Born, December 27, 1717; died at Valence, August 29, 1799.
He was the only child of Count More Aurelius Braschi, the head of
one of the oldest families in the Romagna. To his parents’ grief he
insisted upon taking holy orders, and was appointed secretary to his
maternal uncle, Cardinal Ruffio, Legate at Ferrara. Later Braschi
became auditor to the Bishoprics of Ostia and Velletri; while in the
latter city, in 1744, when there was an encounter between the Austrians
and Neapolitans (the latter commanded by King Charles III. of Spain,
then King of Naples), Braschi was able by his presence of mind to
save the Neapolitan archives. This circumstance brought him to the
notice of the King of Naples, who promised him his protection: shortly
afterwards he successfully conducted a mission from the Pope to the
King of Naples, and was appointed _Camariere Segreto_ and Canon of
St. Peter’s. In 1758 he became a Prelate, and Treasurer-General of the
Apostolic Chamber. Clement XIV. created him a Cardinal in 1773, and in
1775 he was elected Pope, under the title of Pius VI.
His reign inaugurated an era of reform; he issued many rules and
regulations as to the dress and general conduct of the clergy, which
at the time, owing to the indifference and weakness of his immediate
predecessor’s administration, left much to be desired.
His position as treasurer had given him an insight into the abuses
prevailing in the financial department of the Papal Government, and a
reduction or suppression of a number of dishonestly obtained pensions
took place. He published various laws for the protection of farmers and
corn-dealers, and offered substantial pecuniary rewards to industrious
and intelligent peasant farmers. A Congregation of Cardinals was called
together to pass regulations to put a stop to the grave disorders
occasioned by idleness, mendicity, and too low wages; the system of
weights and measures was thoroughly investigated, and one contractor
in particular, who had received 900,000 crowns from the Apostolic See
during the famine of 1771–72 to buy grain for the assistance of ruined
farmers, was forced to restore 280,000 crowns of this money to the
Treasury. Pius VI. ordered the drainage of the Pontine Marshes, and
employed for this purpose the celebrated engineer, Louis Benck; and
although the work was not finished, owing to the Revolution, 12,000
acres were reclaimed. He also cleared the Appian Way, then impassable
owing to the vast multitude of stone heaps from ruined buildings by
which it was encumbered. Pius VI. embellished, completed, arranged, and
classified the “Museo Clementino.” Combined with these reforms he gave
great attention to charitable institutions, initiated those schools
of the Christian Brothers which are now spread all over the world, and
erected many orphanages and refuges for poor children of both sexes.
Pius’s serious troubles began with the accession of that misguided but
well-meaning monarch, Joseph II. of Austria. This Emperor’s intentions
were excellent, nor was he impious or irreligious, yet by his
exorbitant pretensions to sovereignty in every department of the State,
and his avowed intention to re-organise on his own responsibility the
spiritual affairs of his Empire, he was a powerful agent to the enemies
of Christianity. After having continued for some time a correspondence
with the Emperor which led to no satisfactory understanding on either
side, Pius VI. determined to seek a personal interview with him.
Leaving on February 27, 1782, he arrived on March 22 at Vienna. The
Emperor received the Pope with the utmost courtesy, but remained
inflexible, and Pius VI. soon perceived that his long journey had
been in vain. However, Joseph II. treated the Pope with the greatest
outward magnificence, and endeavoured to appease him by offering the
brevet of a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire to Count Louis Braschi, the
Pontiff’s nephew and heir. This the Pope refused, saying: “We are not
occupied with the advancement or grandeur of our family, our interests
are concentrated on those of the Church.” The following year Joseph
II. returned the Pope’s visit, but on his way to Rome he appointed
a new Archbishop of Milan without consulting the Holy See; but gave
way, however, on this point later, and the result of the visit was the
signature of a Concordat between the Pope and Austria, which put an end
to the principal misunderstandings, although, until his death, Joseph
never ceased to be a source of anxiety and annoyance to his Holiness.
The French Revolution brought more trouble to Pius VI. After the
measures taken against the clergy, attacks began to be levelled at
the Roman Curia. The Assembly introduced the “Constitution Civile
du Clergé,” which, by abolishing the various hierarchical degrees,
destroyed the ancient Gallican Church; and Avignon, a part of the
Papal States since mediæval times, was formally united to France. The
Pope was powerless, and the storm of war began to descend on Italy:
Savoy and Nice were invaded, the clergy compelled to fly before the
persecutions of the Republic, and the States of the Church were crowded
by destitute ecclesiastics of every condition, who were hospitably
entertained by the Pope, whose own turn of misfortune was at hand; the
French Government accused him of being “an enemy of the changes in the
French Government”; they invaded the Pontifical territory, and Pius
signed in 1797 the treaty of Tolentio, by which he gave up Bologna,
Ferrara, and Romagna, and renounced all claims to the sovereignty over
Avignon.
Throughout these reverses Pius VI. showed courage, self-control and
prudence. The Directorate were determined to drive him from Rome; they
therefore excited a riot in the city, and under pretence of quelling
it, despatched an army, commanded by General Berthier, which camped
under the walls of Rome, January 29, 1798. (As Bonaparte was at that
time in Egypt, and did not return until after the death of the Pope, he
took no part in the events which followed.)
On February 15, the French general threw off the mask, entered Rome,
and the robbery and sacrilege commenced. Five days later the Swiss
Haller, the corrupt treasurer of the French army, seized the person
of the Pontiff, flung him by force into a post-chaise, and, without
attendants, luggage or any conveniences for a winter’s journey,
carried this infirm old man of eighty into exile. He was first taken
to Siena, then to the Benedictine mountain fortress of San Cassiano,
to Florence, to Parma, to Piacenza, to Turin; at length, worn out
and half paralysed, he arrived at Valence on July 14, after enduring
five months’ imprisonment, privation and misery, during which time
no pity had been shown him, although his physical condition was most
pitiful, for he had suffered a paralytic stroke, and from sheer
weakness his body had become covered with ulcers. He was incarcerated
in the ordinary prison of the citadel at Valence and kept in solitary
confinement; but by this time he was indifferent to earthly affairs,
and his time spent entirely in prayer. He retained his faculties to
the last, and, as a special favour, permitted to receive the last
Sacraments at the hands of a fellow prisoner, Mgr. Spina, Archbishop of
Corinth.
Pius VI. died on August 26, 1799, at one o’clock in the morning,
aged eighty-one years and eight months. His body was buried without
any ceremony in the desecrated chapel of the citadel; but after the
establishment of the Concordat it was, by the orders of the First
Consul, removed to Rome, and now lies there in the Church of St. Peter.
He was Pope for more than twenty-four years.