Teodoro Loredan Balbi (

Krk Krk (; it, Veglia; ruo, Krk; dlm, label= Vegliot Dalmatian, Vikla; la, Curicta; grc-gre, Κύρικον, Kyrikon) is a Croatian island in the northern Adriatic Sea, located near Rijeka in the Bay of Kvarner and part of Primorje-Gorski Kota ...

, 7 November 1745 - Novigrad, 23 May 1831) was a

Venetian Venetian often means from or related to: * Venice, a city in Italy * Veneto, a region of Italy * Republic of Venice (697–1797), a historical nation in that area Venetian and the like may also refer to: * Venetian language, a Romance language s ...

nobleman of the Loredan and

Balbi Balbi (or Balbis or Balby) may refer to: Geographical features * Mount Balbi Streets and palaces * Via Balbi (Genoa), part of the World Heritage Site, UNESCO World Heritage Site Genoa: Le Strade Nuove and the system of the Palazzi dei Rolli, ...

families and the last Bishop of Novigrad, a position which he held from 1795 until his death on 23 May 1831.

Biography

He has roots in two important Venetian noble families - Loredan and

. He was ordained a priest in 1768. His uncle, the Bishop of Pula, Giovanni Andrea Balbi, appointed him a canon scholastic, prosinodal examiner and inquisitor in his diocese. In 1795 he received his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

from the

University of Padua The University of Padua ( it, Università degli Studi di Padova, UNIPD) is an Italian university located in the city of Padua, region of Veneto, northern Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from B ...

, and in the same year

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 ...

appointed him as Bishop of Novigrad. Sudden political changes caused by the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

soon followed: the collapse of the

Venetian Republic The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia, ...

in 1797, a brief change in Austrian and French rule, and the eventual establishment of Austrian rule in

Istria Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; ist, Eîstria; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian, Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; formerly in Latin and in Ancient Greek) is the larges ...

after the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...

in 1815. Although he did not get involved in the political events of the time,

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

's authorities detained him for 10 months in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

after a trial, where he experienced all sorts of humiliations. After returning to the seat, he was for a time the only

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

and, under the authority of the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...

, he visited the dioceses of Poreč and Pula. At the suggestion of Holy Roman Emperor Francis I,

Pope Leo XII Pope Leo XII ( it, Leone XII; born Annibale Francesco Clemente Melchiorre Girolamo Nicola della Genga (; 2 August 1760 – 10 February 1829), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 28 September 1823 to his death ...

abolished the Diocese of Novigrad in 1828, which became part of the

Diocese of Trieste In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associat ...

, but, according to the Pope's order, only after Teodoro Loredan Balbi's death. As a bishop, according to his records, he sent three relations to the Holy See, in 1798, 1802 and 1807, but as they were not properly worded, the secretariat of the Congregation received them as letters. In them he reported that in the diocese there were one cathedral and one choir church, 17 parishes, and many fraternities; that he opened a seminary and a pawnshop, founded a canonry of theologians and penitents, etc. The last bishop of Novigrad was buried in the church of St. Agatha in Novigrad, and his remains were transferred in 1852 to the bishop's tomb in the cathedral.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balbi, Teodor T 1745 births 1831 deaths People from Primorje-Gorski Kotar County University of Padua alumni 19th-century Italian Roman Catholic bishops