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elevated to Europe will Conclave atDEATH OF POPE PIUS VII.PARIS, MONDAY, ThttEE O’CLOCK.The Christian world has now to lament the loss of one ot' its brightest ornaments—the virtuous, the enlightened, the Christian Pontiff, Pope Pius VII. is no more. His Holiness departed this life on the 20th of this month. jThe particulars of his death are not yet known, for the melancholy intelligence has but just reached this city by a telegraphic dispatch. It is probable that the late accident which bef'el his Holiness, joined to his advanced etge, has been the cause of his dissolution. |The Sacred College will of course assemble immediately in order to elect his successor. There are no means of knowing which of the Cardinals will be the tiara. The attention of the whole pf therefore be called to the proceedings of the Rome. Notice has been issued to the pardinals in France, who are the Archbishop of Sens apd the Archbishop of Toulouse, to proceed immediately to Rome to attend their duties in the Conclave. IThe deceased Pontiff was named Barnabi Chiara-monti, born at Cesena, in the Romagna, j on the 14th of August 1742, and elected Pope, at Venice, on the 14th of March 1300; he was therefore at the time of his decease in the 82d year of his age, and in the 24th of his Pontificate.This venerable personage, was Bishop of Imola in 1796, when Bonaparte entered that town with his army; and the reception which the French experienced from the Prelate was so charitable and mild as to secure to the latter the favour of the Republican General, whose influence was supposed to have been afterwards employed in promoting him to the Cardinal’s finally to the Popedom. Pius VI. died in Valence in 1798, at the advanced age of 82purple, and captivity at ; but it wasnot till Mareh 1800, that it was found pospible to proceed to the election of his successor, when Cardinal Chiaramonti being chosen, assumed the name of Pius VII. He did not take possession of Rome itself till November 1801, when a medal wasv struckj there, with the inscription, Sol refulget. His occupation of the throne was marked by an act of liberality, [in remitting to the distressed inhabitants of Pesaro their taxes. He also made many promotions, particularly conferring the honour of knighthood on the celebrated Canova. In the years 1800 and 1801 he caused no less thap ten vacancies in the College of Cardinals to he filled up, among which was the nomination of his private secretary, Hercules Consalvi, whom he also appointed Secretary of State. In February, 1802, he received at Rome with great pomp the body of his venerable predecessor, which Bonaparte caused to be transported thither, wishing fp conciliate the good opinion of the Catholics. Steps indeed had already been taken by the First Consul to reconcile France to the Church of Rome, and with this view a Concordat was signed on the 25th of July 1801, and Pius VII. in September following sepit Cardinal Caprara as his Legate a Latere to Paris; together with the Bull of ratification of the Concordat. | A new circumscription of Dioceses was agreed upqn, and the Legate was authorised to institute the new Archbishops and Bishops. On the 24th of May 1802, his Holiness delivered a remarkable allocution on this subject in a secret Consistory. When Bonaparte assumed the Imperial title, he persuaded Pius VII. to come to Paris to crown him. The latter delivered an allocution on this subject on the 29th of October, 1804 ; left Rome on the 2d of November, and-ip|cbe4 Foitfainbleau, where Bonaparte received him iii great state, on| the 25th of that month. On the 2d of December the coronation took place, and from this time Bonaparte] having obtained all that he wanted of the Pope, began to prepare for depriving him of all his power. “ Atj one time,” says he to Mr. O’Meara, “I had in contemplation to take away aJi his temporal power, and make him my Almoner’’ In the third volume of Las Gases,’ Journal, Bonaparte is described as speaking in most contemptuous terms of the discussions which took place on the part of the Pope with him at this period. He does not, however, statej whether he gratified the Holy Father by «lemnizing a-regular marriage with the Empress Josephine. It is probable that he did, and that his subsequent marriage I was consequently invalid, and his son illegitimate, [though the mistaken pride of the House of Austria would never suffer this point to be fully investigated, pn the 16th of May, 1805, the Pope reached Rome on his return, aud was received with great joy by his subjects. In the course of 1807, Bonaparte having made many demands on Pius VII. with a threat of occupying his capital on non-compliance, the latter, on the 2d of February, 1808, published a solemn protest against such j occupation. This was answered on the 2d of April following by a Decree, in which Buonaparte said, “ considering that the Pope had constantly refused to make mar on\the English, the provinces of Ancona, Urbiuo, and Macerata should be annexed to the kingdom of Italy.” His Holiness sent a deputation to pray that the rigour of this Decree might be softened, but Bonaparte replied] to them,— “ Your Bishop is the Spiritual Chief of the Church, but I am its Emperorand on the 17th of May, 1809, he issued a Decree, annexing the Pontifical Spates to the French Empire. Pius VII. opposed to all these violences nothing but the purest Christian humility, but he combined with it the most unbending firmness. He never would anathematize the English nation—he never would make war on them—he never would declare that they were the enemies of the Cbufch. j Bonaparte caused him to be seized by night, and dragged, at nearly 70 years of age, from Rome to Fontainbleau, where he was kept as a State prisoner until the downfall of the Tyrant in 1814, when he was immediately restored to his dominions, and proceeded to revisit them without delay. His Proclamation at Cesena, on j the 24th of May, on his return, is highly interesting, and exhibits a mind of great strength. at so late a period of life. _ The same day he once more re-entered Rome, ini the midst of a population enthusiastically delighted at [his restoration. He immediately employed himself p re-organ-dzing all the public institutions, and has ever since demoted himself unceasingly to the affairs of [the Church, leaving the direction of civil and temporal affairs almost wholly to his Minister, Cardinal Consalvi. jPius VII. was admitted by Bonaparte himself] to be mild and amiable ; be abounded in real Christian charity ; and, though so long subjected to the most unjust persecutions, never evinced the least symptom of a vindictive spirit towards his enemies; whilst to his friends or benefactors, and particularly to the English Nation and Government, he always testified, the warmest gratitude. ___
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London St James Chronicle and General Evening Post
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Thu, Aug 28, 1823
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