The Pope suppressed the Jesuits in 1773 and their Superior General died a prisoner in Castel Sant'Angelo, declaring the Society innocent

Lorenzo Ricci was elected Superior General of the Society of Jesus on 21 May 1758. Portugal, France and Spain expelled the Jesuits in the following decade. On 21 July 1773 Pope Clement XIV signed the brief Dominus ac Redemptor suppressing the Society worldwide. About 23,000 Jesuits lost their order. Ricci was told on the evening of 16 August 1773 and held at the English College. On 23 September he was moved to Castel Sant'Angelo. His secretary, Father Comolli, died there on 16 January 1774 and was carried by night to the Gesù and buried without a requiem Mass. Ricci learned of his death six months later. The judge at their trial was reported to say he had never seen accused men more innocent. Talks to release Ricci to Florence were advanced but did not finish. Five days before his death, preparing for the last sacrament, he declared that the Society had given no cause for its suppression and he none for his imprisonment. He died in the castle on 24 November 1775 and was buried in the Gesù vault of the superiors general. Catherine II of Russia refused to enforce the brief, and 201 Jesuits in White Russia kept the Society alive. Pius VII restored it worldwide on 7 August 1814 with the bull Sollicitudo omnium ecclesiarum.