B ]: N 



21G 



BEN 



^e town Bologna, to whoe Institute of 

 contributed by (lunations. 



11. instituted at Home a congregation or board for the 

 purpose of exami m ni: the character, morals, and other quali- 

 fications of candidate* !" vacant sees ; ami he was also very 

 the maintenance of correct morals union); his 

 ;<1 thu treasury poor and encumbered, hut, 

 .iicimn* and economy, ho re-established a balance in 

 the finances of the state. He did nolhinK for hi* own family; 

 and he U said to have forbidden his nephew, who was a se- 

 nator of Bologna, coming to Home. During the eighteen 

 years of his reign Rome enjoyed peace, plenty, and pros- 

 perity, and half u century after his death the pontificate of 

 Laiuberlim was still remembered and spoken of at Rome as 

 the last period of unalloyed happiness which the country had 

 enjoyed. Nor was Benedict careless of the welfare of other 

 countries. He wrote, in 1/46, to the Empress Maria Theresa 

 in favour of the Genoese, who were subject to the most cruel 

 exactions from the Austrian commanders ; and he after- 

 wards showed a like sympathy in favour of the poor Cor- 



-, who were in their turn oppressed by the Gi 

 Benedict had a strong sense of moral justice, which made 

 him hostile to violence and oppression. His tolerance is 

 well known, and it exposed him to the censure of the 

 riirorists among the College of Cardinals. Without exhi- 

 biting anything like indifference to the doctrines of the church 

 of which he was the head, he showed urbanity and friend- 

 liness towards all Christians, of whatever denomination, 

 whether kings or ordinary travellers, who visited his capital. 

 His correspondence with the great Frederic concerning the 

 -iastical affairs of the province of Silesia, which that 

 sovereign had conquered from Austria, was carried on by 

 him in the most conciliatory and liberal spirit. The Protes- 

 tants of Germany revered Benedict. With regard to France 

 he carefully avoided every thing that could in the least en- 

 courage the fanatical party in that country in reviving the 

 persecution against the Protestants of Languedoc. Seeing 

 Fiance distracted by quarrels between the Jesuits and the 

 Jansenists, the court and the iarliament, the priests and the 

 philosophers, and lamenting amidst all this the licentious- 

 ness of Louis XV. and his courtiers, and the weakness and 

 incapacity of the ministers, he used to exclaim that ' France 

 ought indeed to be the best governed country in the world, 

 for its government seemed to be left entirely to the care of 

 Providence.' (Botta, Sloria <t Italia, lib. -Ifi.) He signed, 

 in 1741, a concordat with Charles King of Naples, by which 

 he checked the abuse of church immunities and asyla, 

 allowed church property to be subject to taxation, restricted 

 the ordination of priests, whose number in the kingdom was 

 excessive, circumscribed the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical 

 courts, and established a mixed tribunal of churchmen and 

 laymen for deciding on all contested questions in the inter- 

 pretation of the concordat. This was the beginning of the 

 great ecclesiastical reform which was effected in the kingdom 

 of Naples by Charles III. and his son Ferdinand. (Col- 

 letta, Storia del Beame di Napoli.) He abolished the 

 patriarchate of Aquileia, which was a source of disputes be- 

 tween the Venetians and the House of Austria ; and he 

 reduced the number of holidays, fegte di precetto, which 

 working-people were obliged to observe. Benedict was no 

 favourer of the Jesuits, or rather of their worldly policy, and 

 he is said to have given that society hints which, if followed, 

 might have averted the catastrophe which overtook it after 

 his death. Benedict was teamed, not only in theology, but 

 in history, in the classical writers, and in elegant literature, 

 and he had a taste for the fine arts. Some of his numerous 

 repartees, which he loved to utter in his own vernacular 

 Bolognese dialect, are still familiar at Rome ; and others 

 liny be found scattered in the various accounts of him civen 

 1". '-ontemporary travellers, especially by the Abbe Richard, 

 in his l'i:i/ax? en Unite. Lambertini may be said to have 

 introduced a new system of temperate and conciliatory 

 policy into the court of Rome, especially in its transactions 

 with foreign powers, which has been in great measure fol- 

 1 by his successors. His works were published at Runic 

 in 12vols. -Ito. The most remarkable arc his treat i se !)< 

 Servorum DeiBeatifiratirmeetBeatorum Canonizations, in 

 f >ur books, a work full of historical and theological learning : 

 De Synodn Diocttana, which is also much esteemed ; linti- 

 tulinncs Eccletiaitictc ; De Missce Officio, libri lii. : i 

 hi* Bullarium, or collection of bulls, issued by him. and 

 several letters and di-srriati .m in Italian; among others, 

 a disquisition concerning the expediency of curtailing (he 

 number of holiday*, which last, together with several conlro- 



letters upon the same subject, were also pub', 

 separately at Lucca. ITIS under the title of Raced t a til 

 Srritturr CMtetHUnti la Itiiniiitizivnr tlelle 1't'ttc di 1'rerctto. 

 Benedict XIV. died on the 2nd of May, I'iH. being 

 eighty years of age, and wag succeeded by (.'lenient X11I. 

 See an account of the numcrou- - he founded at 



Rome : fJolizia delle Academic erette in ]!< in < /-< ; 'inline 

 delta Santita di N. S. Papa Bfneditto Ml'. Roma, 

 1740. 



BKNEDICT, ANTIPOPE (Poln. de Luna), a native 

 of Aragon, was made a cardinal by Gregory XI. After 

 the death of that pope, when the great -chiMii broke out 

 between Urban VI. and Clement Vll., De Luna attached 

 himself to the latter. After Clement's death in Avignon in 

 1394, the cardinals of Ins party elected De Luna 

 cessor, in opposition to Boniface IX., who had sum 

 Urban at Rome, and he assumed the name of He, 

 XIII. France and several other states which had a<-know- 

 ledged Clement, now acknowledged Benedict, with the un- 

 derstanding that he should renounce his dignity whenever 

 required for the peace of the church. But De Luna had no 

 intention of fulfilling bu pert of the engagement. Menu- 

 time, both Boniface and his successor Innocent VI I. died a! 

 Rome, and the king of France and other sovereign* \\eiv 

 anxious to put an end to the schism. The cardinals at 

 Rome, however, elected Gregory XII. , and he and Bene- 

 dict excommunicated each oilier. France now renounced 

 the cause of Benedict, and the cardinals of both parties 

 agreed to assemble a council ut Pisa, which deposed both 

 popes in 1409, and elected Alexander V. Gnrerv. how- 

 ever, was still acknowledged by Ladislaus, king ot Naples, 

 and Benedict was acknowledged in Spain. Alexander V. 

 died soon after, and the conclave assembled at Bologna, 

 elected John XXIII. Soon after the council of Constance 

 met, which assembly deposed John for his irregular conduct, 

 and confirmed also the deposition of Gregory and Benedict. 

 Martin V. was elected pope. Gregory submitted to the de- 

 cision of the council, John was obliged to submit by force, 

 but Benedict, who was in Spain, remained as tcnaci< 

 ever of his assumed dignity, and excommunicated all his 

 antagonists. Alfonso, king of Aragon, acknowledged him, 

 and Benedict resided at Ptniscola with a few cardinals of 

 his own appointment. At last, in 142-1, Benedict died at 

 the age of ninety. Some of his cardinals elected as his 

 successor an obscure individual, whom they styled Benedict 

 XIV., of whom nothing is known ; while others appointed 

 another successor, who called himself Clement VI II., but 

 soon after made his submission to Martin V.. who was at 

 length acknowledged by the whole western church. (Du- 

 pin, Histoire du Schisme, and the histories of the Councils 

 of Pisa and of Constance.) 



BENEDICTION, the act of invoking the favour of 

 God, prosperity, long life, and other blessings upon indivi- 

 duals. The word is derived from the Latin, benct/i 

 which originally meant ' to speak well, or ' to praise or 

 commend,' and was afterwards employed for 'to wish well,' 

 (see Ducange's G/ossarium.) The ccren.ony of bl< 

 is of a very remote antiquity. \Ve find in the Scriptures, 

 that the patriarchs before they died, solemnly bestowed 

 their blessing on their sons. Isaac giving by mi-talc 

 to his younger son Jacob the blessing which he in- 

 tended for his elder son Esau (Genesis xxvii.) is an in- 

 teresting instance of this custom. In Numbers vii. 23-6, 

 the words are specified in which the high priest was to 

 bless the people of Israel. Aaron blessed the people, 

 'lifting his hand towards them.' (Leviticus ix.) Christ 

 after his resurrection, and before parting frem his disciples 

 at Bethany, 'lifted up his hands and blessed them.' (St. 

 Luke xxiv. 50.) In the early church, the bishop gave his 

 blessing to the people with his bauds extended towards 

 them. In the Roman Catholic church it is the custom for 

 the bishop to lift up his right hand towards the people with 

 the fingers extended, and with it to describe the sign of 

 the cross, in commemoration of the Redemption. This be- 

 nediction, ' Benedict^ super populum,' is also gi\cn by the 

 bishop from the altar in the mass sen ire, \\ ith the words 

 ' Bcncdicat vos Omnipotens Deux.' The priests also give 

 the benediction, but with sumo difference in the form and 

 words, and they can only give it at mass, or while admin i 

 ing the sacrament, or in other solemn ceremonies ; but the 

 bishop has the power of giving it any where or upon any 

 occasion he may think lit. In the Roman 1'ontilicalc arc 

 found the various forms of benediction. One of the most 

 impressive instances of this ceremony is that of thu pope 



