Legations

LEGATIONS. - The supreme pontiff Clement XI (1701-21), in the reorganization of the State, which he provided for despite the very grave events it had suffered, divided the territory subject to him into 12 provinces, at the head of which stood, in general, governors: of these, however, the four largest were to be governed by cardinal-legates: namely those of Bologna, Ferrara, Romagna, Pesaro and Urbino. This arrangement was changed several times. Thus, after the restoration that followed the collapse of the Napoleonic Empire, the provinces, according to the reform of Leo XII, increased to 21, and to the previous legations were added that of Forlì and that of Velletri. After the revolutionary period of the years 1848-1849, however, the number of legations was again reduced to four, but with different extent, because that of Bologna also embraced Romagna and Ferrara, that of Urbino (whose legate, however, ordinarily resided at Pesaro) extended to all the Marches, that of Perugia to Umbria, while southern Lazio was subject to that of Velletri.

The title of legate had, as is well known, several meanings, and already De Luca, in his work Il cardinale pratico, clearly distinguished these differences. As for the attribution of this qualification to cardinals sent by the supreme pontiffs to their territories with important functions of government, there is already an example in the Egidian Constitutions of the 14th century, so that Clement XI renewed a title that was already in use in the Church. The cardinal-legates received from the pontiff the charge of governing their legation, with the exception of that of Velletri, of which the relevant prelate was legate by birth. In their hands was gathered the sum of political-administrative powers, and in certain cases the pope also conferred on them particular powers, such as, for example, that of creating counts palatine and knights of the golden militia. In general, the cardinal-legates provided for the appointment of those in charge of the administration of the municipalities, except in those cases in which the pontiff provided for it directly: however, the opinion of the legate was always sought. To the latter also belonged the first appointment of the municipal councils, which were then renewed by one third through election made by the councillors themselves, according to the ancient medieval practice.

The legation, like the other pontifical provinces, was divided into districts at the head of which were governors. This circumscription was generally quite vast: thus the territory of the legation of Ferrara was divided into only two districts, those of Ferrara and Lugo. From the governor depended the major municipalities, governed, as their head, by a gonfaloniere, and the minor ones governed by a prior, and likewise the appodiati.

The cardinal-legate was assisted in his government by a "congregation," composed of four lay consultors, appointed by the supreme pontiff, with particular competence for the financial part. The legate could then consult the congregation on any other matter. There was moreover, after the restoration, in every legation a provincial council. The members of this council were appointed by the pontiff, who chose them from slates of three, proposed by a second-degree election by the municipal councils. The council was convened by the legate once a year, for a session that lasted several days, with the task of examining the provincial budget and determining the apportionment of the expense that weighed on the municipalities. It then appointed an administrative commission that supervised collections and expenditure.

Not infrequently the cardinal-legates had themselves assisted, in particular affairs, by persons in their confidence. Thus it happened that Monsignor Braschi, who later became pope under the name of Pius VI, while he was at Ravenna and Ferrara gave Ignazio Boncompagni the task of promoting land reclamation in the relevant territories, and when he was later raised to the purple and was entrusted by the Supreme Pontiff with the legation of Bologna, he deputed the same Boncompagni to draw up a plan of bold reforms of the city's administrative system, which was quite antiquated: a project, however, that was not carried out.

The papacy lost the legations in the Napoleonic period, even before losing the whole State, which happened in 1809 through an act of violence by the Emperor. With the restoration the ancient organization of the provinces was largely re-established, but the municipal franchises were removed and an attempt was made to imitate the system of centralization of powers instituted by Napoleon: which, moreover, also happened in the other Italian States. It was inevitable that this line of conduct should generate discontent and be one of the many causes of unrest in certain regions of the Papal State in the period 1825-31. The cardinal-legates frequently found themselves in very difficult conditions, all the more so because some of them were not, by their very previous career, prepared for so vast and arduous a task and left a free hand to subordinates, sometimes unscrupulous. Not a few, however, on the contrary, knew how to earn the affection and gratitude of the populations they administered, such as Cardinals Opizzoni, Amat di S. Filippo, Spina, Malvasia, Arezzo and others whose merits were recognized even by writers who nevertheless subjected to strong criticism the system of government of the Papal State in the period preceding the revolution of 1848-49. To the internal difficulties were added, after the revolutionary outbreak of 1831, also the clashes between Austria and France which led to the occupation of the legations of Ferrara and Bologna by the former and of the Marches by the latter. The memorandum sent to the supreme pontiff Gregory XVI by the powers, after those events, denounced imperfections in the administration and in the exercise of justice and called for reforms in these fields and a broad autonomy in the municipal system. Several were carried out, and the government of the legations was thus entrusted for some years to laymen, but then there was a return to the status quo ante, which persisted almost unchanged, despite the demands contained in the so-called "manifesto of Rimini" drawn up in 1845 by L. C. Farini, until the upheavals of the years 1848-49; the reforms were then resumed and perfected by Pius IX between 1850 and 1859, after which the legations became part of the new Kingdom of Italy (1861).

Pier Silverio Leicht