LITTA, LORENZO. - Cardinal, b. in Milano 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 Tebe on 23 June 1793, he was assigned to the nunciature of Poland at particularly difficult times. Having arrived in Varascia in 1794, he repeatedly and successfully upheld the rights of the Church against Kosciuszko and, through his intervention, succeeded in saving 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 Pietroburgo, with the task of attending the ceremonies of the coronation of Paolo I in 1797 and persuading the Emperor to grant Polish Catholics full religious freedom. His mission ended abruptly in 1799. Created cardinal by Pio VII in 1801, he was deported to France together with the Pontiff in 1809. Having returned to Rome after the fall of Napoleon, he became cardinal-bishop of Sabina and prefect of Propaganda. He died suddenly during a pastoral visit to Sabina.