak of the [[French Revolution]] in 1789, Pius VI witnessed the suppression of the old [[Gallican Church]] as well as the confiscation of pontifical and ecclesiastical possessions in France. It also saw an effigy of himself burnt by the Parisians at the [[Palais Royal]].<ref name=EB1911/> He saw the events as a sign of opposition against the social order ordained by [[God]] and also viewed it as a conspiracy against the church. The pope condemned both the [[Declaration of the Rights of Man]] and the [[Civil Constitution of the Clergy]] and supported a league against the revolution. He issued two briefs - ''[[Quod aliquantum]]'' (1791) and ''[[Charitas (papal encyclical)|Caritas]]'' (1791) - to condemn the ecclesiastical reforms that were proposed. 1791 marked the end of diplomatic relations with France and the papal nuncio, Antonio Dugnani, was recalled to Rome as a result.<ref name=Miranda/> One of the reasons for the breach was the seizure by the revolutionaries of the [[Comtat Venaissin]], ending 516 years of Papal rule in Avignon. King [[Louis XVI of France]] was [[Execution of Louis XVI|executed]] via [[guillotine]] on 21 January 1793, and his daughter [[Marie Thérèse of France|Marie Thérèse]] petitioned Rome for the canonization of her father. Pius VI hailed the late king as a martyr on 17 June 1793 in a meeting with cardinals, giving hope to a potential possibility of sainthood. In 1820, two decades following the death of Pius VI, the [[Congregation of Rites]] put an end to the possible sainthood since it was impossible to prove the king died for religious reasons rather than political ones. Pius VI argued that the main thrust of the revolution was against the Catholic religion and Louis XVI himself.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thejosias.com/2015/01/29/pius-vi-quare-lacrymae/|title=Pius VI: Quare Lacrymae|date=29 January 2015|accessdate=20 April 2015}}</ref> ===Deposition and death under Napoleon=== {{Main|Napoleon and the Catholic Church}} In 1796 [[First French Republic|French Republican]] troops under the command of [[Napoleon Bonaparte]] invaded Italy and defeated the papal troops. The French occupied [[Ancona]] and [[Loreto, Marche|Loreto]]. Pius VI sued for peace which was granted at [[Tolentino]] on 19 February 1797; but on 28 December 1797, in a riot blamed by papal forces on some Italian and French revolutionists, the popular brigadier-general Mathurin-[[Léonard Duphot]], who had gone to Rome with [[Joseph Bonaparte]] as part of the French embassy, was killed and a new pretext was furnished for invasion.<ref name=EB1911/> [[Louis-Alexandre Berthier|General Berthier]] marched to Rome, entered it unopposed on 10 February 1798, and, proclaiming a [[Roman Republic (18th century)|Roman Republic]], demanded of the pope the renunciation of his temporal authority.<ref name=EB1911/> Upon his refusal, Pius was taken prisoner,<ref name=Berkley/> and on 20 February was escorted from the Vatican to [[Siena]], and thence to the [[Certosa del Galluzzo|Certosa]] near [[Florence]]. The French declaration of war against Tuscany led to his removal (he was escorted by the Spaniard [[Pedro Gómez Labrador, Marquis of Labrador]]) by way of [[Parma]], [[Piacenza]], [[Turin]] and [[Grenoble]] to the citadel of [[Valence, Drôme|Valence]], the chief town of [[Drôme]] where he died six weeks after his arrival, on 29 August 1799,<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911|wstitle=Pius|inline=1}}</ref> having then [[List of 10 longest-reigning Popes|reigned longer than any pope]]. Pius VI's body was embalmed, but was not buried until 30 January 1800 after [[Napoleon]] saw political advantage to burying the deceased Pope in efforts to bring the Catholic Church back into France. His entourage insisted for some time that his last wishes were to be buried in Rome, then behind the Austrian lines. They also prevented a [[Civil Constitution of the Clergy|Constitutional]] bishop from presiding at the burial, as the laws of France then required, so no burial service was held. This return of the [[investiture]] conflict was settled by the [[Concordat of 1801]]. Pius VI's body was removed from Valence on 24 December 1801 and buried at Rome 19 February 1802, when Pius VI was given a Catholic funeral, attended by [[Pope Pius VII]], his successor. [[File:Tomb of Pius VI.jpg|thumb|175px|right|Tomb of Pope Pius VI]] ===Reburial=== By decree of [[Pope Pius XII]] in 1949, the remains of Pius VI were moved to the Chapel of the Madonna below St. Peter's in the Vatican grottos. His remains were placed in an ancient marble sarcophagus. The inscription on the wall above the container reads: "The mortal remains of Pius VI, consumed in unjust exile, by order of Pius XII were placed fittingly here and decorated by a marble ornament most excellent for its art and history in 1949". ==Representation in literature== A long audience with Pius VI is one of the most extensive scenes in the [[Marquis de Sade]]'s narrative ''[[L'Histoire de Juliette|Juliette]]'', published in 1798. Juliette shows off her learning to the Pope (whom she most often addresses as "Braschi") with a verbal catalogue of alleged immoralities committed by his predecessors.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MlYrDQQvPSwC |date=2007-12-01|publisher=Open Road + Grove/Atlantic|isbn=9780802199027|language=en|first=Marquis |last=de Sade |title=Juliette}}</ref> ==See also== * [[Cardinals created by Pius VI]] *[[List of popes]] * [[Luis Ignatius Peñalver y Cárdenas]] * [[Palazzo Ghini]] ==Notes== {{reflist}} ==Further reading== * Browne-Olf, Lillian. ''Their Name Is Pius'' (1941) pp 3-58 [https://archive.org/details/TheirNameIsPius online] * Collins, Jeffrey. ''Papacy and politics in eighteenth-century Rome: Pius VI and the arts'' (Cambridge University Press, 2004). * Hales, E.E.Y. ''Revolution and Papacy, 1769–1846'' (Hanover House, 1960). *[[Ludwig von Pastor|Pastor, Ludwig von]], 1952. ''The History of the Popes from the close of the Middle Ages,'' (St. Louis : Herder) vols. [https://archive.org/details/historyofpopesfr39past XXXIX] and [https://archive.org/details/historyofpopesfr40past XL]. * Sampson, Donat. [https://archive.org/stream/americancatholic31philuoft#page/220/mode/2up "Pius VI and the French Revolution,”] ''The American Catholic Quarterly Review'' 31, January – October, 1906; [https://archive.org/stream/americancatholic31philuoft#page/n433/mode/2up Part II], Ibid., p.&nbsp;413; [https://archive.org/stream/americancatholic31philuoft#page/n625/mode/2up Part III], p.&nbsp;601; [https://archive.org/stream/americancatholic32philuoft#page/94/mode/2up Part IV] and Ibid., Vol. 32, N°. 125, p.&nbsp;94, January 1907; [https://archive.org/stream/americancatholic32philuoft#page/312/mode/2up Part V], Ibid., p.&nbsp;313. * Souvay, Charles L. "The French Papal States during the Revolution." ''Catholic Historical Review'' 8.4 (1923): 485–496. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/25011902.pdf online] ==External links== *[http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1773-iii.htm Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church:] Giovanni Angelo Cardinal Braschi *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070928030319/http://www.damian-hungs.de/Papst%20Pius%20VI..html Pope Pius VI] on Damian-hungs.de {{in lang|de}} ==External links== {{commons category|Pius VI}} {{wikiquote}} {{s-start}} {{s-rel|ca}} {{s-bef|before=[[Pope Clement XIV|Clement XIV]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Pope]]|years=15 February 1775 – 29 August 1799}} {{s-aft|after=[[Pope Pius VII|Pius VII]]}} {{s-end}} {{Popes}} {{Catholicism}} {{History of the Catholic Church}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Pius 06}} [[Category:Pope Pius VI| ]] [[Category:Italian popes]] [[Category:People from Cesena]] [[Category:1717 births]] [[Category:1799 deaths]] [[Category:Conclavists]] [[Category:18th-century Italian people]] [[Category:Popes]] [[Category:18th-century popes]] [[Category:Prisoners who died in French detention]] [[Category:Roman Republic (18th century)]]'