MIGAZZI
2SS
MIGAZZI
no other person's ministration is possible. Hence,
tlie t'liurch has always been most solicitous con-r
cerning the character of midwives anil their instruc-
tion in this religious duty. Canonists teach that
women who iiiidertake the office of midwife are
bound under mortal sin to learn the methods and
requirements of valid baptism, as in case of necessity
this duty fn^iuently devolves upon them. There has
been much legislation on this subject in various dioc-
esan synods, whose canons place special obligations
on parish priests and midwives. The former are re-
miniled that, as midwives in conferring baptism act in
place of the parish priest, he is strictly bound to in-
form himself whether they have sufficient knowledge
to administer the .sacrament, validly. Some diocesan
sjTiods reiiuire that miduives, before being approved
for duty, take an oat h that they will labour to procure
the spiritual safety of infant, and mother. When
a new-born child has been baptized by a midwife, the
parish priest must inquire carefully whether she had
the proper intention anil administered the rite accord-
ing to the prescriptions of the Church. If there is
any reason for doubt, the baptism is to be repeated
conditionally (Catech. Rom., II, ii, § 43); but if it
be certain that the sacrament was properly conferred
it may not be repeated (c. Majores, 3 de bapt; Cone.
Trid. Sess. VI, can. i.x), and only the other ceremonies
are to be supplied by the parish priest. Finally, it is
likewise necessary that midwives be well informed on
the Church's teaching concerning the performance of
abortion.
Ferrauis. BIM. Can., V (Rome, 18S9). s. v. Ohntdrices; Tacnton, The Law o/ the Church (London, 1906), 3. v. Baptism.
William H. W. Fanning.
Migazzi, Christoph Anton, Cardinal, Prince Arch- bishop of Vienna, b. 1714, in the Tyrol, d. 14 April, ISO.i, at Vienna. At nine years of age he entered the school for pages at the residence of Prince Bishop Lamberg at Passau, w-ho later propo.sed him for ad- mittance to the Collegium Germanicum in Rome. At the age of twenty-two he returned to the Tyrol and devoted himself to the study of civil and canon law. Cardinal Laniljerg took him as conclavist to the Con- clave of 1740, whence Benedict XIV came forth pope and to him Cardinal Lamberg earnestly recommended his favourite Migazzi. The latter remained at Rome " in order to quench my thirst for the best science at its very source ". By tliis he meant philosophy as proved by his words spoken about this time; "Without a knowledge of philosophy wit is merely a light fra- grance which is soon lost, and erudition a rude form- less mass without life or movement, which rolls on- ward unable to leave any mark of its passage, con- suming everything without itself deriving any benefit therefrom. " In 174,5 he was appointed auditor of the Rota for the German nation. Owing to the special friendship of Benedict XIV, he was able to conclude several difficult transactions to the entire satisfaction of the Empress Maria Theresa, who in return appointed liim in 17.51 coadjutor to the aged Archbishop of Mechlin. Thereupon con.seerated bishop, he Was soon removed to Madrid as ambassa- dor. A treaty which he concludeil pleased the em- press so much that she appointed him coadjutor of Count Bishop Althan of Waitzen (1756); but as Althan died before his arrival, and six months later Prince Archbishop Trantson also died in Vienna, the empress named Mieazzi his successor. In 1761 Maria Theresa made him administrator for life of the ■See of Waitzen, and at the same time obtained the purple for him from Clement XIII. It is true that Migazzi was now in pos.session of two sees, the reve- nues of which he applied to their improvement. In Waitzen he erected the cathedral and episcopal palace and founded the "Collegium pauperum nobilium "and the convent. Indeed he built almost an entire new
quarter in that town ; it was therefore, to say the least,
hard and mortifving when, after twenty-five years of
administration tlie "Concilium locum tenens regium"
asked him if t here was any priest in his diocese in pos-
session of two benefices or offices, as in that case it was
the emperor's pleasure (Joseph II) that one of them
should be given up. Migazzi was forced to resign
from Waitzen.
As Archbishop of Vienna time brought him many sorrows. Pious and devoted to the Church as Maria Theresa undoubtedly was, yet during her reign in Austria the so-called Knlightenment era (Aufkliirung) developed inevitalily. Its followers imagined that they could renietly all the evils of the time and pro- mote in every way the prosperity of mankind. The representative and the literature of the new movement Were everywhere in evidence. Its opponents were denounced as stupid obscurantists and simpletons. "The Masonic lodge of the Three Canons" was printed at Vieima in 1742, and at Prague in 1749 that of the "Three Crowned Stars and Honesty". In a memorial to the empress written in 1769 the arch- bishop designated as the primary causes of current evils the spirit of the times, atheistic literature, the pernicious mfluence of many professors, the condition of the censorship, contemporary literature, the con- tempt of the clergy, the bad example of the nobility, the conduct of affairs of state by irreligious persons, and neglect of the observance of holy days. Upon each of these ilisorders he spoke in noble terms of pro- found truth. The .situation was all the more critical for the Cliurch since while her means of resistance were diminished, her enemies were gaining adherents. Meanwhile Clement XIV suppressed the Society of Jesus, but Migazzi endeavoured to save it for Austria. He wrote to the empress, "If the members of the order are dispersed, how can their places be so easily sup- plied? What expense will be entailed and how many years must pass before the settled condition broken up by the departure of these priests can be restored?" Just twenty years later the cardinal wrote to Emperor Francis, " Even the French envoy who was last here, did not hesitate, as I can prove to your Majesty, to say that if the Jesuits had not been suppressed, France would not have experienced that Revolution so terrible in its con.sequences. " The archbishop opposed as far as they were anticlerical, the govern- ment monopoly of educational matters, the "enlight- ened " theology, the "purified" law, the "enlighten- ment" literature, "tolerance", and encroachment on purely religious matters. He also founded the " Priesterseminar", an establishment for the better preparation of young priests for parochial work. At Rome he was influential enough to olitain for the Austrian monarch the privilege of being named in the Canon of the Mass. Migazzi lived to see the election of three popes. Maria Theresa and Kaunitz took a livelv interest in his accounts of what transpired in the Conclave (23 Nov., 177,5-16 Feb., 1776) which elected Pius VI, who subsequently visited Vienna during the reign of Joseph II. He owed his election to Migazzi, leader of the Ro,\«alist party. How the empress ap- preciated Migazzi is sufficiently proved in a letter she wrote to him dviring the Conclave, "I am as ill-hu- moured as though I had been three months in Con- clave. I pray for you; but I am often amused to see you imprisoned."
When Frederick II heard of the death of the em- press he wrote, "Maria Theresa is no more. A new order of things will now begin." Joseph II during his ten years' reign published 6200 laws, court ordi- nances, and decrees affecting the Church. Even what is judicious in them generally bears the stanip of haste. "The first measures, levelled against ecclesiasti- cal jurisdiction, created dissatisfaction as encroach- ments on the rights of the Church. The number of memorials addressed by Cardinal Migazzi to Joseph
