LITTA, ALFONSO AND LORENZO

Cardinals from a noble Milanese family; their careers touched the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.

Alfonso; b. Milan, 1608; d. Rome, Aug. 28, 1679. He was governor of the Marches under Innocent X; he was created archbishop of Milan in May of 1652, and cardinal on Jan. 14, 1666. An intelligent and energetic prelate, he visited his diocese, held two synods (1659 and 1669), corrected disciplinary abuses of his clergy, and bravely defended ecclesiastical rights against representatives of the king of Spain. During his tenure, the Helvetic College, envisaged by St. Charles borromeo, was completed, and its administration reorganized. Alfonso attended the conclave that elected Innocent XI.

Lorenzo, diplomat; b. Milan, Feb. 23, 1756; d. Monteflavio, Sabina, May 1, 1820. After being educated at the Clementine College in Rome, he was ordained in 1789 and made titular archbishop of Thebes on June 23, 1793. When sent to Warsaw in 1794, he persuaded Tadeusz Kościuszko to respect the rights and liberties of the Church in Poland. In 1796 he attended the coronation of Paul I and was appointed legate to St. Petersburg. Greatly concerned with obtaining guarantees of Church rights, he persuaded Czar Paul to restore the Basilian Order and the Church property confiscated by Catherine II. Six dioceses of the Latin rite and three of the Ruthenian were reorganized, and on Nov. 15, 1798, the metropolitan sees of Mohilev and Polotsk were established. Forced to leave Russia in 1799, Lorenzo returned to Rome, where he held the office of papal treasurer and was made a cardinal by Pius VII on Oct. 23, 1801.

Loyal to the pope and opposed to Napoleon, expelled from Rome by Napoleon, he was exiled to Saint-Quentin on the Seine (1809), following his refusal to attend the second wedding of the emperor. While residing in Saint-Quentin, Fontainebleau, and Nimes, he translated the Bible into Italian and wrote letters refuting the Gallican Articles of 1682, which were published pseudonymously in Lyons (1818) as Lettres diverses. In 1814 he returned to Rome, was appointed prefect of Propaganda and suburbicarian bishop of Sabina; later, he became cardinal vicar of Rome (1818).

Bibliography: Alfonso. a. monti, Tre Secoli di Vita Milanese (Milan 1955). e. cazzani, Vescovi e Arcivescovi di Milano (Milan 1955) 257–260. a. posch, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche ed. j. hofer and k. rahner (Freiburg 1957–65) 6:1083. Lorenzo. m. f. rouÉt de journel, Nonciature de Russie (Studi e Testi 167; 1943). v. meysztowics, De archivio nuntiaturae varsaviensis quod nunc in Archivio Secreto Vaticano servatur (Vatican City 1944). p. pierling, La Russie et le Saint-Siège, 5 v. (Paris 1896–1912). a. posch, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche ed. j. hofer and k. rahner (Freiburg 1957–65) 6:1083. É. amann, Dictionnaire de théologie catholique (Paris 1903–50) 9:785–787.

[e. j. thomson]