Alberoni, Giulio
Alberoni, Giulio
Cardinal and statesman; b. 30 May, 1664, at Firenzuola in the duchy of Parma; d. 26 June, 1752, at Piacenza. He was the son of very poor parents, and laboured as a farm hand or gardener until his fifteenth year. After that he became a bellringer in the cathedral of Piacenza, where he gained the favourable notice of the Bishop, was ordained priest, and appointed a canon. The Duc de Vendôme, in command of the French troops in Italy, became the patron of Alberoni, took him to Paris (1706), and made use of his talents in several important affairs. Having accompanied Vendôme to the court of Spain in 1711, the reputation of Alberoni’s talents won for him, after the death of his patron, the position of agent of the Duke of Parma in Madrid. He was very active in furthering the accession of the French candidate for the throne of Spain, Philip V, and afterwards became the royal favourite. Upon the death of the Queen (Maria Luisa of Savoy), Alberoni used his influence to bring about, in 1714, a marriage between the widowed King and Elisabetta Farnese, daughter of the Duke of Parma. In consequence of this diplomatic success he became prime minister, a duke and grandee of Spain, and Bishop of Malaga. He also established more satisfactory relations than had existed between the Roman Curia and the court of Philip V. In 1717 Clement XI, yielding to royal pressure, created him Cardinal Deacon of San Adriano. As prime minister, Alberoni’s political economy was decidedly in advance of his times. He strove to make the Spanish a manufacturing nation, and so far anticipated the developments of the nineteenth century as to establish a regular mail service between Spain and her American colonies. He reformed many abuses in the government and instituted a school of navigation for the sons of the nobility. At the same time he did not hesitate to sacrifice the popular liberties of Spain to the interests of the absolute monarchy; while the foreign policy by which he sought to recover Spain’s lost Italian possessions, his efforts to obtain for Philip V the crown of France and, generally, to aggrandize the Spanish monarchy at all costs, must have led to a general European war if they had not resulted in his own downfall (5 December, 1719). He is blamed for the unwarrantable invasion of Sardinia and of Sicily by Spain, in spite of formal assurance to the contrary given to the Pope. Another extravagant scheme of Alberoni’s was the restoration of the Stuart to the British throne by the co-operation of the Tsar and the King of Sweden. At last, in 1719, Philip V, to save himself from being treated as the common enemy of Europe, dismissed and exiled the Cardinal, who returned to Italy to face the indignation of Clement XI. His journey was interrupted at Genoa, where he was placed under arrest to await the decision of a special commission of the Sacred College. He escaped, however, and remained in hiding until the death of Clement XI in 1721. Under the next Pope, Innocent XIII, he was cleared, by a commission of cardinals, of the charges brought against him (1723), and for some time he lived in retirement in a Jesuit house, after which he was promoted to be Cardinal Priest of the Title of San Lorenzo in Lucina. Under Clement XII he served the Holy See as Legate at Ravenna, and under Benedict XIV at Bologna. Cardinal Alberoni’s declining years were spent in retirement. He is buried in the church of the college of San Lazzaro, which he founded at Piacenza.
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Bersani, Storia del Cardinale Giulio Alberoni (Piacenza, 1861, 1872); Von Hefele, in Kirchenlex., I, 410-411.
E. MACHPERSON
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume ICopyright © 1907 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Alberoni, Giulio
a famous Italian cardinal and prime-minister of Spain, was born near Piacenza, May 31,1664. Being the son of a gardener, he at first was a tiller of tie soil. At the age of fourteen years he became clerical bellringer of the Cathedral of Piacenza. He entered the: school of the Barnabites, where he showed a good deal of ability, and sought the protection of Barni, vice- legate of Ravenna, who, having become bishop of Piacenza, placed him in charge of the house and made him a member of the order. Afterwards Alberoni accompanied the son of his protector to Rome, and there learned the French language. He also gained the friendship of the secretary of the duke of Vendeme and of the poet Campistron, which was of great service to him afterwards. During the war of the Spanish Succession he was interpreter to the government of Parma. In 1706 Alberoni accompanied the duke of Vendome to Paris, where he was presented to Louis XIV, who offered him the rectory of Anet; but he refused this, preferring to remain with his patron rather than be placed at the head of a parish. The duke of Vendome having been appointed in 1711 generalissimo of the armies of Philip V, Alberoni accompanied him to Spain as his secretary. A little later the death of his benefactor occurred, and he returned to Paris to inform Louis XIV of the fact.
The following year the duke of Parma conferred upon him the title of count, and appointed him his consular agent to Spain. The princess of Ursins had at that time great influence at the Court of Madrid; but at the death of the queen of Louis XIV, Elizabeth Farnese, daughter of the last duke of Parma and niece of the acting duke, was proposed for queen. Alberoni shared with the new queen his unlimited influence with the king. About this time the death of Louis XIV completely changed the policy of the cabinet of Madrid. The age of Louis XV rendered a regency necessary; and Philip V believed that he had a claim to the position. After the death of Innocent XIII (March 7, 1724), cardinal Alberoni obtained ten votes in the conclave. It was on this occasion that the lampoon was posted in Rome Il cielo vuol Orsini; il popolo, Corsini; le donne, Ottoboni; il diavolo, Alberoni. Cardinal Orsini was chosen under the name of Benedict XIII. Alberoni did not gain the favor of the new pope, and therefore retired to his estate at Castel-Romano, and did not return to Rome until after the death of the pope, which occurred in 1730. The new pope, Clement XII, confided to him several negotiations, and appointed him in 1734 legate of Ravenna. In spite of his advanced age, he was still active. He constructed canals, founded benevolent institutions, reformed the police system, and prohibited vagrants from taking refuge in churches. About this time he became entangled in the affairs of the small republic of San Marino. Alberoni had to the last his health and energy. His conversation was sprightly; and he was able to converse in Italian, French, and Spanish. He died at Rome, June 16, 1752. After his death, a pretended Testament Politique was printed under his name in 1753. The Vie d’Alberoni, by Rousset, which we cite as the principal authority, was completed in 1718. Two letters of his have been found, the first of which is addressed by Alberoni to cardinal Camarlingo Paulucci, and is the famous apology of the cardinalminister. This is followed by a second apology in the form of a letter addressed to a Genoe’se marquis by a Roman prelate. This prelate is Alberoni himself. See Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, s.v.