MAZIO, RAFFAELE. — Born in Rome on 24 Oct. 1765, died there on 4 Feb. 1832. From his earliest studies he displayed a refined intellect and singular proficiency in the Latin language. In 1785 he held a public theological disputation in the church of S. Ignazio, which was subsequently printed. Pius VI appointed him master of pontifical ceremonies and canon of S. Maria in Trastevere, and Pius VII, in 1801, called him to the office of secretary of the Congregation of Ceremonies. A member of the Commission presided over by Cardinal Caprara for the execution of the Concordat with France (1801), he demonstrated singular skill in the conduct of affairs and intrepid fortitude in defending the rights of the Church.
Exiled in 1809, first to Piacenza, then to Bologna and later to the Castle of Cento, upon the restoration he became one of the most valuable collaborators of Cardinal Consalvi and accompanied him to the courts of Paris and London. During this period he played a prominent role in the handling of ecclesiastical affairs for Bavaria, Prussia, Piedmont, Savoy, Hanover, the Duchy of Lucca, and accompanied Cardinal Spina to the Congresses of Ljubljana (1821) and Verona (1822). At the same time he served as secretary of Latin Letters (1816), of the Concistoriale (1818), and as a Vatican canon. Secretary of the Conclave that elected Pope Leo XII, in 1824 he was named assessor of the Holy Roman and Universal Inquisition.
Pius VIII, in the Consistory of 15 Mar. 1830, created him cardinal, announcing the nomination in the subsequent Consistory of 5 July of the same year, with the title of S. Maria in Trastevere. Mazio’s funeral oration for Queen Maria of Portugal was published (Rome 1817), while his history of the Pontifical Roman Theological Academy remained unpublished and was lost.