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'{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2011}} {{Infobox Christian leader |type = Pope |honorific-prefix = Pope |English name = Pius VI |image = Popepiusvi.jpg |image_size = 220px |caption = Portrait by [[Pompeo Batoni]], 1775 |birth_name = Giovanni Angelo Braschi |term_start = 15 February 1775 |term_end = 29 August 1799 |predecessor = [[Pope Clement XIV|Clement XIV]] |successor = [[Pope Pius VII|Pius VII]] |ordination = 1755 |ordinated_by = |consecration = 22 February 1775 |consecrated_by = [[Gian Francesco Albani|Giovanni Francesco Albani]] |cardinal = 26 April 1773 | created_cardinal_by =[[Pope Clement XIV]] |rank = |previous_post = [[Sant'Onofrio (Rome)|Cardinal-Priest of Sant’Onofrio]] (1773-1775) |birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1717|12|25}} |birth_place = [[Cesena]], [[Papal State]] |death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1799|8|29|1717|12|25}} |death_place = [[Valence, Drôme|Valence]], [[French First Republic|French Republic]] |coat_of_arms = C o a Pio 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 the [[Pope|head]] of the [[Catholic Church]] 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> ==Biography== {{no footnotes|section|date=July 2013}} The name of Pius VI is associated with many and often unpopular attempts to revive the splendour of [[Pope Leo X]] (1513–21) in the promotion of art and public works; the words ''Munificentia Pii VI. P. M.'' graven in all parts of the city, giving rise amongst his impoverished subjects to such satire as the insertion of a minute loaf in the hands of [[Pasquin]] with that inscription beneath it.{{citation needed|date=July 2013}} He is best remembered in connection with the establishment of the [[Museum of the Vatican]], begun at his suggestion of his predecessor and with an impractical and expensive attempt{{citation needed|date=July 2013}} to drain the [[Pontine Marshes]], something later successfully achieved in the 1930s by Fascist dictator [[Benito Mussolini]]. The portrait in the box is one of numerous studio copies of the official portrait by [[Pompeo Batoni]]. Pius VI has been {{According to whom|accused|date=January 2014}} of having led a futile and immoral life,{{citation needed|date=July 2013}} of having neglected his duties and of having been bad-tempered and even brutal with his attendants.{{cn|date=September 2013}} Allowance of course must be made for enmity and exaggeration,{{citation needed|date=July 2013}} but there can be no doubt that the Pope resorted to low and crooked means of obtaining money,{{clarify|"low and crooked" are media terms. Not encyclopedic|date=July 2013}} both to meet the demands of his insatiable family{{citation needed|date=July 2013}} and the cost of his own extravagance.{{citation needed|date=July 2013}} As a monarch he was isolated and ignored. When the French Revolution broke out, the population of Avignon and of the [[Comtat Venaissin]] turned out the papal officials and declared themselves French citizens. News of this event was received in Paris with a great show of rejoicing and the Pope's effigy was publicly burned in the gardens of the Palais Royal to the accompaniment of ribald jokes and songs. ===Early years===hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Braschi was born in [[Cesena]]. After completing his studies in the [[Society of Jesus|Jesuit college]] of Cesena and receiving his doctorate of law (1734), Braschi continued his studies at the [[University of Ferrara]], where he became the private secretary of [[Tommaso Ruffo]], papal legate, in whose bishopric of [[bishop of Ostia|Ostia and Velletri]] he held the post of [[auditor (ecclesiastical)|auditor]] until 1753. His skill in the conduct of a mission to the [[Kingdom of Naples|court of Naples]] won him the esteem of [[Pope Benedict XIV]] (1740–58), who appointed him one of his secretaries,<ref>Eamon Duffy, ''Saints & Sinners: A History of the Popes'', 251.</ref> 1753, and [[canon (priest)|canon]] of St Peter's. In 1758, putting an end to an engagement to be married (Pastor 1952) he was ordained priest, and in 1766 appointed treasurer of the [[camera apostolica]] by [[Pope Clement XIII]] (1758–69).<ref>Eamon Duffy, ''Saints & Sinners: A History of the Popes'', 251.</ref> Those who suffered under his conscientious economies cunningly convinced [[Pope Clement XIV]] (1769–74) to make him [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|Cardinal-Priest]] of ''[[Sant'Onofrio]]'' on 26 April 1773<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=328 |isbn=0060653035 }}</ref> – a promotion which rendered him, for a time, innocuous. In the four months' [[Papal conclave, 1774-1775|conclave which followed the death of Clement XIV]] Spain, France and [[Portugal]] at length dropped their objection to Braschi, who was after all one of the more moderate opponents of the anti-[[Society of Jesus|Jesuit]] policy of the previous Pope, and he was elected to the Holy See on 15 February 1775, taking the name of Pius VI. ===Papacy=== {{Infobox popestyles |image = C o a Pio VI.svg |dipstyle = [[His Holiness]] |offstyle = Your Holiness |relstyle = Holy Father |deathstyle = None |}} ====Early actions==== The earlier acts of Pius VI gave fair promise of liberal rule and reform in the corrupt administration of the [[Papal States]]. Though 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 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 [[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. ====Compromise candidate==== The circumstances of Pius VI's election as a compromise candidate involved him in difficulties from the outset of his pontificate. He had received the support of the ministers of the Catholic crowns and the anti-Jesuit party upon a tacit understanding that he would continue the action of Clement XIV, by whose brief ''[[Dominus ac Redemptor]]'' (1773), the [[Society of Jesus]] had been pronounced dissolved. On the other hand, the ''[[zelanti]]'' – the pro-Jesuit party among the cardinals – believed him secretly sympathetic towards the Jesuits, and expected some reparation for the alleged wrongs they suffered under the previous reign. As a result of these complications Pius VI was led into a series of half measures which gave little satisfaction to either party: although it is perhaps largely due to him that the Order was able to escape dissolution in [[White Russia]] and [[Silesia]]; at only one juncture did he ever seriously consider its universal re-establishment, namely in 1792, as a bulwark against the ideas of the [[French Revolution]] (1789). ====Gallican and Febronian protests==== 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 "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 in the spirit of the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]], which had been undertaken by Emperor [[Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor|Joseph II]] (1765–90) and his minister [[Wenzel Anton, Prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg|Kaunitz]] 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. He left Rome on 27 February 1782, and, 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]],<!-- is that Bad Ems or what --> had shown a tendency towards independence. ====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]] (1790–92), later emperor, and [[Scipione de' Ricci]], [[bishop of Pistoia and Prato]], upon the questions of reform in [[Tuscany]]; but Pius VI did not think fit to condemn the decrees of the [[synod]] of [[Pistoia]] (1786) till nearly eight years had elapsed. ====French Revolution==== [[File:Pius VI, Pont.Max. engraving BNF Gallica.jpg|thumb|Pius VI]] At the outbreak of the [[French Revolution]], Pius VI witnessed the suppression of the old [[Gallican Church]], the confiscation of pontifical and ecclesiastical possessions in France, and an effigy of himself burnt by the Parisians at the [[Palais Royal]]. ====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, defeated the papal troops and occupied [[Ancona]] and [[Loreto (AN)|Loreto]]. Pius VI sued for peace, which was granted at [[Tolentino]] on 19 February 1797; but on 28 December of that year, 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. [[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. Upon his refusal he was taken prisoner, and on 20 February was escorted from the Vatican to Siena, and thence to the 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, having then [[List of 10 longest-reigning Popes|reigned longer than any Pope]]. [[Image:branschi-onesti.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Pius VI elevated Romualdo Braschi-Onesti, the penultimate [[cardinal-nephew]].]] 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. ===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 Papal Grotto. 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 are placed in this dignified and decorous location, illustrious for art and history, in 1949".<ref>{{cite web|title=Tomb of Pope Pius VI|url=http://www.saintpetersbasilica.org/Grottoes/Pius%20VI/Tomb%20of%20Pius%20VI.htm}}</ref> ==Media representations== 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.{{citation needed|date=July 2013}} As a means of humiliation, [[Sylvain Maréchal]]'s play ''Le Jugement dernier des rois'' forces the character of the pope to marry after a global revolution has dethroned him and other monarchs.{{citation needed|date=July 2013}} ==See also== * [[Cardinals created by Pius VI]] * [[Palazzo Ghini]] ==Notes== {{reflist}} {{commons category|Pius VI}} ==References== *{{1911}} *[[Ludwig von Pastor]], 1952. ''The History of the Popes from the close of the Middle Ages,'' (St. Louis : Herder) vols. [http://www.archive.org/details/historyofpopesfr39past XXXIX] and [http://www.archive.org/details/historyofpopesfr40past XL]. * Donat Sampson, [http://archive.org/stream/americancatholic31philuoft#page/220/mode/2up ''"Pius VI and the French Revolution,”''] The American Catholic Quarterly Review 31, January – October, 1906; [http://archive.org/stream/americancatholic31philuoft#page/n433/mode/2up Part II], Ibid., p.&nbsp;413; [http://archive.org/stream/americancatholic31philuoft#page/n625/mode/2up Part III], p.&nbsp;601; [http://archive.org/stream/americancatholic32philuoft#page/94/mode/2up Part IV] and Ibid., Vol. 32, N°. 125, p.&nbsp;94, January 1907; [http://archive.org/stream/americancatholic32philuoft#page/312/mode/2up Part V], Ibid., p.&nbsp;313. *[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12131a.htm ''Catholic Encyclopedia'':] Pope Pius VI *[http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1773-iii.htm Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church:] Giovanni Angelo Cardinal Braschi *[http://www.damian-hungs.de/Papst%20Pius%20VI..html Pope Pius VI] on Damian-hungs.de {{de icon}} {{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]]}} {{end}} {{Popes}} {{Catholicism}} {{History of the Roman Catholic Church}} {{Authority control|VIAF=89089872|GND=118594710|LCCN=n/82/256873|SELIBR=275445|BNF=12074862m}} {{Persondata | NAME =Pius VI | ALTERNATIVE NAMES =Braschi, Giovanni Angelo | SHORT DESCRIPTION =Pope | DATE OF BIRTH =27 December 1717 | PLACE OF BIRTH = [[Cesena]] | DATE OF DEATH =29 August 1799 | PLACE OF DEATH =[[Valence, Drôme|Valence]] }} {{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]]'