566 
PIUS. 
papa! jurifdiftion. With this view he iffued edidfs and 
ordinances, by which the fecular clergy were fubjedted to 
lay-magiftrates; the vows of nuns were fubmitted to the 
authority of diocefan bifnops, and matrimonial difpenra¬ 
tions removed from the court of Rome ; all donations 
made to religious houfes by thofe who lhould enter them 
were prohibited; various religious houfes in all parts of 
his dominions were fupprefied ; all Auftrian, Hungarian, 
and Lombard, bifhops were enjoined never to accept the 
dignity of cardinal; all fubordination wdiatever to the 
holy fee in fecular affairs was difclaimed ; and other vigo¬ 
rous fteps towards a complete emancipation were purfued. 
Thefe bold and unexpected proceedings of fo powerful 
a monarch, could not but excite the greateft uneafinefs 
and alarm in the bread ot Pius. At firtt he flattered 
himfelf that fome oppofition would be made to fuch inno¬ 
vations by the imperial fubjedts themfelves; and he was 
encouraged in that hope by the Itrong remonl!ranees 
which were fent to the emperor, from the clergy of Bra¬ 
bant, Flanders, and Lombardy. Thefe remonltrances, 
however, produced no effedf on Jofeph, who perfifted iu 
his fchemes, fupported by the aflillance of the lay-magif- 
trates and the military power. Even the archduke Fer- 
dinand, his brother, had been nearly deprived by him of 
the government of Lombardy, for feconding the remon- 
flrances of the Milanefe clergy. In thefe circumftances, 
his holinefs thought it high time to remondrate himfelf 
againd the imperial meafures, and diredfed his nuncio at 
the court of Vienna to prefent the mod preding fo 1 icita¬ 
tions to his tnajedy, that he would take into ferious con- 
fiderafion the confequences of his proceedings. But the 
reprefenlations of this minider proved equally ineffica¬ 
cious with the remondrances of the prelates; and prince 
Kaunitz told him, that his mader was fully aware of the 
effedfs of what he had done, and perfided in his refolve 
to carry into execution the edidls which he had iffued. 
The feafon was now no more when ecclefiadical cen- 
fures w ere dreaded as the mod formidable of evils, and 
the thunders of the Vatican could make the bolded mo¬ 
narch tremble. Pius, therefore, mortified in the extreme 
to fee fuch open attacks made on the papal prerogatives 
under his pontificate, refolved to try whether his perfonal 
entreaties might not have the effedf of prevailing with 
the emperor to defid from his hoftile purpofes. Accord¬ 
ingly after fudaining the fatigues of a winter’s journey 
over the Alps, the pontiff arrived at Vienna ’ i the month 
of March, 1782, where the emperor received him with 
every poffible mark of external refpedl, and treated him 
with the fame diftindlion as if be poffeffed that plenitude 
of power which his predeceffors had enjoyed, and was 
reigning in his own capital. The emperor and the pope 
held repeated conferences on the lubjedf of the changes 
which Jofeph was making in ecclefiadical matters; but 
the eloquence of Pius failed in perfuading that prince to 
repeal any of his late edidts, and could only obtain a re- 
fpite for fome religious foundations which were threat¬ 
ened with diflblntion. 
After the pope’s return from his unfuccefsful vifit to 
Vienna, his attention was employed, during feveral years, 
on the improvement of his temporal dominions, and the 
enriching and aggrandizement of his relations. He was, 
in particular, fo profufe in the honours and emoluments 
which he accumulated on two of his nephews, one of 
whom he raifed to the cardinalate, and the other to the 
ducal dignity, that no little difaft'edfion to his govern¬ 
ment was created in the minds of the people, who faw 
them grow wealthy by the plunder of the eftates belong¬ 
ing to the apoflolical chamber, and the molt oppreffive 
public fpoliations. In the mean time he was involved in 
new difputes with the court of Naples, which was encour¬ 
aged by the example of the emperor, and the unfuccefs¬ 
ful expedition of his holinefs, to aboliffi fome of his un¬ 
warrantable prerogatives which the court of Rome had 
for ages been accuflomed to exercife in the Neapolitan 
dominions, as well as the fingular cultom of delivering a 
white horfe to his holinefs on St. Peter’s day, as a token 
ot feudal vaffalage to the holy fee. In 1787 the matter 
was carried much farther, and the king of Naples abfo- 
lutely prohibited any appeal from his decifions to the 
court ot Rome, and at one blow abolifhed for ever certain 
feudal homages which he conceived it difgraceful to his 
own dignity any longer to fubmit to. When the pope 
heard of thefe proceedings, he iffued a folemn proteft 
againft the innovations made by them on the Sovereignty 
ot the holy fee over the kingdom of Naples. He fent his 
internuncio to Naples with certain apoltolical bulls; but 
the decrees produced no effedf, and the meffenger of them 
was banifhed the kingdom of Naples in September 1788. 
Befides his difputes with the Imperial and Neapolitan 
courts, Pius had a mifunderftaiiding with the Grand- 
Duke of Tufcany, refpedting fome innovations of the 
bilhop of Piltoja. This mifunderltanding ripened into a 
violent quarrel, in which tlie grand-duke undertook to 
annihilate the fpiritual power of the pope in his domi¬ 
nions, and to counteract the fupremacy in the hierarchy 
of the date. The effedfs of a fimilar i'pirit were man.ifefted 
by the Venetian republic, the fenate of which had, in the 
early part of the prefent pope’s reign, fecularized a num¬ 
ber of abbeys, and other religious eftablilhments, and in¬ 
corporated them with thofe belonging to the nobility. 
0:t account of thefe proceedings, the pope had threat¬ 
ened them with the effedfs of his apolfolical anger, and 
even gone fo far as to talk ferioully of compelling them 
to obedience by the force of temporal arms. This quar¬ 
rel, indeed, had been appeafed, by the intervention of 
fome of the cardinals ; but the fenate continued to fup- 
prefs and reform conventual houfes in favour of hofpitals 
and other charitable eftablilhraents, without paying any 
regard to the murmurs and complaints of the pontiff. 
The duke of Modena, likewife, without the concurrence 
of the holy fee, fuppreffed the Inquifition in his (fate ; and 
was preparing, if it fliould prove necefi’ary, to arm againft 
the pope in defence of certain territorial rights. 
After al', thefe were but the “beginnings of forrows,” 
and of no fort of confequence compared with what Pius 
VI. was on the point of enduring from revolutionary 
France. In that country, before the affembiing of the 
ftates-general, a difpofition was fhown by many of the 
higher clergy to introduce reforms in matters ot an ec- 
cleiiafticai nature, without any application for the con¬ 
currence of the holy fee. The French government, 
likewife, without communication with thecourt of Rome, 
had fupprefied the order of the Celeftin.es in France, and 
feized upon the eftates of thofe of the lameorder, who.liv- 
ing under the Roman jurifdidtion at Avignon, had proper¬ 
ty in the French territory. Thefe circumftances filled the 
heart of Pius VI. with an overwhelming anxiety, which 
was augmented by the edift that was paffed in favour of 
the Proteftants, granting them a civil exiltence, apd le¬ 
gitimatizing their children. Pius was .urged by fome of 
the members of the facred college to adopt violent mea¬ 
fures in defence of his dignity and juft right ; but he pre¬ 
ferred moderate meafures, and was contented to mourn 
in fiience over thefe daring attacks upon his office, and 
that toleration of heretics which threatened ultimate ruin 
to the Catholic church. 
After the ftates-general in France had affembled in 
1789, one of the firit abufes which was the objedt of pub¬ 
lic attention, and which, it is believed, the court even 
had previoully refolved to facrifice, was the payment of 
ecclefiaftical tribute to Rome, under the form of bulls, 
difpenfations, and other objedts of fpiritual traffic. This 
was followed by a decree of the National Aflembly, at 
the ciofe of the year, declaring the church-eftates to be 
national property, which filled the court of Rome with 
general confternation. At length the pope's temporal 
poffeffions in Venaiffm and Avignon were confifcated by 
the National Aflembly. Againft this feizure of his pro¬ 
perty, briefs and bulls were iffued by the pope ; and the 
partifans for his holinefs, and the friends of the French 
revolution 
