Mezzabarba, Carlo Ambrogio

MEZZABARBA, CARLO AMBROGIO. - Patriarch of Alexandria, legate in China and cardinal, b. ca. 1685 at Pavia of a noble family, d. at Lodi on 7 Dec. 1741. Having obtained his degree in utroque iure, he later became referendary of both Signatures at Rome. He was subsequently governor of Todi, and later of the Sabina. On the proposal of Propaganda, in the secret Consistory of 18 Sept. 1719 Clement XI appointed him legate a latere for China and patriarch of Alexandria. Tournon's legation in China had not succeeded in settling the question of the rites. Certain proofs of imperial clemency toward Christians had aroused in Rome the hope of a change favorable to Christianity. The Portuguese government too withdrew the measures issued in 1715 against the application of the pontifical decrees concerning the rites and consented to the mission of a new legate, on condition that the journey take place via Lisbon.

M.'s mandate was to secure the application in China of the decree Ex illa die of 19 March 1715. To prepare the way for the legate, Clement XI wrote numerous briefs to the king of Portugal, to his brother Francis, to the Emperor, and to the bishops and apostolic vicars of China, and assigned some Barnabites and Servites as companions of M. The legate's confessor was the Servite Sostegno Viani, who later wrote the Giornale della legazione della China (Cologne 1740). The two Barnabites Onorato Ferrari and Filippo Cesati traveled in advance with a papal brief to prepare the Emperor for the legation. In the spring of 1720 M. made the journey to Lisbon, presenting there his credentials, to which the Portuguese government made certain adjustments according to the regalist principles then in use. On 25 March 1720 M. set out from Lisbon and, after a brief stop at Goa, arrived on 23 Sept. 1720 at Macao. In Dec. 1720 and in Jan. and Feb. 1721 he was received by Kanghi with all due honors; but the result was negative, like that of the Tournon legation.

Foreseeing this outcome, M. had presented to the Emperor, before the first audience, a list of concessions brought from Rome. These concessions contained the lawfulness of the rites, provided these were purely civil and after the elimination of all superstitious elements. On 19 Jan. 1721 the Emperor replied with a letter in his own hand, saying that the restrictive clause was groundless and deprived the concessions of all value. With gifts for the Pope and the King of Portugal, M. departed from Peking on 3 March 1721, arriving at Macao on 17 May 1721. On 7 Nov. 1721 he published a Pastoral Instruction to the bishops, apostolic vicars and missionaries, declaring that it was not his intention to suspend the constitution of Clement XI and not to permit anything that was forbidden therein. In order, however, to eliminate every doubt in its execution, he also published the eight famous concessions that the previous year he had made known to the Emperor Kanghi. The instruction was intended exclusively for the missionaries and, under penalty of excommunication, forbade its translation into the Tartar or Chinese language; Chinese Christians were permitted to give notice of it, where this seemed necessary or useful. Benedict XIV, in the constitution Ex quo singulari of 11 July 1742, revoked all the concessions of M. and reconfirmed the constitution of Clement XI Ex illa die. He then wrote to the King of Portugal that the legate had exceeded his powers, or else that the opponents of the Clementine Constitution had interpreted his decisions in too broad a manner. But it is certain that M. had not acted on his own initiative. Shortly before his departure from Lisbon he had received from Rome the answer to certain doubts proposed to Rome by the apostolic vicars of China. The eight concessions were contained in this answer. A note on the back of the document expressly stated that the legate could make use of this answer (Letter of M. to Propaganda, dated Lodi, 10 Oct. 1740, in the Archive of Prop. Fide, Scritture riferite nei congressi. Indie orientali e Cina, 1737-40, vol. XXII, ff. 680-81).

Toward the end of 1721 he departed from Macao for Europe, bringing with him to Rome the body of his predecessor, Card. Tournon (1723). On 13 July 1725 he was appointed bishop of Lodi.

Nicola Kowalski