VISCONTI, FILIPPO. - Archbishop of Milan, b. 19 Aug. 1721 at Massino (diocese of Novara), d. 30 Dec. 1801 at Lyons.
In 1783 he was appointed to the metropolitan see of Milan, after the death of Cardinal Pozzobonelli, by Emperor Giuseppe II, because he combined “with the conduct of a good ecclesiastic integrity and modesty of morals, prudence, practical knowledge, and manners most suited to making him acceptable.” The arbitrary act of the sovereign, who had directly made the appointment, which belonged to the Pope, provoked a vigorous response from Pio VI, who refused to recognize V. as Archbishop of Milan. Only after Giuseppe II’s arrival in Rome in Dec. 1783 and the Pope’s transfer to the emperor of the rights of appointment to the bishoprics of the Duchies of Milan and Mantua was V. preconized Archbishop of Milan on 25 June 1784. He did not oppose the Josephine reforms; only under Leopoldo II did he appeal to Vienna and obtain the suppression of the General Seminary of Pavia and the restoration of the diocesan seminaries. With prudence and tact he governed the diocese during the first Republic, the Austro-Russian restoration, and after the return of the French. Appointed deputy to the Cisalpine Consulta, convened at Lyons in Dec. 1801, he died in that city.