ness the effects of compliance with French wishes; and therefore he opposed a firm will to the overbearing empire. Matters were brought to a crisis by his refusal to acknowledge Joseph as king of Naples, and by the opening of his ports to the English. On the 2d February, 1808, Rome was taken possession of by French soldiers, from which time Pius declared he should consider himself a prisoner. The papal forces were disarmed, and the states of the church were treated as a conquered territory. In two allocutions of March 16th and July 11th, Pius addressed his complaints and admonitions to the emperor; but these spiritual weapons were of no avail, for the latter united the papal provinces Urbino, Aucona, Macerata, and Camerino with the kingdom of Italy. This was followed by protestations on the part of Pius, who in a letter of April 3rd, 1809, threatened Napoleon again with excommunication. On the 17th May, 1809, the states of the church were formally incorporated with the empire, and Rome declared a free imperial city. Two bulls dated June 10th and 11th were issued against those who had so grievously invaded the rights of the church. This brought upon him the vengeance of General Radel, who broke into his room by night, and required him to renounce his civil power. On his refusing, the general took him away from Rome along with his secretary Pacca. At Grenoble Pius remained awhile, and was thence carried to Savona. In 1812 he was conducted to Fontainebleau. During all this time he had set himself resolutely against the will of the emperor, and resisted his demands. He refused canonical confirmation to the French and Italian bishops nominated by Napoleon, and disapproved of the latter's separation from Josephine and second marriage. On the 25th January, 1813, Napoleon forced Pius to subscribe the concordat, according to which he was to receive two millions of francs yearly in lieu of his former possessions; an act which virtually amounted to a renunciation of his claim to the states of the church. Scarcely, however, had he subscribed when he bitterly repented, for which reason he was again treated as a captive. After Napoleon's fall he returned to Rome on the 24th May, 1814, amid great rejoicings, accompanied by Pacca, with whom he had left it five years before. He then took possession of all the states of the church, with a few exceptions. Thus he had the happiness of seeing all that he had so stoutly contended for accomplished. He gave a new constitution to his territories on the 6th July, 1816, which was on the whole not illiberal. Henceforward his administration was marked by moderation and tolerance; great credit being due to his minister Consalvi. Rome became even an asylum for unfortunate kings and families, and all political opinions were allowed. Pius' conduct towards the family of Napoleon was praiseworthy. He died from the effects of a fall on the 20th August, 1823, at the age of eighty-one. The character of Pius VII. presents a favourable contrast to that of many popes. He was a man of simple and unostentatious habits, humble, modest, benevolent, and pious. His lot was hard, and he bore it magnanimously. His persevering resistance to Napoleon is a thing to be admired; and his unflinching assertion of the papal rights shows the firmness of one conscientiously believing in their divine inalienableness.—S. D.
PIUS VIII. (Francis Xavers), Count Castiglioni, pope from March 31st, 1829, till 30th November, 1830, was born at Cuigoli, 20th November, 1761, and elected bishop of Montalto, 1800. In 1808 he was banished to the south of France. After returning to Rome in 1814 he was elected bishop of Cesena, and in 1816 a cardinal. In 1829 he was chosen successor to Leo XII., though at the time he was sixty-eight years of age and very feeble in body. He had the satisfaction of seeing catholic emancipation accomplished in England. A concordat with Holland was also established. After surviving the French revolution in 1830 which gave him great uneasiness, and procuring the esteem of his subjects by the lightening of many burdens that pressed upon them, he died November 30, 1830. Pius VIII. had the reputation of being the most learned canonist of his time. He was a determined enemy to nepotism, and his disposition seems to have been good and benevolent.—S. D.
* PIUS IX. (Don Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti), Pope, was born on the 13th May, 1792, at Sinigaglia. In early life he had a desire for the military profession, and came to Rome in 1815 during the reign of Pius VII., but was not admitted into the papal guard because of his delicate health. Accordingly he studied for the sacred profession, was ordained priest in 1823, and went to Chili to attach himself to the mission there in that year. In 1825 he returned and devoted himself with great zeal to the care of the poor and sick, so that Leo XII., made him an hospital director. In 1827 he was nominated archbishop of Spoleto. In 1832 Gregory XVI. appointed him archbishop of Imola; and in 1840 he became a cardinal. On the 16th July, 1846, he was elected pope. Great expectations were entertained from his elevation because of his upright and benevolent character; especially as the rule of Gregory XVI. had been severe, and exasperating to his subjects. After his elevation he issued a general amnesty for a month in favour of all who had been banished or imprisoned for political offences, by which fifteen thousand persons were affected. Soon after positive reforms were set on foot. Commissions were issued for revising the laws relating to civil justice, education, agriculture, and church music; an edict of March 15th, 1847, relieved the press; a council of state was instituted for the preparation of all important cases awaiting the pope's decision; a civil guard was organized, and the city received a new municipal constitution. The year 1848 brought with it other important reforms, especially the measure by which a sort of chamber of peers and a chamber of deputies were associated with the pope and cardinals in civil matters. But the revolutionary spirit that pervaded Europe in that memorable year had wrested from Pius various things he did not like. The wave of freedom was sweeping over Italy too rapidly, bringing with it increasing changes and demands. He began to draw back in his policy, and to resist the innovating spirit of reform. The war against Austria he disapproved of, and would not join, declaring that he could not fight against fellow-christians to whom he owed many obligations. When the jesuits indeed were expelled from Rome, March, 1848, he sanctioned the step; but the measure was nearly tantamount to the shutting up of all good schools there. He formed Mamiani's liberal administration reluctantly; and sighed for the triumph of Austrian arms, which would decide the fate of revolutionary policy. His popularity was now gone. The sanguine hopes raised at the beginning of his pontificate were disappointed. He had never been, however, a reformer on principle. All his good measures sprang from a disposition naturally mild and gentle, inclined to moderation and beneficence, rather than from political sagacity or sound judgment. His first measures of reform were the timid steps of a well-meaning ruler. Hence it is easy to see, that sad experience might make him go back to the old policy of his predecessor. His minister, Count Rossi, whom he unhappily chose, took vigorous measures to establish public security, reorganize the army, and introduce a firm rule. But he was mortally stabbed by an assassin; nor was any attempt made to punish the guilty perpetrator. Rossi's murder was but the prelude to a measure of greater daring. Pius' palace was attacked, Palma mortally wounded; and the pontiff himself in disguise obliged to flee from Rome in the conveyance of the Bavarian ambassador. Count Spaur, to Gaeta. Here he declared all that had been enacted in Rome since 15th November, 1848, null and void. A republic was established in Rome in the pope's absence, which continued till the French troops took the city, 3d July, 1849, after a noble defence on the part of the citizens. The pope did not return till April 12, 1850. He had previously promised in two edicts of September, 1849, different measures of reform, such as the introduction of a council of state, the creation of provincial councillors, &c., and an amnesty; but little real good resulted from any of the reforms actually accomplished. The amnesty was marred by so many exceptions, that the president of the French republic himself recommended greater liberality to the three cardinals whom Pius had charged with its execution. As the French soldiers are still in Rome, and Austrian rule prevails in the northern provinces, the pope has not yet recovered the individual administration of affairs in his own territory. Little good has resulted from the French occupation of Rome, and much evil. In ecclesiastical matters Pius never pretended to be a reformer. Here everything has been conducted on the system of Gregory XVI. His first encyclical letter in 1846, addressed to all bishops, proves this; and his allocution of December, 1847, confirms it. On the 3d July, 1848, he announced the completion of a concordat with Russia; in 1851 an advantageous arrangement was entered into with Tuscany; and in the same year a favourable concordat with Spain. An attempt to arrange England into dioceses, with bishops and an archbishop of Westminster, met with a storm of indignation, and led to the passing of a bill against it, July 5, 1851. A similar measure, however, was effected in Holland, in
