The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church

Biographical Dictionary
Pope Gregory XVI (1831-1846)
Consistory of January 19, 1846 (XXVI)


(73) 1. HENRIQUES DE CARVALHO, Guilherme (1793-1857)

Birth. February 1, 1793, Coimbra, Portugal. Son of José Ribeiro dos Santos e de Ana Joaquina da Soledade.

Education. Preparatory studies at Colégio das Artes daquel, Coimbra; then in 1808, he went to study law at the University of Coimbra; joined the academic batallion to fight the French invasion until its defeat in 1814; returned to the university and obtained a doctorate in canon law, on July 23, 1815; he was waraded a scholarship in Real Colégio de São Paulo, Coimbra, in 1817.

Priesthood. Ordained, June 5, 1819. Elected to the Chamber of Deputies, for Beira, to the Cortes of 1821; member of the commission for the commercial code until 1823; member of the commission for the reform of the economics of the university, 1823; procurator-supervisor of the economy and state of the university, 1824; judge superintendent of the plumbing works of Mondego, 1824. Substitute lector of natural public and international law, University of Coimbra, August 26, 1825; occupied the chair of direito pátrio, July 31, 1830. Administrative official in Real Colégio de São Paulo until its suppression because of the extinction of the religious orders, 1834. Elected to the Chamber of Deputies, 1838; president, 1840 until the dissolution of the Cortes.

Episcopate. Nominated bishop of Leiria by the Portuguese government in 1840 (diplomatic relations with the Holy See were broken); preconized, April 3, 1843. Consecrated, July 2, 1843, Lisbon, by Cardinal Francisco de São Luiz Saraiva, O.S.B., patriarch of Lisbon. In March 1845, because of the illness affecting the patriarch, he solemnly baptized Infanta D. Antónia. Promoted to the patriarchal see of Lisbon, November 24, 1845. Administrator of the prelature of Tomar, the priorate of Crato, and the dioceses of Castelo Branco and Portalegre. Chaplain of the Royal House. President of the Chamber of Peers. Member of the Council of State. President of the General Council of Beneficence.

Cardinalate. Created cardinal priest in the consistory of January 19, 1846; received the red hat and the title of S. Maria sopra Minerva, November 30, 1854. Did not participate in the conclave of 1846, which elected Pope Pius IX.

Death. November 15, 1857, Lisbon, of yellow fever. For sanitary reasons because of the epidemic, his body was taken to the cemetery of Alto de San João; transferred to the tomb of the patriarchs that he had built in the church of San Vicente de Fora, next to the patriarchal cathedral of Lisbon, October 29, 1859.

Bibliography. Ritzler, Remigium, and Pirminum Sefrin. Hierarchia Catholica Medii et Recentioris Aevi. Volumen VII (1800-1846). Patavii : Typis et Sumptibus Domus Editorialis "Il Messaggero di S. Antonio" apud Basilicam S. Antonii, 1968, pp. 35, 43, 234 and 242.

Webgraphy. Biography, in Portuguese, Portugal - Dicionário Histórico, Corográfico, Heráldico, Biográfico, Bibliográfico, Numismático e Artístico; and brief biography, in Os Cardeais Portugueses, in Portuguese, patriarcado de Lisboa; engravings, portrait and arms, Araldica Vaticana.

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(74) 2. RIARIO SFORZA, Sisto (1810-1877)

Birth. December 5, 1810, Naples (1). Of a family of the high ducal nobility. The family was related to the Colonnas, Boncompagnis and Caracciolos. Second of the two sons of Duke Giovanni Antonio Riario Sforza (1769-1836), sixth duke of Riario-Sforza, who was ambassador of the Kingdom of Naples in Westphalia and Holland during the reign of Joseph Bonaparte and Murat, and Maria Gaetana Cattaneo della Volta (1778-1836), of the princes of Sannicandro, of Genoese origin. He was baptized on the same day of his birth in the church of S. Giorgio dei Genovesi, with the name Sisto Gaetano Ambrosio. The other son was Nicola Giovanni. He received the sacrament of confirmation on February 11, 1822. Nephew of Cardinal Tommaso Riario Sforza (1823). Other cardinals of the family were Pietro Riario, O.F.M.Conv. (1471); Raffaele Sansoni Riario (1477); and Alessandro Riario (1578).

Education. He went to Rome to study under the tutelage of his uncle Cardinal Tommaso, prefect of the Economy of the S.C. of Propaganda Fide; attended the Roman Seminary of S. Apollinare; then, at the Pontifical Academy of Ecclesiastical Noble, Rome; and later at La Sapienza University, Rome. Granted the doctorate in theology by apostolic brief, April 23, 1845 (2).

Early life. He decided to enter the ecclesiastical state in 1824; received the ecclesiastical habit, January 1, 1825; and the clerical tonsure, February 13, 1825, from Cardinal Luigi Ruffo Scilla; the minor orders, December 25, 1826, also from Cardinal Ruffo Scilla; and the subdiaconate on April 7, 1832, from Giuseppe della Porta, titular patriarch of Constantinople, vice-gerent of Rome, in the patriarchal Lateran basilica. Abbot commendatario of S. Paolo in Albano in 1828. Conclavist of his uncle in the conclave of 1829. Received the subdiaconate on December 22, 1832, also from Titular Patriarch della Porta.

Priesthood. Ordained, September 1, 1833, Naples, by Archbishop Filippo Giudice Caracciolo of Naples. He exercised his ministry in the evening schools, prisons for women and among the apprentices. Ablegato to Paris to present the red biretta to neo-cardinal Jean-Louis Lefebvre de Cheverus, archbishop of Bordeaux, in 1836. Returned from France on June 27, 1836. Named privy chamberlain participant of His Holiness in November 1836. Vicar of the deaconry of S. Maria in Via Latain June 22, 1837. Canon of the patriarchal Vatican basilica, September 30, 1838. In 1840, he contributed to the creation of the review La scienza e la fede of Gaetano Sanseverino, Italian philosopher and theologian, with the purpose of combating ontologism. Private secretary of His Holiness, 1841. Accompanied Pope Gregory XVI, as secretary of memoriali, in his trip to Lazio, Umbria and Marche in September 1841. He contributed to the conversion to Roman Catholicism of Count Ernest von Stackelberg (later general of the Russian army in Caucasus); and the return to the Roman Catholic Church of Prince Augustin Petrovich Golitzyn. He also exercised his ministry for the members of the diplomatic corps and the aristocracy. King Ferdinando II of the Two Sicilies proposed him to the pope to occupy the see of Aversa on April 12, 1845.

Episcopate. Elected bishop of Aversa, April 24, 1845. Assistant at the Pontifical Throne, May 17, 1845. Consecrated, Sunday May 25, 1845, in the chapel of the choir of the patriarchal Vatican basilica, Rome, by Cardinal Mario Mattei, bishop of Frascati, prefect of the Sacred Consultaand archpriest of that basilica, assisted by Ludovico Tevoli, titular archbishop of Atene, papal almoner, and by Luigi Maria Cardelli, O.F.M., titular archbishop of Acrida, canon of the patriarchal Vatican basilica. Took possession of the diocese by procurator on May 7, 1745. Took the oath of loyalty to the king on June 12, 1845. Made the solemn entrance in the diocese on the following June 21. King Ferdinando II of the Two Sicilies presented him for the see of Naples on September 6, 1845. Promoted by the pope to the metropolitan see of Naples, November 24, 1845. Received the pallium on that same day; and took possession of the see the following December 8.

Cardinalate. Created cardinal priest in the consistory of January 19, 1846; with dispensation for having an uncle who was a cardinal; the pope sent him the red biretta with Ablegato Count Annibale Moroni; received the red biretta from King Ferdinando II on February 5, 1846; received the red hat and the title of S. Sabina, April 16, 1846. Ascribed to the SS. CC. of the Tridentine Council, Ecclesiastical Immunity, and Religious Discipline. Protector of the Sistine chapel of Ssmo Presepe in the patriarchal Liberian basilica. He founded the Accademia de filosofia tomista in 1846. Participated in the conclave of 1846, which elected Pope Pius IX. Member of the cardinalitial commission charged by Pope Pius IX with preparing the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He demonstrated great courage during the cholera epidemics that affected Naples in 1854-1855 and 1873; and the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 1861. He refused the archbishopric of Bologna in 1855. He celebrated the solemn exequies for King Ferdinando II of the Two Sicilies in the cathedral of Naples on June 3, 1859. Forcibly exiled after the collapse of the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, September 21, 1860 for refusing to completely adhere to the exorbitant requests of the new government, until the following November 30; and July 31, 1861, for not allowing to hold religious functions celebrating the fest of the Statuto, until 1866; during his exile, he lived in Genoa, Marseilles, Hyères, Civitavecchia and ultimately Rome. He projected the "Ospizio di Maria", a central seminary for clerics and priests coming from the provinces of the kingdom of Naples, which was officially inaugurated in 1876; and a home for elderly priests. Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals, March 27, 1865 until January 8, 1866. He was consulted in 1865 about the desirability of convoking a council. Named on December 7, 1869, member of the commission of Postulata, and actively participated in its works. On the eve of the Council, Cardinal Riario Sforza, together with thirty seven other bishops from Southern Italy, presented a project for the reform of the local church as a collegial contribution to the assembly. Participated in the First Vatican Council, 1869-1870. He was part of a group that wanted a more mitigated definition of papal infallibility, but voted in favor of it in the general congregation of July 15, 1870. He was the first conciliar father to announce to the faithful of his archdiocese in a pastoral letter the definition of the dogma of papal infallibility. After the unification of Italy, he favored the establishment of the Associazione per gli interesi economici in Naples and issued, on June 25, 1872, to the clergy and the people, a notification concerning the first communal elections of Naples. The Associazione operated under the guidance of the cardinal, who had promised to support and defend the Associazione cattolica italiana per la difesa de la Chiesa in Italia, established on April 4, 1866. He used his personal fortune to alleviate the penury of the poor.

Death. Monday September 29, 1877, of cardiac problems, after an illness which lasted a month, Naples. Exposed in the metropolitan cathedral of Naples; and buried, temporarily, at the Cemetery Church of S. Mario del Pianto, because the new regulations did not allow burials in the urban churches; his remains were transferred to the metropolitan cathedral of Naples; and reinterred in the chapel of the SS. Crocifisso of the church of Ss. XII Apostoli in April 1927. Over the main door of the metropolitan cathedral of Naples, an epigraph was placed in his memory (3)

Beatification. The informative process for his beatification took place from 1927 to 1931 in Naples; the ordinary process super vita, virtutibus et miraculis in genere took place in Naples from May 10 to August 12, 1936; from January 19, to March 3, 1936, took place the additional process in Rome; on February 3, 1946, the decree super scriptis was issued; and the super causae introductione was introduced in Rome on August 3, 1947 (4). In 1949, the apostolic process over his life, virtues and miracles in genere was started in Naples. On June 27, 1995, the decree of the opening of the Apostolic Process was issued; and on the following September 19, Cardinal Michele Giordano, archbishop of Naples, was notified of the opening of the process. On June 28, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI authorized the promulgation of the decree concerning his heroic virtues. He will have the title of blessed.

Bibliography. Ambrasi, Domenico. Sisto Riario Sforza, arcivescovo di Napoli : 1845-1877. Roma : Città nuova, 1999. (Testimoni; Variation: Testimoni.) Responsibility: Domenico Ambrasi ; con un contributo di Ciriaco Scanzillo; Arico, Luigi. Storia di Sisto Riario Sforza, cardinale arcivescovo di Napoli.Napoli : Fratelli Carluccio, 1878; Canger, Ferdinando. Orazioni funebri pel sommo pontefice Pio IX. e pel card. Sisto Riario Sforza. Edition: 2a ed. accresciuta di altre orazioni sacre. Napoli : presso S. Barbieri, 1878. (Nuova serie di orazioni sacre del p. Ferdinando Canger, vol. III); Contarini, Giuseppe. Elogio funebre del cardinale Sisto Riario Sforza, arcivescovo di Napoli, recitato nella parrocchia di Montesanto il 31 ottobre 1877. Napoli : G. de Angelis e figlio, 1877; De Luise, Gaspare. Alla illustre memoria di Sisto Riario Sforza, cardinale arcivescovo di Napoli, morto il 29 settembre 1877, elogio funebre. Napoli : G. de Angelis e figlio, 1877. Responsibility: di Gaspare de Luise ; letto il 31 ottobre nei solenni funerali celebrati nella chiesa di S. Nicola della Carità; Di Domenico, Francesco. La vita del Cardinale Sisto Riario Sforza, Arcivescovo di Napoli. Naples : Quellen, 1904; Federici, Emidio. Sisto Riario Sforza cardinale di Santa Romana Chiesa, arcivescovo di Napoli 1810-1877. Roma : Tipografia poliglotta vaticana, 1945; Galante, Gennaro Aspreno. Orazione funebre pel cardinale arcivescovo di Napoli Sisto Riario Sforza recitata il 13 ottobre 1877 nella chiesa parrocchiale di San Giorgio a Cremano. Napoli : Tip. dell'Accademia reale delle scienze, 1877; LeBlanc, Jean. Dictionnaire biographique des cardinaux du XIXe siècle : contribution à l'histoire du Sacré Collège sous les pontificats de Pie VII, Léon XII, Pie VIII, Grégoire XVI, Pie IX et Léon XIII, 1800-1903. Montréal : Wilson & Lafleur, 2007. (Collection Gratianus. Série instruments de recherche), p. 792-795; Notizie per l'anno MDCCCLVIII. Rome : Tipografia della Rev. Cam. Apostolica, 1858, p. 48; Paolini, Raffaello. Per la solenne promozione all'arcivescovado di Napoli di sua eccellenza reverendissima Sisto Riario, dei duchi Sforza : umili rime. Napoli : N. Fabricatore, 1845; Parente, Ulderico. Il cardinale Sisto Riario Sforza : Arcivescovo di Napoli (1845 - 1877). Roma : Edizioni Dehoniane, 1999; (Campania sacra; 29,1/2; Variation: Campania sacra; 29,1/2); Riario Sforza, Sisto. Lettera del cardinale arcivescovo di Napoli Sisto Riario Sforza sulla circolare dal sig. Miglietti guardasigilli di S.M. il re, diretta ai reverendissimi arcivescovi, vescovi e vicarii capitolari del regno, ed inserita nella Gazzetta officiale in Torino ai 30 ottobre 1861. Roma : s.n., 1861; Riario Sforza, Sisto. Lettera pastorale del cardinale arcivescovo di Napoli al clero e ai fedeli della sua archidiocesi in occasione della definizione data dal Concilio Vaticano dell'infallibile magistero del romano pontefice. Roma : Civiltà Cattolica, 1870; Riario Sforza, Sisto. Lettera pastorale dell'eminent. mo cardinale arcivescovo di Napoli intorno alla proclamazione del dogma della infallibilità pontificia. Naples : Tip. ed. degli Accattoncelli, 1870; Riario Sforza, Sisto. Nelle solenni esequie di Ferdinando II, re del regno delle Due Sicilie, celebrate nel duomo di Napoli il dl 3 giugno 1859 dall'emo e rmo D. Sisto Riario Sforza. Napoli : tip. arcivescovile di Antonio e fratelli De Bonis, 1859. Responsibility: orazione di Rosario can. Frungillo, ed epigrafi del can. Gaetano Barbati; Ritzler, Remigium, and Pirminum Sefrin. Hierarchia Catholica Medii et Recentioris Aevi. Volumen VII (1800-1846). Patavii : Typis et Sumptibus Domus Editorialis "Il Messaggero di S. Antonio" apud Basilicam S. Antonii, 1968, pp. 35, 44, 100 and 278; Rossi, Giovanni Battista de. Cenni biografici del card. arciv. di Napoli Sisto Riario Sforza. Napoli : Tip. degli Accattoncelli, 1877; Russo, Giuseppe. Il cardinale Sisto Riario Sforza e l'unità d'Italia, settembre 1860 - luglio 1861. Napoli : Istituto meridionale di cultura, 1961; Scotti Pagliara, Domenico. Per Sisto Riario Sforza, cardinale arcivescovo di Napoli, mancato ai vivi il dl 29 settembre 1877, visione. Napoli : Tip. del giornale La Discussione, 1877; Tomacelli Duca di Monasterace, Domenico. Memorie storiche intorno la vita dell'Emin. e Reverend. Principe Sisto Riario Sforza, Cardinale Prete della S.R.C., del titolo di Santa Sabina Arcivescovo di Napoli. Napoli : Stamp. di L. de Bonis, 1892; Weber, Christoph and Becker, Michael. Genealogien zur Papstgeschichte. 6 v. Stuttgart : Anton Hiersemann, 1999-2002. (Päpste und Papsttum, Bd. 29, 1-6), II, 807; Zigarelli, Daniello Maria. Biografie dei vescovi e arcivescovi della chiesa di Napoli con una descrizione del clero, della cattedrale, della basilica di s. Restituta e della cappella del tesoro di s. Gennaro. Napoli: Tipografico di G. Gioja, 1861, 289-320.

Webgraphy. Biography by Luca Sandoni, in Italian, Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 87 (2016), Treccani; biography by Herman H. Schwedt, in German, Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon; his portrait and biography, in Italian, Santi e Beati; biography, in English, Wikipedia; his genealogy, A2 B2, Libro d'Oro della Nobilità Mediterranea; his arms, portraits and engravings, Araldica Vaticana; his funeral monument, metropolitan cathedral, Naples, flickr.

(1) This is according to Hierarchia Catholica Medii et Recentioris Aevi, VII, 100; Leblanc, Dictionnaire biographique des cardinaux du XIXe siècle, p. 792; Zigarelli, Biografie dei vescovi e arcivescovi della chiesa di Napoli, p. 289; and his biography in German, linked above. His genealogy, linked above, indicates that he was born on October 5, 1810.
(2) This is according to Hierarchia Catholica Medii et Recentioris Aevi, VII, 100. His genealogy, linked above, indicates that he received the doctorate on April 23, 1825.
(3) This is the text of the epigraph, compose by Canon Barbato, taken from Fedrici, Sisto Riario Sforza cardinale di Santa Romana Chiesa, arcivescovo di Napoli 1810-1877, p. 320:

XYSTO DUCIBUS RIARIO
S. R. E. PRESBYTERO CARDINALI
ARCHIEPISCOPO HOSTIIS PERSOLVUNTUR
CUIUS FAS SIT MAXIMUM HOCCE TEMPLUM
ADIRE
CASTE PIEQUE ENDOGREDERE
ET PASTORI SANCTISSIMO DESIDERATISSIMO
PACEM AETERNALEM ADPRECARE

(4) Neapolitana beatificationis et canonizationis Servi Dei Xysti Riarii ex dinastis Sforza, cardinalis archiepiscopi neapolitani : positio super causae introductione. Corporate author: Ecclesia Catholica.; Sacra Rituum Congregatio. Roma : Typis Guerra et Belli, 1947. Note: Na s. tyt.: Card. Carolo Salotti - praefecto-relatore. Other title: Positio super causae introductione. Responsibility: Sacra Rituum Congregatione.

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(75) 3. BERNET, Joseph (1770-1846)

Birth. September 4, 1770, Saint-Flour, Auvergne, France. From a bourgeois family. Son of Guillaume Bernet (1742-1819), a marchant from Saint-Flour, and Jeanne Buisson (1743-1779), of a bourgeois family. His father, after becoming a widower, got married again, with Marie Louise Rollande (1760-1840), from whom several children were born, called Bernet-Rollande. He had four siblings.

Education. Studied at Collège de Saint-Flour; and at the Seminary of Saint-Sulpice, Paris, from 1790.

Early life. In August 1792, the seminary closed without him being able to finish his studies. In Paris he suffered misery while the Terror spread in France as in the streets of the capital. His first health concerns started during this period, when he was not yet 25 years old. Several times he had to seek care in the hospitals of Paris. With no income, he decided to open a school for his own needs, which he moved a few months after its opening to Sceaux and taught there for three years.

Sacred orders. He received the four minor orders on Saturday September 19, 1795; and the subdiaconate on September 21, 1795, feast of St. Matthew, from the hands of the vicar of St. Flour. He was then admitted to the diaconate and received the ordination from the grand vicar of Paris.

Priesthood. Ordained, November 4, 1795, probably by Jean-Baptiste-Marie de Maillé de La Tour-Landry, bishop of Gap, at night and in the greatest secrecy in a house in the old quarters of Paris. Pastor of Antony and neighboring parishes until 1797 when he retired to Orléans where he founded a school. Vicar in the parish church of Saint-Paterne, Orléans for five years. Pastor of Saint-Vincent de Paul in Paris. First almoner of the Royal House, Paris. Presented for the bishopric of La Rochelle on March 29, 1827.

Episcopate. Preconized by the pope bishop of La Rochelle, June 25, 1827. Consecrated, Sunday August 12, 1827, church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris, by Hyacinthe-Louis de Quélen, archbishop of Paris, assisted by Charles-André-Toussaint-Bruuo-Raraond de la Lande, bishop of Rodez, and by François Feutrier, bishop of Beauvais. Present were Guillaume-Aubin de Villèle, archbishop of Bourges; Claude-Joseph-Judith-François-Xavier de Sagey, ancient bishop of Tulle; and a large number of member of the clergy. His episcopal motto was Posuit episcopos regere Ecclesiam Dei. On Thursday August 16, he was admitted to take the oath on the hands of King Charles X. He took possession of his diocese, by procurator, on the following September 4. He made the solemn entrance in the diocese on September 14. A royal ordinace of October 6, 1835 named him archbishop of Aix. Preconized by the pope, February 1, 1836; solemnly enthroned the following March 26. Assistant at the Pontifical Throne, July 14, 1840. He reorganized the Faculty of Theology and published, in 1840, the Statutes of the archdiocese. He was chevalier of Saint-Louis; and commander of the Légion d'honneur.

Cardinalate. Created cardinal priest in the consistory of January 19, 1846; on February 22, he received the red biretta from King Louis-Philippe, at the chapel of the Tuileries Palace, Paris, very weakened by the disease; on his return to Aix-en-Provence on March 25, he was greeted by a considerable crowd and received at the gates of the city by the municipal council and Mayor Antoine Aude; died before receiving the red hat and the cardinalitial title. Did not participate in the conclave of 1846, which elected Pope Pius IX.

Death. Sunday July 5, 1846, at 1:45 p.m., in the archiepiscopal palace, Aix-en-Provence; the day after his death, his body is embalmed according to the Sucquet method by three doctors of the city; the next two days are devoted to the tributes paid by the people who press themselves in the palace to see for the last time the body of their archbishop; the funeral took place four days after the death. The funeral oration was delivered by the Abbé Reynaud. Exposed and buried in the metropolitan cathedral of Aix.

Bibliography. Chapeau, O.S.B. André and Fernand Combaluzier, C.M. Épiscopologe français des temps modernes, 1592-1973. Paris : Letouzey et Ané, 1974, p. 191-192; Ritzler, Remigium, and Pirminum Sefrin. Hierarchia Catholica Medii et Recentioris Aevi. Volumen VII (1800-1846). Patavii : Typis et Sumptibus Domus Editorialis "Il Messaggero di S. Antonio" apud Basilicam S. Antonii, 1968, pp. 35, 83 and 327.

Webgraphy. Images and biography, in French, Wikipédia; engraving and arms, Araldica Vaticana.

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