ISO u
to enter the eceleeiutical stete, but could not obtain bia mother'! consent. After her death he was ardained priest and somewhat later Grand Duke Cosimo of Tua- onny sent him as arabeissador to Pius V, a position which he held for fifteen years, Gregory XIII made
in 1590, as legate te France where he did cooil service
for the Church in repressing the Huguenot influence at
the cMiurt of Henry IV, and helping to restore the
Catholic religion. On hia return to Italy he was ap-
niint«d prefect of the Congregation of Bishops and
Hegulais. In ItiOO he became Bishop of the aubur-
Ucarian Diocese of Albano, whence he was transferred
to Palestriua in 1Q02, AJest^andro was an intimate
friend of Saint Philip Xeri with whom he spent much
thne in spiritual conversation and whose advice he
•ought in all important matters. When Alessandro
wax Tuscan ambassador at the court of Pius V Philip
predicted hia election to the papacy.
On 14 March, 1805, eleven days after the death of Clement VIII, sixty-two cardinals entered the Con- clave. ProDiiuentamong the candidates for the papacy were the great historian Baronius and the famous Jesuit controversialist Bellarmine. But Aldobrandini, the leader of the Italian party among the cardinals. made common cause with the French party ann brought about the election of Alessandro against the express wish of Kins Philip III of Spain, King Ilcnry IV of France, who had learned to esteem Alessandro when papal legate at his court, and whose wife, Maria de' Medici was related to Alessandro, is said to have spent 300,000 6ciis in the promotion of Alessandro's candidacy. On 1 April, 1605, Alessandro ascended the papal throne as I,eo XI, beinf; then seventy years of age. He took sick immediately after his coronation. During his sickness he was importuned by many mem- beiB of the Curia anri by a few ambassadors from foreign courts to confer the cnnlinalate on one of his grandnephews, whom he had himself educated and
whom he loved dearly, but bo had such an aversion
for aepotism that he firmly refused the request. When
his confessor urged him to grant it, he dismissed him
and sent for another confessor to pr^jare him for death.
chitta V (Ko'mB, 1792), ISl gq.: Caff-celatbo. LitenlFMip Wirr, it. PoPB. II (2od ed., London. ISe*). 227-232.
Michael Orr. Leo ZH, PoFE (Annibale Francesco Cleuentb Melchiore GinoLAUO Nicola della Genoa), b. at the Caatello della Genga in the territory of Spoleto, 22 August, 1760; d. in Rome, ID February, 1839. His father's family had been ennobled by Leo XI in 1605; his mother was Maria Luisa Periberti of Fabriano. They had a large family, seven sons and three daugh- ters, of which Anmbale was the fifth son and sixth child. At the age of thirteen he was placed in tbe CoUedo Canopana of Osirao, whence he was trans- ferred, in 1778, to the Collegia Piceno in Rome and shortly afterwuds to the Accademia dei Nobili Elccle- siastici. He was ordained subdcacon four vears later, and deacon in 1783. Two months later he was or^ dained priest, dispensation lieing obtained for the de- fect of age, as he was only twenty-three. He was of handsome person and engaging manners and, soon after his oidination, attracted the notice of Pius VI, who was visiting the Accademia, and by him was raised to the prelature as comertere segrdo. In 1790 be was chosen to deliver in the Sixtine Chapel the ora- tion on the death of the Emperor Joseph II and ac- complished his difficult task to the admiration of all hearers, without offending the susceptibilities of Aus- tria or compromising the authority of the Holv See. in 1792 he became a canon of the Vatican church, and the following year was consecrate<l titular Archbishop ofTyre and sent as nuncio to Lucerne. Thence he was transferred to the nunciature at Cologne in 1794, a post which he occupied with great success for eleven years. In 1805 he was accredited as nuncio extraoi^ dinaiy to the Diet of Ratisbon liy Pius VII in order that be might deal with the dithculties between the German Church and its I'rusaian rulers. Return- ing to Rome to confer with ConsaKi i)n these mat- ters, he learnt that Napoleon desiretl the substitution of anothernuncio more devoted to his interests, in the person of Bemier, Bishop of OrWiins. Pins VII, bow- Delia Genga re- turned to Munich. In 1803 he went with Cardinal Ca- prara to Paris with the object of ar- ranging some
I. He was re-
ceived, however,
but coldly, and the
negotiations soon
came to nothing,
Delia Genga rf^
turned to Rome
where he witnessed
the indignities of-
fered toPius VI I by
the French. "
Lio XII
o tlie Abbey of
'turned in dismay t
Monticelli, which had been granted t mendam for life by Pope Pius VI. Here he spent bis time teaching his choir of peasants to play the organ and to sing plain-chant.
Expecting to end his days there, he built in the abbey church the toml)s of his mother and himself. But in 1811. with the fall of Napoleon, Pius VII ro- tumecl to Rome and Mgr Delia Genga was sent to Paris (is envoy extraordinary to convey the pope's con-
