Clement XIII

Pope (Carlo della Torre di Rezzonico), was born at Venice March 7, 1693; became governor of Fano in 1721, auditor of the Rota in 1729, cardinal- deacon in 1737, bishop of Padua in 1743, cardinal-priest in 1747. He ascended the papal chair July 6, 1758. He owed his elevation to the Jesuits, whom he supported with an earnestness and perseverance that fully displayed the feebleness of the popedom. By autograph letters to the kings of France, Portugal, and Spain, he endeavored to avert the destruction of the order in those three states. But in vain. The Portuguese government suppressed all the convents in 1759 and 1760, imprisoning a number of members under the charge of being accomplices of a plot against the life of the king, and transporting most of them into the papal states "as a present to St. Peter." In 1764 the Jesuits were exiled from France. In reply, Clement issued the bull "Apostolicum pascendi," in which he again confirmed the order; but the French Parliament forbade the publication of the bull. In April, 1767, the Spanish government embarked all the members of the order in Spain in order to transport them to the papal states. On the 30th of January, 1768, the pope issued a brief, in which he annulled, as head of the Church and as feudal sovereign of Parma, a number of reformatory measures which the duke of Parma had issued in 1765 and 1766, pronouncing the severest censures of the Church against all who had aided in the drawing up, publication, and execution of these decrees, and releasing the subjects of the duke from the duty of obeying them. This bull produced the greatest indignation at all the Bourbon courts. Parma expelled the Jesuits (in 1768), France occupied Avignon and Venaissin, and Naples took possession of Benevento and Pontecorvo. In addition to these troubles, a conflict arose with the republic of Venice, which had issued some laws restricting the privileges of the clergy, and in particular that of accumulating property. The republic of Genoa offered a reward of 6000 scudi for the capture of a papal delegate to the island of Corsica, which had risen in insurrection against the Genoese. In January, 1768, the pope protested against the resolution of the Polish Diet, which, although recognizing the Church of Rome as the state Church, made some concessions to the dissidents. Besides these conflicts with the state governments, Clement had a hard struggle against an Episcopal movement in the Church of Rome, which demanded a restriction of the papal prerogatives and an enlargement of the powers of the metropolitans, and the chief representative of which was the German bishop Febronius (q.v.). The Congregation of the Index forbade the possession and circulation of the book under penalty of the galleys; but this rigorous measure, as well as letters to the bishops of Germany to use the utmost efforts for the suppression of the dangerous book, remained useless. Some of the bulls issued by Clement (as Animarum Saluti and Aliud ad Apostolatus), in vindication of the claims of the papacy, offended even the most zealous partisans of the pope. Even the cardinals became dissatisfied, and a change of policy was seriously contemplated when the pope died on February 3, 1769. Clement restricted the right of asylum, forbade the clergy from engaging in mercantile pursuits, and conferred upon Maria Theresa the title of apostolic majesty. — Ranke, Hist. Pap. bk. 8; Hase, Church Hist. p. 524 sq.; Wetzer u.Welte, Kirchen-Lexikon, 2, 613-618; Herzog, Real- Encyklop. 2, 738-740.