CORTE
397
CORTKS
liero were iiiiiny heathens hi Corsica, which long re-
aineil ils early reputation as a wild and unhospitable
iland. On the fall of the Western Empire (476)
'orsica was taken by the Vandals, but was recovered
y Belisarius, only to be captmed by the Goths
nder Totila. Kventually, however, it became sub-
jet to the exarchs of Ravenna, and remained a
iyzantine possession until the eighth century. At
he end of the sixth and the beginning of the seventh
entviry the Roman Church owned large landed es-
ites in Corsica. By the Donation of Pepin the Short
754-55) the island came under the civil sovereignty
f the popes (Liber Pontif., ed. Duchesne, I, 498; 11,
04, note 35). From the eighth to the eleventh cen-
ury it was frequently plundered by Saracen pirates,
'isa then set up a claim of overlordship which was
oon disputed by Genoa. In 1300 the latter made
ood its claim to the civil and ecclesiastical influence
itherto exercised by Pisa, and despite numerous
evolutions (Sampiero, 1507; Baron Neuhof, 1729;
'aoli, 17-55) held at least a nominal authority until
768. In that yi-ar Genoa ceded Corsica to France,
ince which time the island has remained a French
rovince. Ajaccio, its chief town, is historically
imous as the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte.
It has been asserted that Christianity was intro- uced into Corsica in Apostolic times. Ughelli, in his Italia Sacra", says of Mariana,' one of the oldest set-
- ements
- "It received the Catholic Faith, and has
ad its own pastors, ever since the times of the Apos- ,es"; but this would be difficult to establish. An- ther tradition which finds favour with historians is, iiat Christianity was spread in the island by con- !ssors of the Faith exiled thither (Hergenrother, I, in 'ranch tr., Paris, 1901, p. 297). The Bollandists say le country was entirely Christian in a. d. 439. It ave saints and martyrs to the Church; Mgr. de la 'oata, in his "Recherches" (see bibliography infra), ites the names of three Corsican I'Viars Minor of the Ibservance, Bernardino Albert i, Franccschino Muc- tiieli, Teofilo Designorio, whose virtues had been uthoritatiyely declared heroic, and also claims as orsicans St. Laurina, virgin and martyr, whose fes- val was celebrated as a first-class feast in the ancient •iocese of Aleria, St. Parthceus, martyr, St. Vindc- lialis and St. Florentius. It is said, also, that St. alia was a Corsican.
We have seen that before and after 600 Corsica as in close dependence on the Apostolic See, and Iways remained so, (see Cappelletti, Le Chiese 'Italia, Xyi, 307 sqq.). In 1077 Gregory VII amed as his vicarius for Corsica the Bishop of Pisa. 1 1092 Pope Urban II made its bishops suffragans f the Archbishop of Pisa. In 11.33 Innocent II, aving granted the pallium to the Archbishop of enoa, gave him for suffragans the Corsican Bishops f Mariana, Xobbio, and Accia, the Archbi.shop of isa retaining as suffragans the sees of Ajaccio, ,\lcria, ad Sagona. Tlie Bishoprics of Mariana and Accia ere united, .30 January, 1563. About 1.580 the lesscd Alexander Sauli (q. v.), known as the Apostle of Corsica" awoke the islanders to a more »rnest religious life and founded a seminary on the lodel of those decreed by the Council of Trent. At le time of the French Revolution there were five ioceses in Corsica: Mariana and Accia, Nebbio, leria, Sagona, and Ajaccio. A decree of 12 July, 790, of the National .\ssembly at Paris, whose mem- ers had voted the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, duced these five bishoprics to one, giving to Bastia le piistoral care of the whole island. On 8 May, r91, the election of the Constitutional bi.shop took lace. The choice of the electors fell upon the canon ^atius Francis Guasco, Vicar-General of Mariana, nd Provost of the Cathedral. He, however, made a iiblie and solemn rocant.ation 22 December, 1794. he Concordat of 1801, between the Holy See and the
French Republic, which officially restored Catholic
worship in F'rance, made of Corsica a single diocese
with Ajaccio as its episcopal city. (See Concouuat
ofLSOI; Ajaccio.) St. Euphrasius, bishop and mar-
tyr, is the patron of the diocese. Sts. Julia and
Devota were declared patronesses of the island by
decree of the S. C. of Rites, 5 August, 1809, and 14
March, 1820. The "Directorium Cleri" of the dio-
ce.se for 1907 states that there are in Corsica one
bishop and five hundred and ninety-seven priests,
professors, directors, and chaplains. There are one
vicar-general, eight titular canons, twenty-nine hon-
orary canons, five archpriests, thirteen parishes of
the first class, forty-eight of the second class, and
three hundred and thirty-three chapels. Parochial
councils, composeil of members of the laity, assist the
parish priests, since the suppression of the former
boards of trustees by the separation of Church and
State. In Ajaccio there was, until recently, a dioc-
esan seminary, but the students were dispersed on
account of the non-acceptance by Pope Pius X of
the so-called "Law of Separation". At the time
it ceased to exist, it had thirty-eight students and
ten candidates for the priesthood. Every newly
ordained priest is required to present himself yearly
for five consecutive years for examination in ecclesi-
astical sciences before a special committee. The
degrees in theology may dispense from several or all
of these examinations, but a young priest is never
admitted to the parish ministry without having
passed an examination of this kind. In Corsica
there are numerous charitable and pious brother-
hoods, founded in the days of Italian rule. Several
of these associations assemble in their own chapels.
The churches are usually of the Italian style of
architecture and sometimes richly adorned. The
Society for the Propagation of the Faith is directed
by a diocesan committee instituted 13 February,
1859. The St. Vincent de Paul Society has two
conferences. An Association for free Catholic schools
is supported by the subscriptions of the faithful, who
also provide for the needs of Catholic worship.
Before the suppression of the religious orders there
were in Corsica one house of the Jesuits, si.x Francis-
cans, one Dominican, and five Capuchin monasteries,
and one house of the Oblates of Mary. These, as well
as the schools of the Christian Brothers and all convent
schools, have been closed by the Government. There
are still six convents of nuns. In consequence of the
new laws of France, the Catholic Church in Corsica, a
poor country, is confronted with a crisis: the people,
habituated to look to the State for the support of
public worship, must now adopt new methods and
make many sacrifices for the maintenance of religion.
PiETHO Fklce (or Pktrcs Cyrn(KUb), Chronicle to the Year
IWO in MuRATORi, Ilnlicartim Ih-rum Scriptores, by della
Grossa, Ceccaldi, and Monteckjiani, Chronicles, continued
to 1590 by FiLlPPlNl, and tr. into French by Letteron (Bas-
tia); (Jaudin, Vouagc en Corse (latter half of the eighteenth
century): Renucci, Storia di Corsica (Bastia, 1834); Robiquet,
Recherches . . . sur la Corse (Paris, 1835): Friess, Hisloire des
Corses (Bastia, 1852); Gregoroviijs, Hisloire des Corses, a
French tr. of the German work (Stuttgart and Tubingen, 1854).
by LrcciANA; Giamarchi, Vita politica di Pasquale Paoli
(Bastia, 1858); Galetti, Histoire illustree de la Corse (Paris,
1863); BouRDE, En Corse: Corresponilance de 1881 (Paris);
d'Ornano. La Corse militaire (Paris); Bulletin de la SociM des
Sciences historiqurs et naturelles de la Corse (periodical, Bastia;
a magazine of valuable documents for Corsican history); de
LA FoATA, Recherches et notes diverses sur V histoire de Veglise de
Corse (Bastia. 1S95); Ortolan, Diplomale et Soldat; Mgr.
Casanelli d'htria. Evfque d' Ajaccio (Paris, 1900); Cortona,
Hist.de la Corse (Paris, 1906) ; PoLl, La Cone dans Vanliquili
et dans le haut moyen Age (Pans, 1907).
Alexandre Guasco.
Cortes, DoNoso. See Donoso Cortes.
Cortes, Hernando, conqueror of Mexico, b. at MedeUin in Spain c. 1485; d. at Castilleja de la Cuesta near Seville, 2 December, 1547. He was married first to Catalina Xuarez, from which marriage there
