Pius VII

Pope from 1800 to 1823

Barnaba Gregorio Chiaramonti was born on August 14, 1742 in Cesena, Romagna, into an old noble family.

On September 21, 1765, he was ordained a priest. Pius VI appointed him Bishop of Tivoli in 1783, then Cardinal and Bishop of Imola in 1785. There, he showed moderation towards the occupation of his diocese by Charles Augereau's troops from 1796 onwards.

Following Pius VI's death in exile, with Rome occupied by French troops, the cardinals held a conclave in Venice to find his successor. On March 14, 1800, after one hundred and four days of conclave and two hundred and twenty-seven days after the death of Pius VI, Barnaba Chiaramonti was elected pope − the two hundred and forty-eighth successor to St. Peter's − and, in homage to his predecessor, took the name Pius VII (in Latin Pius VII, in Italian Pio VII).

His pontificate was marked by numerous conflicts with the First Consul, then Emperor Napoleon I. Although he was satisfied with the signing of the Concordat in 1801, Pius VII was forced to attend the coronation of Napoleon I on December 2, 1804. In 1808, the Papal States were occupied by imperial troops, and the Pope was stripped of his temporal powers. Napoleon's reaction was immediate: he excommunicated the Emperor, a move that went almost entirely unrecognized by the French.

Napoleon exiled Pius VII in 1809, placing him first under house arrest in Savona and then, in 1812, in Fontainebleau.

In 1812, during a meeting with Pius VII on the question of the canonical institution of bishops, Napoleon alternated between enticing and threatening him, earning him the following lines from the pontiff, which have gone down in history: Commediante! Tragediante!

After the fall of the Empire, Pius VII showed great kindness and greatness of spirit. Under his protection, many members of the Bonaparte family - starting with Laetitia (Letizia) Ramolino, his mother - found refuge in Rome. He also intervened with the English authorities to ensure that Napoleon's conditions of captivity on St. Helena were more lenient, and sent the deposed emperor a chaplain.

Although not a great theologian, Pius VII was an example of humanity and the embodiment of the evangelical virtues. A highly cultured man, he was concerned with beautifying Rome and safeguarding its past. A humanist who had himself spent five years deprived of his freedom, he led the fight for the abolition of slavery. Tolerant, he established diplomatic relations with non-Catholic countries: Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States of America. Humble, he was content to live on one ecu a day.

It was in the Eternal City that the Vicar of Christ gave up his soul to God on August 20, 1823.

Since 1825, his ashes have rested in a funerary monument by Bertel Thorvaldsen, in the Clementine Chapel of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. The monument was paid for with the inheritance of Cardinal Secretary of State Ercole Consalvi, who died in 1824.

Napoleon said of Pius VII on St. Helena: "He is truly a good, gentle and brave man. He is a lamb, a true good man, whom I esteem, whom I love very much and who, for his part, repays me a little, I'm sure ...

Philately: In 1958, the Vatican Post Office (Poste Vaticane) issued a 100 lire stamp bearing the effigy of Pope Pius VII, as part of a tribute to the sculptor Antonio Canova.