Carlo Oppizzoni, spelled also Opizzoni or Oppizoni (15 April 1769 – 13 April 1855), was a

Roman Catholic cardinal A cardinal is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. As titular members of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome, they serve as advisors to the pope, who is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. Ca ...

and archbishop.

Biography

Oppizoni was born in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

to an aristocratic family; he was the son of Count Francesco Oppizoni and Marchesa Paola Trivulzio. In 1790, he earned a doctorate in theology and canon law at the

University of Pavia The University of Pavia (, UNIPV or ''Università di Pavia''; ) is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. There was evidence of teaching as early as 1361, making it one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest un ...

. In 1793, he was ordained as priest, and in 1799 became a leader of the Chapter of Canons of the

Cathedral of Milan Milan Cathedral ( ; ), or Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica of the Nativity of Saint Mary (), is the cathedral church of Milan, Lombardy, Italy. Dedicated to the Nativity of St. Mary (), it is the seat of the Archbishop of Milan, currently Archbi ...

. In 1802, he was named archbishop of

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

. In 1804 Pope Pius VII raised him to the rank of cardinal. Napoleon named him senator in his arranged Kingdom of Italy, and member of the

Order of the Iron Crown The Order of the Iron Crown () was an order of merit that was established on 5 June 1805 in the Kingdom of Italy by Napoleon Bonaparte under his title of Napoleon I, King of Italy. The order took its name from the ancient Iron Crown of Lombard ...

. However, he attempted to resist some of the political maneuvers of Napoleon and in 1808 tried to restore the rights to the church, and refused to attend the wedding of Napoleon with Marie Louise Habsburg in 1810; this caused the Napoleonic authorities to jail him in the

Castle of Vincennes A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

. He returned to Bologna in 1815. He would fulfill a number of roles in the subsequent papal administrations, mostly while residing in Bologna, including as Archchancellor of the Pontifical University of Bologna. He was a papal legate to various provinces. He participated in four conclaves:Content in this edit is translated from the existing Italian Wikipedia article at :it:Carlo Oppizzoni; see its history for attribution. * Conclave of 1823, electing

Pope Leo XII Pope Leo XII (; born Annibale Francesco Clemente Melchiorre Girolamo Nicola della Genga; 2 August 1760 – 10 February 1829) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 28 September 1823 to his death in February 1829. ...

* Conclave of 1829, electing

Pope Pius VIII Pope Pius VIII (; born Francesco Saverio Maria Felice Castiglioni; 20 November 1761 – 30 November 1830) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 31 March 1829 to his death in November 1830. Pius VIII's pontificate wa ...

* Conclave of 1830-1831, electing

Pope Gregory XVI Pope Gregory XVI (; ; born Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari; 18 September 1765 – 1 June 1846) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 February 1831 to his death in June 1846. He had adopted the name Mauro upon enteri ...

* Conclave of 1846, electing

Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX (; born Giovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro Mastai-Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878. His reign of nearly 32 years is the longest verified of any pope in hist ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oppizzoni, Carlo 1769 births 1855 deaths Clergy from Milan 19th-century Italian cardinals Cardinals created by Pope Pius VII