Cardinal Deacon
Henry Benedict Stuart took which position from Jul 1747 to 1758?
Henry Benedict Stuart Henry Benedict Thomas Edward Maria Clement Francis Xavier Stuart , Cardinal Duke of York ( 6 March 1725 – 13 July 1807 ) was a Roman Catholic cardinal , as well as the fourth and final Jacobite heir to publicly claim the thrones of England , Scotland , France , and Ireland . Unlike his father , James Francis Edward Stuart , and brother , Charles Edward Stuart , Henry made no effort to seize the throne . After Charless death in January 1788 the Papacy did not recognise Henry as the lawful ruler of England , Scotland , and Ireland , but referred to him as the Cardinal Duke of York . He spent his life in the Papal States and had a long career in the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church , rising to become the Dean of the College of Cardinals and Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia and Velletri . At the time of his death he was ( and still is ) one of the longest-serving cardinals in the Churchs history . In his youth , Henrys father made him Duke of York ( in the Jacobite Peerage ) , and it was by this title that he was best known . Upon the death of his brother in 1788 , Henry became known by Jacobites , and within his personal entourage , as Henry IX of England and Ireland , and Henry I of Scotland , although publicly he referred to himself as Cardinal-Duke of York nuncupatus . Early life . Henry was born in exile at the Palazzo Muti in Rome on 6 March 1725 and baptised on the same day by Pope Benedict XIII , 37 years after his grandfather James II and VII lost the throne , and ten years after his fathers failed attempt to regain it . His father was James Francis Edward Stuart , known to his opponents as the Old Pretender . His mother was the Princess Maria Klementyna Sobieska , granddaughter of the Polish King and Lithuanian Grand-Duke , John III Sobieski . Henry was apparently an intelligent child who could spell and write better than his older brother Charles . More introverted than Charles and more cautious in his approach to problems , Henry is described as pious and mild-mannered . Henry went to France in 1745 to help his brother , Prince Charles Edward Stuart ( Bonnie Prince Charlie , or the Young Pretender ) prepare the Jacobite rising of 1745 . Attached to the French army , he was in nominal command of a cross-channel invasion force of some 10,000 men that never made it out of Dunkirk , and subsequently served under Maurice de Saxe at the siege of Antwerp . After the defeat at Culloden , Henry Stuart returned to Italy . Ecclesiastical career . On 30 June 1747 Pope Benedict XIV conferred him with tonsure and created him Cardinal-Deacon of Santa Maria in Campitelli in a special consistory held on 3 July 1747 . On 27 August 1747 he was promoted through the four minor orders by Benedict . He received the subdiaconate on 18 August 1748 and diaconate on 25 August 1748 . His elder brother Charles , who was in France at the time , was not in favor of the ecclesiastical honors as he believed they would only serve to further religious prejudice against the Stuarts . As the cardinalate was a rank rather than one of the priestly orders , Charles hoped that Henry might yet make a politically advantageous marriage , and was dismayed to discover that his brother had been ordained a priest on 1 September 1748 . Later that month , Henry was made Cardinal-Priest , retaining his diaconal church . In 1751 , he was made Arch-Priest of the Vatican Basilica . In December 1752 his titular seat was changed to Santi Apostoli ; and in 1758 the Pope named him Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals . The responsibilities of this office included administering all property , fees , funds and revenue belonging to the College of Cardinals , celebrating the requiem Mass for a deceased cardinal , and charge of the registry of the Acta Consistoralia . He participated in the conclave of 1758 , which elected Pope Clement XIII . In October of that year he was made titular Archbishop of Corinth . The following year , he resigned the title of Santa Maria in Campitelli to assume that of Santa Maria in Trastevere ; however , he retained the Church of Santi Apostoli in commendam . He was made Cardinal-Bishop of Frascati on 13 July 1761 . He was appointed Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals on 26 September 1803 , then also succeeding to the See of Ostia and Velletri . He lived and worked in Frascati for many years , descending each afternoon in his carriage to Rome , where his position as vice-chancellor entitled him to the Palazzo della Cancelleria . Henry was the last claimant to the British throne to touch the sick to cure them from the Kings Evil . Henry is described as a beatific , abstemious , wealthy , celibate aesthete who lived to a great age , inoffensive and respectable to the end . French Revolution and later life . At the time of the French Revolution , he lost his French Royal benefices and sacrificed many other resources to assist Pope Pius VI . This , in addition to the seizure of his Frascati property by the French , caused him to descend into poverty . The British Minister in Venice arranged for Henry to receive an annuity of £4,000 from George III of Great Britain . Although the British government represented this as an act of charity , Henry and the Jacobites considered it to be a first installment on the money which was legally owed to him . ( For many years the British government had promised to return the English dowry of his grandmother , Mary of Modena , but never did so. ) The Vatican had recognised James III and VIII as the King of Great Britain and Ireland . After his death in 1766 the Vatican did not recognise Henrys brother Charles , who had converted to Anglicanism in 1750 . The Vatican had not , however , overtly recognised the Hanoverian monarchs . However , in November 1792 the Vatican first referred to George III as the King of Great Britain and Ireland instead of the Elector of Hanover . This resulted in a protest by Henry who suggested the insult would result in him not visiting Rome again . Henry returned to Frascati in 1803 . In September of that year he became the Dean of the College of Cardinals and hence Cardinal Bishop of Ostia and Velletri , though he still lived in the episcopal palace at Frascati . He died there on 13 July 1807 , aged 82 . Personal relationships . Historians have drawn upon contemporary perceptions to explore the suggestion that Henry was homosexual . These accounts include the writings of Hester Lynch Thrale ( 1741–1821 ) , and the diplomat and writer Giuseppe Gorani ( 1740–1819 ) . Gorani admitted to having gathered evidence insufficient to confirm his suspicions either way , but drew attention to the number of handsome clerics that were to be found in Henrys palace . The historian Andrew Lang alluded to Jamess comment that his younger son would never marry although many marriages had been planned for him . The writer Gaetano Moroni provides the lengthiest account of Henrys close attachment with his majordomo Monsignor Giovanni Lercari ( 1722–1802 ) , whom Henry was said to have loved beyond measure . This closeness led to serious tensions between the cardinal and his father who in 1752 eventually tried to have Lercari dismissed from service and sent from Rome . Henry reacted by attempting to separate his household finances from those of his father , and refused himself to return to Rome from Bologna without Lercari by his side . A public scandal was only narrowly avoided after the personal intervention of Pope Benedict XIV who acted as peace-maker . It was agreed that Lercari would leave the household and with Henrys influence was later made Archbishop of Genoa . Things became easier after the death of James in 1766 . From 1769 onwards Henry remained close to Monsignor Angelo Cesarini , a nobleman from Perugia , who thanks to Henrys protection , won various honours , was made canon of the cathedral in Frascati , and finally in 1801 became Bishop of Milevi . When Henry died , Cesarini was still at his side , as he had been for 32 years . Cesarini was later buried in the church of Santa Maria in Vallicella . Caution should nevertheless be given against assuming any active sexual relationships , even if they may have had a romantic element , because equally clear in contemporary sources is Yorks horror of all impropriety . Legacy . Under his will , which he signed as Henry R , he was succeeded in all his claimed British rights by his nearest blood-relative and friend , Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia . Charles neither asserted nor renounced his Jacobite claims , like his successors . Charles Emmanuel , and the following Kings of Sardinia , had other vital interests in their Italian environment to which championing a hopeless cause in Britain would have been detrimental . Contrary to popular belief , he did not leave the Crown Jewels to the Prince of Wales , afterwards George IV of the United Kingdom . All his property was entrusted to Monsignor Angelo Cesarini , for distribution . Cesarini sent the Prince of Wales several jewels from Henrys private collection . These included a Lesser George ( thought to have been worn by Charles I at his execution , and now at Windsor Castle ) and a St Andrews Cross ( now at Edinburgh Castle ) , which are insignia of the orders of the Garter and the Thistle , and also a ruby ring . Even so , the act of sending them to the Hanoverian Prince of Wales should not be construed as renunciation of the Jacobite claim . Henry Benedict , his brother , his father and his mother are buried in the crypt of St . Peters Basilica in the Vatican . There is a monument to the Royal Stuarts on one of the columns in the basilica proper , designed by Antonio Canova . The monument was originally commissioned by Monsignor Angelo Cesarini , executor of Henry Benedicts estate . Among the subscribers , curiously , was George IV , who became an admirer of the Stuart legend . The monument was restored at the expense of the late Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother . Titles , styles , honours and arms . Titles as cardinal . During his life , Cardinal Stuart was assigned the following Diaconia and Tituli : - 13 July 1747 Cardinal Deacon of Santa Maria in Portico - 16 September 1748 Cardinal Priest of Santa Maria in Portico - 18 December 1752 Cardinal Priest of Santi XII Apostoli - 12 February 1759 Cardinal Priest of Santa Maria in Trastevere - 13 July 1761 Cardinal Bishop of Frascati - 14 January 1763 Comendatario of San Lorenzo in Damaso ( proper of the cardinal vice-chancellor , held in addition to the suburbicarian sees ) - 26 September 1803 Cardinal Bishop of Ostia e Velletri ( proper of the dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals ) In March 1774 he became Sub-dean , and on 15 September 1803 – Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals . He was a cardinal elector in the papal conclaves of 1758 , 1769 , 1774–75 and 1799–1800 . Arms . During the pretence of his father and brother , Henry claimed a coat of arms consisting of those of the kingdom , differenced by a crescent argent or white crescent .