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PIU
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PIU

devoted to the church's interests. He curried into execution the enactments of the Tridentine council. Maximilian II. of Germany and Philip II. of Spain allowed the new discipline to be introduced into their dominions; it spread from diocese to diocese, and became general. The moderation exhibited towards Pius appears from the fact that though he reintroduced the bull, In cœna Domini, which exalts the power of the pope to the highest pitch, it did not lead to a war with any sovereign. This bull was issued with new additions in 1568; and it was natural that all catholic states should receive it with a protest. It was ordered to be read in every church every Thursday before Easter. The civil power ultimately effected its withdrawal. The measures of Pius for the extinction of heresy and suppression of protestantism cannot be approved. They were unsparing and bloody. His bull against Elizabeth of England had no effect (1570). Philip II. was encouraged in his oppressive measures in the Netherlands. Charles IX. of France was even assisted with a small army by the pope, to be employed in rooting out the Huguenots. In Italy, where the inquisition carried on its rigorous measures, many suffered. There informers plied their infamous trade, so that learning declined and books ceased to be printed. Pius V. made great efforts to promote the christian league, and lived to see a victory gained over the Turks at Lepanto, October 8th, 1571, by the Spanish, Venetian, and Papal fleets combined, under Don Juan of Austria. He died on the 1st of May, 1572. This pope was a sincere, but bigoted man. It cannot be denied that he was learned, and a patron of learning; but he was neither merciful nor politic. His latest biographer is Falloux (Histoire de. S Pie), 2 vols. 8vo, 1846.—S. D.

PIUS VI. (Giovanni Angelo Braschi), Pope, was born December 27th, 1717, at Cesena. After passing through various grades in the church he was chosen pope in 1775. His antecedents awakened good expectations from his government of the papal see; for he had shown disinterestedness and integrity as general treasurer of the apostolic exchequer. He was favourable, however, to the order of the Jesuits, whom he durst not restore. He abridged the captivity of those imprisoned, allowed greater indulgence to Ricci their general, who was confined in the castle of St. Angelo, and ignored the existence of the order in Russia, &c. His general policy may be called that of resolute obstinacy in withstanding the power of the great catholic courts over the affairs of the church in their territories, and in attempting to restore the papal authority, which had declined during the preceding reigns of Clement XIII. and XIV. This policy, however successful it appeared to be at first, was disastrous in the end. One of his earliest disagreements was with Joseph II., emperor of Germany, who was making various reforms in his dominions, all of which tended to render the clergy less dependent on Rome in matters of discipline, and his own power over ecclesiastics and convents supreme. After various other measures had been tried, the pope formed the resolution of going in person to Vienna to converse with the emperor, and try to win him over (1782). The journey in question was fruitless; though Pius stayed a month at Vienna. The pope had also a dispute with Joseph's brother, Leopold I., grand-duke of Tuscany, on the subject of reforming monastic institutions in his dominions, which had become immoral and corrupt. The synod of Pistoia assembled by Bishop Ricci (1786), passed several reforming and liberal edicts, such as the right and duty of bishops to reform discipline in their own dioceses, the usefulness of a national synod, and the admission of priests to synods. But Pius in his bull auctorem fidei, issued in 1794, condemned these and other sentiments having the same tendency, in eighty-five propositions. Ricci's free sentiments were rejected, and he himself suspended from office. It is remarkable how far Ricci and a few others went in the liberality of their views, advocating the four articles of the Gallican church (1682), doubting the value of works of supererogation, the limbus puerorum, &c., and advocating Bible reading as well as the conducting of worship in the vulgar tongue. Thus ecclesiastical tradition was enlarged by Pius, though the times were not favourable. The breaking out of the French revolution disturbed the friendly relations between France and the pope. The measures of the national convention in 1790 relative to the church, were disastrous to its authority. About one hundred and thirty bishops and sixty thousand clergy refused to take the oath binding them to the new constitution; Louis XVI. and the pope striving in vain against it. The bulls and manifestoes of the latter were of no avail. In a sudden tumult at Rome (1793), Bassville, a Frenchman, was wounded and died. The papal government was charged by the convention as being accessory to the deed, and threatened with war. The threat, however, was not carried out till General Bonaparte compelled him to submit to terms, on the 23d June, 1796, at Bologna, and afterwards granted him peace at Tolentino, 19th February, 1797. In the former case Pius had to pay twenty-one millions of livres; in the latter thirty millions, besides being compelled to renounce the northern provinces of Italy. A tumult in the streets of Rome, in which General Duphot, attached to the French embassy, was shot by the papal soldiers, served as a pretext for taking possession of the city; and Berthier was ordered by the directory to march upon it, February 15th, 1798. The Roman republic was proclaimed in the Capitol, amid the acclamations of a tumultuous people; the ceremony ended with balls, illuminations, and songs. Pius was commanded to renounce his temporal sovereignty, but refused. He was, therefore, carried away out of the city, on the night of the 19th and 20th February, 1798. He was first located in a convent at Siena, where he lodged three months. The next ten months he spent among the Carthusian monks at Florence. In April, 1799, he was hurried past Parma, Piacenza, and Turin, though the physicians asserted that he ought not to be removed. He was then carried across the Alps by the pass of Mont Genevre in a litter, amid deep snow; thence to Briançon and Grenoble. At the latter place his illness had so far increased as to exempt him from farther travelling. He died here at the age of nearly eighty-two, 29th August, 1799. The Roman republic had ceased immediately before his death; for Austrian and Neapolitan troops had taken possession of the capital. In 1801 Pius' remains were transferred to the church of St. Peter, where his statue by Canova stands. There are a goodly number of lives of Pius VI., but none is altogether complete or satisfactory. The history of the catholic church under Pius VI., by P. Ph. Wolff, in 7 vols., Zurich, 1797-1802, has not been finished. As far as it extends it is probably the best.—S. D.

PIUS VII. (Barnabas Liugi Chiaramonti), Pope from 1800 till 1823, was born on the 14th August, 1742, at Cesena, of a distinguished family. In 1772 Pius VI. appointed him abbot, subsequently bishop of Tivoli; and in 1785 cardinal and bishop of Imola. On the 14th March, 1800, he was elected successor to Pius VI. in the papal chair. The conduct of the new pope was in accordance with his known character for piety, moderation, and devotion to duty. The papal see had lost much during the reign of his predecessor. Pius VII. seemed likely to restore it to what it had been. For this end he avoided all unnecessary expense, and brought back the dissipated revenues of the state. He lowered taxes, abolished pernicious monopolies, set on foot new works to give the poor employment; and showed an honest zeal for the good of the people generally. On the 3d July he made his solemn entry into Rome, which had before been occupied by the French; and on July 15th, 1801, concluded a concordat with France. This was the most important measure that happened during the earlier years of Pius' pontificate. Peace being thus restored with France, Pius received again the possession of the Papal states in November, 1801. Concordats were also entered into with the Ligurian and Italian republics. In 1804 he reinstated the Jesuits in Sicily. After much anxious deliberation he determined to comply with Bonaparte's invitation to Paris to crown him emperor, and with this view entered the capital, Nov. 28th, 1804, with much pomp. This visit, however, lengthened though it was, proved an un propitious one; for the pope soon saw that his presence was only a secondary matter. Napoleon and Josephine were anointed by Pius, but the despot crowned himself. After many fruitless negotiations, oral and otherwise, between the pope and emperor, the former returned to Rome, May 16th, 1805. At every stage of his journey, and particularly at Lyons and Turin, the people thronged to do him honour on their knees—a spectacle doubtless gratifying to the mind of his holiness despondent at the failure of his hopes for the aggrandizement of the church. Notwithstanding the esteem in which Napoleon professed to hold him, it soon became apparent that an open breach between them was approaching. The victorious arms of France advanced; but Napoleon complained that the pope did what he could to thwart him. The conquest of Naples, the ecclesiastical reforms of Joseph Bonaparte in that kingdom, and Napoleon's threatenings because of the Romans tampering with the enemies of France, betokened disaster to Pius. But experience had taught his holi-