DE ANGELIS, FILIPPO. - Cardinal, born 16 Apr. 1792 at Ascoli, died 8 July 1877 at Fermo. Apostolic visitor of the diocese of Forlì, titular bishop of Leuca on 6 July 1826, then in 1830 titular archbishop of Carthage, he was sent by Pius VIII as nuncio to Switzerland. He remained at Lucerne until 1835, energetically defending the rights of the Catholic Church against the encroachments of liberalism. From Lucerne he had to move to Schwyz and then leave his diplomatic post, and for some time was bishop of Montefiascone and Corneto.
Created cardinal in pectore by Gregory XVI in the Consistory of 13 Sept. 1838, he was published in that of 8 July 1839, and then appointed archbishop of Fermo in 1842. At the accession of Pius IX, he was not favourable to the granting of amnesty, nor to the policy inaugurated by the new Pontiff. At the flight of Pius IX to Gaeta, Card. De A., by order of Mazzini, was arrested on the night of 11 Mar. 1849 and imprisoned in the fortress of Ancona until 19 June, when the Austrians freed him. In 1860, upon the entry of Piedmontese troops into Fermo, the cardinal was deported to Turin, given his intransigent stance regarding liberalism. He returned to his diocese in 1866, tempering his intransigence with greater indulgence. For his merits he was named Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church.
