CODONCHI, ANTONIO. - Bishop, born in Imola on 18 August 1748, died in Ravenna on 16 January 1826. Pius VI sent him to Turin as internuncio in 1777, and on 14 February 1785 appointed him Bishop of Ravenna. In 1796 he saved the city from the massacre threatened by the French. He won the favor of Bonaparte, who in 1801 called him to the Council of Lyons, where Codonchi was able to obtain that the Catholic religion be declared the religion of the Italian Republic (26 January 1802).
Napoleon showered him with honors and positions; yet this did not prevent Codonchi, during the Council of Paris (June 1811), from affirming that the Italian episcopate, while remaining loyal to the Emperor, for matters of religion owed allegiance only to God and the Church. Such a stern stance alienated Napoleon’s friendship from him, but after the fall of the despot and Codonchi’s return to Ravenna in 1814, it did not spare him some hostility from the zealots, especially from Rivarola.
**