Barnaba Chiaramonti was born in Cesena on August 14, 1742. In 1782, he was appointed bishop of Tivoli and, in 1785, transferred to the see of Imola then named cardinal. In the conclave of Venice, March 14, 1800, he was elected Pope and took the name Pius VII.
In a spirit of conciliation, in spite of strong opposition especially from the French clergy who had emigrated, on July 15, 1801, he concluded a concordat with Napoleon. In the same spirit of conciliation, he went to Paris on December 2, 1804 to take part in the consecration of Napoleon as emperor. But Napoleon soon revealed his real plans: to make the Pope subservient to his will. Pius VII never flagged in his opposition and went to the point of excommunicating him. Furious, on July 6, 1809, Napoleon had the Pope arrested in Rome. Under heavy guard, the Pope was taken, first to Grenoble and definitively interned in the palace of the bishop of Savona in Italy. In 1812, he would be transferred to the castle of Fontainebleau near Paris. When his dreams of military victory failed, Napoleon was compelled to free the Pope. The Pope left Fontainebleau on January 23, 1814 and traveled through various cities; everywhere he was acclaimed by the people. He arrived in Rome on May 24, 1814. His was one of the longer pontificates; it lasted 23 years. He died in Rome on August 23, 1823.
Relations between Abbé de Mazenod and Pius VII
The concordat between Pius VII and Napoleon raised the ire of many, especially among the emigrant clergy; they protested it was a disgrace. Fortuné de Mazenod declared that certain clauses of this concordat were totally contrary to every principle. (Letter to President de Mazenod, May 10, 1802) Carried away by this fiery temperament, Eugene went beyond that. He affirmed that the Pope “si è sporcificato,” that is, he dishonoured himself by stooping to base acts. (Eugene to his father on May 28, 1802)
Later on, during his stay in Paris in 1805, Eugene was able to see with his own eyes the happy outcome of the concordat and radically changed his attitude. On August 16, 1805, he made this memorable assertion to his father: “The one who is not with Peter is on the wrong track. That is my steadfast way of thinking; I will not change my mind even if this tribunal should issue decisions which would contradict my view. What else can it be since I have palpable evidence that everything that was done was done for the better and has had good results.”
He would hold true to this position until the end of his life. One of the motives for him to enter the seminary was precisely the critical situation in which the Church of France and the Pope found themselves. Eugene courageously in took his place in the ranks of the priestly militia, while many other nobles stood discreetly on the sideline. It was in this militant spirit that, on October 12, 1808, he entered the seminary of St. Sulpice. Fr. Emery spotted him immediately and got him involved in his scriptorium, made up of courageous seminarians. They transcribed documents of the Holy See to distribute them in France. Eugene, in particular, was chosen to transcribe the papal bull by which Pius VII excommunicated Napoleon.
When his dreams of military supremacy failed, Napoleon was obliged to free the Pope. The Pope left Fontainebleau on January 23, 1814 and, in stages, made his way back to Rome. On February 7, he passed through Aix. at midday. The people of Aix went out in their thousands to greet him. His vehicle had quite some difficulty making its way through the crowd. On their knees, the crowd shouted: “Long live the Pope,” and asked for his apostolic blessing. Abbé de Mazenod went even further. He gained a position at the carriage door and lost his hat. His foot slipped off the footrest and, as a result, abrasion from the carriage wheel inflicted a scratch on his heel. The coach stopped at the Orbitelle gate without entering the city. After a change of horses, the coach left for Tourves, near Toulon. That is where the Pope was to pass the night. (Eugene to Forbin-Janson, February 10, 1814). Abbé de Mazenod decided to follow the Pope. He leaped aboard a vehicle and followed Pius VII right up to Tourves. He had the good fortune of being admitted to the papal apartment, to speak with the Holy Father and to receive his apostolic blessing. (JEANCARD, Mgr Jacques, Mélanges historiques, p. 235)
While he was on this way to Rome, Abbé Forbin-Janson also had the good fortune of meeting the Pope in an Italian village and to speak with him. He laid out for his plans to go to China to preach the Gospel there. The Pope was not favourably impressed with this project and told him: “Your project is good, but it is more urgent to go to the rescue of the people around us: maxime autem ad domesticos fidei [especially to those of the household of the faith]. (RAMBERT, I, p. 162-163) When he learned of this response, Abbé de Mazenod was very happy. In point of fact, he had always tried to convince his friend Charles of the necessity of concentrating their efforts on France by preaching missions to the people at large.
Encouraged by the personal blessing of Pius VII, on August 6, 1814, Abbé de Mazenod presented a petition to him in good and due form in view of obtaining the canonical establishment of the Confraternity of Christian Youth. On September 6 of that year, he received a rescript from Rome via Cardinal Galeffi which granted him certain indulgences and granted the diocesan authorities the faculties of establishing canonically the confraternity in question. Although he was personally disappointed with this result, Abbé de Mazenod claimed a victory. On November 21, 1814, the Confraternity of Christian Youth was canonically established. In September of 1815, once again basing himself on the authority of Pius VII, Abbé de Mazenod began to gather around him a few priests and on January 25, 1816, he sent a petition to the vicars capitular of Aix requesting approbation of the society of the Missionaries of Provence, which, in 1826, was to become the Congregation of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.
Jósef Pielorz, o.m.i.
