ROVERELLA, AURELIO. - Cardinal, b. at Cesena on 21 Aug. 1748, d. at Bourbon (Champagne) on 5 Sept. 1812. He enjoyed the esteem and confidence of Pio VI, his fellow citizen. Auditor of the Rota in 1785 and auditor of His Holiness four years later, he was created cardinal on 21 Feb. 1794 with the title of SS. Giovanni e Paolo.
Pro-datary in 1795, he received from Pio VI, when the latter fell ill (1797), most exceptional faculties, which were renewed when the Pope was violently torn from his see (20 Feb. 1798). He took part in the Conclave of Venice, and on 23 May 1800 Pio VII chose him among the three legates a latere sent to assume the government of Rome. Having gone to France because of the well-known events of 1809, he did not belong to the heroic group of the so-called “black cardinals.” He did, in fact, take part in the marriage of Napoleone to Maria Luisa and was sent, in 1811, to Savona to induce Pio VII to alter his attitude toward the Emperor.