Early life The youngest of ten children, he was born in
Sestri Levante, then part of the independent
Republic of Genoa, to Bernardo and Pellegrina Raggi Lambruschini, and baptized Emmanuele Nicolo. His older brother, Giovanni Battista Lambruschini became bishop of the
Diocese of Orvieto. Lambruschini attended a Jesuit school in
Santa Margherita Ligure, and then the
Oratorio di San Bartolomeo in
Bordighera, run by the
Order of the Barnabites. He entered the order in 1793, and after a novitiate, pronounced solemn vows in November 1794, taking the name of Luigi. He was then to
Macerata for further study, took
minor orders in Rome in 1797, and was ordained a priest back home in Sestri Levante in January 1799. He then taught Barnabite seminarians rhetoric, philosophy and mathematics, first in
Bologna, then in San Severino Marche and, from May 1801, in Macerata. As secretary of the
Congregation of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, he took part in concluding concordats with various states, including
Tuscany, Naples, and Bavaria. According to
Umberto Benigni, "Next to
Consalvi and
Pacca, Lambruschini was among the greatest diplomats of the Holy See in the nineteenth century." For the next four years, Cardinal Lambruschini held various curial posts until in January 1836 he was appointed
Secretary of State to
Pope Gregory XVI. His appointment was seen as a compromise between those who hoped for reform and the
zealanti who wished to see dissent more forcefully suppressed; although it was said that the Cardinal was "liberal chiefly in his employment of spies and prisons". He was the leading conservative candidate in the
1846 papal conclave. Though he received a majority of the votes initially, it was clear that he could not achieve the required two-thirds majority. He was eventually defeated by the liberal candidate, Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti, the Archbishop (personal title) of Imola, who became
Pope Pius IX. Lambruschini was a particularly hated figure among the masonic republicans during the
1848 Revolutions that temporarily deposed
Pope Pius IX. His house was ransacked and he was forced to flee for his life, disguised as a stablehand. He returned following the Pope's restoration. He died in
Rome on 12 May 1854 and was buried in the Barnabite church of
San Carlo ai Catinari, Rome.
Lambruschini Family The Lambruschini family is a very large family. The Cardinal had several brothers. Some descendants of these brothers stayed in Italy, others moved to France, Portugal the United States and even South America (Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay).
Relatives and Descendants of the Lambruschini Family • Louis Philippe, Duke of Orleans King of France (1773-1850) was cousin of the Cardinal Lambruschini. • Giovanni Battista Lambruschini was the Bishop of Orvieto. • Raffaello Lambruschini was an Italian politician, religious, agronomist, and educator. • Bartolomeo Lambruschini married Bianca Nicolini (her family built The Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence). • Stefano Lambruschini was a priest. • Ferdinando Lambruschini was the Archbishop of Perugia. •
Raul Leal, Portuguese poet and philosopher • Ericka Koehler, American-Peruvian educator, digital marketer, and writer. • Sheilla Castro, Peruvian lawyer. ==Works==