Born Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari (1765-1846), he was Pope of the Catholic Church from 1831 to 1846. Strongly conservative and traditionalist, he opposed democratic and modernizing reforms in the Papal States and throughout Europe, seeing them as fronts for revolutionary leftism, and sought to strengthen the religious and political authority of the papacy. ALS in Italian, signed “Gregorio PP. XVI,” one page, 7.5 x 9, December 28, 1838. Letter to Ferdinand II, King of two Sicilies, in which the pope bestows the Apostolic Blessing on him and his whole family and sends thanks for “two beautiful pheasants from the Royal Hunt.” In fine condition, with central horizontal and vertical folds and light overall toning. RR Auction COA.
