(9) 1. CONTI, Innocenzo (1731-1785)
Birth. February 8, 1731, Rome.Son of Stefano Conti, duke of Poli and Guadagnolo. Brother of Michelangelo Conti, last duke of Poli; and of Fr. Marcantonio Conti, Somasco.
Education. La Sapienza University, Rome (doctorate in utroque iure, both canon and civil law, April 27, 1752).
Priesthood. Ordained (no information found). Enetered the Roman prelature in the pontificate of Pope Benedict XIV. Regent of the Apostolic Penitentiary. Secretary of the S.C. of Indulgences and Sacred Relics, 1760. Auditor of the Sacred Roman Rota, 1764. Abbot commendatario of Fossanova.
Episcopate. Elected titular archbishop of Tiro, December 18, 1769. Consecrated, December 26, 1769, Rome, by Cardinal Marcantonio Colonna. Assistant at the Pontifical Throne, January 1, 1770. Nuncio in Portugal, January 3, 1770; he left for Lisbon in the following Ferbruary, visiting in his journey the courts of Florence, Parma, Turin and Madrid.
Cardinalate. Created cardinal and reserved in pectore in the consistory of September 23, 1771; published in the consistory of April 19, 1773. Participated in the conclave of 1774-1775, which elected Pope Pius VI. Secretary of Apostolic Briefs, March 3, 1775. Received the red hat and the title of S. Silvestro in Capite, April 3, 1775. Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals, February 25, 1782 until February 17, 1783. Opted for the title of S. Maria in Aracoeli, December 15, 1783.
Death. November 15, 1785, in his country house in Frascati. His body was taken to Rome and exposed in the church of S. Marcello, Rome, where the funeral took place; and buried in his title (1).
Bibliography. Ritzler, Remigium, and Pirminum Sefrin. Hierarchia Catholica Medii et Recientoris Aevi. Volumen VI (1730-1799). Patavii : Typis et Sumptibus Domus Editorialis "Il Messaggero di S. Antonio" apud Basilicam S. Antonii, 1968, pp. 28, 46, 49, 56 and 424; Moroni, Gaetano. Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica da S. Pietro sino ai nostri giorni. 103 vols. in 53. Venezia : Tipografia Emiliana, 1840-1861, XVII, 87-88.
Link. His arms and tomb in the church of S. Maria in Aracoeli, Rome.
(1) This is the text of his epitaph, taken from the photograph of his tomb, linked above:
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