857 



PIUS Vl. 



PIUS VI. 



85s 



piisous for the same purpose. This gave rise to frequent collisions 

 between the secular and the ecclesiastical authorities, especially at 

 Naples and Milan. Similar disputes took place concerning the eccle- 

 siastical inspectors and collectors sent by the pope to visit and demand 

 accounts of all church property throughout Italy. Pius proceeded on 

 the principle asserted in the false decretals, that the pope has the 

 disposal of all clerical benefices throughout the world. He also repro- 

 duced the famous bull called ' In ccena Domini,' which excommunicates 

 all princes, magistrates, and other men in authority, who in any way 

 favour heresy, or who attempt to circumscribe the ecclesiastical juris- 

 diction, spiritual and temporal, or to touch the property or revenues 

 of the church ; and all those who appeal from the decision of the pope 

 to the general council, as well as those who say that the pope is 

 subject to the council. He ordered this bull to be read every Thursday 

 before Easter in every parish church throughout the Christian world. 

 France, Spain, and the Emperor of Germany strenuously resisted the 

 publication of this bull. In Italy the senate of Venice likewise forbade 

 iU publication. At Naples and Milan the Spanish governors did the 

 same, but the bishops and monks refused absolution to those who in 

 any way opposed the bull. After much altercation and some mischief, 

 the civil power attained its object, and the bull was set aside. In 

 Tuscany the bull was allowed to be published, but rather as a matter 

 of form than as a measure upon which judicial proceedings could be 

 grounded. The monks and some of the parochial clergy however 

 pretended by virtue of the bull to be exempt from all taxes, and 

 refused the sacrament to the collectors and other revenue officers and 

 their families. The duke of Florence, Cosmo de' Medici, threatened 

 to put the monks in prison and prosecute them. The Tuscan bishops 

 tried to conciliate matters, and to repress the arrogance of the clergy, 

 but the disturbances continued till the death of Pius V. 



By a bull dated August 1569, Pius created Cosmo de' Medici, who 

 till then had only the title of duke of Florence, grand-duke of Tuscany, 

 and his successors after him, and sent with the bull the model of a 

 crown, ornamented with a red lily, the former ensign of the Florentine 

 republic. Pius was a great promoter of the Christian league against 

 the threatening arms of the Ottomans. After the glorious naval 

 victory of the Curzolari, or of Lepanto, won by the Christian combined 

 fleet against the Turks, in September 1571, Pius caused Marcantonio 

 Colonna, commander of the Papal galleys, who had distinguished 

 himself in the battle, to make his triumphal entrance into Home on 

 horseback, preceded by the Turkish captives and spoils, and accom- 

 panied by the magistrates, noblemen, and heads of trades of the 

 city of Rome. Pius V. died of stone, in May 1572. The Roman 

 Church has numbered Pius V. among its saints. He was succeeded by 

 Gregory XIII. 



PIUS VI., CARDINAL ANGELO BBASCHI, a native of Cesena, was 

 elected pope in 1774, after the death of Clement XIV. He was then 

 fifty-five years of age, and had the reputation of being of a generous 

 disposition, and fond of learning and the arts. He had also, besides 

 the advantages of a handsome person, a graceful demeanour and easy 

 and affable manners. In his previous office of treasurer he had 

 managed the financial affairs of the country with prudence and 

 disinterestedness. 



In 1777, Pius VI. had a serious dispute with Leopold I., grand- 

 duke of Tuscany, and Ricci, bishop of Pistoja, on the subject of some 

 grave moral offences which had been discovered in several convents. 

 [LEOPOLD II. of Germany, and I. of Tuscany.] The question of juris- 

 diction was at last settled, but it left a coldness between the ceurts 

 of Home and Tuscany. A more important disagreement took place 

 between the pope and Joseph II, Leopold's brother, and emperor of 

 Germany. Joseph was busy in suppressing superfluous convents, and 

 emancipating the clergy of his dominions from the supremacy of 

 Rome in matters of discipline. Pius VI. perceived in these reforms 

 of Joseph II. a design to weaken the power and influence of the Bee 

 of Rome, and he determined to make an effort to turn the emperor 

 from his purpose. Accordingly he set put for Vienna in 1782, to 

 visit the emperor, and to converse with him personally on the matters 

 in question. For several centuries no pope had left Italy, and this 

 movement of Pius VL attracted universal attention. Monti wrote a 

 poem on the subject, entitled ' II Pellegrino Apostolico.' Pius was 

 received at Vienna with every honour ; but he made little impression 

 on the emperor, who referred the matter in discussion to his ministers, 

 who were not favourably disposed towards Rome. The pope returned 

 to his capital in disappointment, and was censured by many for 

 having lowered the dignity of the holy see without obtaining any 

 good result. Next came the synod of Pistoja, which was assembled 

 by the Bishop Kicci in 1786, and passed several propositions that 

 were considered highly censurable at Rome. Pius condemned these 

 propositions by a ball, and suspended Bishop Ricci from his functions; 

 but Ricci, being supported by his sovereign, continued in his see. 

 Ricci was in reality a Jansenist, but he was not a heretic : he proposed 

 to restore the ancient discipline of the church. 



Pius VI. was also busily employed in other matters besides con- 

 troversy. He undertook and partly effected, through the direction of 

 the engineer Rapini, the draining of the marshy region, containing 

 near two hundred square miles, called the Pomptine marshes, by 

 which a considerable proportion of it was made cultivable. He 

 restored the ancient Via Appia, which had become impassable, and 



built villages and post stations along the same. He also restored the 

 port of Terracina, and adorned it with handsome buildings. He 

 greatly enlarged the museum of the Vatican, which he made one of 

 the richest in Europe iu works of sculpture, vases, precious marbles, 

 and other remains of antiquity; and he caused a splendid set of 

 engravings of the objects in this museum to be published, under the 

 title of ' Museo Pio Clementino.' He made additions to the church 

 of St. Peter's, and embellished Rome with new palaces, fountains, and 

 other structures. 



The internal administration of Pius was liberal and mild. An 

 unusual freedom of opinion and speech prevailed at Rome, a number 

 of learned men gathered thither from other parts of Italy, many 

 foreigners came to settle in that capital, the fine arts were encouraged 

 by the pope and by several of the cardinals, and modern Rome had 

 perhaps never been, since the times of Leo X., so brilliant and so 

 pleasant a residence as it was under the pontificate of Braschi. But 

 the storms of the French revolution darkened the scene, and rendered 

 the latter years of Pius as gloomy and calamitous as the earlier part 

 had been bright and prosperous. In the first period of that revolu- 

 tion, Pius VI. solemnly condemned the abrupt changes made in 

 France concerning the discipline and the property of the clergy ; but 

 with regard to general or secular politics he showed great temperance. 

 An accident which occurred at Rome in January 1793, widened the 

 breach already existing between France and Rome. A young man, 

 Hugo Basseville, an agent of the French republican party, being on 

 his way to Naples, where he had been appointed secretary of embassy, 

 made a foolish demonstration in the Corso, or high street of Rome, 

 apparently to sound the opinions of the people. He appeared in a 

 carriage with several tricoloured flags, and distributed revolutionary 

 tracts, vociferating something about liberty and against tyrants ; but 

 a mob collected ; he was dragged out of his carriage, and mortally 

 stabbed in several places by the populace. The military came to the 

 spot, but too late ; some of the murderers were taken aud tried ; and 

 yet the papal government, though innocent of the fact, was charged 

 by the French Convention as being a party to it. [Momi.] The 

 pope then joined the league of the sovereigns against France, and 

 strengthened his military establishment. 



When General Bonaparte invaded Northern Italy in 1796, he took 

 possession of the legations, but at the same time offered to the pope 

 conditions of peace. After some negotiation, the pope refused to 

 submit to the onerous conditions imposed on him by the Directory. 

 Bonaparte, who was then threatened by fresh armies from Austria, 

 openly blamed the Directory for their harshness towards the court of 

 Rome, saying that was not the way to make friends iu Italy ; and he 

 spoke very highly of several cardinals aud prelates with whom he was 

 in friendly intercourse. (' Correspondence of General Bonaparte,' 

 Letters of the 8th of October 1796 and 1st of January 1797.) Mean- 

 time however he took possession of Ancpna and Loreto, after defeating 

 the papal troops on the banks of the river Senio ; but the pope having 

 sent envoys to sue for peace, Bonaparte granted it to him at Tolentino 

 upon more moderate conditions than might have been expected. After 

 the peace of C'ampoformio (October 1797), and Bonaparte's departure 

 from Italy, the agents of the Directory added vexation to vexation 

 against the unfortunate pope, who, old and infirm, was unequal to the 

 difficulties which crowded upon him. The papal treasury being 

 drained, in order to pay the contribution of thirty millions of livres 

 (1,200,000^.), the pope was obliged to seize the deposits iu the Monto 

 di Pieta, by which many families lost all they had. A tragical inci- 

 dent hastened the catastrophe. On the 28th of December 1797 a 

 small band of revolutionists of Rome aud other parts of Italy, with 

 some Frenchmen among them, among whom was General Duphot, 

 who was attached to the French embassy at Rome, having diued 

 together in the palace of the French academy of arts, and being 

 heated with wine, took into their heads to renew the former attempt 

 of Easseville. Raising the tricoloured flag, they sallied into the 

 streets, calling out that they were going to hoist the ensign of liberty 

 on the Capitol. A body of military came to disperse them, which 

 was effected at first without bloodshed ; but the fugitives ran to the 

 palace of the French ambassador, followed by the soldiers, who fired 

 and wounded some of the insurgents ; the remainder rushed into the 

 vestibule and court of the palace. The papal soldiers halted outside ; 

 but being provoked and mocked by those within, they rushed into the 

 court, in order to clear it of the insurgents. The ambassador then 

 made his appearance on the great staircase, in company with General 

 Duphot, to appease the tumult. The soldiers cried out that the 

 rebels should immediately quit the palace ; but Duphot, who was 

 young and hasty, drew his sword, and encouraged the insurgents to 

 drive the papal soldiers out of the court. The soldiers then fired, 

 and Duphot, with several of the insurgents, fell. This affray was by 

 the French Directory made the pretext for invading Rome and 

 dethroning the pontiff a thing on which they were beut, and would 

 have effected long before had it not been for Bonaparte's cooler policy. 

 After issuing manifestoes calling in plain terms the court of Rome a 

 nest of assassins, the Directory ordered Berthier to march upon Rome. 

 The pope gave orders that no opposition whatever should be made, as 

 it would only serve to aggravate the evil. On the 10th of February 

 1798 Berthier entered Rome with his army, took possession of the 

 castle St. Angelo, and went himself to live in the Quirinal Palace. 



