The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church

Biographical Dictionary
Pope Clement XIII (1758-1769)
Consistory of July 21, 1766 (VI)


(38) 1. BUFALINI, Giovanni Ottavio (1709-1782)

Birth. January 17, 1709, Città di Castello (1). Of a noble family. Youngest of the three children of Marquis Filippo Bufalini and Marchioness Ana Maria Sorbelli. The other siblings were Niccolò and Giovanni Battista. His first name is also listed as Giovanniottavio; and his last name as Buffalini; and as Bufalinus.

Education. Studied at Collegio dei Nobili di S. Carlo, Modena, 1723; and later, at the University of Macerata, where he studied law under the guidance of Tommaso Conti and Monsignor Turietti, obtaining a doctorate in utroque iure, both canon and civil law, on January 5, 1740.

Early life. He went to Spain in the entourage of Cardinal Silvio Valenti Gonzaga, who later was secretary of State and notably favored Giovanni Ottavio's career. Returned to Rome and started the ecclesiastical career. Referendary of the Tribunals of the Apostolic Signature of Grace and of Justice, September 1, 1740. Governor of the city of Benevento, January 7, 1741. Governor of the cities of Loreto, November 16, 1743 until 1747; in 1746, during the Austrian Succession War, Austrian forces first, and Neapolitan later, passed through the city and tried to enlist its citizens, something that the governor opposed and even asked to be able to use force to impede it. Cleric of the Apostolic Chamber, April 1747. President della Zecca, 1748-1749. Preceptor general of the archhospital of S. Spirito in Sassia, Rome, September 1749 to October 1754. Canon of the chapter of the patriarchal Vatican basilica, December 8, 1753 until January 17, 1755. Received the subdiaconate, March 30, 1754. Until 1754, he was a prelate of the Congregations of Loreto and Avignon, as well as protonotary apostolic supernumerary non-participant.

Priesthood. Ordained, November 17, 1754.

Episcopate. Elected titular archbishop of Calcedonia, December 16, 1754. Consecrated, December 21, 1754, church of S. Ignazio, Rome, by Cardinal Joaquín Fernández de Portocarrero, assisted by Giorgio Maria Lascaris, titular archbishop of Teodosia, and by Niccolo Saverio Santamaria, titular bishop of Cirene. Nuncio in Switzerland, December 21, 1754. Assistant at the Pontifical Throne, January 23, 1755. Named prefect of the Apostolic Palace, October 2, 1759, by the support of Cardinal Luigi Maria Torrigiani, to whom Archbishop Bufalini always remained loyal. Abbot commendatario of S. Benedetto, Rmmini, January 1764.

Cardinalate. Created cardinal priest in the consistory of July 21, 1766; received the red hat on July 24, 1766; and the title of S. Maria degli Angeli, August 6, 1766. Ascribed to the SS. CC. of the Tridentine Council, Ecclesiastical Immunity, Consistorial, Avignon and Loreto. Protector of Collegio dell'Umbria, Rome. Transferred to the see of Ancona, with personal title of archbishop, December 1, 1766; he entered the diocese on April 5, 1767; this was one of the richest sees of the Papal States. The new bishop did not limit his work to the ecclesiastical field, but intervened in economic and administrative activities of the territory anconitano, often usurping the powers of the governor, a circumstance that occurred not infrequently given the confused administration of the state. In addition to the religious situation, Cardinal Bufalini turned his care especially to agricultural problems because Ancona, besides the business of the port, drew its livelihoods from agriculture and it was the sustenance of most of the population who were sharecroppers and laborers. Participated in the conclave of 1769, which elected Pope Clement XIV. Uncompromisingly opposed to the election of Cardinal Ganganelli, during his papacy, he remained decidedly in obscurity. Participated in the conclave of 1774-1775, which elected Pope Pius VI. On July 18, 1779, he convoked a diocesan synod; the synodal decisions were published on May 1, 1780; they contained a Codice di leggi della città di Ancona. In June 1782, he received in Ancona Pope Pius VI, who was returning from Vienna. Besides the norms for the ecclesiastical discipline of the clergy and religious institutions, which were based on the usual rigor, he took significant steps aimed at preventing the spread of Enlightenment or heterodox works and ideas, which resulted also in preventing relations with the schismatics, heretics, infidels and the Jews who lived in Ancona; the latter were also forbidden to leave the ghetto from sunset to dawn. In addition to these repressive measures, Cardinal Bufalini improved education, especially at the seminary where the laity also studied; and subjected private schools to special monitoring.

Death. August 3, 1782, Montesicuro, diocese of Ancona. Exposed and buried in the cathedral of Ancona.

Bibliography. Bernabei, Nicola. Vita del Cardinale Giovanni Morone, vescovo di Modena e biografie dei cardinali modenesi e di Casa d'Este, dei cardinali vescovi di Modena e di quelli educati in questo Collegio di San Carlo. Modena : Tipografica Rossi, 1885, pp. 295-296; Fink, Urban. Die Luzerner Nuntiatur 1586-1873 : zur Behördengeschichte und Quellenkunde der päpstlichen Diplomatie in der Schweiz. Luzern : Rex Verlag, 1997; Karttunen, Liisi. Les nonciatures apostoliques permanentes de 1650 à 1800. Genève : E. Chaulmontet, 1912, p. 235; Moroni, Gaetano. Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica da S. Pietro sino ai nostri giorni. 103 vols. in 53. Venezia : Tipografia Emiliana, 1840-1861, VI, 154-155; Pignatelli, Giuseppe. "Bufalini, Giovanni Ottavio." Dizionario biografico degli Italiani. 65 vols. Direttore, Alberto M. Ghisalberti. Roma : Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana, 1960-1982, XIV, 795-797; Ritzler, Remigium, and Pirminum Sefrin. Hierarchia Catholica Medii et Recentioris Aevi. Volumen VI (1730-1799). Patavii : Typis et Sumptibus Domus Editorialis "Il Messaggero di S. Antonio" apud Basilicam S. Antonii, 1968, pp. 23, 45 and 161; Weber, Christoph and Becker, Michael. Genealogien zur Papstgeschichte. 6 v. Stuttgart : Anton Hiersemann, 1999-2002. (Päpste und Papsttum, Bd. 29, 1-6), I, 142; Weber, Christoph. Legati e governatori dello Stato Pontificio : 1550-1809. Roma : Ministero per i beni culturali e ambientali, Ufficio centrale per i beni archivistici, 1994. (Pubblicazioni degli archivi di Stato. Sussidi; 7), pp. 144, 283 and 527-528; Weber, Christoph. Die päpstlichen Referendare 1566-1809 : Chronologie und Prosopographie. 3 vols. Stuttgart : Anton Hiersemann, 2003-2004. (Päpste und Papsttum ; Bd. 31/1, 31/2, 31/3), II, 479-480.

Webgraphy. Biography by Giuseppe Pignatelli, Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 14 (1972), Treccani; biographical entry, in Italian, Dizionario storico della Svizzera; biographical entry, in German, Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz; biographical entry, in French, Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse; his portrait by an anonymous artist, Fondazione Collegio San Carlo, Modena; his engraving by Antonio Capellan, Biblioteca comunale dell'Archiginnasio, Bologna; his engraving, Bildarchiv Austria. Die Bildplattform der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek; his engraving and portrait, Araldica Vaticana; his tomb, Requiem Datenbank.

(1) This is according to all the sources consulted except Moroni, Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica da S. Pietro sino ai nostri giorni, VI, 154, which says that he was born on January 15, 1710.

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(39) 2. BOSCHI, Giovanni Carlo (1715-1788)

Birth. April 9, 1715, Faenza. Of a noble and patrician family. Son of Count Pietro Antonio Boschi. Baptized on the same day of his birth. His first name is also listed as Giancarlo; and as Ioannes Carolus.

Education. Initial studies under his uncle, Giovanni Boschi, canon and archpriest of the cathedral chapter of Faenza; then, he was sent to Rome in 1725 and studied at Collegio Clementino from 1725 until 1732; later, he studied at the Pontifical Academy of Ecclesiastical Nobles, Rome, from 1732 until 1737, to obtain the necessary preparation for the career as a prelate; and finally, at La Sapienza University, Rome, where he obtained a doctorate in utroque iure, both canon and civil law, on June 20, 1746.

Early life. In 1740, he delivered the orations "De apostolica B. Petri cathedra", at the patriarchal Vatican basilica in the presence of Pope Clement XII; and "In funere Caroli VI Romanorum regis", on November 26, 1740, at the chapel of the Quirinale palace, in the presence of Pope Benedict XIV; both orations were later published. Canon of the patriarchal Liberian basilica, October 1740. Named member of the Accademia di storia ecclesiastica by Pope Benedict XIV. Auditor of the secretary of Memoriali, Monsignor Giuseppe Livizzani, in February 1742. In January 1744, he became abbreviatore of the Roman Curia. Consultor of the S.C. of Rites, September 1743. Canon of the chapter of the patriarchal Vatican basilica, October 11, 1744. Received the minor orders, February 7, 1745.

Priesthood. Ordained, March 5, 1746. Referendary of the Tribunals of the Apostolic Signature of Grace and of Justice, June 23, 1746. Prefect of chamber of Pope Benedict XIV. Secretary of Memoriali, March 1754. Prelate of the S.C. Consistorial, 1757. Secretary of the Cipher, July 1758. Domestic prelate. Protonotary apostolic. Named prefect of the Papal Household in September 1759.

Episcopate. Elected titular archbishop of Atena, September 22, 1760. Consecrated, October 5, 1760 (1), Castelgandolfo, by Pope Clement XIII, assisted by Lodovico Calini, titular patriarch of Antioch, and by Giovanni Ottavio Bufalini, titular archbishop of Calcedonia. Assistant at the Pontifical Throne, October 31, 1760.

Cardinalate. Created cardinal priest in the consistory of July 21, 1766; received the red hat on July 24, 1766; and the title of Ss. Giovanni e Paolo, August 6, 1766. Ascribed to the SS. CC. of the Holy Office, Propaganda Fide, Rites, Consistorial, Index, and Examination of Bishops. Protector of the Holy Land and of several monasteries and religious institutions. Grand penitentiary, September 1, 1767 until his death. Prefect of the S.C. for the Correction of the Books of the Oriental Church, October 1767 until his death. Participated in the conclave of 1769, which elected Pope Clement XIV. He kept a low profile during the pontificate of Pope Clement XIV. Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals, March 8, 1773 to February 28, 1774. Participated in the conclave of 1774-1775, which elected Pope Pius VI; the Bourbon courts opposed his election to the papacy considering him a philo-Jesuit. In 1776, he was charged with the negotiations between the Holy See and the government of Modena for the modification of the Code of 1771, which was considered detrimental to the ecclesiastical immunity; the death of Duke Francesco III of Modena and the accession of Duke Ercole III in 1780 made the negotiations fail. In 1778, he censured the catechisms of Vienna of 1773 and 1776; and of Milan, prepared by Cardinal Giuseppe Pozzobenelli, because of their discordance in some point with the Roman Catechism. Pro-prefect of the S.C. of the Discipline of the Regulars, January 1774 to November 1787. Opted for the title of S. Lorenzo in Lucina, September 20, 1784. Cardinal protoprete.

Death. September 6, 1788, Rome. Exposed and buried in his title, S. Lorenzo in Lucina (2). A chronicle of his funeral was published by Vincenzo Zucchini, Pe' solenni funerali de sua eminenza il Cardinale G. C. Boschi patrizio faentino, Faenza 1788.

Bibliography. Moroni, Gaetano. Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica da S. Pietro sino ai nostri giorni. 103 vols. in 53. Venezia : Tipografia Emiliana, 1840-1861, VI, 64; Pignatelli, Giuseppe. "Boschi, Giovanni Carlo." Dizionario biografico degli Italiani. 65 vols. Direttore, Alberto M. Ghisalberti. Roma : Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana, 1960-1982, XIII, 194-195; Ritzler, Remigium, and Pirminum Sefrin. Hierarchia Catholica Medii et Recentioris Aevi. Volumen VI (1730-1799). Patavii : Typis et Sumptibus Domus Editorialis "Il Messaggero di S. Antonio" apud Basilicam S. Antonii, 1968, pp. 23, 44, 56 and 105; Strocchi, Andrea. Memorie istoriche del Duomo di Faenza e de'personaggi illustri di quel capitolo, esposte dal canonico Andrea Strocchi, Faentino, corredate di XIV tavole incise. Faenza: Tipografia Montanari e Marabini, 1838, pp. 173-175; Weber, Christoph. Die päpstlichen Referendare 1566-1809 : Chronologie und Prosopographie. 3 vols. Stuttgart : Anton Hiersemann, 2003-2004. (Päpste und Papsttum ; Bd. 31/1, 31/2, 31/3), II, 471.

Webgraphy. Biography by Giuseppe Pignatelli, in Italian, Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 13 (1971), Treccani; his episcopal lineage by Charles N. Bransom Jr., in English, Apostolic Succession in the Roman Catholic Church; his engraving Bildarchiv Austria. Die Bildplattform der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek; his portrait, Korcula Town Museum, Croatia; his portrait, secolo XVIII (1740-1760), ambito romagnolo, regione ecclesiastica Emilia Romagna, diocesi Faenza-Modigliana, Beni Ecclesiastici in web (BeWeB); his portrait, secolo XVIII (1740-1760), bottega romagnola, regione ecclesiastica Emilia Romagna, diocesi Faenza-Modigliana, Beni Ecclesiastici in web (BeWeB); his engraving, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek - Austrian National Library, Europeana; his engraving, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek - Austrian National Library, Europeana; his engraving, Antonio Cappellan (incisore), ambito romano, secolo XVIII (1766), regione ecclesiastica Triveneto, diocesi Trento, Beni Ecclesiastici in web (BeWeB); his engraving and portrait, Araldica Vaticana; his arms, secolo XIX (1890-1899), ambito romagnolo, regione ecclesiastica Emilia Romagna, diocesi Faenza-Modigliana, Beni Ecclesiastici in web (BeWeB); commemorative tablet, secolo XVIII (1789), bottega romagnola, regione ecclesiastica Emilia Romagna, diocesi Faenza-Modigliana, Beni Ecclesiastici in web (BeWeB); his tomb, Requiem Datenbank.

(1) This is according to Ritzler, Hierarchia Catholica Medii et Recentioris Aevi, VI, 105; and Pignatelli, Dizionario biografico degli Italiani, XIII, 195; Strocchi, Memorie istoriche del Duomo di Faenza e de'personaggi illustri di quel capitolo, p. 174, indicates that he was consecrated on October 31, 1760.
(2) This is the text of his epitaph taken from Strocchi, Memorie istoriche del Duomo di Faenza e de'personaggi illustri di quel capitolo, p. 175:

CINERIBVS . ET . MEMORIAE
IOANNIS . CAROLI . BOSCHI . PATRITII . FAVENTINI
PRESB . CARDINALIS . QVI . A . CLEM . XIII. P. M.
OB . EXIMIAM . DOCTRINAE . MANSVETVDINIS
ET . VIRTVTVM . OMNIVM . LAVDEM
SVMMVS . S. R. E. POENITENTIARIVS . ELECTVS
ANNOS . XXII . IN EXEMPLVM . HOC MVNERE . FVNCTVS . EST
VIXIT . OMNIBVS . CARISSIMVS . AN. LXXIII
DECESSIT . NONIS . SEPTEMBRIS . AN. MDCCLXXXVIII
PIETATE . IN DEVM . BENIGNITATE . IN . EGENOS
COMITATE . IN . OMNES. SPECTATISS.
CONDITVS . EST . IN . SEDE . TITVLI . SVI
IN . SEPVLCRO QVOD . SIBI . SVISQVE . PARAVERAT
T. P. I.

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STRASOLDO, Raymund Anton von (1718-1781)

Birth. April 29, 1718, Graz, Austria. Son of Johann Joseph Graf von Strasoldo (1680-1767), Uradel of the Margraviate of Friuli, and Maria Anna Cäcilia von Gera Freiin zu Arnfels on Freyn and Stamsried (1690-1746), countess of Gera zu Graz. His last name is also listed as von Strassoldo. Carelessly eating an ear of corn that lodged in his throat as a child, being near death, his mother vowed to consecrate him to the Church should he make it out alive and so she did once he made it.

Education. Appointed canon of the cathedral chapter of Eichstätt at the early age of sixteen in 1734, he was sent to study theology at the Collegium Germanicum in Rome. He received the diaconate on May 27, 1741.

Priesthood. Ordained, June 11, 1742, in Rome. Upon his return to Eichstatt in 1751, he was formally installed as an effective member of the chapter, becoming shortly thereafter dean of the cathedral.

Episcopate. Elected prince-bishop of Eichstätt, July 5, 1757, in the sixth ballot of the Eichstätt’s cathedral chapter after a rather tough fight for election. Consecrated, April 30, 1758, by Franz Heinrich Wendelin von Kagenegg, titular bishop of Comana Armeniae, auxiliary of Eichstätt, assisted by Franz Ignaz Albert von Werdenstein, titular bishop of Taenarum, auxiliary of Freising, and by Franz Xaver von Adelmann von Adelmannsfelden, titular bishop of Mactaris, auxiliary of Aigsburg. Being held right in the middle of the Seven Years' War between Austria and Prussia, his election was a sign that Eichstätt, as before, was completely on the Austrian side. The prince-bishop had to recruit soldiers for a lot of money for the imperial army, which was defeated in the Battle of Rossbach in November 1761. During his episcopate, he enjoyed the deep veneration of his subjects along with that of his priests mostly for his generosity. When in 1771 the price of grain rose sharply due to poor harvests and there was famine, he had grain imported from Holland, Italy and Saxony and sold it at half the price. When the following year disease swept the country, for the two consecutive years, he had the grain that was still in store given to the poor along with medicines, free of charge. Proving to be an important rococo builder for the bishopric: at Beilngries, he had the old Hirschberg castle transformed into a three-winged princely hunting lodge, considered a rococo jewel, where he spent most of his time; in 1764 ten state roads were built throughout his see, a total of 111 kilometers with a stone substructure and trees flanking the avenues; while the famous 19-meter-high Marian fountain column which still stands at Residenzplatz was also erected during his tenure. Impeccable in his moral conduct and conscientious in the performance of his duties, he gave his clergy the finest example of a dutiful priest. Of course, one would have to call it unhealthy rigor if one would consider that the bishop only spoke with his own biological sister in front of witnesses. In view of such standing, he also made serious demands on his clergy. They were forbidden to visit inns and stricter demands were imposed on candidates for the priesthood in terms of scientific and moral training, which they were to receive primarily from the Jesuits. Publishing an edict for candidates for priesthood in 1759 and a textbook for priests in 1768, the Instructio pastoralis, which was republished in 1854, 1871, 1877 and 1902, at the turn of the Enlightenment he turned out to be also fond of science, such that he had an instrument hall built at Collegium Willibaldinum in 1776, a grammar school run by Jesuits. Being particularly fond of the latter, after the Society was suppressed in 1773, he managed to keep the former Jesuits as professors at the college: they took off their religious habit but retained fully their previous activity, in which capacity the bishop was able to keep them up to his death, despite a warning from Cardinal Francesco Carafa della Spina in the spring 1774 and the constant objection of the cathedral chapter. For such support he was ridiculed by the Illuminati and his episcopal residence had to experience severe attacks.

Cardinalate. It is affirmed in his biography in Wiki that he turned down the elevation to the cardinalate offered to him on numerous occasions probably in order to be able to stay in Eichstätt. Emperor Joseph II (1765-1790) himself seems to have sought the red hat on such occasions but the bishop decidedly refused.

Death. January 13, 1781, plagued by constant gout pain and protracted liver ailments. Buried, cathedral of Eichstätt on the following January 30. In his last will he left 40,000 florins for the building of an orphanage. His death was deeply felt by the population such that his biographer expressly says: “Seldom has a prince brought more love and gratitude with him to the grave than Bishop Raymund”.

Webgraphy. Biography, in German, Deutsche Biographie; portrait, arms and biography, in English, Wiki; description of his arms, fourth on page, Wappen der Eichstätter Fürstbischöfe, Bernhard Peter; coin with his image and arms, Numista.

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