Page:Vactican as a World Power.djvu/289

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COUNCIL OF TRENT 275

Protestants to appear in a Papal city. He acted on his own responsi- bility at the Augsburg interim, where he maintained Catholic disci- pline as a whole but conciliated the Protestants by granting priest marriage and giving of the chalice in lay communion. It was a futile compromise, but Charles' protests against the transfer of the Council from Germany was not without effect. In Bologna it was decided (1549) to adjourn.

Paul III died, and Julius HI succeeded him. The Vigna di Papa Giulio in Rome was his creation and reflected his spirit. He lavished incredible sums on this luxurious palace and its fountains. Bacchic processions and carousals, voluptuous bodies, comely garlands, enlivened the ceilings of the reception and banquet halls which the brush of the Zuccas adorned. Here the aging Roman Pontiff, once president ot the Council, loved to rest from his labours and troubles. Surrounded by a host of richly attired servants and by a forest of peacock feathers which cooled the air, he was rowed thither from the Vatican bank of the Tiber in a sumptuous barque, and then lifted out into a litter bedecked with gold and soft ermine. Amidst jesting and laughter he was borne into the villa, where he took a refreshing bath amidst marble nymphs half hidden in the green of water plants. Afterward all his favourites joined in a frolicsome feast round a well-laden table.

But though the Pope coveted all the joy of living, he did not slight his office. He reformed the administration of the Curia, encouraged the Jesuits, and at Loyola's request erected the Collegium Germani- cum, an educational institution for the training of priests, in the Jesuit style, who were to reawaken the Catholic spirit in Germanic countries. In addition the Pope, friendly to the Emperor, resisted all the intrigues of France and ordered the Council to go on. It met again in Trent during 1551, but remained in session only one year and minus the French prelates, for the Pope was involved in a war with Henry II. The deliberations, in which delegates of Protestant German princes and cities participated (though in vain), were interrupted when the Lutheran princes rebelled against the Emperor who was then menaced by Maurice of Saxony. By treason this prince gained the upper hand over the aging victorious Emperor, who was in Tyrol in order to keep watch on Germany and Italy. Maurice's object was to destroy the


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