ANTONELLI, LEONARDO. - Cardinal, b. at Senigallia on 6 Nov. 1730, d. there on 23 Jan. 1811. After having been secretary of the Cipher and prefect of Castel S. Angelo, he was secretary of the Conclave that led to the election of Clement XIII (1758) and composed a diary of that historic event. Appointed in 1766 assessor of the Holy Office, he had to examine the book of Febronius, denouncing its jurisdictionalist maxims. Pius VI, in the first consistory of 24 Apr. 1775, created him cardinal, assigning him the title of St. Sabina. In 1780 he became prefect of the Congregation of Propaganda Fide, negotiated with Russia for the organization of the Polish dioceses, arriving at the erection of the archbishopric of Mohilew. Having become bishop of Palestrina in 1794, he was a benefactor of that ancient suburbicarian see. In Rome he established four night oratories. During the Roman Republic, on 6 Febr. 1798, A. was arrested and confined in the prison of the Convertite, where he was proposed to renounce the cardinalate. In that circumstance, he was an example of intrepid apostolic courage. Sent to Civitavecchia, he was able to reach Monte Argentaro. Expelled, he took refuge at Castro. After the death of Pius VI he took part in the Conclave of Venice. In 1800 he opted for the suburbicarian see of Porto and S. Rufina and, in the following year, was appointed major penitentiary and archpriest of the Lateran Archbasilica.

A. participated actively in the discussions that led to the stipulation of the Concordat with France and was president of the commission charged with examining the draft concordat for the Kingdom of Italy. He accompanied Pius VII to Paris on the journey for the coronation of Napoleon, in the capacity of pro-secretary of State. In 1807 he became bishop of Ostia and Velletri, dean of the Sacred College and secretary of the Congregation of the Holy Office. During the Napoleonic occupation A., arrested by a detachment of dragoons, was sent first to Spoleto, then to Macerata and to Senigallia, where death surprised him.

Among his studies are to be remembered the Memorie storiche delle sacre teste dei ss. Apostoli Pietro e Paolo e della loro ricognizione nella Basilica lateranense (Rome 1803).

Bibliography6 works

BIBL.: F. Cancellieri, Cenotaphium Leonardi Antonelli Cardinalis, Pesaro 1825; G. Moroni, Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica, II, Venice 1840, p. 217; I. Rinieri, La diplomazia pontificia nel sec. XIX, Rome-Turin 1902-1906; C. Gendry, Pie VI, sa vie, son pontifices, Paris 1906; P. Richard, s. v. in DHG, I, coll. 838-40; J. Schmidlin, Histoire des Papes de l'époque contemporaine, I, Lyon 1938 (French vers.).

Mario de Camillis

@incollection{ec1_antonelli_leonardo, author = {De, Camillis Mario}, title = {Antonelli, leonardo}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {I}, pages = {1517--1518}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1948}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/antonelli-leonardo} }

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Antonelli, Leonardo

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