GREGORY XVI (Bartolommeo Alberto Cappellari, 1765-1846, Camaldolese Abbot, from 1831 Pope)

Autograph Letter, not signed, in Italian with transcription and translation, in his neat hand, to ‘Signor Cavaliere’ (‘Dear Knight’), about the endowments of two monasteries sequestrated by the French in Italy during the Napoleonic occupation, saying he has been sent “by the distinguished Advocate Tramm your sentiments concerning the matter of the well known endowments of the Monasteries of Classe [in the city of Ravenna, built by the monks of Sant’ Apollinare di Classe as a refuge from malaria] and S[ant’] Ippolito at Faenza, in reply to mine forwarded to you by various messengers”, and praying him “to reflect, that the fundamental change of circumstances, during the period from 1808 to the present”, when the French occupied Rome, when Pope Pius VII was imprisoned at Grenoble (1809), and later at Savona and Fontainebleau, and the Papal states were annexed to France, “would render this project most damaging and fatal to the said Monasteries, a project which would otherwise be of some advantage to my Congregation”, that of San Michele di Murano within the Order of Camaldoli, “your nobleness of spirit, I am sure... will allow you to consider these very relevant comments in all fairness, and that... you will come to cease from further worry or from any undertaking to liquidate the said endowments”, Cappellari explains that previously the Cavaliere was “taking a position against the Monte Napoleone”, the bank in Milan re-founded in 1804 by Napoleon and charged with managing the public finances, “to avoid a clear loss: from now on you would be against the Monasteries themselves, actively depriving you of what is still left to you, which it is not in my power to do”, and hoping “should you come this way, to be able to pay my respects in person”, adding “we will be able to agree our method of proceeding to each other's convenience and in a friendly manner in cutting through the apparent contradiction, meanwhile being fully aware of the good sense evident in your plan, I have the honour to be and declare myself with perfect esteem”, 1 side folio and conjugate blank, no place, 28th October

It seems that the Cavaliere was acting to secure a public or charitable service previously undertaken by these monasteries. The Monastero di Classe in Ravenna city was attached to the famous 6th century Basilica of Sant’ Apollinare di Classe at the former port, from where Saint Romualdo, about 1000 A.D., set out to form an ascetic community of hermits at Camaldoli, high in the Appenines. Nearby he founded a second community with greater emphasis on the common life.
The young Capellari, whose father and grandfather were notaries in north Italy, joined the Order in 1783 at San Michele, the island off Murano close to Venice, where the life was communal. After a few years he was teaching philosophy and science there to the juniors, and by 1790 was censor librorum to his order and to the Holy Office at Venice.
In 1800 he was made Abbot Vicar of San Gregorio on the Coelian Hill in Rome, Abbot in 1805, and Procurator General for his Congregation in 1807, responsible for legal matters such as the present letter, but was driven out in 1808 and went back to San Michele. There he clothed the monks in secular garb and taught philosophy till in 1813, owing to opposition from the authorities, the College was transferred to the Order’s convent of Ognisssanti (All Saints) at Padua.. After Napoleon’s fall he held further posts in Rome and returned to San Gregorio.
Leo XII made him Cardinal Priest in 1825 (published 1826), observing that Cappellari was “so very remarkable for innocence and dignity of manners, and most learned, especially in ecclesiastical matters, and for protracted labours endured by the Apostolic See... for we have made it a law to raise to dignities in the Church only men distinguished by a well-deserved renown for piety and learning”. The new Cardinal had his first responsibility for foreign affairs as Prefect of the Congregation of Propaganda, arranging concordats to support Roman Catholics in the Netherlands and Armenians in Turkey. It was therefore something of a surprise when he was elected Pope in 1831, the last a monk and the last not previously a bishop.
As Pope he coped with difficulty with revolutions in the Papal States that started the day after he was elected, and with demands from the Powers (including, to his chagrin, Protestant England and Prussia) for political reform. He also had to face the suppression of the religious orders in Spain and Portugal. In other spheres he is best remembered for his condemnation of slavery and for the support he gave to scholars such as Angelo Mai, keeper of the Ambrosian and Vatican Libraries. It was to see Gregory XVI that John Henry Newman went to Rome in late 1846.
Provenance: Ralph G. Newman, Abraham Lincoln Bookshop, Chicago.
George, Cardinal Mundelein (1872-1939), Archbishop of Chicago. (The bulk of the Cardinal’s collection of popes and saints documents is at St Mary of the Lake Seminary, Mundelein, Illinois).
By exchange between Cardinal Mundelein and collector Warren Reader, Indiana.

Item Date:  0

Stock No:  42279      £1250

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