Death of Pope Pius VI
- When
- 1799–1802
- Where
- citadel of Valence, chief town of Drôme; Valence and Rome
- Episodes
- 2
Pope Pius VI, born Giovanni Angelo Braschi, died on 29 August 1799 at the citadel of Valence in France, where he had been held after refusing to renounce his temporal authority. He had reigned longer than any pope since Saint Peter.
Episodes
- Death of Pius VI at Valence
Pius VI died at the citadel of Valence on 29 August 1799, six weeks after arriving there as a prisoner.
- Burial and reburial of Pius VI
The embalmed body lay unburied until January 1800, was removed from Valence in December 1801, and was buried in Rome in February 1802.
Background and detail
Background. Pius VI, born Count Angelo Onofrio Melchiorre Natale Giovanni Antonio called Giovanni Angelo or Giannangelo Braschi on 25 December 1717, was head of the Catholic Church and leader of the Papal States from 15 February 1775. In 1798, after refusing to renounce his temporal power, he was taken prisoner and transported to France.
Removal to Valence. The French declaration of war against Tuscany led to the pope's removal, escorted by the Spaniard Pedro Gómez Labrador, Marquis of Labrador, by way of Parma, Piacenza, Turin and Grenoble to the citadel of Valence, chief town of Drôme. He died there six weeks after his arrival.
Burial. Pius VI's body was embalmed but not buried until 30 January 1800, after Napoleon saw political advantage in burying the deceased pope in efforts to bring the Catholic Church back into France. His body was removed from Valence on 24 December 1801 and buried at Rome on 19 February 1802 with a Catholic funeral attended by his successor, Pope Pius VII.
People involved
- Pope Pius VI (Giovanni Angelo Braschi) · deceased pope, head of the Catholic Church and leader of the Papal States
- Pedro Gómez Labrador, Marquis of Labrador · Spanish escort during the pope's removal to Valence
- Napoleon · authorized the pope's burial for political advantage
- Pope Pius VII · successor who attended Pius VI's funeral in Rome
Sources
- Pope Pius VI Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-06
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.