CLEMENTE XIV, POPE. – Giovanni Vincenzo Antonio, son of Lorenzo Ganganelli, born on 31 October 1705
at Sant'Arcangelo di Romagna in the district of Rimini, where his father practised medicine, although the family originated from S. Angelo in Vado (Urbania). He entered the Friars Minor Conventual at Mondaino in May 1723, taking the name Fra' Lorenzo, and made his profession on 18 May 1724. He completed his studies at the college of S. Bonaventura in Rome and received his doctorate in 1731. After teaching in various convents of the Order, he became rector of the college of S. Bonaventura in May 1740; at Easter 1746 Benedict XIV appointed him consultor of the Holy Office. Called to the generalate of his Order in 1753 and again in 1759, Ganganelli declined the appointment, until on 24 September 1759 Clement XIII created him cardinal of S. Lorenzo in Panisperna, a title which he later exchanged for that of the SS. Apostles. Jovial and witty in character, inclined toward transactions and accommodations, before his pontificate he had no opportunity to show a courageous and combative spirit, or to confront difficult situations by resolutely embracing a position.
The struggle which the European courts were waging against the rights of the Church and the authority of the Pope on the one hand, and the need to stem the progressive spread of irreligion among the upper classes on the other, must have induced in him the conviction that, in order to avert worse evils, it was necessary to go with the public authorities to the extreme limit of condescension, particularly in the question of the Jesuits, upon which Portugal and the Bourbon courts of Spain, France, Naples, and Parma were especially insistent. In all these countries the Jesuits had by then been expelled. But it was now desired that the entire Society be suppressed by the supreme pontifical authority, on account of its alleged faults and because, it was said, it was the occasion of continual disturbances and suspicions in the Church.
Clement XIII, on the contrary, had resolutely defended it, supported by cardinals, bishops, and even heterodox princes who admired in the Jesuits their integrity of life and skill in teaching, while at the same time provoking outcries and reprisals in the opposing camp. When he died suddenly on 3 February 1769, the manoeuvres of the Bourbon courts concerning the Conclave were based on the intention of obtaining a pope favourable to their alleged royal rights, which, they said, had been disturbed during the preceding pontificate, and in particular one willing officially to suppress the Society. The cardinal Domenico Orsini, as representative of the king of Naples, the Marquis de Aubeterre, ambassador of Louis XV, subsequently supported by Cardinal Francesco Gioacchino de Pierre de Bernis, and Tommaso Azpuru y Jiménez, auditor of the Rota and representative of Charles III of Spain, undertook this task in agreement; at the latter’s side stood Giuseppe Niccolò Azara, general agent and confidant of the former ambassador Manuel de Roda, a great enemy of the Jesuits; toward the end of the Conclave the Marquis de Almada, ambassador of Portugal, also reappeared in Rome. Among the cardinals, some were favourable to the Jesuits, such as those aligned with Cardinal Rezzonico; others were unfavourable, and others doubtful. Accordingly, in the lists that were drawn up, they were classified as opposed, favourable, or indifferent; but the lists did not agree on the names, since judgments concerning each man’s tendencies differed. Certainly, there was among them no man of energy and ability; according to Joseph II, who was in Rome during the Conclave, there was so little difference among them that the pope might have been elected by drawing lots.
Joseph II favoured Ganganelli, who possessed uncommon learning, not restricted to the sacred sciences alone; as a friar he had shown admiration for the Jesuits, but later, probably because of the contradictions to which they were subject within the Curia itself, he had somewhat distanced himself from them, though without thereby becoming one of their open adversaries. He wished to prevent greater harm and danger from threatening the Church on their account. The cardinals entered the conclave on 15 February 1769, but it was necessary to await the French and Spanish cardinals before proceeding to decisive action, because the ambassadors threatened that otherwise their sovereigns would not recognize the election as valid; they repeated this threat later as well, when the danger arose of an unacceptable election. The manoeuvres had the twofold aim of excluding undesirable candidates and favouring one who appeared favourable to their designs, and went so far that they seemed to constrain the electors’ freedom, although no overt exclusion was used. Opinions concerning Ganganelli’s person were not unanimous, and the attempts to raise him to the tiara initially encountered serious difficulties. Only after the Spanish cardinals succeeded in persuading Cardinal de Bernis in his favour was it possible to induce the pro-Jesuit cardinals also to give him their vote.
Naturally, he had been tested concerning the question of the Jesuits, and it was desired that he put in writing a commitment to their suppression; but the Spanish cardinals failed to obtain from him anything more than a declaration in which he set out his opinion as a theologian: namely, that the Pope could, with a tranquil conscience, suppress the Society, provided that the canonical prescriptions and the dictates of prudence and justice were observed. After this Ganganelli was unanimously elected on 19 May under the name of C. XIV; on the 28th he was consecrated bishop, and on 4 June he was solemnly crowned. The representatives of the courts were concerned above all that persons they trusted should be placed around the Pontiff. For his part, C. XIV always felt great distrust toward the members of the Court and the cardinals themselves, and resolved to conduct affairs with great secrecy; it may be said that the only person to enjoy his confidence was the Conventual friar Innocenzo Bontempi. He knew all too well what interests were being woven thickly around his person. Indeed, they immediately began besieging him in order to wrest from him the suppression of the Jesuits, and, to bring matters to a head, Cardinal de Bernis presented him on 22 July with a memorandum on the subject, drawn up together with Azpuru and Cardinal Orsini. C. XIV resolved to draw matters out as long as possible; unfortunately, however, in a letter to Charles III of 30 November 1769 he let slip a promise that he wished to satisfy him, but that until then he had been distracted by the multiplicity of affairs, and he added that he would communicate a plan on the matter in due course. He was no longer left in peace, although, in order to gain time, he appeared to favour the reopening of the beatification cause of Giovanni Palafox di Mendoza, bishop of Angelopoli in Mexico and later of Osma, greatly desired by Charles III, because Palafox, who had died as early as 1 October 1659, had been in conflict with the Jesuits. That cause had been introduced in 1726 under Benedict XIII; Ganganelli had been its ponente during his cardinalate, and all the Jesuits’ adversaries were busily engaged in it, hoping that they would be discredited if it reached a successful conclusion. Since the matter of the suppression seemed to be dragging on too long, Giuseppe Moñino, a layman, arrived in Rome on 4 July 1772 as ambassador of Spain, replacing the ailing Azpuru, who was considered insufficiently energetic, with the precise task of bringing it to completion.
The pressure on the Pope therefore became ever stronger and more resolute; he was harshly pressed to honor his commitment. Nevertheless, he did not yield so quickly, citing the danger of scandal among the peoples and the respect owed to the Empress Maria Teresa and to the other powers, which were making no demands against the Jesuits. Only after the Empress too had yielded to the suggestions of France did the Pontiff decide to proceed with a draft of the brief which, as early as 7 Feb. 1773, he had communicated to Molino so that he might transmit it to Carlo III. The brief Dominus ac Redemptor, however, was signed by C. XIV, dated 21 July, only at the beginning of August; it was immediately published, and measures were taken for its execution. In any case, measures had already been taken in Rome and Bologna against the Jesuits, depriving them of the institutions they directed and restricting their apostolic activity. It is certain that the Pope yielded only to the tenacious pressure brought to bear upon him and remained embittered by it for the rest of his life; he nevertheless left the individual Jesuits at the mercy of the cardinal commission charged with carrying out the brief.
Another act of compliance with the princes, which caused painful surprise among right-minded people, was the omission, on Holy Thursday in 1770, of the solemn reading of the bull in Coena Domini, which contained the list of the ecclesiastical censures incurred ipso facto for certain grave offenses; this, however, did not signify its suppression. It had been proscribed in nearly all the Catholic states because it included censures against those who violated the rights of the Church.
The diplomatic negotiations of C. XIV were directed toward reestablishing relations with Portugal, interrupted during the preceding pontificate, for which purpose he had to grant the cardinalate to Paulo Carvalho (brother of the marquis, Pombal’s minister), who was unworthy of it; and toward securing the restitution of the Papal States of Benevento with Pontecorvo and of Avignon with the Comtat Venaissin, occupied by Naples and France as leverage for obtaining the suppression of the Jesuits.
Alongside his notable efforts to advance the Missions in Asia, Africa, and America, C. XIV devoted considerable attention to the fine arts and the sciences. It suffices to recall, among other things, the creation of the magnificent Clementine Museum at the Vatican, the acquisition of outstanding works, the enrichment of the Library and the numismatic collections, and the protection granted to artists, scientists, and men of letters; he also spent a great deal of his own money on improvements and public works in the territories subject to his civil government.
He died on 22 Sept. 1774, after refusing to accede to the insistent requests for the publication of the eleven cardinals whom he had reserved in pectore as early as 16 Apr. 1773; he left no will, and whatever personally belonged to him was handed over to his sister’s son; none of his family had wished to benefit from him during his lifetime, thus keeping themselves far removed from any suspicion of nepotism. The rumor that spread shortly afterward that he had died of poison was unfounded; whereas, especially during the last year of his life, he had been tormented by illnesses. In 1802 his remains were transferred to the SS. Apostoli, where Canova’s superb funerary monument had been installed as early as 1787.
WORKS. — Fr. Agostino Theiner printed in Paris in 1853 Epistolae et Brevia selectiora of C. XIV, a documentary source of the first order. Much more suspect, however, is the collection edited by Luigi Antonio Caracciolo: Lettere interessanti del pontefice C. XIV
Ganganelli (1776) in 5 vols., the last of which, printed in Venice in 1779, also contains the Diatriba theologica dedicated in honor of St. Ignatius in 1743. There is also a French version: Lettres intéressantes, etc., printed in Paris in 2 vols. in 1776. Some of these letters were perhaps invented out of whole cloth, others interpolated. An edition published in Florence in 1829, in 2 vols., bears the title: Lettere ed altre opere di C. XIV Ganganelli and includes Notti in morte di C. XIV Ganganelli by Aurelio de Giorgi Bertola, a poem in sestets divided into four nights. Finally: Lettere bolle e discorsi di fra' Lorenzo Ganganelli (Apr. 1740–Sept. 1769), edited by Cosimo Frediani, printed first in 1845 and then in Florence in 1849 in one volume; subsequently in Turin in 1852, in 2 vols., with a laudatory life published earlier separately in Rome in 1847 and in Florence in 1848.