Monument to Pope Pius VII


The successor to Pope Pius VI (1775-1799) who died in exile at Valance, France, victim of Napoleon's power, was the Benedictine monk Barnaba Gregorio Chiaramonti who took the name of Pius VII (1800-182J). His was a difficult pontificate filled with moral and physical problems inflicted by Napoleon whom the pope himself, for love of peace, consecrated Emperor of France in Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. Later Napoleon took him prisoner and sent him to Fontainebleau. Pius VII, never bore any resentment towards his persecutor and when Napoleon was exiled on the island of St. Helena, the pope made efforts to render the ordeal less bitter. He offered asylum to Napoleon's elderly mother and gave both moral and material assistance to his family.

The dignified effigy of the pope shows fatigue and the signs of" his long exile, and yet he is portrayed as blessing both friends and enemies alike.

There is a statue on either side of the monument. Wisdom, crowned with an olive wreath and with an owl, symbol of Christian vigilance, at its feet, acquires knowledge from the Bible. Fortitude is dressed in a lion's skin and treads on a club. These are the two virtues that distinguished the troubled times of this pope's long reign.

The monument was created by the Danish sculptor Thornwaldsen and was commissioned by Cardinal Consalvi, loyal secretary of State to Pius VII.