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ANTONELLI, GIACOMO (1806-1876)

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 148 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ANTONELLI, GIACOMO (1806-1876) , See also:Italian See also:cardinal, was See also:born at See also:Sonnino on the 2nd of See also:April 18o6. He was educated for the priesthood, but, after taking See also:minor orders, gave up the See also:idea of becoming a See also:priest, and See also:chose an administrative career. Created See also:secular See also:prelate, he was sent as apostolic delegate to See also:Viterbo, where he See also:early manifested his reactionary tendencies in an See also:attempt to See also:stamp out Liberalism. Recalled to See also:Rome in 1841, he entered the See also:office of the papal secretary of See also:state, but four years later was appointed pontifical treasurer-See also:general. Created cardinal (Iith See also:June 1847), he was chosen by See also:Pius IX. to preside over the See also:council of state entrusted with the drafting of the constitution. On the loth of See also:March 1848 Antonelli became premier of the first constitutional See also:ministry of Pius IX., a capacity in which he displayed consummate duplicity. Upon the fall of his See also:cabinet Antonelli created for himself the governorship of the sacred palaces in See also:order to retain See also:constant See also:access to and See also:influence over the See also:pope. After the assassination of Pellegrino See also:Rossi (15th See also:November 1848) he arranged the See also:flight of Pius IX. to See also:Gaeta, where he was appointed secretary of state. Notwithstanding promises to the See also:powers, he restored See also:absolute See also:government upon returning to Rome (12th April 185o) and violated the conditions of the surrender by wholesale imprisonment of Liberals. In 1855 he narrowly escaped assassination. As ally of the Bourbons of See also:Naples, from whom he had received an See also:annual See also:subsidy, he attempted, after 186o, to facilitate their restoration by fomenting See also:brigandage on the Neapolitan frontier. To the overtures of See also:Ricasoli in 1861, Pius IX., at Antonelli's See also:suggestion, replied with the famous " Non possumus," but subsequently (1867) accepted, too See also:late, Ricasoli's proposal concerning ecclesiastical See also:property.

After the See also:

September See also:Convention (1864) Antonelli organized the See also:Legion of See also:Antibes to replace See also:French troops in Rome, and in 1867 secured French aid against See also:Garibaldi's invasion of papal territory. Upon the reoccupation of Rome by the French after Mentana, Antonelli again ruled supreme, but upon the entry of the Italians in 187o was obliged to restrict his activity to the management of See also:foreign relations. He wrote, with papal approval, the See also:letter requesting the Italians to occupy the Leonine See also:city, and obtained from the Italians See also:payment of the See also:Peter's pence (5,000,000 lire) remaining in the papal See also:exchequer, as well as 50,000 scudi—the first and only See also:instalment of the Italian See also:allowance (subsequently fixed by the See also:Law of Guarantees, March 21, 1871) ever accepted by the See also:Holy See. At Antonelli's See also:death the Vatican finances were found to be in disorder, with a deficit of 45,000,000 lire. His See also:personal See also:fortune, accumulated during office, was considerable, and was bequeathed almost entirely to members of his See also:family. To the See also:Church he See also:left little and to the pope only a trifling souvenir. From 185o until his death he interfered little in affairs of See also:dogma and church discipline, although he addressed to the powers circulars enclosing the See also:Syllabus (1864) and the acts of the Vatican Council (187o). His activity was devoted almost exclusively to the struggle between the papacy and the Italian Risorgimento, the See also:history of which is comprehensible only when the influence exercised by his unscrupulous, grasping and sinister See also:personality is fully taken into See also:account. He died on the 6th of November 1876.

End of Article: ANTONELLI, GIACOMO (1806-1876)

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