CONSALVI
262
CONSALVI
disposition of his exiled countrymen. He communi-
cated (1610) to the Council of Spain a translation of
the original (Irish) statement of one Francis Maguire
concerning his observations in the "State of ^'ir-
ginia", between 1608 and 1610, a curious and unique
document for the earliest English settlements in the
New World and the life and habits of the Inchan
tribes (Alexander Brown, The Genesis of the United
States, Boston, 1890, I, 392-99).
Archbishop Conry was a profound scholastic theo- logian, very learned especially in the writings of St. Augustine, all of whose works he read seven times, while those pertaining to grace he read some twenty times. In the interpretation of the more difficult passages he frequently had recourse to prayer and fasting. At Louvain he sat at the feet of Baius, and was also a friend of Jansenius (d. 1638). He had, however, by his own efforts arrived independently at conclusions concerning the teaching of St. Augustine on grace and free will quite similar to those of his teachers. Most of his writings on these subjects were published after his death. His work on the fate of unbaptized children (De statu parvulorum sine bap- tismo decedentiimi ex hac vita juxta sensum beati Augustini, Louvain, 1624, 1635; Rouen, 1643) was reprinted by the Jansenists as an appendix to the 1652 edition of the " Augustinus". Cardinal Noris (Vindic. .4ug., ch. iii, § 5) says that in it Conrj' abundantly demonstrates from the Scriptures and Augustine the sensible character of the sufferings of such imbaptized children. His " Peregrinus Jerichontinus, h. e. de natura humana feliciter instituta, infeliciter lapsa, miserabiliter vulneratri, misericorditer restaurata" (ed. Thady MacNamara, Paris, 1641) treats of orig- inal sin, the grace of Christ, free will, etc., the "Pil- grim of Jericho" being human nature itself, the rob- ber Satan, the good Samaritan Our Lord. Hurter says that this edition was owing to Arnauld, and that the same ardent Jansenist is possibly the author of the (Paris, 1645) French version. Conry wrote also other works expository of the teaching and opinions of the great Doctor of Grace, e.g. "De gratia Christi" (Paris, 1646); " De flagellis justorum" (Paris, 1644); "De Augustini sensu circa b. Maris Virginis concep- tionem (Antwerp, 1619). In 1654 his body was brought back from Madrid and buried in the col- legiate chapel of St. Anthony's, near the high altar, where an epitaph by Nicholas Aylmer recorded his virtues, learning, and love of coimtry: —
Ordinis altus honor, fidei patrijeque honos, Pontificum merito laude perenne jubar. Thomas Darcy Magee says of this patriotic scholar: " He is the leading figure in a class of exiled Catholic churchmen who were of great service to religion and letters and not seldom powerful alUes of their country. From the founding of a college to the composition of a catechism he shrank from no labour that could, ac- cording to his convictions, benefit the people of his native land."
Ware-Harris, Writers of Ireland (Dublin, 1739-^5): Rapin, HM. du Jansenisme ed. Domenech (Paris, 1861); Hurter. Nom^nclafor, 253; Meehan, The Fate and Fortunes of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Ti/roii,. n,i,l lion, olhmrl, Enrl of Turconncl, their Flight from /,./../.,' /i, ". : ■, / , ,/- ilhililin. 1.S86); Harold. Li/c of ti,/,, ii .i-i. . -.ii,, / <;.^m,' A„nali-
im (Rome, 1662); I: i / ' ihurehHis-
loni (Dulilin, 1861 >, I, ; i i i i / ;. m/ Ilu,th Hoe
O'Donrec/;, ed. MvHi'iii M'ul.ln,, ls.i, , J\ , rxlix. cliii; Jeiler in Kirehcjilei., III. !»l!l; Mmi;vs, >/.//,/. ,;((/m Osson'msc (Dub- lin, 1874-S.)). 1. 16-'; M \..i i , I ,■> ,-/ //., Irish Writers of the Senmlernlh Cmh n/ ll>ul.liTi. lsl,s>, |:; l'1.
Stephen M. Donovan.
Consalvi, Ercole, cardinal and statesman, b. in Rome, S June, 1757; d. there, 24 January, 1824. His ancestors belonged to tlie noble family of the Hru- nacci in Pisa, one of whom settled in the town of Toscanclla in the Papal States about tlie middle of the seventeenth century. The graiHlf:ither of the cardinal, Gregorio Brunacci, inherited from Krcole
Consalvi of Rome a large fortune on condition of
taking the name and arms of the Consalvi family.
In this way Gregorio Brunacci became Marchese
Gregorio Consalvi, with residence in Rome. At the
age of nine, Ereole Consalvi was placed in the col-
lege of the Scolopii or Brothers of the Pious Schools
at LTrbino, where he remained from 1766 to 1771.
From 1771 to 1776 he was in the seminary of Fras-
cati, where he finished his studies in rhetoric, phil-
osophy and theology; it was there also that he
gained the powerful protection of the Cardinal. Duke
of York, Bishop of Frascati. The years from 1776
to 1782 were devoted to the studies of jurisprudence
and ecclesiastical history in the Academia Ecclesi-
astica of Rome, where he had among other professors
the Jesuit scholar, Zaccaria. He then entered nn
his public career. Named private chamberlain I'V
Pius VI in April, 1783, in 1786 he was made Poncnte
del buon governo, i.e. member of a congregation
charged with the direction of municipal affairs. Ap-
pointed in 1787 secretary of the congregation com-
missioned to administer the Ospizio of San Michele a
Ripa, in 1790 he became Votnnte di Segnatura, or
member of a high court of appeals, and in 1792 ob-
tained the nomination of Uditore di Rota, or member
of the high court of justice. He was made assessor
in 1796 of a military commission established by
Pius VI for the purpose of preventing revolutionary
disturbances and intervention of the French Direc-
tory in the Papal States. In this latter capacity he
accomplished his work with such tact, prudence, and
foresight that no serious troul)les arose, which
could have served as an excuse for an invasion ol
Rome by the armies of the French Republic. Un-
fortunately on 28 December, 1797, the French gen-
eral Duphot was killed in Rome; he was himseH
largely to blame, and the event took place withoul
the slightest fault of the Papal Government. Still ii|
was used as a pretext for the occupation of the cityl
On 10 February, 1798, General Berthier enteree
Rome with an army, and five days afterwards thi
pope was deprived of his temporal sovereignty, anil
a Roman republic proclaimed. Consalvi, havini
been assessor of the military commission, was place(|
first on the list of those who were to be handed ove
to the French Government. He was arrested, im
prisoned in the fortress of >Sant' Angelo, sent to Civi
tavecchia en route to Cayenne, French Guiana]
brought back to the castle of Sant' Angelo, and the:
sent to Terracina, whence he was finally permittel
to repair to Naples.
Consalvi thus recovered his personal libertjl but he disliked to remain in Naples, and wishe rather to join Pius VI, who shortly after th| occupation of Rome was taken from his capitii and held a captive in a Carthusian monaster) near Florence. Having obtained permission froij the Neapolitan Government, he went by sea to Leji horn and thence to Florence, where he made tvi visits to the pope; his wish to remain with the ponttj was frustrated by the French envoy at FlorencI Towards the end of September, 1798, he took up hi residence in Venice. After the death of Pius \T .■ Valence in France, 29 August, 1799, the cardinals a semblcd in Venice for the conclave, and Consal was chosen secretary by an almost unanimo vote. He had a large .share in securing the electi. of Cardinal Chiararaonti, Bishop of Imola (14 Maro 1800). The new pope, Pius VII (1800-23), soon a pointed Consalvi pro-secretary of st;ite; and th Cons;dvi accompanied the pope to Rome, where th arriv(-d .3 July, 1800. Shortly before, the pope h recovered pos.session of the Pap;il States, which wo then partlv under the control of .-Vustiia and partly der that of Naples. On 11 .\ugust. 1800, Cohsa was made c:irdin;il and appointed definitively sec tary of state. In this capacity he first eudeavo'
