LITTA, LORENZO. - Cardinal, b. in Milan on 23 February 1756, d. at Monte Flavio in Sabina on 1 May 1820. He studied in Rome, at the Collegio Clementino, and was ordained a priest in 1789.
Appointed titular archbishop of Thebes on 23 June 1793, he was assigned to the nunciature of Poland at a particularly difficult time. Having reached Warsaw in 1794, he defended the rights of the Church before Kosciuszko several times with success and managed, through his intervention, to save the lives of many priests and faithful. After the third partition of Poland, which marked the end of that State's independence, L. was sent as extraordinary ambassador to St. Petersburg with the task of attending the ceremonies of the coronation of Paul I in 1797 and of persuading the Emperor to grant the Polish Catholics full religious freedom. His mission came to an abrupt end in 1799. Created cardinal by Pius VII in 1801, he was deported to France, together with the Pontiff, in 1809. Having returned to Rome after the fall of Napoleon, he was cardinal-bishop of Sabina and prefect of Propaganda. He died suddenly during a pastoral visitation in Sabina.
Bibliography4 worksP. Pierling, La Russie et le St Siège, V, Paris 1912, pp. 202-88; E. Amann, s. v. in DThC, IX, coll. 785-87 (with bibl.); M. J. Rouët de Jou
BIBL.: P. Pierling, La Russie et le St Siège, V, Paris 1912, pp. 202-88; E. Amann, s. v. in DThC, IX, coll. 785-87 (with bibl.); M. J. Rouët de Journel, Nonciatures de Russie d'après documents authentiques. Nonciature de L. 1795-99, Vatican City 1943; V. Meystowicz, De archivo numitaturae Varaviensis quod nunc in Archivo secreto Vaticano servatur, ibid. 1944, pp. 39-42 (with bibl.).
Furlani, Silvio. “Litta, lorenzo.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VII, col. 1425. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1951. https://azioneromana.com/article/litta-lorenzo.
MLA
Furlani, Silvio. “Litta, lorenzo.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VII, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1951, col. 1425. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/litta-lorenzo.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec7_litta_lorenzo,
author = {Furlani, Silvio},
title = {Litta, lorenzo},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {VII},
pages = {1425},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1951},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/litta-lorenzo}
}
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