CLEMENT
34
CLEMENT
take refuge in his territory. On the throne of Naples
was seated a son of Charles III, and on that of Parma
his nephew. Botli were minors, and both had Vol-
tairian ministers through whose instrumentality their
policy was directed from Madrid. Accordmgly the
Jesuits in their dominions were similarly banished,
and their banisliment drew similar remonstrances
from the pope. But iii the case of Parma there was a
complication, for this state having been for centuries
regarded as a fief of the Holy See, the pope had felt him-
self bound to condemn by liis Monitorium of 30 Janu-
ary, 1768, some laws passed by the duke to the detri-
ment of the Church's liberties. The Bourbon Courts
thereupon united in demanding the withdrawal of the
Monitorium, threatening, if refused, to deprive the
pope by armed force of his territories of Avignon and
the Venaissin in France, and of Benevento and Mon-
tecorvo in Italy. Finally, on 18, 20, 22 January,
1769, the ambassadors of France, Spain, and Naples
presented to him identical notes demanding the total
and entire suppression of the Society of Jesus through-
out the world. It was this that killed liim. He ex-
pired under the .shock on tlio niglit of 2-3 February.
In one sense, no doubt, his pontificate was a failure,
and he has been blamed for a lack of foresiglit which
should have made him yield to the exigencies of the
times. But in a higher sense it was a splendid suc-
cess. For he had the insight to see through the
plausible pretences of the Church's enemies, and to
discern the ultimate ends which they were iiursuiiig.
He viewed the course of events ever in t he light of faith.
and was ever faithful to liis trust. He always took
up .sound positions, and knew how to defend them
with language conspicuous for its truth and justice, as
well as for its mocleration and Christian tenderness.
His pontificate, in short, afforded the spectacle of a
saint clad in moral strength contending aloneagain-st
the powers of the world and their pliysical might;
and such a spectacle is an acquisition forever.
There were other aspects under which Clement XIII had to contend with the prevailing errors of Regalism and Jansenism in France, Germany, Hol- land, Poland, and Venice, but these by comparison were of minor moment. Among the pernicious books condemned by him were the " Histoire du peuple de Dieu" of the Jesuit Berruyer, the Esprit" of Helv^ tins, the "Exposition de la doctrine chr&ienne" of Mesenguy, the "Encyclopedie" of D'Alembert and Diderot, and the " De Statu Ecclesia;" of Febronius. He greatly encouraged devotion to the Sacred Heart, and ordered the Preface of the Blessed Trinity to be recited on Sundays.
Barberi and Spetia, BuUarii Romani Continiiatio (Rome, 183.5); CoRDARA. Commcntarii in Dollingeu, />'
politischen, kirchlichcn und KvUurgeschirhu l^sj . ii
Proces-verbaux du clerge franpais (1882), VIII: N'>\ u^, /,'
ponlelu
(Ko
menti delta storia dt
MONTOR, Uistni
VON RaNKE, />(' " f Mi' I ■• 1 ' , I -
mentXIVet lis J • ■\':\< \ ■ W . I,.;-.: ■ -
pagniedeJcsusf\'i:'..\-..\.\. I m im i.-, /// ' ^^ .',/'..»;',- -;/ de Clement XIV (Paris. IS.-.LII: Ramunan, Clrmnil XllI et ClimerU XIV (Paris. 18.54); Ferrer del Rio, Ilisloria del Reinado de Carlos III (Madrid, 1S57); D.\vila y Collado, Reinado de Carlos III in C.vnovas de Castillo, Historia General de Espatia (Madrid, 1893); Smith. The S-wppression of tke Socictu o1 Jesus articiea in the Month (1902. 1903); Rous- SEAr. Expulsion des Jesuites en Espagne in the Revue des ques- tions historiques (Jan., 1904).
Sydney Smith.
Clement XIV, Pope (Lorenzo — or Giovanni ViNCENZo Antonio — Ganganelli); b. at Sant' Arc- angelo, near Rimini, 31 October, 170.3; d. at Rome, 22 September, 1774.— .\t the death of Clement XIII the Church was in dire distress. Gallicanism and Jansen- ism, Fcbronianism and l{ation:ilism were up in rebel- lion again-sl the authority of the Roman pontiff; the rulers of France, Spain, Naples, Portugal, Parma were on the side of the sectarians who flattcncl their dynastic prejudices and, at least in:ippearance, worked for the strengthening of the temporal power
XIV
against the spiritual. The new pope would have to
face a coalition of mora! and political forces which
Clement XIII had indeed manfully resisted, but failed
to put down, or even materially to check. The great
question between Rome and the Bour-
bon princes was the suppression of the
Society of Jesus. In France, Spain,
and Portugal the suppression had
taken place de facto; the accession of a
new pope was made the occasion for
insisting on the abolition of the order
root and branch, tie facto and de jure,
in Europe and all over the world.
The conclave assembled 15 February, 1769. Rarely, if ever, has a conclave been the victim of such overweening interference, base intrigues, and unwarranted jiressure. The ambassadors of France (d'Aubeterre) and Spain (Azpuru) and the Cardinals de Bernis (France) and Orsini (Naples) led the campaign. The Sacred College, consisting of forty- seven cardinals, was divided into Court cardinals and Zelanti. The latter, favourable to the Jesuits and op- posed to the encroaching secular powers, were in a ma- jority. " It is easy to foresee the rlifficulties of our ne- gotiations on a stage where more than three-fourths of the actors are against us." Thus wTote Bernis to Choi- seul, the minister of Louis XV. The immediate ob- ject of the intriguers was to gain over a sufficient num- ber of Zelanti. D'Aubeterre, inspired by Azpuru, urged Bernis to insist that the election of the future pope be made to depend on his written engagement to suppress the Jesuits. The cardinal, however, re- fused. Inamemorandum to Choiseul, dated 12 April, 1769, he says: "To require from the future pope a promise made in writing or before witnesses, to de- stroy the Jesuits, would be a flagrant violation of the canon law and therefore a blot on the honour of the crowns." The King of Spain (Charles III) was will- ing to bear the responsibility. D'Aubeterre opined that simony and canon law had no standing against reason, which claimed the abolition of the Society for the peace of the world. Threats were now resorted to; Bernis hinted at a blockade of Rome and popular insurrections to overcome the resistance of the Ze- lanti. France and Spain, in virtue of their right of veto, excluded twenty-three of the forty-seven car- dinals; nine or ten more, on account of their age or for some other reason, were not pupabili: oiJy four or five remained eligible. Well might the Sacred Col- lege, as Bernis feared it would, protest against vio- lence and separate on the plea of not being free to elect a suitable candidate. But d'Aubeterre was relent- less. He wished to intimidate the cardinals. "A pope elected against the wishes of the Courts", he wrote, "will not be acknowleilged"; and again, "I think that a pope of that [[ihilosophical] temper, that is without scniples, holding fast to no opinion and consulting only his <nvn int(Tests, might be accept:ible to the Courts". The ambas.sadors threatened to leave Rome unless the coiu-lave surrendered to their dicta- tion. The arrival of the two Sixinish cardinals, Solis and LaCerda, added new strength to the Court party, Solis insisted on a written promise to suppress the Jesuits being given by the future pope, but Bernis was not to be gained over to such a breach of the law. Solis, therefore, supported in the conclave by Cardinal Malvezzi and outside by the ambassadors of France and Spain, took the matter into his own hands. He began by sovmding Cardinal Ganganelli as to his will- ingness "to give the promise required by the Bourbon princes as an indis])ensable condition for election. — • Why Ganganelli? This cardinal was the only friar in the Sacreil College. Of humble birth (his father had been a surgeon at Sant' Arcangelo), he had re- ceived his education from the .lesuits of Rimini and the Piarists of Urbino,and. in 1724. at the age of nine- teen, had entered the Order of I'Viars Minor of St.
