ANNIBALE. - Cardinal, b. in Urbino in 1682, d. in Rome in 1751. Brother of Alessandro and nephew of Clement XI, after having been a canon of St. Peter's and president of the Apostolic Chamber, he was sent in 1709 as extraordinary nuncio for peace between the Austrian Empire and the German states, remaining for two years in Vienna. The result of his mission was the ratification of the election of Charles VI as emperor. He then went to the elector of Saxony, king of Poland, to regulate the situation of the Catholics and, created cardinal in 1711, he was first secretary of the Memorials, then camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church and archpriest of the Vatican Basilica. Bishop of Sabina in 1730, he held the synod that he published in 1737 and that was much praised by Benedict XIV.
Subdean of the Sacred College and bishop of Porto and S. Rufina in 1743, as soon as the reform of the Roman Archiginnasio by Benedict XIV (1747) was announced, he resigned from the office of camerlengo and archchancellor of the Sapienza. During his cardinalate he worked, with assiduity and tenacity, to have Augustus II king of Poland recognized by the Holy See, for which he fell out with Louis XIV.
He published in several volumes, with a dedication to the Sacred College, the works of his uncle, bulls, briefs and the Pontificale Romanum Clementis XI auctoritate recognitum (1720).
Bibliography3 works
Mario De Camillis