CALEPPI, LORENZO

CALEPPI, Lorenzo. — Cardinal, b. Cervia 29 Apr. 1741, d. Rio de Janeiro 10 Jan. 1817. After attending the college for nobles in Ravenna, he moved to Rome and devoted himself to the study of jurisprudence. He became a friend of GARAMPi, who, upon being named nuncio to Warsaw in 1772, took C. with him as auditor of that nunciature; and, still in Garampi’s retinue, he held the same office from 1776 to 1785 in Vienna. In June 1786 he was sent to Naples to conclude a concordat with that court. The Holy See’s demands regarding the appointment of bishops, the direct dependence of religious orders on Rome, the jurisdiction of the nuncio, and the granting of ecclesiastical benefices, however, met with opposition from the Neapolitan rulers, who sought to reassert the caesaropapism of Tanucci and the marquis of Sambuca. The negotiations were therefore broken off in Jan. 1788, and C. returned to Rome. The trust of Pius VI called him a few years later to conduct other very delicate negotiations. In 1796 he was indeed in Florence to confer with Bonaparte’s plenipotentiaries on the terms for implementing the armistice of Bologna, and the following year he was part of the delegation that signed the treaty of Tolentino. In 1801 he became nuncio to Lisbon, succeeding B. Pacca, who had been made a cardinal. When in 1808 Portugal was invaded by French troops, C. followed the royal family to Brazil. There he won the esteem and gratitude of John VI by interposing his good offices for the successful outcome of the Anglo-Brazilian commercial agreement and the dispute that had arisen between the regent and the administrators of the patriarchate of Lisbon. He was created cardinal in the Consistory of 8 Mar. 1816.