CARACCIOLO, DIEGO IRIGO. - Cardinal, b. 18 July 1759 at Martina, d. 24 Jan. 1820 at Napoli. Chamberlain to Pio VI, he followed him in 1798 on the road to exile, when the latter was dragged by the French out of Rome.
He remained beside the Pontiff at Siena, Firenze, Grenoble, and Valenza, and witnessed his last breaths, also drawing up, in his capacity as protonotary, the official document concerning the death of Pio VI. To reward C.’s attachment to his predecessor, Pio VII created him, in the Consistory of 11 Aug. 1802, cardinal of the order of priests, with the title of S. Agostino, and subsequently suburbicarian bishop of Palestrina. When Giuseppe Bonaparte became king of Napoli, C. swore allegiance to the new sovereign; later, however, all his property was sequestrated, and only after the return of King Ferdinando IV was he able to recover possession of II. In 1815 the cardinal was entrusted with negotiations for a new concordat between the S. Sede and the kingdom of the Due Sicilie, successfully concluded three years later. During the same period he also concerned himself with abolishing the abuses arising from the service of Neapolitan couriers in pontifical territory.