LUIGI CIACCHI. — Cardinal, born in Pesaro on 16 Aug. 1788, died in Rome on 17 Dec. 1865. Having reached adulthood, he went to Rome and pursued the career of prelature. In 1828 he was pro-legate in the province of Bologna; in 1830 Pius VIII sent him as apostolic delegate to Macerata, where the events of 1831 caught him. He guided his conduct by principles of intelligent tolerance without weakness.
This line of conduct led Ciacchi to the governorship of the capital and to the general direction of police (1834). At Easter 1835 he promoted an amnesty for those political prisoners who still had six months of their sentence to serve, winning popular sympathy but sharp criticism from those who disapproved of his excessive indulgence. Created cardinal in 1838 by Pope Gregory XVI, he was legate in Ferrara where he firmly supported the reforming work of Pius IX.
When, in Aug. 1847, the Austrians entered the city, Ciacchi conducted himself with high dignity and, despite great efforts, managed to avert worse troubles given the intense ferment against the arbitrary occupiers. In recognition of his pacifying work, the citizens of Ferrara had two gold medals struck, one of which was presented to him in person and the other sent to Cardinal Secretary of State Ferretti. During the months of 1848 he devoted himself to assisting the volunteers and the papal troops marching to the battlefields. In May of the same year he assumed the presidency of the ministry with the portfolio of ecclesiastical foreign affairs, but soon resigned to return to Ferrara, where he was shortly afterwards replaced by a lay pro-legate. Having returned to Rome, Ciacchi continued to follow and support the policy of Pius IX and spent his final years in the exercise of priestly apostolate.