DE GREGORIO, EMANUELE

DE GREGORIO, EMANUELE. – Cardinal, born in Naples on 18 December 1758, died in Rome on 7 November 1839. At the time of the Roman Republic of 1798, to his great horror, he was designated by the French general Dallemagne and by the republican government as the antipope to be set against Pius VI, a prisoner in Siena. Escaping from this predicament, he took refuge with the Pope in order to profess his unconditional devotion to him. During Pius VII’s imprisonment in Savona, he exercised the functions of apostolic delegate in Rome for some time, until he was ordered to go to Paris, where he was arrested on 2 January 1811 and detained until the fall of Napoleon. Once released, he remained in France in order to recover the Vatican treasures seized by the French. Pius VII created him a cardinal on 8 March 1816, and in that capacity he was a member of numerous Congregations.