Leonardo Antonelli (6 November 1730 – 23 January 1811) was an Italian

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

in the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Biography

A native of

Senigallia Senigallia (or Sinigaglia in Old Italian, Romagnol: ''S’nigaja'') is a ''comune'' and port town on Italy's Adriatic coast. It is situated in the province of Ancona in the Marche region and lies approximately 30 kilometers north-west of the pro ...

, Antonelli was the nephew of Cardinal

Nicolò Maria Antonelli Nicolò Maria Antonelli (8 July 1698 – 25 September 1767) was an Italian Cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church, a learned canonist, ecclesiastical historian, and Orientalist. Antonelli was born in Senigallia. He wrote ''De Titulis Quos S. E ...

. During the early part of his long diplomatic career, he held, among other offices, those of

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

of the

Vatican Basilica The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican ( it, Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply Saint Peter's Basilica ( la, Basilica Sancti Petri), is a church built in the Renaissance style located in Vatican City, the papal e ...

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of archives in the Castle of San Angelo, Secretary of the

Sacred College The College of Cardinals, or more formally the Sacred College of Cardinals, is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church. its current membership is , of whom are eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. Cardinals are appoi ...

and Assessor of the

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. He was created Cardinal Priest of Santa Sabina by

Pope Pius VI Pope Pius VI ( it, Pio VI; born Count Giovanni Angelo Braschi, 25 December 171729 August 1799) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 15 February 1775 to his death in August 1799. Pius VI condemned the French Revoluti ...

in the consistory of 24 April 1775, and later

Dean of the Sacred College The dean of the College of Cardinals ( la, Decanus Collegii Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae Cardinalium) presides over the College of Cardinals in the Roman Catholic Church, serving as ''primus inter pares'' (first among equals). The position was establi ...

and Cardinal Bishop of Ostia-Velletri. At the time of the

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, with a view to preventing the suspension of church services, he lent his support to the vote for the civil constitution of the French clergy, decreed by the

National Assembly of France The National Assembly (french: link=no, italics=set, Assemblée nationale; ) is the lower house of the bicameral French Parliament under the Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are known a ...

(12 July 1790). In addition to the responsible posts already mentioned, he filled those of

grand penitentiary The Apostolic Penitentiary (), formerly called the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Penitentiary, is a dicastery of the Roman Curia and is one of the three ordinary tribunals of the Apostolic See. The Apostolic Penitentiary is chiefly a tribu ...

, prefect of the Signature of Justice and of the Congregation of the Index, and pro-secretary of Briefs. He assisted in the preparation of the

Concordat A concordat is a convention between the Holy See and a sovereign state that defines the relationship between the Catholic Church and the state in matters that concern both,René Metz, ''What is Canon Law?'' (New York: Hawthorn Books, 1960 st Ed ...

, and was present at the election of

Pope Pius VII Pope Pius VII ( it, Pio VII; born Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti; 14 August 1742 – 20 August 1823), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 14 March 1800 to his death in August 1823. Chiaramonti was also a m ...

in 1800, whom he later accompanied to Paris in 1804. He participated in the Coronation of Napoleon Bonaparte as Emperor of the French. In 1808, he was banished from Rome by the French to

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and later to Sinigaglia, where he died, leaving to the

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bequests for the support of twelve

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students in the College of Urbano. Though Antonelli has been criticized for arrogating to the papacy too arbitrary a civil power, a perusal of his letter to the bishops of Ireland reveals a more tolerant spirit than is generally attributed to him. Possessed of a rich library, he was the friend and protector of letters, and had as librarian, the learned

Francesco Cancellieri Francesco Girolamo Cancellieri (Rome, 10 October 1751 – Rome, 29 December 1826) was an Italian writer, librarian, and erudite bibliophile. Biography Thomas Adolphus Trollope wrote a summary of his biography, which had been extracted were publishe ...

. He also acquired some fame as an archaeologist.

References

Attribution

{{DEFAULTSORT:Antonelli, Leonardo 1730 births 1811 deaths People from Senigallia Deans of the College of Cardinals 18th-century Italian cardinals Cardinal-bishops of Ostia Cardinal-bishops of Palestrina Cardinal-bishops of Porto Members of the Holy Office Members of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith Major Penitentiaries of the Apostolic Penitentiary Cardinals created by Pope Pius VI 19th-century Italian cardinals