Cardinal Giacomo Antonelli and Papal Politics in European Affairs

Frank J. Coppa is Professor of History at St. Johns University.

• Chapter OneCardinal Giacomo Antonelli: The Myth and the Man Chapter TwoFirst Year: The Antonelli Family Chapter ThreeEarly Career: Giacomo Conquers Rome from the Provinces Chapter FourAntonelli Accompanies Pio Nono on the Path of Reformism, 1846–1848 Chapter FiveThe Antonelli Government: The First Constitutional Ministry of the Papal States Chapter SixThe Cardinal Confronts the Revolution and the Roman Republic Chapter SevenArchitect of the Conservative Restoration Chapter EightThe Quiet Before the Storm Chapter NineThe Cardinal Between the Intrigues of Napoleon III and the Intransigence of Pio Nono Chapter TenAntonelli Confronts Italian Unification Chapter ElevenThe Troubled 1860s Chapter TwelveThe Infallible Pope and His Fallible Minister Chapter ThirteenThe Fall of Rome and After Chapter FourteenLast Years: "Prisoner" in the Vatican Chapter Fifteen Conclusion: Villain of the Risorgimento or Hero of the Counter-Risorgimento ? Notes Bibliography Index

"Style and subject matter are artfully and skillfully combined to provide interesting reading. In discussing Cardinal Antonelli's career, Coppa has also written an important chapter in the history of the Italian Risorgimento. Since the Risorgimento concerned, at one time or another, all the major European powers, this book has much to say on the delicate structure of and balance in political and diplomatic relations during the century. Coppa makes a strong case for a reevaluation of Antonelli's role in the papacy's struggle to preserve both its territorial integrity in Italy and its position as a power in European affairs. He succeeded in persuading this reader that Cardinal Antonelli has indeed been much maligned and deserves a new image." — Emiliana P. Noether, University of Connecticut"Coppa demonstrates, I think convincingly, that Papal policy was more defensible than is usually believed, and that insofar as it was harmful, it sprang primarily from the will of the Pope, often against Antonelli's objections. The result is to improve our understanding of this crucial period in Papal history, when Rome embarked upon the course that it was to follow down to the Second Vatican Council." — Alan J. Reinerman, Boston College