(64) 1. CAPRARA, Giovanni Battista (1733-1810)
Birth. May 29, 1733, Bologna. Of a noble family. Sixth of the eight children of Marchis Raimondo Francesco Montecuccoli and Countess Maria Vittoria degl'Anziani, of the counts Caprara; they were cousins and at marriage he took the obligation of assuming the name Caprara. His last name is also listed as Montecuccoli Caprara.
Education. Seminary of Bologna, Bologna; La Sapienza University, Rome (doctorate in utroque iure, both canon and civil law, September 23, 1755).
Early life. Vice-legate of Ravenna, 1757.
Priesthood. Ordained, December 22, 1765, Bologna. Referendary of the Supreme Tribunals of the Apostolic Signature of Grace and of Justice. Vice-legate in the province of Romandiola. Relator of the S.C. of the Sacred Consulta.
Episcopate. Elected titular archbishop of Iconio, December 1, 1766. Consecrated, December 8, 1766, Quirinale Palace, Rome, by Pope Clement XIII, assisted by Scipione Borghese, titular archbishop Teodosia, and by Ignazio Reali, titular archbishop of Atena. In the same ceremony was consecrated Giovanni Archinto, titular archbishop of Filippi, future cardinal. Assistant at the Pontifical Throne, December 8, 1766. Nuncio in Cologne, December 18, 1766. Nuncio in Switzerland, September 6, 1775. Nuncio in Austria, Hungary and Bohemia, 1785-1792; was very compliant to the ecclesiastical policies of Emperor Joseph II.
Cardinalate. Created cardinal priest in the consistory of June 18, 1792; received the red hat and the title of S. Onofrio, February 21, 1794. Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals, February 21, 1794 until June 1, 1795. Participated in the conclave of 1799-1800, celebrated in Venice, which elected Pope Pius VII. Administrator of the diocese of Iesi, July 21, 1800. Transferred to the see of Iesi, with personal title of archbishop, August 11, 1800. At the request of Emperor Napoléon I of France, was named legate a latere before the French Republic, August 24, 1801, and remained in the post until the imprisonment of Pope Pius VII, July 1809; his difficult legation had mixed results. He faciltated the translation the remains of Pope Pius VI to Rome, February 1802. After the approval of the 1801 Concordat between France and the Holy See, the restoration of Catholicism was solemnly celebrated by the cardinal, who pontificated in Notre Dame metropolitan cathedral, Paris, April 18, 1802, with the attendance of Emperor Napoléon and the state's higher officials. Transferred to the metropolitan see of Milan, May 24, 1802. He blessed the Iron Crown, with which Napoléon was crowned as the new King of Italy, May, 26, 1805. Poor health spared him from the difficulties of Napoléon's divorce and second marriage, April 1810. He willed his entire fortune to the hospital of Milan.
Death. June 21, 1810, Paris, ill, deaf and almost blind. Exposed in the church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris, where the funeral took place, and buried in Vault III, in the lower tomb in the third bay on the right hand side, in the church of Sainte-Geneviève (Panthéon), Paris (1). He was the first foreigner to be buried in the Panthéon. His heart was deposited in the metropolitan cathedral of Milan. At the request of his family, the cardinal's body left Paris for Rome on August 22, 1861 (2).
Bibliography. Decraene, Jean-François. Petit dictionnaire des grands hommes du Panthéon. Paris : Monum, éditions du patrimoine, 2005, p. 30-31; Leflon, Jacques Adolphe Marie. "Caprara, Giovanni Battista." New Catholic Encyclopedia. Prepared by an editorial staff at the Catholic University of America. 19 vols. New York, McGraw-Hill, 1967-1996, 3, 91; Paschini, Pio. "Caprara, Giovanni Battista." Enciclopedia Cattolica. 12 vols. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l'Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1949-1954, vol. III, cols. 718-719; Rinieri, I. "Un cardinale legato a latere a Parigi nell'ottubro del 1801." La Civiltà Cattolica, 18ª serie, 2 (1901, II), pp.37-51; Squicciarini, Donato. Nunzi apostolici a Vienna. Città del Vaticano : Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1998, p. 186-190; Weber, Christoph and Becker, Michael. Genealogien zur Papstgeschichte. 6 v. Stuttgart : Anton Hiersemann, 1999-2002. (Päpste und Papsttum, Bd. 29, 1-6), I, 189, tav. 3 Caprara.
Links. Biography by Francis Schaefer, in English, The Catholic Encyclopedia; another biography by Ekkart Sauser, in German, Biographisch-Bibliographischen Kirchenlexikons; Famiglia Caprara, in Italian; his tomb in the Panthéon, Paris, Find A Grave; and his portrait with Pope Pius VII, by Jacques-Louis David, Philadelphia Museum of Art/CORBIS.
(1) This is the text of the inscription in his tomb, kindly provided by Mr. Mark West, from London, England:
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