(49) 1. BRASCHI-ONESTI, Romoaldo (1753-1817)
Birth. July 19, 1753, Cesena. Of a patrician family that was aggregated to the Roman patriciate by senatus consulto of January 19, 1781. Son of Count Girolamo Onesti and Giulia Onesti. Nephew of Pope Pius VI on his mother's side.
Education.Collegio dei Nobili, Ravenna; Pontifical Academy of Ecclesiastical Nobles, Rome, 1778. Entered the ecclesiastical state in Rome, 1778, after the motu proprio of adoption of Pope Pius VI.
Early life. Called to Rome by his uncle the pope in May 1778. Sent as ablegato to Versailles, France, to bring the red biretta to Cardinals Dominique de La Rochefoucauld and Louis de Rohan-Guéménée, bothe elevated to the cardinalate on June 1, 1778; King Louis XV of France conferred him the abbey of Chaage, diocese of Meaux. Entered the Roman prelature on September 5, 1779 as referendary of the Tribunals of the Apostolic Signaure of Justice and of Grace, and as protonotary apostolic. Named prefect of the Apostolic Palace in 1780. Named grand prior of the Sovereign Order of Malta in Rome in 1784.
Cardinalate. Created cardinal deacon in the consistory of December 18, 1786; received the red hat and the deaconry of S. Nicola in Carcere, January 29, 1787. Secretary of Apostolic Briefs, January 5, 1787. Granted dispensation from receiving the minor orders, subdiaconate and diaconate and continued being a cardinal deacon, December 14, 1787; the dispensation was extended for a triennium, December 14, 1790; April 24, 1798; May 15, 1801, July 10, 1804. Protector of the Holy Land, September 22, 1795. At the end of 1797, the pope sent him to Naples to obtain the protection of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies for the Papal States; he stayed at the convent of S. Chiara during the first months of the Roman Republic and later, went to Venice to take part in the conclave; he took over the functions of camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church during the vacancy of the Apostolic See on October 19, 1799. Participated in the Participated in the conclave of 1799-1800, which elected Pope Pius VII. After the first restoration of the papal government, he opted for the deaconry of S. Maria ad Martyres on April 2, 1800. Protector of the Order of our Lady of Mount Carmel, August 30, 1800. Named camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church by apostolic brief of October 30, 1800; confirmed ad ejus vitam, in the consistory of December 22, 1800; resigned, November 10, 1801, after having violently opposed Cardinal Ercole Consalvi, secretary of State, concerning the liberalization of commerce within the Papal States with the purpose of conserving the prerogatives of the Apostolic Chamber. He kept his post of secretary of Briefs. Prefect of the Econmy of the S.C. of Propaganda Fide, December 30, 1801. He accompanied Pope Pius VII in his tirp to France, from November 2, 1804 to May 16, 1805, for the imperial coronation of Napoléon I Bonaparte. Prefect of the Reverend Fabric of St. Peter's basilica, July 24, 1807. Archpriest of the patriarchal Vatican basilica, July 18, 1807. Grand prior in Rome of the Military Order of St. John of Jerusalem. After the Napoleonic occupation of Rome, he was of the fourteen cardinals expelled by the French authorities as foreigners, March 23, 1808; he was authorized to live in Italy because of his health; he lived in Cesena for the duration of the occupation. After the second restoration of the papal government, he resumed all his functions.
Death. April 30, 1817, Rome. Exposed in the church of S. Maria in Vallicella, Rome, where the funeral took place, and buried in the patriarchal Vatican basilica, by express disposition of Pope Pius VII. His precordia was buried in his deaconry, S. Maria ad Martyres. He left 10,000 scudi for the construction of a funeral monument for Pope Pius VI by Antonio Canova.
Bibliography. Boutry, Philippe Souverain et Pontife : recherches prosopographiques sur la curie romaine à l'âge de la restauration, 1814-1846. Rome : École française de Rome, 2002, pp. 322-324; Ritzler, Remigium, and Pirminum Sefrin. Hierarchia Catholica Medii et Recentioris Aevi. Volumen VI (1730-1799). Patavii : Typis et Sumptibus Domus Editorialis "Il Messaggero di S. Antonio" apud Basilicam S. Antonii, 1968, pp. .
Link. His portrait by Bernardino Nocchi; his engraving by Marco Carloni, Museo di Roma, Rome; his bust by Agostino Penna, Museo di Roma, Rome; another portrait, ca. 1780, Museo di Roma, Rome; and his portrait by Antonio Cavallucci, Museo di Roma, Rome.
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