Pope Gregory XVI

Pope Gregory XVI, OSB (September 18, 1765 – June 1, 1846) born Bartolomeo Alberto Mauro Cappellari , was Pope from 1831 to 1846.

Cappellari was born at Belluno on September 18, 1765, and at an early age entered the order of the Camaldolese, among whom he rapidly gained distinction for his theological and linguistic skills. His first appearance before a wider public was in 1799, when he published against the Italian Jansenists a controversial work entitled II Trionfo della Santa Sede, which, besides passing through several editions in Italy, has been translated into several European languages. In 1800 he became a member of the Academy of the Catholic Religion, founded by Pope Pius VII (1800–23), to which he contributed a number of memoirs on theological and philosophical questions, and in 1805 was made abbot of San Gregorio on the Caelian Hill. When Pius VII was carried off from Rome in 1809, Cappellari withdrew to Murano, near Venice, and in 1814, with some other members of his order, he moved again, this time to Padua; but soon after the restoration of the Pope in 1814 he was recalled to Rome, where he received successive appointments as vicar-general of the Camaldolese Order, councillor of the Inquisition, prefect of the Propaganda, and examiner of bishops. In March 1825 he was created Cardinal by Pope Leo XII (1823–29), and shortly afterwards was entrusted with an important mission to adjust a concordat regarding the interests of the Catholics of Walloon in the Protestant dominated Netherlands. He negotiated peace on behalf of Armenian Catholics with the Ottoman Empire. He discouraged Polish revolutionaries who undermined Czar Nicholas I's efforts to support the Catholic royalist cause in France, by the necessity of diverting troops to Poland.

Election as Pope

On February 2, 1831, he was, after sixty-four days of conclave, unexpectedly chosen to succeed Pope Pius VIII (1829–30) in the papal chair.

Gregory XVI was the last man (thus far) elected Pope who was not already a bishop.

The masonic inspired progressive revolution of 1830 had just inflicted a severe blow on the Catholic royalist party in France, and almost the first act of the new government there was to seize Ancona, thus throwing Italy, and particularly the Papal States, into an excited condition which seemed to demand strongly defensive measures. In the course of the struggle which ensued, it was more than once necessary to call in Austrian defenders against red shirted republicans engaged in a terrorist campaign. The conservatives postponed their promised reforms after bombings and assasination attempts. Nor did the replacement of Bernetti by Lambruschini in 1836 mend matters; for the Luddite new Cardinal secretary of state frowned upon gas lighting and even objected to railways as increasing bourgeioisie influences. Pope Gregory XVI, under French pressure, was liberal in forgiving imprisoned revolutionaries, which backfired in eventual revolutionary success in 1870 against Pope Pius IX.

Ban on railways as "ways of the devil"

Gregory XVI was the Pope who banned railways in the Papal territories, calling then "chemins d'enfer" ("ways of the devil": French for railway "chemins de fer" ("iron ways").

The financial condition in which Gregory XVI left the States of the Church makes it questionable how far his expenditures for defensive, architectural and engineering works, and his magnificent patronage of learning in the hands of Mai, Mezzofanti, Gaetano, Moroni and others, were for the real benefit of his subjects.

Ultramontane pontificate

The years of Gregory XVI's pontificate were marked by the steady development and diffusion of ultramontane ideas dating back to Pope Innocent III, which were further developed under the guidance of his successor Pope Pius IX (1846–78), by the First Vatican Council. He canonized St Veronica Giuliani, an Italian mystic. He died on June 1, 1846.

1765 births | 1846 deaths | Popes | Italian popes | Natives of Belluno

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Election as Pope

Ban on railways as "ways of the devil"

Ultramontane pontificate