Ruffo Di Bagnara, Fabrizio

Born Sept 16, 1744, in San Lucido, Calabria; died 1827 in Naples. Cardinal. Held several official posts in the papal government and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

After the troops of the French Directory entered Naples and the Parthenopean Republic was proclaimed in January 1799, Ruffo fled to Sicily together with the royal court. Two months later, armed with plenipotentiary powers from the king, he landed in Calabria in southern Italy. Relying on the anti-Jacobin peasant movement, he formed the Christian Royal Army. Ruffo’s counterrevolutionary army helped crush the Parthenopean Republic and took part in the reprisals against the republicans after the downfall of the republic in June 1799.