BX 955
.P35
1891 V,
.34
Pastor,
Ludwig,
1854-1928
The history
of
the
popes,
from the close
of
the
HISTORY OF THE POPES
VOL. XXXIV.
PASTOR
THE HIST(
S HISTORY
OF
PES.
THE POPES
Translated from
3RY OF THE PO
the German of Ludwig, Freiherr von Pastor. Edited, as to J
Vols. I.-VI.
by the late Frederick Ignatius Antrobus, and,
as to Vols.
VII.-XXIV. by Ralph Francis Kerr, of the
London Oratory, and Vols. XXV.
-XXXIV. by DoM Ernest |
Graf, of Buckfast Abbey.
Vols.
I. and II.
A.D.
1305-1458
Vols.
III. and IV.
A.D.
1458-1483
Vols.
V. and VI.
A.D.
1484-1513
Vols.
VII. and VIII.
A.D.
1513-1521
Vols.
IX. and X.
A.D.
1522-1534
Vols.
XI. and XII.
A.D.
1534-1549
Vols.
XIII. and XIV.
A.D.
1550-1559
Vols.
XV. and XVI.
A.D.
1559-1565
Vols.
XVII. and XVIII.
A.D.
1566-1572
Vols.
XIX. and XX.
A.D.
1572-1585
Vols.
XXI. and XXII.
A.D.
1585-1591
Vols.
XXIII. and XXIV.
A.D.
1592-1604
Vols.
XXV. and XXVI.
A.D.
1605-1621
Vols.
XXVII. to XXIX.
A.D.
1621-1644
Vols.
XXX. to XXXII.
A.D.
1644-1700
Vols.
XXXIII. and XXXIV a.d.
1700-1740
The original German text of the Hi^
•tory of the Popes is published
by Herder &
Co., Freiburg (Baden).
T H B --> ^
HISTORY OF THE POPE^^^
FROM THE CLOSE OF THE MIDDLE AGES
DRAWN FROM THE SECRET ARCHIVES OF THE VATICAN AND OTHER
ORIGINAL SOURCES
FROM THE GERMAN OF THE LATE /
LUDWIG, FREIHERR VON PASTOR
TRANSLATED AND EDITED BY
DOM ERNEST GRAF, O.S.B.
MONK OF BUCKFAST
VOLUME XXXIV
INNOCENT XIII (1721-1724). BENEDICT XIII (1724-1730).
CLEMENT XII (1730-1740)
LONDON
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., LTD.
BROADWAY HOUSE, 68-74 CARTER LANE, E.C.
1941
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY
STEPHEN AUSTIN AND SONS, LTD., HERTFORD.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME XXXIV.
INNOCENT XIII. 1721-1724.
BENEDICT XIII. 1724-1730.
PAGE
Table of Contents ....... xii
List of Unpublished Documents in Appendix . . xiii
Pontificate of Innocent XIII. — Election and Antece-
dents— Negotiations with the Emperor about
Italy and with Spain and Portugal — Threat of
War with Turkey — Jansenism — The Schism of
Utrech — Troubles in China . . . . 1-97
Pontificate t of Benedict XIII. — Election and Govern-
ment— Cardinal Niccolo Coscia — Ecclesiastical and
Political Concessions to the Emperor and to the
House of Savoy ...... 98-157
Benedict XIII.'s Reforming Activity — The Jubilee and
the Roman Provincial Council of 1725 — Furthering
of the Veneration of the Saints and Other Ecclesias-
tical Activities — The Two Journeys to Benevento —
Creations of Cardinals — The Missions . . . 158-204
Jansenism in France and the Netherland.s — Death of
Benedict XIII. ...... 205-299
CLEMENT XII. 1 730-1 740.
Election and Character of Clement XII. — His Action as
a Reformer ....... 300-354
Loss of the Suzerainty over Parma and Piacenza — The
Struggle for the Polish Succession and the Out-
break of War Against the Emperor in Italy —
Conquest of Naples and Sicily by the Spaniards —
Provocation of the Pope by the Bourbons at
Madrid and Naples — The Spanish Concordat of
1737 ■ • • 355-400
Nominations of Cardinals — Activity within the Church
— Prohibition of Freemasonry — Religious Con-
ditions in France and Germany — The Missions . 401-478
The States of the Church — Last Years of Clement XII.'s
Pontificate — The Pope's Patronage of Scholarship
and Art ........ 479-510
Appendix of Unpublished Documents and Extracts
from Archives ....... 511-581
Index of Names ....... 583-596
For Bibliography see Vol. XXXIII.
TABLE OF CONTENTS OF VOLUME XXXIV.
Innocent XIII. 1721-24.
Benedict XIII. 1724-30.
CHAPTER I.
PONTIFICATE OF INNOCENT XIII. ELECTION AND
ANTECEDENTS NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE EMPEROR
ABOUT ITALY AND WITH SPAIN AND PORTUGAL THREAT
OF WAR WITH TURKEY JANSENISM THE SCHISM OF
UTRECHT— TROUBLES IN CHINA.
A.D.
Position in Europe at the death of Clement XL
1 72 1 The Conclave ......
Its members and . ...
Diverse policies . . . .
Candidates for the Papacy ....
Numerous scrutinies — continued uncertainty
Election of Cardinal Conti as Innocent XIII. .
INIeets \\dth universal satisfaction
Antecedents of the Pope ....
His personal appearance and conduct
His first appointments .....
His relations with Emperor Charles VI. .
He strives for but does not obtain the restoration of
Comacchio ......
The Spanish Concordat .....
The Pope and Portugal .....
Renewal of Turkish aggression
Relief when Persia is the object of attack
Jansenism .......
Letter of the seven Bishops to the Pope is
1722 Condemned by the Inquisition
Statement of Innocent XIII. on the subject
Cardinal de Bissy's defence of the Bull Unigenitus
Provokes violent attack ....
Resistance to the Bull continues
Measures by the Regent against the Appellants
Changes in the Episcopate and in .
The attitude of the Orders ....
Insubordination in the Dutch Mission
Preparations for the election of an Archbishop .
Disaffection in Holland .....
vii
AGE
I
3
5
7
ID
15
25
26
27
29
30
31
33
35
37
38
40
41
43
44
45
47
48
50
51
55
57
58
62
63
Vlll
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Innocent XIII. and the Missions
His action in regard to the Chinese rites .
Persecution of Chinese Christians
Attacks against the Jesuits in Rome
Their pubhcations censured
Propaganda takes steps against them
Jansenist calumnies of the Society .
1723 The Pope directs a Brief to the Jesuit General
Decree against the Jesuits follows .
The General's defence of his missionaries
Increasing ill-health of the Pontiff .
1724 His death on February 12 , . .
His short reign .....
PAGE
66
70
73
74
n
78
81
83
85
87
92
95
96
CHAPTER II.
PONTIFICATE OF BENEDICT XIII. — ELECTION AND
GOVERNMENT CARDINAL NICCOLO COSCIA ECCLESIAS-
TICAL AND POLITICAL CONCESSIONS TO THE EMPEROR
AND TO THE HOUSE OF SAVOY.
Thirty-one electors enter the Conclave
Their numbers increase to fifty-three
Exclusion of Paolucci by Charles VI.
Confused situation
Successive Candidates . . . _
Election of Cardinal Orsini as Benedict XIII
Sketch of his previous career .
As Archbishop of Benevento .
His ascetic life and piety
His reforms .....
New appointments ; Paolucci becomes Secretary of
State .....
Personality of Benedict XIII.
His love of liturgical functions
His inexperience in secular matters
Is exploited by his ministers .
Niccolo Coscia ....
Lercari becomes Secretary of State .
Coscia's avarice and
Bad administration
The case of the Monarchia Siciila .
Ends in compromise
1728 The Bull Fideli provokes dissatisfaction
The Hou.se of Savoy trades upon Coscia's venality
An agreement is reached to the
Indignation of certain Cardinals
1725 The surrender of Comacchio ,
Tedious disputes ....
99
lOI
103
104
107
108
no
115
1x6
117
118
121
122
123
124
129
131
133
135
144
146
147
151
152
154
155
TABLE OF CONTENTS
IX
A.D.
CHAPTER III.
BENEDICT XIII. 'S REFORMING ACTIVITY — THE JUBILEE
AND THE ROMAN PROVINCIAL COUNCIL OF I725
FURTHERING OF THE VENERATION OF THE SAINTS AND
OTHER ECCLESIASTICAL ACTIVITIES THE TWO
JOURNEYS TO BENEVENTO CREATIONS OF CARDINALS
— THE MISSIONS.
Benedict XIII. 's reforms
The Jubilee of 1725 ....
A Provincial Council in Rome
Numerous Canonizations
The Pope's personal devotion to the Saints
His benevolence to Religious Orders
His attachment to Benevento and .
Visits to that city .....
His zeal for reform ....
1 724-1 730 His creation of twenty-nine Cardinals
Reunion of Ruthenia with Rome
Franciscan foundations in E. and W. Indies
Work of the Jesuits in S. America and
India .......
Their vindication in China
Progress with regard to the Malabar rites
PAGE
158
161
162
165
167
168
169
171
175
179
190
191
192
193
197
204
CHAPTER IV.
JANSENISM IN FRANCE AND THE NETHERLANDS-
DEATH OF BENEDICT XIII.
Hopes of Jansenism .....
Doomed to disappointment ....
Papal sympathy with Dominican opinions
Brief to that Order .....
Creates great anxiety in Spain
1727 The Bull Pretiosiis .....
Relations between Innocent XIII. and Noailles
Examination of the latter and
His refusal to comply .....
His serious illness postpones settlement .
Jansenist disputes with the French Government
Defiance in Lorraine — The Bishop of Bayeux is .
Seconded by Colbert, Bishop of Montpellier, who
Appeals to the Pope .....
Judgment pronounced on Colbert by the French
Clerg>-
The case of Jean Soanen : his personal piety, but
His support of Quesnel . . . . .
1726 A Provincial Council called to examine Soanen
At which he is condemned ....
205
206
210
211
213
214
219
224
225
234
235
236
237
238
241
242
243
245
249
X
TABLE OF CONTENTS
His death, a prisoner at La Chaise-Dieu, aged ninety-
three .....
Final submission of Noailles is
Hesitatingly received in Rome
1728 His mandement and retraction published
1729 Interventions on his behalf — His death
Further Jansenist intrigues, countered by
Noailles' successor, Vintimille, Abp. of Paris 1 729-1 746
Submission of the Sorbonne ....
Feast of St. Gregory VIL prescribed by the Pope
Opposition to it by French Clergy is condemned by
Brief
Jansenism has recourse to " miracles "
Disobedience among Religious Orders
The Oratorians ....
The Carthusians ....
The Maurists ....
Eventually submiit
Election of Steenoven as Abp. of Utrecht
Is repudiated, likewise that of Barchman
Jansenist intrigues in Russia .
1730 Benedict XIII. 's last illness and death
His philanthropy ....
His tomb in Sta Maria sopra Minerva
255
256
258
261
263
265
267
268
271
273
276
278
279
281
283
285
286
288
290
293
295
296
Clement XII. 1730-1740.
CHAPTER I.
1730
ELECTION AND CHARACTER OF CLEMENT XII. HIS
ACTION AS A REFORMER.
Action of the Camerlengo against Coscia
Outbreak among the populace
Opening of the Conclave
The parties therein
Papabili .....
Imperiali's candidature and failure .
Other candidates ....
Election of Cardinal Corsini
Antecedents of Clement XII. and his
Personality .....
The Pope's first appointments
Cardinal Banchieri made Secretary of State
The precarious health of the Pontiff leaves much to
Cardinal Neri Corsini .....
His temporizing policy .....
Removal of abuses .....
301
302
303
305
309
311
312
325
326
329
332
333
335
337
338
340
TABLE OF CONTENTS
XI
Proceedings against Coscia
He is found guilty and excommunicated
The Sardinian Concordat
Financial position of the Holy See .
PAGE
341
345
347
354
CHAPTER II.
LOSS OF THE SUZERAINTY OVER PARMA AND PIACENZA
THE STRUGGLE FOR THE POLISH SUCCESSION AND THE
OUTBREAK OF WAR AGAINST THE EMPEROR IN ITALY
CONQUEST OF NAPLES AND SICILY BY THE SPANIARDS
PROVOCATION OF THE POPE BY THE BOURBONS AT
MADRID AND NAPLES THE SPANISH CONCORDAT OF
1737-
Clement XII. 's measures to preserve peace
The succession to Parma and Piacenza
These Duchies lost to the Church
Further political defeats and anxieties
The Polish election
War ....
Spanish troops in Italy .
Negotiations with Spain
1735 The Peace of Vienna
Its conditions rejected by Spain
Rioting in Rome .
1736 Rupture between the Holy See and Spain
Negotiations for a compromise
1737 The Concordat signed
Difficulties with Naples .
Investiture of Charles III. fails to secure peace
Renewed trouble in Spain
356
357
359
360
362
363
365
368
370
371
375
376
381
390
393
396
397
CHAPTER III.
NOMINATIONS OF CARDINALS — -ACTIVITY WITHIN THE
CHURCH — PROHIBITION OF FREEMASONRY RELIGIOUS
CONDITIONS IN FRANCE AND GERMANY— THE MISSIONS
Clement's policy in his creation of Cardinals
1732 Two creations of Italian Cardinals .
Other creations in subsequent years
1737 Canonization of St. Vincent de Paul
1738 Condemnation of Freemasonry
The position in France ....
Fleury's declaration against the Press, combats
Revolutionary principles
The action of the Government
The King's rebuke to Parliament
401
404
409
410
411
413
416
419
420
422
xu
TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Government's victory is followed by
Parliamentary' resignations
Further Parliamentary interference in Church afifairs
Is rebuffed .
I 734 The Law of Silence
Its unfortunate result
Jansenist " miracles "
Convulsionism
Figurism
Fleury's difficulties with the religious Orders
The submission of the Maurists
Intervention of the Pope in Galilean matters and
His action against the Jansenists in Holland
Ideal of Christian unity not realized
Missionary Solicitude of Clement XII
Its proof in Sardinia
Among Maronites and
Abyssinians .
In Paraguay
In Burma and Tibet
The situation in China
Conclusion in regard to Malabar rites
CHAPTER IV.
THE STATES OF THE CHURCH — LAST YEARS OF
CLEMENT XII. 'S PONTIFICATE^ — THE POPE's PATRONAGE
OF SCHOLARSHIP AND ART.
The financial position in the Papal States
The Pope's protective tariffs fail of their purpose
His personal liberality .
Aid for Ravenna ....
Attempted annexation of San Marino
Increasing ill-health of the Pontiff .
1740 His death on February 6
Review of his reign
His support of literature and art
His buildings and ....
Reconstruction of Streets
1732 The Fountain of Trevi begun .
Restoration of Churches
The creation of the fapade of the Lateran basilica
The construction of the Corsini Chapel therein .
533
APPENDIX OF UNPUBLISHED DOCUMENTS
AND
EXTRACTS FROM ARCHIVES.
PAGE
1 Tournon's Mission ....... 513
2 The Jesuit General Tamburini to the Visitor of Japan
and China ....... 525
3 From a Franciscan's Letter to Lisbon . . . 526
4 The Jesuit Visitor Kilian Stumpf to the Bishop of
Peking 527
4a Extracts from Letters of the Bishop of Peking . . 528
46 Kilian Stumpf on the Situation of the Mission . . 529
5 Visitator Giov'anni Laureati to the Jesuits of Peking . 531
6 Extracts from Letters of Nic. Tomacelli, of the Order
of Clerics Minor ......
7 Catalogo d'alcuni Soggetti che hanno scritto nella Cina
in Favore di que' PP. della Compagnia contro le
accuse poste da altri ...... 536
8 The Jesuits of Peking to their General . . . 539
9 On the Audience with Emperor Kanghi on January 14,
1721 545
ID from Tamburini's " Informazione ", of January, 1725 . 546
1 1 Sommario Addizionale di Nuove Eccezioni Riconosciute
in alcuni degli Accusatori de' Missionari della
Compagnia della Cina, Cavate dalle Lettere de'
medesimi Missionari ...... 547
12 Mamiani to Ruspoli ...... 553
13 The Peking Jesuits to Mezzabarba .... 555
14 Joao Mourao to Mezzabarba ..... 563
15 Controversy between Mons. Mezzabarba and P.
Magalhaens . . . . . . .569
16 Jansenism in the Missions . . . . .571
17 Notizie Sulla Storia dell'Arte ..... 573
18 Memorial to the Cardinals on Noailles' Recantation . 577
Xlll
INNOCENT XIII. 1721-1724.
BENEDICT XIII. 1724-1730.
CHAPTER I.
Pontificate of Innocent XIII. — Election and
Antecedents — Negotiations with the Emperor
ABOUT Italy and with Spain and Portugal — Threat
OF War with Turkey — Jansenism — The Schism of
Utrecht — Troubles in China.
In spite of all treaties and pacts, the political situation of
the Curia and the Papal States was on the whole in a very
precarious state at the death of Clement XL ; Comacchio
still remained a bone of contention, the nunciature of Naples
was not yet reopened, disputes with Spain still awaited a
settlement and the attitude of France towards the Bull
Unigenitus was neither unanimous nor reassuring. To aU
this were added the imperial claims to Parma, Piacenza,
as well as those of the Spanish Princes to Castro and
RoncigHone.^ Hence the issue of the impending conclave
^ See *Discorso (for the conclave of 1721), Arm., i, Archives
of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican (now in State Archives,
Vienna) ; copies in Cod. ital., 184 f., 505-529 and 548 f., 131 seqq.
State Library, Munich ; also Cod., blue, 332 (Bohm, 1036), State
Archives, Vienna (erroneously ascribed to 1730 by a later hand
and also by Bohm, 284 ; a translation according to an Olmiitz
Codex in M. v. Mayer, 93 seqq. Wille {Zeitschr. f. die Gesch.
des Oberrheins, LXXII. [1918], 179), exaggerates when he calls
this supposed diary of Schrattenbach " one of the few descrip-
tions of Conclaves that we possess ". Cf. Petrucelli, IV., 2 seq.
For satires, see " *Pasquinate durante la sede vacante ", Cod.
10790, British Museum, London, and " *Gabinetto di rime
satiriche in sede vacante d'Innocenzo XII. da Clemente XL,
1721 ", Fonda Gesuii., 83, Bibl. Vittorio Emanuele, Rome.
VOL. XXXIV. I B
2 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
could not be a matter of indifference to the political
Powers. 1
^ Besides the manuscript sources quoted above, n. i, and those
indexed in Gisler, 144, we must mention : " *G3nclave historico
descritto dal sig. card. Franc. Barberini et a sua dettatura da me
Franc. Velli da Palestrina suo familiare e conclavista fedelmente
disteso," Cod. Barb., LI., 59 (4684), Vatican Library {cf. Wahr-
MUND in Wiener Sitzungsbcr., 170, n. 5) ; " *Due conclavi descritti
da un fedelissimo conclavista (1721 and 1724), Cod., 871. Archives
of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican ; Althan's *Diarium
drawn up as a report to the Emperor by his conclavist. Abb.
Grassi, with Althan's autograph corrections, in Cod. ital., 55,
f- 255-273 and f. 235-252, State Library, Munich (Wille, loc. cit.,
185, speaks of a diary of Althan, but he seems to mean Cardinal
Schrattenbach) ; * Report of the conclave of 1721 in Cod. ital.,
324, f. 26-82, State Library, Munich, and Cod., blue, 332 (Bohm,
1036), f. 39-128, State Arch., Vienna, translated from an Olmiitz
Codex in M. v. Mayer, 7 seqq. ; " *Relazione del conclave . . .
1 72 1 dal sig. cav. Vitelleschi . . . donatami 1723 . . . Schon-
born " (with the Cardinal's personal signature), calls special atten-
tion to Althan's role, but does not give any particulars about the
proceedings of the conclave ; it is illustrated with a plan of the
conclave, with engravings of the fifty-six Cardinals who entered
the conclave, a series of illustrations of the most important events
of the sede vacante period, with divers election and accession
papers, an election list, large pictures of the catafalque of
Clement XL, and of the ceremonies and the triumphal arches
at the Possesso of Innocent XIIL, Cod. 5706, State Library,
Vienna ; " *Conclave per I'elezione di Innocenzo XIIL ". Cod.
130, Catania Library ; " *Conclave per la morte di Clemente XL ",
t. 1-4, Cod. 2961/4, Consistorial Archives, Vatican Library
(contains very little that has direct reference to the conclave ;
cf. Wahrmund, loc. cit., 41) ; Acquaviva's *general report after
the conclusion of the conclave to Grimaldi, May 9, 1721, Simancas
Archives ; Cracas, XVII. , 580 seqq. ; ■ Grundliche Nachricht voin
Konklave oder Neueste Historie des rom. Hofes, 3rd and 4th part,
Frankfurt, 1721. Cf. also the following accounts : Petrucelli,
IV., I seqq. ; Wahrmund, Ausschliessungsrecht, 185 seqq. ; Id.
in Wiener Sitzungsber., 170, n. 5 ; Eisler, 183 ; Novaes, XIIL,
3 seqq. ; Brosch, IL, 55. The election, personality and pontificate
THE CONCLAVE. 3
On March 20th the body of the deceased Pope was trans-
ferred to the Sistine Chapel. The first meeting of the Cardinals
then took place ; the Fisherman's ring and the seal of
Clement XI. were broken and Bartolomeo Ruspoli was
appointed governor of the conclave.^ Even before the solemn
interment on March 23rd, Ruspoli had issued strict orders
prohibiting all public amusements, any kind of disturbance
and the carrying of arms.^ A noticeable shortage of grain
in Rome gave rise to fears of a general famine within a short
space of time. At the suggestion of Cardinal Pamfili the
College of Cardinals decided unanimously that all the grain
merchants of the city should be made to .sell a third of their
store to the public granary ; from this store small quantities
only were to be distributed, more especially to the farmers
for sowing. Flour was also rationed and its quahty reduced.^
Besides providing for the common welfare, the Cardinals
also made arrangements for the coming election. The question
arose as to whether Cardinals Noailles and Alberoni should
be summoned to the conclave and, if so, in what manner.
On March 20th the senior Cardinals, after weighing the
matter, decided to place it before the entire College.^ It was
more or less clear that the invitation could not be omitted,
as such a step might famish a pretext for challenging the
validity of the election.^ At the session of the following day
Fabroni alone was momentarily in favour of the omission of
of Innocent XIII. are also extensively discussed in the *Report of
A. Corner, July 15, 1724, State Archives, Venice (see Ranke,
III., 215* seq.).
^ Cracas, XVI., 576. Agosto Chigi was appointed marshal of
the conclave ; see the report in Mayer, 35 seqq. Congregations,
exequies, etc., are fully described in Vitelleschi's *report, Cod.
5706, f. 1-54, State Library, Vienna.
* Cracas, XVI. , 579.
3 Report in Mayer, 19 seq.
* Acquaviva's *report to Grimaldi, March 21, 1721, Simancas
Archives.
* Acquaviva's *report to Grimaldi, March 19, 1721, ibid.
Cf. NovAES, XIII., 8.
4 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
the invitation. Finally all agreed that Noailles should be
summoned with the other Cardinals,^ all the more so as
the French agent Lafitau had assured Cardinal Albani that
Noailles would on no account ^ leave Paris. This decision
became applicable to the case of Cardinal Alberoni. There
nevertheless ensued a debate of an hour and a half,^ mainly
about the form of the invitation ; for at least officially nothing
was known of his sojourn in Switzerland.^
At length it was agreed to issue two invitations for Alberoni ;
one to the Archbishop of Genoa and one to the Bishop of
Brugnato, either for transmission or, should this be necessary,
for public promulgation. In order to eliminate the remotest
pretext for the Cardinal's possible absence, a safe-conduct
for his journey to Rome was issued to him, which was to
be valid until ten days after the papal election. ^
The assembled College received at this time the usual
condolences of the diplomatic representatives ; on March 21st
Medici spoke for Spain, Quelle for England, Cardinal
Conti for Portugal, and on the following day Lafitau for
France.®
On the evening of March 30th Clement XI. was laid in his
^ Discorso in Mayer, 28 ; Barberini's *Diary, Cod. Barb., LI.,
59, f . 4*>, Vatican Library.
* Lafitau had discussed this matter with Albani ; see Lafitau
to Dubois, March ig, 1721, in Michaud, 54. Cf. Acquaviva's
second *report to Grimaldi of the same day, Simancas Archives.
^ *Acquaviva to Grimaldi, March 21, 1721, ibid.
* The report in Mayer, 25, supposes that many Cardinals
were cognizant of this and that they were even in correspondence
with him.
* *Acquaviva to Grimaldi, March 21, 1721, and more fully,
March 25, 1721, Simancas Archives ; also Barberini's * Diary,
loc. cit., f. 4^-6. Cf. the report in Mayer, 25 seq., and Petrucelli,
IV., 4. The *Act.s on the admission of Alberoni in Cod. 2961,
Consistorial Archives, Vatican Library (Wahrmund in Wiener
Sitzungsber . , 170, n. 5, p. 41) ; *An apologia of the Cardinal,
ibid., Cod. 2962.
* No special Portuguese ambassador had been delegated ; see
♦Acquaviva to Grimaldi, March 25, 1721, Simancas Archives.
. PARTIES IN THE CONCLAVE. 5
final resting-place. Next morning the opening of the conclave
was duly celebrated. Cardinal Tanara, as Dean, sang the
Mass of the Holy Ghost. Afterwards twenty-seven Cardinals
took part in the solemn entry up the monumental staircase
of Constantine. Towards six in the evening, after several
of the Cardinals had spent a short time in the afternoon in
their palaces, and others had received distinguished visitors
in their cells, the conclave was closed. However, the members
increased almost daily, until at the end of the conclave,
their number amounted to fifty-five.^
Of the sixty-eight Cardinals then alive, fifty-four had
received the hat during the long pontificate of Clement XI. ^
Those created by Innocent XII. were : Boncompagni, Cornaro,
Noailles, Paolucci, Sagripanti and Tanara ; Altieri, Barberini,
Giudice, Imperiali and Ottoboni belonged to the pontificate
of Alexander VIII. ; Pamfili owed his dignity to Innocent XI.,
Marescotti and Orsini theirs to his predecessor Clement X.
Twelve Cardinals were unable to attend the conclave : they
were the Spaniards Belluga and Borgia, the Portuguese
Cunha and Pereira, the Frenchmen Gesvres, Noailles, Mailly
and Pohgnac, the Fleming Boussu, whilst the German
Cardinal of Saxony was detained by the Diet of Ratisbon.
Marescotti and Fieschi excused themselves on the ground of
^ At the beginning of the conclave, sixty at the most were
expected ; cf. the Discorso in Mayer, igo. The Florentine,
Girolamo Maria Allegri, was appointed confessor. A list of the
masters of ceremonies, servants and workmen who were admitted
besides the conclavists is given in a report in Mayer, 43 seqq.
Cracas, XVI., 583, gives a list of the Cardinals present.
^ They were Cardinals Albani, Alberoni, Althan, Acquaviva,
Barbarigo, Belluga, Bentivoglio, Bissy, Borgia, Borromei,
Boussu, Bussi, Niccolo and Ifiigo Caracciolo, Cienfuegos, Colonna,
Conti, Corradini, Corsini, Czacki, Cunha, Cusani, Davia, Fabroni,
Fieschi, Gesvres, Gozzadini, Gualtieri, Mailly, Marini, Odescalchi,
Olivieri, Origo, Paracciani, Patrizi, Pereira, Piazza, Pico,
Pignatelli, Polignac, Priuli, Rohan, Ruffo, Cristiano Augusto di
Sassonia, Salerni, Schonborn, Schrattenbach, Scotti, Spada,
Giorgio and Niccolo Spinola, Tolomei, Vallemani, Zondadari.
b HISTORY OF THE POPES.
old age. Illness obliged Cardinal Salerni to leave the conclave.^
Ottoboni, though not yet in Holy Orders as required by
Canon Law, was nevertheless allowed by the Sacred College
to take part in the election. ^ The Cardinals present were
divided into four parties, the adherents of Clement XI. and
the " Zelanti " formed the curial group, the imperial and
Bourbon Cardinals the political one. Clement XL's Cardinals
were far too numerous and their influence, owing to the
political estrangements of recent years, too divided, to admit
of their blending into one homogeneous party. Cardinal
Albani, as nephew of the late Pope, would have been the
natural leader of the party had he been endowed with the
necessar}' gift of leadership and abihty.^ Hence there were
more malcontents than trusty followers, with the result that
in an emergency Albani could only rely on a few members
of his party, the number of which fluctuated, according to
various estimates, between eight and fifteen. * The party of
the " Zelanti " was even weaker and more insignificant,
largely owing to the character of its leader Fabroni.^ Its
estimated membership was from six to eight ; however,
several of the Clementine party ^ and even Albani ' were
expected to join forces with them. In these circumstances
the balance was bound to be in favour of the two political
groups whose mutual opposition made itself felt from the
^ Report in Mayer, 62 ; Novaes, XIII. , 8. Paracciani did
not leave the conclave on April 28, as Novaes (XIII. , 7) reports ;
however, his illness was so grave that there was talk of such an
eventuality ; see the report in Mayer, 65, 71 seq.
* By the Brief " Eligibilitatis ". Barberini's *Diary, loc. cit.
' Discorso in Mayer, 102 ; the report, ibid., 79.
* Properly speaking, he could have had forty-two followers and
so have played a decisive part. " *Savie considerationi per formare
un perfctto piano," Arm., i, Archives of the Austrian Embassy
at the Vatican.
* Discorso in Mayer, 103.
* " *Savic considerationi," loc. cit.
' Petrucei.li, IV., 5. In Michaud, 60, as many as twelve
Zelanti are mentioned.
AUSTRIAN POLICY. 7
first within the Sacred College ; in fact it was the imperial
and the Bourbon parties that decided the issue.
The court of Vienna was obliged, for the first time, to do
without its alliance with Spain of so many centuries. In view
of Clement XL's policy which, on the whole, had favoured
the Bourbons, Vienna had every reason for following with re-
doubled interest and, if possible, for bringing its influence to bear
upon the proceedings in the conclave.^ The imperial party pre-
sumably disposed of upwards of twenty to twenty-five votes, in
spite of the fact that among the Cardin als of the countries adj oin-
ing the Habsburg lands, Acquaviva was favourably inclined
towards Spain, Salerni and Scotti towards Albani, Bissy and
Cusani more towards France. ^ The two Portuguese Cardinals
whom it was hoped to win over, failed to arrive in time for
the election. Nevertheless the imperialists formed the strongest
section.^ The Austrian Government had lost no time in letting
it be known which Cardinals were, or were not, acceptable
to it. Already towards the close of Clement's reign, it had
had a comprehensive character sketch of the whole College
drawn up.^ About mid-November, 1720, Cardinal Althan,
in view of the expected early demise of the Pope who was
dangerously sick, was instructed to send in yet a further
report to Vienna.^ This wish was fulfilled in a detailed letter
^ On the keen interest of the Viennese court, see the Acts of the
Consistorial Archives, Vatican Library, in Eisler, 318, and
Petrucelli, IV., 7.
2 The " savie considerationi " [loc. cit.) reckons on twenty-five
votes without the five " diffidenti suddetti " ; the report dating
from the last days of Clement XI. " *Carattere del cardinali "
(Archives of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican) reckons
only on twenty-two.
* DiscorsO in Mayer, 103.
* Arm., I, Archives of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican.
Of course, the Cardinals favourable to the Emperor are represented
as better, the others worse than they are in reality.
* " *Instruttione," dated November 16, 1720, Arm., i. Archives
of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican. Cf. ibid., the imperial
*letter, dated Vienna, October 14, 1720.
8 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
to the Emperor, dated January 21st, 1721. The first part
dealt with the procedure of a papal election, the parties
which would presumably prove decisive in the conclave,
and furnished an accurate characterization of twenty-six
papabili} Althan also expressed the hope that in spite of the
defection of Spain, the imperialists, if they but held close
together, would be able to face the Bourbon party with twice
as many votes ; however, the attitude of some of the ItaUan
representatives of the Habsburgs was yet to be revealed.
On the day of the opening of the conclave, March 31st,
Cardinal Althan received instructions from the Emperor ^
expressly commanding him to exclude Cardinals Paolucci,
Olivieri and Sagripanti, and urging the inclusion of Pignatelli,
Tanara, Conti, Spada, Boncompagni, Davia, Ifiigo Carracciolo,
Paracciani, Ruffo and Gozzadini.^ The letter demanded the
formal use of exclusion only in case of extreme necessity and
recommended to Althan to await the arrival of Cardinal
Cienfuegos who had taken part in the Vienna conferences.^
In addition to consulting with Giudice, Schrattenbach and
Czacki, he should, if possible, get in touch with the Cardinals
subject to the Kings of Poland and Portugal.
Agreement in the Franco-Spanish party was promptly
arrived at. Even before the conclave, the French ambassador
in Rome, Lafitau, had approached the King of Spain with
^ " Carattere dei cardinal! formate dal sig. Principe di S. Croce,
mandate a Vienna li 21 gennaio 1721," ibid.
* Imperial letter to Althan, dated March 31, 1721 {ibid.),
published in Wahrmund, Ausschliessungsrecht, 314 seq.
' Wahrmund, loc. cit., 188. This instruction reached Althan
only en April 8 [*Diarium under this date. Cod. Hal., 55, State
Library, Munich) ; however, Althan had received an explicit
order for the exclusion of Paolucci in December, 1720 ; this is
made clear by Barberini's own *report in Cod. Barb., 4684, f. 87,
Vatican Library.
* On the caution with which Vienna proceeded, especially
in the communication of inclusions and exclusions, cf. Wahr-
mund, Ausschliessungsrecht, 185 seq., and the reports, ibid.,
3l3seqq.
FRANCO-SPANISH POLICY. 9
the suggestion that Cardinals Acquaviva, Belluga and Borgia
should join forces with France, seeing that the latter country
^yas endeavouring to bring about a united front on the
subject of exclusion, in opposition to the imperial plans.
Simultaneously Acquaviva, in a special communication to
Madrid,^ repeated the same desire that France should be
requested to send appropriate instructions to Lafitau. More-
over a further strengthening of the French party could be
hoped for by the addition of Gualtieri, Patrizi, Bentivoglio.
Origo and Pico.^
Had it not been for the tardy arrival of the Cardinals,
the Bourbon party could have counted upon eleven to twelve
votes. ^ Acquaviva feared, though without reason, that the
imperialists would make a decisive move, in the very first
days of the conclave, against an opposition that was still *
very weak.*
After the opening ballots Rohan at least entered the
conclave ^ and at once showed his concern for the Spanish
interests ; before long a complete understanding between
Acquaviva,^ Pico, Bentivoglio and others ' was effected.
^ *To Grimaldi, March 25, 1721, Simancas Archives.
* How uncertain especially the Italo-Habsburg Cardinals
were, may be gathered from " *Carattere del cardinali ", loc. cit.
On the position of the Venetians, cf. the Discorso in Mayer, 104 ;
Petrucelli, IV., 5.
' Before the conclave the imperial party counted on fifteen
votes (" *savie considerationi ", loc. cit.) ; on eleven, according to
" *carattere dei cardinali ", loc. cit.
* Acquaviva's second *letter to Grimaldi, March 21, 1721,
Simancas Archives.
^ Dubois, March 29, 1721, urged Rohan very strongly to see to
it that he arrived in time, Michaud, 56 seq.
* *Salvador Ascanio, Acquaviva's agent, to Grimaldi, dat.
April 8, 1 72 1, Simancas Archives, and * Acquaviva to the same,
dated May 9, 1721, ibid.
' That these were friendly to Spain, as were Gualtieri and
Ottoboni, was stated by Acquaviva in his second *letter to
Grimaldi, March 19, 1721, and in that of his agent, Salv. Ascanio,
April 6, to the same. Simancas Archives.
10 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
On the other hand, Acquaviva was unsuccessful in his appeals
to the Spanish Government to hasten the arrival of the
remaining Spanish Cardinals. ^ Even the royal instruction^
for the conclave did not come into Acquaviva's hands until
May 7th, by which date the issue of the election was already
decided. 2
Thus at the beginning of the conclave, the prospects of
all parties were very indefinite.^ Only one fact was clear,
namely that none of the four parties was in a position to
decide the election of a Pope by its own strength alone.*
How their mutual relations and alliances were likely to shape
themselves depended entirely upon the character of the
candidatures about to be put forward. But even on this
point matters were not clear, except for the fundamental
principle upon which all were tacitly agreed, namely that
the new Pope must not be too young. ^ Another long pontificate
like that of Clement XL, who outlived almost all his electors,
was not desired.
On the present occasion the papahili were unusually
numerous ; no less than thirty names were mentioned,
including not a few from earlier pontificates. Thus Cardinal
^ Already in his * letter to Grimaldi, dat. March i8, 1721,
ibid:, Acquaviva had urged them to be ready to travel by the
shortest route from Barcelona to Civitavecchia. Further earnest
exhortations are given in two *letters of Acquaviva of March 19
and in those of his agent, Salv. Ascanio of April 6 and 8, and as late
as May 6 to Grimaldi, ibid.
* *Acquaviva to Grimaldi, May 9, 1721, ibid.
' * Acquaviva's first letter to Grimaldi, dated March 19,
ibid.
* Z)iscor5o in Mayer, 105.
* Ibid. With these personal considerations, political ones were
likewise combined ; cf. " *carattere dei cardinali " (Archives of
the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican) : " Ha ella [the Emperor]
per causa de' suoi stati d'ltalia necessita di portar al papato un
cardinale di eta decrepita, perche in questa eta i pensieri sono
naturalmente indrizzati alia quiete e I'animo suole essere alieno
dal tentare cose nuove, che nel breve periodo di pochi anni non
potrebbero consumarsi." Cf. Petrucelli, IV., 4.
CANDIDATES. II
Orsini, who dated from the pontificate of Clement X., was
receiving serious consideration from a few.^ Although his
simple and austere manner was much esteemed, especially
among the " Zelanti ", the fact of his being a religious caused
him to be regarded as unsuitable. Frequent mention was
also made of the two surviving Cardinals of Innocent XL,
Pamfili and Barbarigo. Pamfili was noted for his open and
prudent action for the welfare of the people, his total in-
dependence of his relatives, his experience, and his knowledge
of the state of the world ; on the other hand he was known
to be fond of money and parsimonious. Barbarigo, a Venetian
by birth, was irreproachable in his manner of life ; he may
have been put forward because the process of the canonization
of his uncle was then in progress. ^ Among Alexander VIII. 's
Cardinals three were considered eligible, of whom Altieri,
a sombre and enigmatic character, and Barberini, who was
unpopular on account of his avarice, were but seldom
mentioned, whereas Imperiali's name appears more frequently.
Imperiali was on good terms with Austria and the " Zelanti ",
but less so with Albani ; by the French he was regarded as
an intriguer.
Among Innocent XII. 's Cardinals five stood a good chance.
Cornaro was personally esteemed as a calm, just and highly
gifted man, as his nunciature in Spain had shown ; but apart
from his being considered too young at 61, one obstacle to
his election to the papacy lay in his friendship with France,
and even more in his close relations with his brother, the
Doge of Venice. Sagripanti, officious and too fond of money,
was universally unpopular. Boncompagni did not lack
^ The following characterization is chiefly based on the Austrian
statements in : *Kardinals Kollegium, " *Carattere dei cardinali,"
" *Savie considerationi," " *Discorso : conghetture su cui puo
cadere relezione," no. 579 [Arm., i, Archives of the Austrian
Embassy at the Vatican), on the two reports in Mayer, 7 seqq.,
93 seqq., on the French statements in Michaud, 57 seqq., and on
Petrucelli, IV., 6 seqq.
* Bishop Gregorio Barbarigo ; cf. the present work, XXXII,
563 seqq. ; XXXI., 131.
12 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
friends, but his political connections, especially with Spain, ^
made him appear less desirable. Paolucci, on the other
hand, entered the conclave with excellent prospects. The
Secretary of State was esteemed for his accommodating
disposition. Personally indifferent to the secular Powers,
he had greatly endeared himself with the people by his
liberality towards the churches and the poor. He was naturally
in high favour both with the Spanish court and with Albani,
the latter, as a matter of fact, hoped with the concurrence of
Spain and France, to win the tiara for him. However, Austria,
and to some extent France also, were utterly averse to a
continuance of the late Pope's policy, hence they offered
decided opposition to his candidature. One of the foremost
aspirants was the Cardinal Dean, Tanara, who had won for
himself both esteem and goodwill during his nunciatures
in Brussels, Cologne, Lisbon and Vienna, and whose relations
with the Powers were not bad. He was also esteemed for his
excellent business capacity. In spite of his 71 years he was
sound both in body and mind, and therefore entirely fitted
for the office.
But most of the papahili — nineteen in all— were to be found
among the Cardinals created by Clement XI. On the French
side, for courtesy's sake, the names of Acquaviva, Albani,
Gualtieri and Giudice were mentioned, but these candidates,
either on the ground of their being too pronounced friends
of France, or for other political reasons, would never have
obtained the imperial assent. Odescalchi and Spinola were
also occasionally mentioned.
On the other hand Pignatelli was regarded as a general
favourite. The life of the former Theatine, whose conduct was
a model for all, made him acceptable to the " Zelanti ". His
family, of which Innocent XII. had been a member, enjoyed
the special favour of the Vienese court, as well as a measure
of esteem on the part of France. The only grounds of hesita-
tion on the part of the Bourbon party were the fact that
his brother, the Vice-Regent of Sicily, had greatly
1 Through the Princess of Piombino ; cf. Pktkucelu, IV., lo.
PIGNATELLI AND CORSINI. I3
distinguished himself in the service of the Habsburgs, at the
reoccupation of Naples, and the Cardinal's continual ill
health. But he was the first Cardinal created by Clement XI.,
and this fact sufficed to secure for him Albani's favour.
Both groups, Austria and Albani, worked zealously in the
conclave for his prornotion ; Spain's intervention alone
defeated them. Corsini also stood in high favour at the
beginning of the conclave. His detachment from his family,
his culture, his intellectual alertness, his uprightness and his
love of justice, had earned for him the highest reputation.
At the outset he was recommended by Austria, but was
ruled out for various reasons by the French, the Spaniards
and — in view of the burning question of the succession in
Tuscany ^ — by the German party also. Gozzadini, a learned
and upright man, of pleasing appearance, was also considered
by the imperial party. But French interests and possibly
the thought of his numerous and needy relations stood in
his way. Conti was well known for his adroitness and skill
in secular affairs ^ ; he belonged to a distinguished family
which in the past had given many Popes to the Church.
As nuncio in Portugal and Switzerland he had gained both
experience and friends ; the Emperor also held him in respect.
As his close connections with Lisbon carried little weight,
France also kept him in view.
Less likely, yet deserving of consideration, were some
other Cardinals of Clement XL Thus the choice of the much
respected Jesuit Tolomei was open to no objection. Paracciani
and Vallemani were, however, too old and feeble. Fieschi
was connected with France by the closest family ties, whilst
Liigo Caracciolo, as a Neapolitan, had to contend with
political difficulties, hence neither could obtain general
recognition. The same was true of Cusani who showed great
leanings towards France, and of Scotti whose family was
1 Ibid., 13.
2 " *E di complessione non sana, di naturale politico. . . .
I suoi parent! sono stimati Angioini ed egli troppo giovane per esser
alette " [He was 66 years old !]. Carattere del cardinali, loc.
cit.
14 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
none too well disposed towards the Emperor.^ There were
objections of a personal character to Patrizi as well as to
Fabroni, the leader of the " Zelanti ", on account of the
latter's attitude towards France at the time of the publication
of the Bull Unigenitus.
The remaining papabili of Clement XI. were all deemed
too young. This was the case of Spada, of the group of the
" Zelanti ", who led an extraordinarily strict hfe ^ and was
popular at every court. Davia, though widely esteemed for
his talents and prudence, was objected to solely on account
of his relations. Piazza also was said to be experienced and
had many friends. There were strong political forces at work
against Corradini who, as a typical scholar, had hardly ever
been out of Rome but was believed to be to some extent
responsible for the war between the Papal States and Austria.
Origo's reputation for cunning and his anti-imperiahst
tendencies, Ohvieri's near relationship to,^ and Bussi's all
too great dependence on the House of Albani,'* could hardly
be regarded as good recommendations.
With such an unusually large number of candidates, and
such strong divergences within the Sacred College, it was
impossible to make any definite prediction about the result
of the negotiations, but it was generally expected that, in the
circumstances, the conclave would be a long one.^
It is not likely that anyone of the twenty-seven Cardinals
who, on the evening of March 31st, were enclosed in the
conclave, suspected in any way how lively, in spite of their
small numbers, the first phase of the election was going to be.
^ On the other hand, he was blamed for his attachment to
Austria ; cf. Petrucelli, IV., 7.
* " Ma secco e dedito al zelo ed ai rigori." Ibid.
' Pasquino called him " prince Eugene de la dynastie Albani ".
Ibid.
* " Le Benjamin d'Albani." Ibid.
* Ibid. On the other hand, some were anxious to speed up
matters ; thus Albani who did not wish to await the arrival of
Alberoni, and Ottoboni, who did not want to meet Rohan. Cf.
MiCHAUD, 55 seq.
PAOLUCCI EXCLUDED. I5
The following morning saw them assembled in the Sistine
Chapel for the first ballot.^ Much to their surprise Paolucci
received eight votes and two more in the accessus. It was
evident that Albani, taking advantage of the small number
of the electors and the wide -spread desire for a short conclave,
strove to secure the pontificate for his uncle's Secretary of
State ; those present, for the most part created by Clement XL,
could, in his opinion, best show their gratitude by giving
their consent.^ Althan, the imperial representative, was
visibly angered by such a suggestion and retired in silence
to his cell. Albani called upon him there, in the hope of
calming him by representing to him that, at the moment,
in the absence of forty electors, a decision would hardly be
reached.^ Nevertheless, in consequence of secret negotiations,*
Paolucci's prospects increased considerably. At the evening
scrutiny of the same day, nine votes fell to his name — that
is, one more than in the morning. Althan had no alternative
but to call immediately upon the Cardinal Dean, to inform
him of the imperial exclusion of this candidate. Tanara did
not allow this to interfere with the course of the conclave ;
in subsequent ballots, Paolucci's prospects shaped themselves
in such a way that only three more votes were needed for
a three-quarter's majority.^ Althan now felt obliged to take
extreme measures. He solemnly pronounced his veto against
Paolucci and, walking up to each Cardinal in turn, he repeated
the protest in the Emperor's name to each of them indivi-
dually.^ Albani's party and those of the " Zelanti " who had
^ For all the scrutinies of this conclave, see *Fogli de' scrutinii
per il conclave, nel quale fu assunto al pontificato 11 sig. card. M. A.
Conti con il nome d'Innocenzo XIII. I'a, 1721, Cod. Barb. 4447,
Vatican Library. ^ Report in Mayer, 47.
* Althan's *Diarium for April i, 1721, Cod. ital., 55, State
Library, Munich.
* *Acquaviva to Grimaldi, May 9, 1721, Simancas Arch.
* On the question of the accurate counting of the votes, cf.
Wahrmund in Wiener Sitzungsher., 170, n. 5, p. 13 seqq.
* Althan's *Diarium for April i, loc. cit. (published according
to the Viennese Codex in Wahrmund, Ausschliessungsrecht, 311
l6 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
joined him, were exceedingly surprised.^ The meeting was
adjourned, and the members separated amid general consterna-
tion. Paolucci, who was most affected, was prepared to
withdraw, though not without expressing his amazement
at such proceedings. There was no sleep for Althan that
night ; he returned to his cell in a feverish condition in con-
sequence of his great excitement, and sent for the physician. ^
The whole night was spent in negotiations and the Emperor's
representative had a personal interview with Albani between
two and four o'clock in the morning.^ The result was soon
revealed.
At the scrutiny of the following morning Althan reiterated
the imperial veto ^ ; not a single vote fell to Paolucci.^ The
excitement had died down. Rohan, France's oflicial repre-
sentative, who entered the conclave on the same day and
called on Althan in the afternoon, thanked the Cardinal in
the name of France for his decisive action against Paolucci.^
This sealed the latter's fate.'^ For all that, on April 4th,
seq.) ; Barberini's *report in Cod. Barb., LI., 59, f. 86 seq., Vatican
Library (extracts in Wahrmund in Wiener Sitzungsber., 170,
n. 5, p. 4 seqq.). Acquaviva's *report through Salv. Ascanio to
Grimaldi, April i, Ascanio's *letter of April 6, his second *letter
of April 8, and Acquaviva's *general report of May 9, 1721, to
Grimaldi, Simancas Archives ; Lafitau to Dubois, April 7, 1721,
in MiCHAUD, 306 ; Report in Mayer, 48 seqq.
1 Barberini's *report, loc. cit. (Wahrmund, loc. cit., 5).
2 Barberini's *report, loc. cit., f. 86 seq.
3 Althan's *Diarium for April i, 1721, loc. cit. Later, Althan
still negotiated with Conti ; see ibid.
* Barberini's *report, loc. cit., f. 16^ (in Wahrmund, loc. cit., 7).
* Althan's *Diarium for April 2, 1721, loc. cit.
« *Ibid. France feared that if Paolucci were Pope, Fabroni
would be made Secretary of State ; the latter's attitude on the
question of the Bull Unigenitus had given little satisfaction in
France ; cf. Petrucelli, IV., 12.
•^ On this public exclusion by Althan, see Eisler, 183 ;
Gaugusch, 180 seq. ; Lector, 565 ; Novaes, XIII., 8 seq. ;
ViDAL, 64 ; Wahrmund, Ausschliessungsrecht, 186 seq. ; Id. in
Wiener Sitzungsber., 170, n. 5, esp. p. 9 seqq.
ARRIVAL OF ALBERONI. I7
Tanara gave his vote to Paolucci, though he was alone in
doing so, and on April 9th he even obtained four votes ; the
reason may have been a desire to ascertain whether the latest
instructions from Vienna continued to insist on the exclusion. ^
However, supported by Rohan, ^ Althan pronounced the
exclusion for the third time.^ Albani subsequently assured
him that he had had nothing to do with the new move which,
he aheged, had come from the " Zelanti ".* A period of calm
negotiations now began and purely as a matter of form,
scrutinies continued to be held in which any one name rarely
received more than four to six votes.
Albani's unsuccessful attempt on behalf of Paolucci led
to a certain rapprochement between the political parties.
Rohan was not long in establishing an understanding with
Spain ; on April 4th he wrote to his sovereign about a new
plan for a " union of the crowns ".^ Althan was not averse
to this. On the other hand the alliance between the nephew
and the " Zelanti " was not of long duration. It was even
said that in their mutual discussions Albani and Pamfili
treated each other none too courteously.^
About this time a fresh incident aroused the interest of
the Cardinals and of the whole of Rome, viz. the arrival of
Alberoni. In the very first days of the conclave the latter
had sent word from Bologna of his early arrival and prayed
for a fresh safe-conduct. The answer of the Sacred College
^ W AYiYLUV^T), Ausschliessungsrecht, 188.
* Althan's *Diariii}n for April 9, 1721, loc. cit. ; Wahrmund,
Ausschliessungsrechi, 188.
' *Cod. Barb., 4684, f. 17, Vatican Library (Wahrmund in
Wiener Sitzungsber., 170, n. 5, p. 8). Althan had announced a
repetition of his exclusion as soon as three votes were given to
Paolucci ; cf. his *Diariiim, loc. cit.
* About the middle of the month the " Zelanti " had not as yet
given up all hope for Paolucci ; cf. De la Chausse to Dubois,
April 15, 1721, in MiCHAUD, 307. ^ Ibid., 305.
* Rohan to the King, April 4, 1721 : " Outre les invectives et
les menaces on assure que Pamphile ayant ete traite de fou par
M. le card. Albani, lui jeta son ecritoire a la tete " (in Michaud,
305). On April 8, Rohan reports fresh difficulties {ibid., 306).
VOL. xxxiv. c
l8 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
was couched in the most courteous terms. On April 7th the
once so powerful Spanish statesman entered the Pope's
capital amid immense crowds of curious spectators who
had taken their places near the Ponte Molle several hours
before he was due to arrive.^ He entered the conclave on
the following day, when he was received by Albani and Paolucci
who happened to be the ushers for that day. In the Sacred
College he played a most modest and humble role, as no one
wished to exchange a word with him.- Ottoboni and Corsini
alone called on him that same evening, with a view to winning
him over to the French party. They failed in their attempt ^ ;
subsequently also Alberoni spent the time of the conclave
in settling his own affairs,* rather than in taking an active
part in the business of the election.
The situation remained confused, but Albani managed to
establish at least a negatively united front among his uncle's
Cardinals ; as a token of regard for the late Pope and his
family they agreed not to vote for any of the papahili of
the previous pontificates.^ Boncompagni made an unsuccessful
^ The report in Mayer, 56 seqq., gives a very enthusiastic
account of Alberoni. Cf. vol. XXXIII., p. 169 seqq., for his sub-
sequent fortunes.
- Rohan to the King, April 15, 1721, in Michaud, 307. Cf.
Altlian's *Diaruiui foi* April 8 : " Fu ricevuto con poca dimostra-
zione." Cod. ital., 55, National Library, Munich.
3 Petrucelli, IV., 13, Alberoni remained faithful to Spain
and spoke of the Spanish King con " infinito respecto ". *Salv.
Ascanio to Grimaldi, April 14, 1721, Simancas Arch.
* In order to shield himself against persecution he was anxious
to attach himself not only to France (Lafitau to the King, April 22,
1 72 1, in Michaud, 309), but to the Imperialists also (*Acquaviva
to Grimaldi, May i, 1721, from the conclave, Simancas Archives).
Albani and Spain were the least favourable to him (Michaud,
loc. cit.). On Alberoni's attempt to justify himself before the
Cardinal-Deacon, Astalli, made shortly before, cf. his " *Sommario
aggiunto alia sua giustificazione ", in Cod. 14296, State Library,
Vienna. Ibid., Cod. 6062, A *Life of Alberoni.
* Salv. Ascanio's second *letter to Grimaldi of April 14,
Simancas Archives ; Barberini's *report in Cod. Barb., 4G84,
f. 21, Vatican Library ; Report in Mayer, 80.
FURTHER UNCERTAINTY. I9
attempt to bring about a similar though not quite so important
an understanding among the five Cardinals of Innocent XII.,
but when he sought to ally himself with Althan, the latter
rejected his proposals.^ The " Zelanti " too made no serious
advance in favour of their own candidate, Spada.
After Albani had achieved what could still be achieved,
he remained throughout the course of subsequent events, no
more than a starting-point for the pohtical parties which
now began to play a decisive part in the negotiations.
France had courted betimes the favour of the still influential
nephew. Even before the opening of the conclave 30,000
Roman florins had been sent to Rohan for the benefit of
Albani, 2 but several weeks went by before the latter allowed
himself to be definitely bound. Meanwhile, at France's instiga-
tion, Cornaro was being put forward, chiefly by Ottoboni,
who had also received a gift of 30,000 livres and who, as
soon as Rohan had arrived, assured him of his unreserved
compliance with the wishes of Paris.^ However, the Germans
energetically opposed the septuagenarian Cornaro.^ Ottoboni,
whose diplomacy in this affair was not regarded as particularly
astute,^ thereupon undertook a campaign in favour of Corsini
whom Acquaviva had at one time described as not unaccept-
able ^ and who had momentarily received some support
from the imperialists.' However, at this juncture Rohan
^ Althan's *Diarium for April 21, 1721, Cod. ital., 55, State
Library, Munich.
2 Besides this, nearly 50,000 livres for pensions to other
Cardinals. Dubois to Rohan, March 29, 1721, in Michaud,
56 seq.
^ Ottoboni to Dubois, April 2, 1721, ^hid., 304.
* Althan's *Diariuni [loc. cit.), for April 20 ; " poco abile al
governo." * Report in Mayer, 66.
* Because the Tuscan vassals desired the succession of the
Infante Carlo and Corsini also was certainly in favour of it.
Salv. Ascanio's second *letter to Grimaldi, April 14, 1721,
Simancas Archives.
' At a later date, Althan was of opinion that Corsini, as a
Florentine, would not be taken into consideration i*Diarium
for May 3, loc. cit.). Cf. above, p. 13.
20 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
made difficulties on account of Corsini's action in connection
with the Bull Unigenitus}
In the course of conversations between Rohan and Albani
a number of names were put forward, as for instance, those
of Paracciani, Gozzadini and, for a time, that of Ifiigo
Caracciolo. This aged Cardinal was free from every suspicion
of nepotism and might possibly hope for the goodwill of the
imperial and Spanish party. But the Germans were not
wholly in his favour on account of his friendship with Imperial!,
in fact Althan and Cienfuegos were actually working for his
exclusion and in a short time they secured thirty-two
adherents. 2 Another proposal, that of furthering the chances
of Pico, proved less attractive to Albani. ^ In the end he agreed
with the French on the name of Conti whose election was
seriously considered from April 19th onwards.
Gualtieri and Albani took a particular interest in this new
combination. Conti informed them through one of his concla-
vists that in the affairs of France he had never sought to
exercise a decisive influence upon Clement XL's policy ;
more than anyone else he wished to hear both sides and
would resist even the Cardinals of the Holy Office for the
sake of a cause he knew to be a just one.* Only a few months
earlier — he was doubly glad to recall the fact — he had spoken
to the French ambassador of his very great eagerness for a
speedy and satisfactory settlement of pending questions.
As a final and decisive contribution on his part Conti promised
to gratify the wish which was a determining factor in France's
policy in regard to the conclave, namely the immediate
bestowal of the red hat on Archbishop Dubois of Cambrai.^
1 Acquaviva's *Ietter through Ascanio, April 22, 1721, and his
♦general report to Grimaldi of May 9, 1721, Simancas Archives.
Cf. Rohan to the King, April 19, 1 721, in Michaud, 309.
- Althan's *Diarium for April 23, loc. cit.
=« Rohan to the King, April 19, in Michaud, 308.
* Lafitau to the King, April 22, ibid., 309 seq.
^ Cf. Dubois' urgent letters to I>afitau of April 6, and to
Rohan of April 9, in Michaud, 305 seq. In the letter of April 9,
he says : " Je ferai courageusemcnt tous les sacrifices qu'il
CONTI S CHANCES. 21
Ottoboni too allowed himself to be gradually won over to
Conti's side : by the end of the month most of Albani's
followers had given their adhesion.
The nephew was no less ardently courted from the imperial
side ; Charles VI had given him a diamond ring and the
promise of a yearly pension.^ Albani began by assuring Althan
that no candidature would be successful without his consent.
When on April 8th Althan received the imperial instructions,
he made various attempts in accordance with them, but about
the middle of April he too began to side more and more with
Conti against whom Vienna continued to offer some trifling
objections ; but these were finally disposed of, possibly by
the action of the Queen of Portugal. ^
Conti showed equal readiness to comply with the imperial
proposals as with the French wishes. On April 18th, in the
course of an interview with Althan, he expressed his profound
devotion to and regard for the Emperor.^ When two days
later Cienfuegos entered the conclave with fresh instructions,
there occurred no dislocation of the imperial party, as had
been generally anticipated * ; on the contrary, at this very
time Althan sent a conclavist to Conti by night, to inform
him that the Emperor was most favourably disposed towards
faudra faire sans murmurer." On April 22, Rohan communicated
to him Conti's consent (in Michaud, 310). On tjie part of the
conclavist and future Cardinal Tencin in these negotiations,
see M. BouxRY, Intrigues et missions du card, de Tencin, Paris,
1902, 27 seqq., 33 seqq.
1 Petrucelli, IV., 8. Althan's autograph account : *Quittung
iiber Empfang und Ausgabe dessen so I. K. u. K. C. M. mirr zu
denen geheimben Spesen allergenadtigst angewissenen Geltern
[Cod. 8748, State Library, Vienna), gives, inter alia, also
expenses to a conclavist and to a valet of Albani " for certain
informations " ; also, e.g., to Abb. Albicini "for a basket with
secret drawers for taking my letters into the conclave ", and for
similar services.
* Petrucelli, IV., 14.
* Althan's *Diarium for April 18, loc. cit.
* *Acquavdva through Salv. Ascanio to Grimaldi, April 29,
1 72 1, Simancas Archives.
22 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
his person. When on April 25th Conti secured seven votes —
maybe by accident— Althan was suspected of an intention
of forcing the election through before the arrival of the
missing Cardinals. A slight difficulty arose from the rumour
that in the event of his elevation Conti intended to make
Giorgio Spinola his Secretary of State and Origo his Datarius.^
Althan let him know that the Emperor emphatically dis-
approved of such appointments and submitted the names
of other candidates, namely Ruffo and Corradini. Conti's
conclavist brought his master's reply which, though evasive,
was nevertheless regarded as satisfactory enough for the time
being.2 On April 24th the discussions assumed a really serious
character : the two great political Powers seemed on the
point of agreement on Conti when some further obstacles
unexpectedly blocked the way. The most serious, was
Acquaviva's refusal to collaborate, on the ground that Conti's
previous conduct as nuncio in Lisbon had at no time met
with the approval of Spain. With complete disregard of all
previous agreements, Acquaviva broke with Rohan ^ and
even threatened with a Spanish veto.* At the same time a
number of libellous pamphlets, in which Conti was taxed
with Jansenism, were being circulated in the city and even
smuggled into the conclave. ^ The Duke of Parma, who had
1 Conti had at first chosen Imperiali for that post, but on
Acquaviva's suggestion he thought of Spinola. Petrucelli,
IV., 15.
2 Althan's *Diariiim for April 25, loc. cit. According to this
Conti's conclavist replied, " ch'il suo cardinale non aveva preso
impegno alcuno ne Tavcrcbbc preso, e che percio ne poteva vivere
riposato." Later Conti complied with Althan's wishes in a small
way by creating Corradini his Datariiis ; see below, p. 30.
» Petrucelli, IV., 10.
* Lafitau to Dubois, April 22, in Michaud, 310.
» Rohan to the King, April 29, 1721, in Michaud, 312. Such
a libel also came into the hands of Althan {*Diarium for April 29,
loc. cit.). Rohan made use of these in order to ascertain the
opinions of some of the Cardinals about Conti by asking them
innocently what they thought of these accusations ; Corradini
and Tolomei answered in favour of Conti, Fabroni unfavourably.
CONTI S CHANCES. 23
often acted as intermediary between Acquaviva and Madrid,
had approached the Queen of Spain in favour of Conti some
time before ; as a matter of fact he was now in a position,
in these first days of May, to forward a favourable answer
to Conti and Acquaviva.^ Acquaviva continued for a time
to urge that the election should be deferred until the arrival
of the two Spanish Cardinals, but after a few days he was
forced to give up the idea.^ Strangely enough a further
delay was occasioned by Austria. On April 28th a courier
brought a message from Bologna announcing the imminent
arrival of Count Kinsky, ambassador extraordinary of the
Emperor. Kinsky reached Rome at about one o'clock in
the morning. On the following day Althan and Cienfuegos
negotiated with him at the window of the conclave ; they
particularly pressed him to hasten the arrival of Cardinals
Schonborn, Czacki and PignatelH who were still absent. On
May 1st Kinsky, escorted by a splendid cortege, was admitted
to the Sala Regia of the conclave where, in the name of the
Emperor, he addressed an eloquent discourse to the Sacred
College.^ The important thing was that Kinsky now took
active measures to carry out, at least formally, the imperial
instructions which pointed to Pignatelli and Tanara and only
in the last instance to Conti.* Pignatelh, old and infirm as
he was, was now made to enter the conclave on the plea
that there was question of his election. However, Althan
disclosed to him on the very first evening the insuperable
difficulties he had already encountered with regard to his
person : the Spanish Government had decided to exclude
1 Petrucelli, IV.. 15.
2 'WAU-RMV'tiD, Ausschliessungsrecht, 189.
^ The " Capi d'ordini " were precisely Conti and Giudice,
the latter replied to Kinsky's address ; see Althan's *Diarium
for April 29 and May i, loc. cit. ; * Acquaviva to Grimaldi from the
conclave, May i, Simancas Archives ; Cracas, XVII., 594.
* All the original instructions of the Emperor to the ambassa-
dors are in the Kinsky Archives, Chlumetz on the Cidlina ; see
Archivalien zur neueren Gesch. Osterreichs, hrsg. ius Auftrag der
Komm. f. neuere Gesch. Osterreichs, Vol. I., No. 4, Vienna, 1913.
24 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
him ^ and France and the " Zelanti " were Hkewise against
him. Thereupon Pignatelh withdrew his candidature. Nor
would any action in favour of Tanara have had better prospects
in existing circumstances. ^ He would certainly be excluded by
the votes of Albani and the Cardinals of Clement XI. More-
over, Kinsky's influence could be detected in the fact that
Imperiah, Paolucci and Fabroni resumed their activity on
behalf of Spada. Even Albani was willing to join them as
soon as Althan was read}^ to drop Conti.^
Thus there was no alternative for the Emperor's representa-
tive except to work unhesitatingly for Conti. Ottoboni had
dropped his former plans ; Cienfuegos who had latterly spread
unfavourable reports about Conti's work at Lisbon, also
yielded and Albani's party agreed unanimously on May 3rd.
On May 5th Rohan and Althan, who until then had each
pursued his own policy, agreed on the person of Conti and
at once informed Albani of the fact. This decided the issue
of the election.'* Even the hitherto reluctant " Zelanti "
were now won over by various promises. During the night
of May 5th or 6th Albani, Origo, Spinola and Corradini carried
out a preliminary poll ; when the result was examined in
the morning in Albani's cell, it was seen that there remained
only two undecided votes and one against, namely, that of
Fabroni. 5 Althan informed Conti of this happy development.
Eventually Fabroni's opposition was likewise overcome.®
^ " *Estoy en animo de darle una manifesta exclusiva en case
necessario " (Acquaviva to Grimaldi, May i, from the conclave,
Simancas Archives). Cf. Althan's *Diarium for May 4 and 5,
Cod. ital., 55, State Library, Munich, and Petrucelli, IV., 16.
2 Petrucelli, IV., 16.
' Althan's *Diarium for April 30, loc. cit.
* Cf. Althan's *Diarium for those days, loc. cit., and the letters
in MiCHAUD, 317 seqq. The nine votes for Cornaro on April 29
and the ten for Corsini later on, and even the twenty-two for the
same in the last days, were mere acts of courtesy on the part
of their friends.
» Petrucelli, IV., 16 seq.
• Ibid., 17.
CONTI ELECTED. 2$
On the morning of May 7th it became generally known
that Conti's election could be considered as certain. In the
course of the morning he was visited by Acquaviva, Rohan,
Bissy and Gualtieri, who informed him of the approval of
the Spanish, French and English ^ Governments. Althan did
the same before the evening ballot in the name of the imperial
Government. In the evening all the Cardinals met in Conti's
cell to congratulate him on his forthcoming election. When
Althan subsequently transmitted to him special congratulations
in the name of the Emperor, Conti took advantage of the
circumstance to express his unswerving devotion to the
Emperor. 2 He likewise renewed the assurances previously
made by him to France.^
The election was purposely postponed until May 8th, feast
of St. Michael, Conti's patron. In the early hours of that day,
in the seventy-fifth ballot of this conclave, on the fiftieth day
after the death of Clement XL, he was unanimously elected
as Chief Shepherd of the Church by all the fifty-four Cardinals :
Conti's own vote went to the Cardinal Dean. Enthusiasm
was general.* The first congratulations to the new Pope
came from the King and Queen of England who entered the
conclave and witnessed from a tribune the " adoratio " of
the Cardinals.^
^ On Gualtieri, see Barberini's *report in Cod. Barb. 4684,
f. 27 (Vatican Library) : " parimente additto alia Francia et
protettore d'lnghilterra essendo per tutto il tempo del presente
conclave caminati concord.i et unanimi."
* Althan's *Diarinni for May 7 {loc. cit.) : " E gli [to my
conclavist] rinovo le infinite obligazioni che professava alia Maesta
V", dichiarandoglisi che lui riconosceva il papato prima da Dio
e poi dalla Maesta Vra."
* The French conditions in the exact text as transmitted by
a conclavist of Rohan to Dubois on May 7 are in Michaud,
^igseqq.
* It is said that when the required two-thirds' majority was
attained, the first scrutator banged his fist upon the table for joy.
Petrucelli, IV., 17.
^ Acquaviva's *general report to Grimaldi, May 9, 1721,
Simancas Archives.
26 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Cardinal Pamfili proclaimed the happy result of the election
to the expectant multitude from the loggia of St. Peter's. ^
When the new Pope, who took the name of Innocent, came
down into the basilica, he was greeted with loud acclamations.
The Austrian Cardinals, who were credited with the result
of the election b}' the public, were escorted to their residences
by enthusiastic crowds. ^ The King of France also was not
long in sending a message expressing his coinplete satisfaction, ^
whilst Cardinal Acquaviva, who assuredly had been no friend
of Conti, thus concluded his report to the Spanish Govern-
ment ^ : " Everybody has joyously applauded the elevation
to the Chair of St. Peter of a man of sterling quahties and
sprung from a noble Roman famih% one whose sense of
justice, farsightedness and grasp of things — which eminently
fit him for the duties of a ruler — will give complete satisfaction
to all other princes." A Spanish veto against Conti procured
at the last moment through Jesuit influence, arrived too
late.5
The new Pope took the name of Innocent, after the most
illustrious member of his family, Innocent III. The latter's
brother Richard, Count of Sora, whose memory is recalled
to this day in Rome by the huge Torre de' Conti,^ had received
^ Vitelleschi's *Relazione, Cod. 5706, p. 116, State Library,
Vienna ; Cracas, XVII., 597 ; Report in Mayer, 86 seq. On
the poetical homages at the election of Conti, cf. Cancellieri
Possessi, 341, n. 2, for his coronation on May 18 (see Novaes,
XIII., II). ibid., n. 2.
* Althan's *Diarium for May 8 {loc. cit.) : " una infinita di
popolo gridando sempre : Viva la Maesta Vestra ! "
' " Le cardinal Conti est un de ceux qui je verrais avec le
plus de satisfaction remplir le Saint-Sifege." Michaud, 323.
* Acquaviva's *general report to Grimaldi of May 9, 1721,
Simancas Archives.
* Petrucelli, IV., 18.
' Torre de' Conti. *
INNOCENT XIII. S ANTECEDENTS. 27
from the great Pope the fiefs of Poll and GuadagnoH.^ At
PoH, a small town north of Palestrina, situate amidst
magnificent mountain scenery, Michelangelo de' Conti saw
the light of day in the ponderous Barons' palace, on May 13th,
1655.2 jjis parents, Carlo and Isabella, nee Muti, were in
the habit of spending the greater part of the year there.
The young nobleman began his studies at Ancona, of which
his uncle was Bishop ; afterwards he frequented the Roman
College of the Jesuits. Alexander VIII. made him an honorary
Chamberlain and entrusted him in 1690 with the mission of
taking a blest sword and hat to the Doge Francesco Morosini.
After entering the prelature under Innocent XII., Conti was
first made Governor of Ascoli, then of Frosinone and lastly
of Viterbo in 1693. In the palace of the Conservatori of that
town an inscription recalls the splendid work of the Governor
in restoring the buildings and improving the streets of the
city after an earthquake.^ In June, 1695, the Pope named
him nuncio to Switzerland with the title of Archbishop of
^ Gregorovius V.', 34-6 ; G. Cascioli, Memovie storiche di
Poll, Roma, 1896, 79. Poll remained in possession of tlte Conti
until their extinction in 1808 ; it then passed to the Sforza-
Cesarini, and in 1820 to the Torlonia ; see Nibby, Analisi,
II.*, 569. On the Conti family, which is of Germanic origin, see
CoNTELORius, Genealogia famil. Comitmn, Romae, 1650; Ratti,
fam. Sforza, II. ; Cascioli, loc. cit. Cf. also Leben Papstes
Innocentii des 13, Koln, 1724. When, in 1920, the restoration
of the church of S. Stefano at Poli was begun, the graves of the
father of Innocent XIII., Carlo {ob. 1690) and of his mother,
Isabella Muti {ob. 1687), were discovered.
'^ Not at Rome, as has been generally believed up to now ;
see Cascioli, 215, and Arch. Rom., XXI., 479. Many biographical
notes on the pontificate of Innocent XIII. are also to be found in
a miscellany of the Bibl. Bertoliana, Vicenza.
3 Cascioli, 216. A short *biography, " Michelangelo Conti,"
with a special reference to his merits and relations to this town,
is preserved in the Viterbo Archives. A street of the town was
named after him (" Conti ", now " Garibaldi "). In the episcopal
palace an inscription on stone of the year 1806 also recalls his
memory.
28 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Tarsus.^ In 1608 he went to Lisbon where he gained in a
high degree the coniidence of the court, more especiall}' that
of Queen Mary Anne, a sister of the Emperor Charles VI. ^
On June 7th, 170G, Clement XI. made him a Cardinal though
he left him, as internuncio, in the Portuguese capital until
1709. He only returned to Rome in 1710, where he acted
as Protector of Portugal until 1712. In 1712 he exchanged
the See of Osimo, which he had obtained in 1709, for that of
Viterbo, which he was obliged to resign in 1719 for reasons
of health.^
Contemporary accounts bear unanimous witness to the
excellent way in which Conti acquitted himself in the offices
entrusted to him,"* as well as to his blameless life and great
prudence. They insist in particular on the excellent relations
which his diplomatic skill enabled him to maintain with all
the Powers.'' The circumstance that the Portuguese Govern-
ment was particularly well disposed towards him could hardly
injure his prospects owing to the slender pohtical importance
of that State. On the other hand the French did not forget
the fact that he had encouraged Portugal to side with the
Grand Alliance.^
^ Karttunen, 240. Conti's *reports in Niinziat. di Svizz.,
89-91, the * Instructions given to him, ibid., 247 and 159, Papal
Secret Archives. Conti's " *Relazione circa li 13 cantoni Svizzeri "
in Ottob. 2707, p. 45 seqq., Vatican Library. On May 5, 1697,
Conti consecrated the imposing ne^ church of the Abbey of Muri ;
see HiJRBiN in Festschrift fur Knopfler (1907), 97.
* *Numiat. di Portogallo, 54-67, 161-3, Papal Sec. Arch.
' Karttunen, loc. cit.
* On a long dispute about the right of the first fruits between
M. Conti and the Jesuits, see Franco, * Synopsis Annatum,
Bibl. Vittorio Emanuele, Rome.
^ See the *report on the College of Cardinals, drawn up at
the end of the pontificate of Clement XI. for the Emperor,
and the *Discorso on the conclave of 1721 (translated in M. v.
Mayer), Archives of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican.
Cf. Lafitau's report in Michaud, 58.
* M emoire oiMa.y 13, 1721, ibid., 324.
CHARACTER SKETCH OF THE POPE. 29
Innocent XIII. was of middle height and very stout, with
a round face and a long and unsightly nose.^ Though the
new Pope was not born in the Eternal City, the Romans
regarded him as one of themselves ; hence on the occasion
of his taking possession of the Lateran, there was a display of
unusual pomp which ill became the seriousness of the time.
The fronts of all the houses and churches which the Pope
passed on his way to the Lateran were decorated with
magnificent tapestries and numerous inscriptions. Near
the Capitol and the Arches of Septimus Severus and Titus,
triumphal arches had been erected from designs by Alessandro
Specchi and these were lavishly adorned with inscriptions,
paintings and stucco statues.^ The Pope stood very much
on his dignity. Cardinals and ambassadors were alone
permitted to be seated in his presence ; even his intimates
were treated with grave dignity. He would not tolerate any
violent demeanour. When the envoy of Malta pressed his
demand for help against the Turks far too impetuously the
Pope promptly rang his bell and the audience was at an
end.^
Innocent XIII. granted audiences but sparingly : even his
ministers found access to his person difficult.^ This was due,
in the first instance, to the bad state of his health. Although
only 66 years old, his energy was spent and gravel sapped
his health which was further injured .by lack of exercise
which the Pope could not indulge in on account of his
1 MiCHAUD, 58 ; NovAES, XIII., 41. Portraits by Hier. cie
Rossi, in Guarnacci, II., 381, and by Ant. David ; cf. Thieme,
VIII., 449 ; Drugulin, Portrdtkaialog g8^^.
* Cancellieri, Possessi, 341 seqq. In his *report to Grinialdi
of November 22, 1721, Acquaviva speaks of the festivity as
" solemnidad mas lucida que se haya visto de mucho tiempo ".
Simancas Archives.
^ " *ReIazione di Andrea Corner " of 1724, State Archives,
Venice, extract in Ranke, III., 216*.
* Acquaviva's *lettcr to Grinialdi, July i, 1721, Simancas
Archives.
30 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
stoutness ; in this way he increased his weight still further.
No one dared to promise him a long hfe.^
The slender prospects of a long pontificate were all the
more regrettable as the new Pope was not lacking in excellent
qualities. This was seen in his very first appointments, which
were almost universally applauded. ^ The Vicar of Rome,
Cardinal Paracciani, had died on the da\- of the papal election.
To succeed him Innocent XIII. appointed Cardinal Paolucci,
Clement XL's Secretary of State. Cardinal Olivieri was
confirmed in his office of Secretary of Briefs. Cardinal Corradini
became Datarius, Cardinal Giorgio Spinola Secretary of State ;
as nuncio at Madrid (1711-1713) and Vienna (1713-1720) the
latter had become thoroughly acquainted with all the more
important affairs of State. ^ Riviera, who was on particularly
good terms with Cardinals Acquaviva and Rohan, became
Secretary of the Cifra, Scaglioni became Secretary of Briefs
to Princes, Passionei Secretary for Latin Briefs, Giudice was
made Maggiordomo and Doria Maestro di Camera.*'
Some misgivings arose when Innocent XIII. elevated his
brother Bernardo Maria Conti to the cardinalate as early as
June 20th, 1721.^ Happil}-, however, nepotism did not revive.
The Cardinal nephew received not a soldo beyond the sum
stipulated by the Bull of Innocent XII. The Pope himself
blessed the marriage of his nephew Marcantonio Conti ; on
^ CJ. Acquaviva's *letters to Grimaldi, July i and August 23
(" De vcrdad pocos son los que le predicen una larga vida siendo
sus humorcs muy torpes), and December 23, 1721, ibid.
" See Acquaviva's detailed *report to Grimaldi, May 13, 1721,
ibid.
^ To distinguish him from his namesake, he was called after
his church " cardenal de S. Ines ". *Acquaviva to Grimaldi,
loc. cit.
* Acquaviva's *Ietter of May 13, 1721, loc. cit. ; Novaes, XIII.,
13 seq. ; " *Ruolo della famiglia di Innocenzo XIII.," in Conti
Archives, which arc now in Prince Ruspoli's Archives, Rome.
^ *Acta consist., Barb. 2919, Vatican Library; Guarnacci,
II-. 393 seqq. The promotion of Dubois of Cambrai occurred at
the same time ; see below, p. 42.
POPE AND EMPEROR. 3I
another nephew, Carlo Conti, he bestowed the Grand Cross
of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre. But that was all ;
expectations of the Roman families related to Innocent XIII.
remained likewise unfulfilled.^
In keeping with his peaceable disposition ^ Innocent XIII.
deemed it his first duty to settle the disputes which had
arisen between his predecessors and the Catholic Powers ;
above all he sought to re-establish good relations ^ with the
Emperor Charles VI. with whom he had always been on the
best of terms as a Cardinal and who had had a good deal
to do with his election.* One of Charles VI. 's main aspirations
was to receive the investiture of the Kingdom of Naples and
Sicily which had been denied him for more than twenty years.
The Emperor's representative Althan did his utmost to bring
this about. When the Pope did not at once comply with his
request, Charles complained, on June 18th, 1721, of ungrateful-
ness and spoke of the return of the unhappy time of
Clement XI. ^ The Emperor was mistaken : Innocent XIII.
was inclined to yield but not to precipitate things. On
June 1st, 1722, he requested the Cardinals to examine once
^ " *Relazione di A. Corner," loc. cit. ; Cracas, February 21,
and March 14, 1722.
2 " II sue naturale e placido," says the *report to the Emperor
on the Cardinals of Clement XL, Archives of the Austrian
Embassy at the Vatican.
* *Brief of August 11, 1721, Epist. ad princ, Papal Sec. Arch.
* In an *autograph letter in which Innocent, on May 14, 1721,
announces his election to the Emperor, he assures him of his
gratitude : " Anzi la gran parte che la M. V. col mezzo dei
cardinali nazionali et aderenti e del conte Kinski suo ambasciatore
straordinario al s. Collegio ha voluto avere nella Nostra esalta-
zione, c'impegna a giustificare e rendere plausibile al mondo
questa sua benignissima opera " {Letter e 42, Papal Secret Archives).
Cf. above, p. 26, n. 5.
* *Letter of Charles VI. to the ambassador extraordinary,
Count Ferdinand Franz Kinsky, June 18, 1721, Archives of the
Austrian Embassy at the Vatican. In the *instruction to Cardinal
Althan, dat. June 18, 1721, complaints are made about the viola-
tion of the concordats.
32 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
more the Holy See's claims to Naples and Sicily and to report
to him at the next general congregation. Their reply was that
nothing stood in the way of the investiture and that Althan's
instructions complied with all the formalities.^ Thereupon
the Pope announced, in the general congregation of June 9th,
1722, that he would grant the investiture. A Bull of the same
date, signed by twenty-eight Cardinals, solemnly granted
to the Emperor the investiture of Naples and Sicily on the
same conditions on which it had been granted by previous
Popes since Julius II. The feudal tribute which had not been
paid for years, was remitted, on condition of its being regularly'
paid thereafter."^ On the feast of SS. Peter and Paul, 1722,
the solemn presentation of the Chinea was made according
to ancient custom. The event was surrounded with extra-
ordinary pomp ; a magnificent display of fireworks arranged
by the architect Alessandro Specchi was particularly admired.^
Cardinal Althan took the feudal oath in the name of
Charles VI., after which he went to Naples as Viceroy, Cardinal
Cienfuegos taking his place as imperial ambassador.'*
In a letter of June 9th, 1721, to the Emperor,^ the Pope
expressed the hope that now Comacchio would at last be
restored to the Holy See. The matter was of importance for
the Papal States as their inviolability stood or fell with
* *Acta consist., Barb. 2919, Vatican Library, for all the
relevant documents.
2 Bull, XXI., 905 seq.
3 Ottieri, III., 589 ; Borgia, Istoria del dominio temporale
d. s. sede nelle due Sicilie, Roma, 1788. Detailed *reports on the
Chinea of 1722 in Archives of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican.
There also the remark that until then there were no Archives
of the Imperial Embassy in Rome. Cf. also Preciosa e grandiosa
raccolta delle stampe di macchine di fuochi artificiali fatte in Roma
in occasione che il contestahile Colonna presentava la chinea al
Papa a name del Re di Napoli (from 1722 to 1785), Roma, 1905,
Catalogo, PiETRO Fieri, XVI., 178, n. 175.
* *Nomination of May 8,' 1722, Archives of the Austrian
Embassy at the Vatican.
* Brief to Charles VI., Juno 9, 1721, Epist. ad pnnc. (" JMatthajo
Scagliono secret. "), Papal Secret Archives.
MONARCHIA SICULA. 33
the restoration or separation of any one of its component
parts. ^ Consequently, soon after Ms elevation, Innocent XIII.
pressed the Emperor to make this restoration, first through
Cardinal Czacki and once again through the extraordinary
envoy. Count Kinsky. Towards the end of July, 1722, he
repeated his demand to Cienfuegos.^ In January, 1723,
during a bout of sickness, he told the imperial representative
that the best medicine for him would be the restitution of
Comacchio.2 However, the negotiations were drawn out
indefinitely. The Pope showed himself extraordinarily anxious
to see this affair settled and bitterly lamented the difficulties
experienced in arranging the terms of the surrender.* At
the end of January, 1724, these difficulties had not yet been
eliminated.^ However much Innocent XIII. pressed for a
settlement,® it was not granted to him to see it.
With regard to the Monarchia Sicula also, Innocent XIII.
soon found that nothing was to be obtained from the court
of Vienna by negotiations, for in spite of Clement XL's Bull
abrogating it, Charles VI. persisted in claiming this sovereign
privilege. Thus the tribunal of the Monarchia was able to
continue to function. Innocent XIII. refrained from ostenta-
tious action, but he forbade all the newly appointed Bishops
of Sicily who came to Rome for their consecration, to do
anything, or to allow any step, that might be interpreted
as an acknowledgment of the legitimacy of the tribunal.'
^ Opinion of Brosch (II., 57).
2 Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report of July 25, 1722, Archives of the
Austrian Embassy at the Vatican.
^ Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report of January 16, 1723, ibid.
* Cardinal Cienfuegos' *reports of July 4, August 2 and 29,
September 5, October 3, and November 15, 1723, ibid.
^ Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report of January 30, 1724, ibid.
' Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report of February 12, 1724, ibid.
' Sentis, 159 ; Martini, La Sicilia, 120 seqq. The erection
of the bishopric of Vienna into a Metropolitan See led to a dispute
between the Archbishop and the Chapter of the Cathedral, which
regarded itself as exempt from the Archbishop ; it lost its case
both before Nuncio Spinola and before Benedict XIII. in Rome ;
VOL. XXXIV. D
34 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Charles VI. caused the Pope great sorrow by upholding
his pretensions to Parma and Piacenza as fiefs of Empire.
In this matter Innocent XIII. could not and would not
renounce the ancient feudal rights of the Church, any more
than his predecessors. After the Diet of Ratisbon had passed
a resolution on December 7th, 1722, thanking the Emperor
for having extended the rights of the Empire and charging
him to conclude peace with Spain on the basis of the agree-
ments of the Quadruple Alliance, the Pope made up his
mind to act. On February 3rd, 1723, he made strong repre-
sentations to the Emperor about the Church's suzerainty
over Parma and Piacenza,^ whilst Briefs on the subject were
simultaneously sent to the Kings of France and Spain and
to the Catholic Princes of Germany,^ though without success.
In his reply the Emperor pleaded force of circumstances,^
and Acquaviva was the bearer of similar excuses from
Phihp V.^ Innocent XIII. discussed the matter in a con-
sistory of March 15th, 1723, and addressed fresh Briefs to
the Princes concerned,^ but to Abbate Rota, the auditor of
the Paris nuncio, Bartholomeo Massei, he forwarded a formal
protest against the infringement of the suzerainty of the
Holy See over Parma and Piacenza.^
In March, 1721, in Clement XL's lifetime, the nuncio of
see ZscHOKKE, Gesch. des Metropolitan Kapitels sum hi. Stephan,
165 seqq., 182 seqq. Ibid., 162 seqq., the Bull of erection. A *letter
about the reform of the Bavarian Benedictines addressed to their
General Chapter in Epist. ad princ, 232^, Papal Secret Archives.
Ibid., 279, *Letter to the whole German hierarchy regarding the
precept of fasting which had been neglected in times of war.
^ * Epist. ad princ, 21 1^, loc. cit.
2 Ibid.
' Acquaviva's *report to Grimaldi, March 13, 1723, Siniancas
Archives.
* Acquaviva's *report to Grimaldi, January 16, 1723, ibid.
^ Acquaviva's *report to Grimaldi, March 20, 1723, to which is
added the Pope's AUocutio, ibid.
' The " Protestatio nomine Sedis Apost. emissa in conventu
Cameracensi ", in Rousset, Snppl. an Corps dipl. de Diimont,
III., 2, 173.
THE SPANISH CONCORDAT. 35
Madrid had been empowered to sign a concordat with Spain.
It was now necessary to renew these powers ^ because the
Pope had submitted the various articles to a fresh examina-
tion. However, to Innocent XIII. 's immense amazement,
the matter was not concluded though the Spanish Government
meanwhile instructed Acquaviva to work for Aldrovandi's
elevation to the cardinalate, though Cardinal Acquaviva
was well aware of the hopelessness of the attempt.^
Equally impossible was yet another demand of the Spanish
Government, to the effect that ecclesiastical immunity should
be limited to one or two dioceses for the whole Kingdom.
The silence which the Madrid nuncio Aldobrandini continued
to observe on the subject of the concordat was significant.
Great was the Pope's displeasure when he learnt that the
nuncio had judged fit to drop the whole affair.^ In the sequel
Innocent XIII. 's impatience to see this matter settled grew
steadily.^ On June 5th, 1723, the Secretary of State remon-
strated with the nuncio inasmuch as nothing had been done
though the second year of the pontificate was already over.
The delay was as incomprehensible as Aldobrandini's silence.
1 Acquaviva's *reports to Grimaldi, August i6 and zt,, 1721,
Simancas Archives.
- Acquaviva's *report to Grimaldi, August 23, 1721, ibid.,
who writes " Aldobrandi ".
* *Letter of the Secretary of State, Spinola, to Aldobrandini,
August 30, 1721, Nimziat. di Spagna, 365, Papal Secret Arch.
CJ. *Spinola to Aldobrandini, May 9, 1722 [ibid.) : " Non e stato
approvato da N. S. il motivo, per il quale V. S. I. si e trattenuta
di sollecitare appresso cotesti regii ministri la conclusione del
Concordato, poiche se bene da essi non ne veniva parlato a lei,
sua per altro doveva esscre la premura e la sollecitudine di
avanzarne le insinuazioni piu efficaci, attese le commissioni rice-
vute di qua su questa materia, che tanto importa a S. B. Poteva
ella anzi rirtettere, che dovendosi massime stabilire I'articolo di
non imporre pensioni sopra le parochiali per 10 anni, pretendera
cotesta corte, che non incominci mai a correre il tempo, se non da
quello della stipulazione del Concordato medesimo, onde ben vede
V. S. I. il pregiudizio. che ne risulta alia Sede Apost."
•• * Spinola to Aldobrandini, July n, 1722, ibid.
36 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
The nuncio should make earnest representations both to the
King's confessor, Daubenton, and to the ministers, so that the
treaty might be concluded at last.^ About mid-August
the Pope complained to Cardinal Acquaviva of the fact that
the concordat had not yet been signed. The latter sought
to excuse the delay with the absence of the court from
Madrid,^ but in November the situation was still unchanged,^
in fact it continued thus up to the time of the Pope's death.
On January 15th, 1724, Aldobrandini was once more instructed
to report on the difficulties responsible for the delay.*
It is easy to understand the Pope's insistence, for amid
the confusion and the disputes which had prevailed in Spain
during the last two decades, ecclesiastical discipline had
become greatly relaxed and many important canons had
fallen into oblivion. To remedy these disorders the Pope now
resolved to act. He appointed a special commission to study
the question ^ ; the result was a Bull dated May 13th, 1723,
with excellent rules for the suppression of irregularities.**
Cardinal Belluga took the Bull with him on his departure
from Rome on May 21st, 1723.'^ Though the Bull contained
^ *Spinola to Aldobrandini, June 5, 1723, ibid. On September 4,
1723 {ibid.), Spinola expressed his condolence on the death of
Daubenton (see Baudrillart, II., 5^6seqq.).
^ Acquaviva's *report of August 14, 1723, Simancas Archives.
3 *Spinolato Aldobrandini, November 6, 1723, loc. cit.
* Ibid.
^ Belluga's *Memorial dates from this time. Papal Secret
Archives, I., 164. On Belluga's negotiations, see * Acquaviva to
Grimaldi, April lo, 1723, Simancas Archives.
* " *Breve de la reforma del estado eel. en Espafia," Archives
of the Spanish Embassy in Rome, 1723, f. 166. Ibid., 169, on
" reforma nel clero ", Bull, XXI., 931 seqq. (with wrong date).
Cf. Hergenrother in Archiv fur Kath. Kirchenrecht, X. (1863),
189 seqq., where a wrong date is also given, as in the BuUarium ;
Mercati, Concordati, 268 seqq.
' *Spinola to Aldobrandini, May 22, 1723, Niinziat. di Spagna
365, Papal Secret Archives. On May 22, Acquaviva sent the
•Brief " sobra la disciplina eccl. en Espana " to Grimaldi.
Simancas Archives.
THE POPE AND PORTUGAL. 37
most useful prescriptions, it encountered difficulties on the
part of the Spanish officials,^ until a royal decree of March
9th, 1724, two days after the Pope's death, recommended
its observance. 2
With no Catholic Prince had Innocent XIII., as a Cardinal,
been on more excellent terms than with King John V. of
Portugal to whom he addressed a cordial autograph letter
immediately after his election ^ ; he also granted an extension
of the cruzada for a further six years on November 20, 1721.*
Building on the new Pope's goodwill the King now hoped
to obtain what he had vainly asked of Clement XL, namely,
the cancellation of the recall of nuncio Bichi for whom a
successor had been appointed in September, 1720, in the
person of Giuseppe Firrao.^ Firrao, however, had been
unable to take up his post as the Government were determined
to retain Bichi. The Portuguese ambassador in Rome pressed
the Pope to give his consent, but his efforts were in vain :
Innocent's answer was always the same : " Bichi must obey."
Even the threat of the recaU of the ambassador in Rome
produced no effect. The King's suggestion that he would
consent to Bichi's departure if the latter were raised to the
cardinalate, was likewise rejected by the Pope.^
Bichi accordingly remained at Lisbon, and Firrao, whom
Innocent XIII. had confirmed as Portuguese nuncio in
May, 1721,' was unable to take over the nunciature.
In the summer of 1722 a Turkish fleet was seen in the
Mediterranean. The report raised grievous alarm all over
Italy, more particularly in Rome. The Isle of Malta seemed
^ Spinola's *letters to Aldobrandini, October 30 and November
6, 1723, loc. cit.
- Hergenrother, loc. cit., 189.
' " *Lettere di Innocenzo XIIL," t. 42, Papal Secret Archives.
* *Epist. adprinc.,ibid.
* Karttunen, 244.
* NovAEs, XIIL, 19 ; " *Aggiustamento con Portogallo,"
Cod. 33, B. 14 (742), p. 316 seqq., Corsini Librars^ Rome ; " *Mem.
di Mercada," Cod. 161 3, Angelica Library, Rome.
' *Brief of May 27, 1721, Brevia ad princ, 43, Pap. Sec. Arch.
38 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
to be specially threatened. The envoy of the Knights of
St. John urgently begged for assistance.^ Innocent XIII.
resolved to ask the help of the Catholic Powers, but even
before he could do so, the Spanish Government offered to
guard the ItaUan littoral, and especially Malta. ^ In a con-
sistory of September 23rd, 1722, the Pope explained to the
Cardinals that though presumably there was only question,
for the moment, of a threat on the part of the traditional
enemy of Christendom, there was reason to fear a serious
attack by him in the following year. It was his intention,
he said, to invoke the protection of the Catholic Powers.
He himself, in spite of his financial straits, was prepared to
make his contribution ; the Cardinals should do in hke
manner. Finally special prayers were ordered.^
That the attitude of the Spanish Government in the question
of the Turks under Clement XL had been by no means
forgotten in Rome, appears from the fact that the Pope
put no reliance on Spain's offer, though France also joined
that country.* On October 6th the Briefs spoken of above
were dispatched to all Uie Catholic Powers, beginning with
the Emperor down to the German Princes and the small
Italian States.^
Whilst the ominous reports about Turkish armaments
continued to circulate,^ a gratifying message was received
at the beginning of November, to the effect that the Emperor
was resolved to lend assistance,' but as for Spain and France
^ Cardinal Cienfucgos' *rcport, dated Rome, July ii, 1722,
Archives of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican.
^ Acquaviva's *letter to Grimaldi, September 4, 1722, Simancas
Archives. Cf. the *Brief to Philip V. of September 4, 1722,
Epist. adprinc, loc. cit.
* *Acta consist., Barb. XXXVI., 53, Vatican Library.
* Cienfuegos' *report, September 26, 1722, Archives of the
Austrian Embassy at the Vatican.
* * Epist. adprinc, loc. cit.
* Cienfuegos' *letters of October 17 and November 2, 1722,
Archives of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican.
' Cienfuegos' *letter of November 7, 1722, ibid.
TURKISH PERIL. 39
and the help to be expected from that quarter, the suspicion
continued that their promises were not seriously meant.
On January 16th, 1723, Cardinal Acquaviva presented
Philip V.'s answer, dated October 28th of the preceding year,
to the Brief in which the Pope had prayed for help for Malta
against the Turks. The King made magnificent promises.
Acquaviva proposed that the Pope should form a league of
the Christian Princes against the Turks. ^ Innocent replied
that this would be a difficult undertaking seeing that the
Emperor, France and Venice were on peaceful terms with the
Turks ; moreover it would be a risky step to summon
the imperial troops to Italy. As the conversation proceeded
the Cardinal perceived that the enemies of Spain had success-
fully persuaded the Pope that Phihp V. of Spain had no
intention to defend Italy against the Turks but rather sought
to extend his influence in the Apennine Peninsula ; Acquaviva
sought to dispel this notion. ^
Meanwhile rumours continued to circulate in Rome about
a secret understanding of Spain and France with Turkey and
the Tsar of Russia, Peter the Great. ^ The Pope resolved to
grant a subsidy to the Knights of Malta to enable them to
fortify their island. He also decided to send 10,000 scudi
to Ragusa.^ In March measures were taken to protect Loreto
and Ancona against a surprise attack by the Turks. ^ Con-
temporary reports about the Turkish plans were utterly
contradictory. One report was to the effect that the Porte
was about to attack Persia, another that she was going to
1 " *Formaci6u de la Liga catt. conto il Turco," January,
1723, Archi\es of the Spanish Embassy in Rome, 1723, f. 32.
Ibid., 44, " *Propuesto de la Liga contro il Turco," February,
1723. Cf., ibid., 99, 120, 125.
2 Acquaviva's detailed *report to Grimaldi, January 16,
1723, Simancas Archives.
^ Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report of January 9, 1723, Archives of
the Austrian Embassy at the \'atican.
^ Cienfuegos' *reports of January 16 and 23 and February 20,
1723, ibid.
* Cienfuegos' *report of March 13, 1723, ibid.
40 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
fall upon Russia and the Christian West. The only certain
fact that could be gathered from these contradictory reports
was that the Turks were actively arming.^ Everybody breathed
more freely when it was at length learnt that the Osmanlis
had moved against the Persian Empire which at that time
was torn by internal divisions.^
(3.)
The compromise of 1720 was meant to put an end to the
Jansenist controversies. Noailles accepted it, but in a way
which seemed to revive the Galilean propositions of 1682.
Cardinal Rohan was dispatched to Rome to concihate dis-
satisfied Pope Clement XI. Such was the situation when
Innocent XIII. ascended the papal throne. ^
The new Pope was advised to insist on the demands of
his predecessor, nameh', that Noailles should expressly
protest his submission to the Holy See, as in 1711, and that
the King should renew Louis XIV. 's declaration recalUng
the decrees of 1682. Rohan proffered different counsel.
Noailles, he argued, had been so prejudiced against Clement XI.
that he would refuse to submit to anything which in any
way derived from the late Pope ; hence for the moment
Innocent XIII. should remain silent, until the King came
of age, when he should write a friendly letter to Noailles,
interspersed with some explanations of the Bull Unigeniius,
and a promise to forget the past. The rest of the Cardinals
offered decided opposition to such a proceeding, and Innocent
adopted their \dew. The Pope replied in courteous terms to
Noailles' letter of congratulation on his elevation,* adding
^ Acquaviva's *letter of March 13, 1723, Simancas Arch.
* ZiNKEiSEN, v., 601 seqq.
3 Cf. vol. XXXIII., p. 309 seqq.
* September 19, 1721 [Cadry], III., Sec. i, p. 42. Rohan
handed it to the Pope ; see *Acquaviva to Grimaldi, June 24,
1721, Simancas Archives.
JANSENISM. 41
that Rohan would give him further information.^ However,
the only message Rohan had to deliver was that the Pope
declared null and void the appeal to a Council and insisted
on unconditional submission to the Bull Unigenitus and the
withdrawal of the pastoral instruction of 1719. Noailles
made no reply.-
Previous to Innocent XIII. 's election Noailles and the
Appellants believed that the new Pope was not a keen
supporter of the Bull Unigenitus. According to them he had
stated that in that document Clement XI. only spoke as
Giovanni Francesco Albani, not as Pope, hence the news of
Cardinal Conti's elevation was received in Jansenist circles
with a joy " which it was impossible to put into words ".^
Hopes rose still higher when a rumour spread that the Pope
was about to appoint as his theologian the Servite Gerard
Capessi. Capessi who, as a matter of fact, did continue to
act as the Pope's adviser, was of opinion that further explana-
tions of some of the 101 condemned propositions were
necessary, and he was believed to be the author of a French
publication advocating such action and that that document
had met with Clement XL's displeasure.^ At the conclave
which elected him. Innocent XIII. had given his approval
to a note recommending to the future Pope the elevation
1 " *Te hortamur, ut plenum obsequium incunctanter ostendas
in iis, quae a card. Arm. de Rohan exponentur." Letter to Noailles,
undated, in Innoc. XIII., Lettere, 42, f. 23, Papal Secret Archives.
2 Lafitau, II., 189-200 [Cadry], III., Sec. 8, p. 61 ; Ansidei,
report, ihid., IV., 82.
* [Cadry], III., Sec. i, pp. 23, 39. In the conclave Cardinal
Corradini called the suspicion of Jansenism against Conti " une
pure calomnie ". He made inquiries about the matter from
Cardinal Tolomei, who reassured him completely. Michaud,
314-
* Aug. Fabroni, Vitae Italovum, Pisae, 1781, 243 seq. Cardinal
De Gesvres is supposed to have said that Conti was not in favour
of the Bull Unigenitus, but that Innocent XIII. was ; " il est
entraine par la cour de Rome." [Cadry], III., Sec. 8, p. 61.
42 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
of Dubois to the cardinalate ^ and the atoidance of sharp
measures against the Jansenists.^
Relying, perhaps, on these rumours, seven French Bishops
presumed, soon afteir Innocent XIII. 's election, to address
to him a letter which surpasses all that had gone before by
way of calumny of the late Pope and his work.^ They begin
^ On Dubois' promotion, see the lively correspondence even
after the conclave, in Michaud, 331 seqq., and " *Brevi spediti
per Msgr. Passarini destinato a portare la beretta al card. Dubois ",
July 30, 1721, Brevia ad princ, 43, Papal Secret Archives [cf.
JusTi, II., 284). On Rohan's exertions on behalf of Acquaviva, see
his *letter to Grimaldi, July i, 1721, Simancas Archives. On
the part which the future Cardinal Tencin took, see M. Boutry,
Intrigues et missions du card, de Tencin, Paris, 1902, 32 seqq.,
40-61. Id. in Rev. de Paris, October 15, 1898, and in Rev. d'hist.
diplom., XV. (1901), 20 seqq. In contrast with these earlier
criticisms of Cardinal Dubois which, down from Saint-Simon's
spiteful Memoires, are in great part unjust — though he is certainly
not free from censure (thus even Ranke, Franzos. Gesch., IV.,
452 seqq. ; Schlosser, Gesch. des 18. J ahrhunderts , I., 30 ; M.
Martin, Hist, de France, XV., 75, no, 113, corrected in Rev.
des quest, hist., X. [1871], 535 seq.) — see the first attempts at
rehabilitation : C.\pefigue, Les cardinaux-ministres : card. Dubois
et la Regence, Paris, 1861, and Seilhac, L'abbe Dubois, Paris,
1862, but especially the thorough work of Bli.\rd : Dubois
card, etpreinier-ministre, II., Paris, 1901 (reviewed by Bellesheim
in Hist.-polit. Blatter, CXXIX., 777 seq.). On Dubois' other
merits, especially his earlier activities, cf. also Bourgeois, Le
secret du Regent et la politique de Dubois, Paris, 1911 ; Bliard,
Dubois et Saint-Simon, in Rev. des quest, hist., LXX. (1901) ;
WiESENER, Le Regent, l'abbe Dubois et les Anglais, Paris, 1891 ;
Al. Budinsky, Wie Abbe Dubois Minister ivurde, in Beil. zur
Allg.Zeitung, February 26, 1874, No. 57.
2 Bliard, II., 222. C/. above, p. 20.
^ They were : Caillebot de la Salle, formerly Bishop of Tournai,
De Berthamont of Pamiers, Soanen of Senez, Colbert de Croissy
of Montpellier, De Langle of Boulogne, De Caylus of Auxerre,
Cassagnet de Tilladet of Macon. Cf. Fleury, LXXI., 177 seqq.
(some names are misspelt) ; Lafitau, II., 200. Extract (French)
of the letter in [Caukv], III., Sec. 2, p. 136-144, complete in
LETTER OF SEVEN BISHOPS. 43
by appl3ang to their time expressions used by St. Basil when
describing the Arian troubles. According to the seven, new
Arians were at work, setting at nought the teaching of the
Apostles and the Fathers which they replace by their own
inventions ; a whole edifice of new doctrines was being
raised, doctrines that daily spread farther and farther ;
unheard of opinions on grace and reprehensible principles of
morality were being asserted. A partial condemnation had
indeed already taken place in the course of the Roman
discussions on grace under Clement VIII. and Paul V., but
so far the promised publication of the decision had been
waited for in vain, whilst the delay had helped to strengthen
the doctrinal edifice which it was intended to-day to raise
upon the ruins of the dogmatic and moral teachings of the
Fathers. In the opinion of the seven the enterprise started
with a book by Cardinal Sfondrati who defended Molinism,
and another by the Jesuit Francolini who had attacked
Jansenist rigorism. Though he had been denounced to Rome
by five French Bishops, Sfondrati had not been interfered
with, " protected as he was by the late Pope, whose intimate
relations with Sfondrati are only too well known," in fact
the censure that had been demanded against him recoiled
on those who had asked for it when Quesnel's book was
condemned, though that work had been approved by the
most distinguished of those prelates. " What a consternation
when that decree appeared ! A cry of faith went up, louder
and more lasting than had ever been heard. What excitement
among the Bishops ! what grief among the most distinguished
theologians ! what an uproar among the people ! what shouts
of triumph among the Protestants ! "
After that the seven discuss the Bull in detail. They
endeavour to show that it ought to be reprobated because of
its agreement with the teachings of Francolini, Sfondrati and
[Nivelle], I., 504-533. Cardinal Acquaviva encloses it in his
*lettcr to Grimaldi, IMarch 28, 1722, Simancas Archives. Cf.
SCHILL, 202.
44 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
the Jesuit Fontana ^ who had drawn up the bull Unigenitus
by order of the Pope. " Who can compare the Bull," they
write, " with the doctrinal structure of this new theology
and not perceive their complete agreement ? The Bull treats
of the same topics, attacks the same theses, condemns, though
the fact seems hardly credible, the same statements of the
holy Fathers against which these new teachers have long ago
conspired." They then give yet another summary of their
grievances against the late Pope : according to the seven,
the Bull " attacks religion in its dogmas, the hierarchy in its
rights. Christian morality in its foundations and in its spirit " ;
they consider that it " subverts the penitential discipline,
confuses the Old Testament and the New on the very point
which differentiates them, subjects God's omnipotence to
human freedom, endangers divers truths and censures the
consecrated language of the Scriptures and Tradition. Such
is our complaint, and our complaint is our crime ; but it
would seem that only one crime is still seriously punished,
viz. the crime of remaining true to the tradition of our fathers".
The first part of the letter finds fault with the subject
matter of the Bull, the second half criticizes the manner and
the circumstances of its publication. ^ Because Noailles opposed
a lax moral teaching, we read, he was attacked by the
champions of that morality, who even tolerated idolatry in
China. The Archbishop should have been told what it was
that was found blameworthy in a book to which he had
given his approval. Quesnel, too, was condemned in a fashion
that would not have been tolerated even in pagan Rome :
he should have been heard before he was condemned. It was
clearer than dayhght that the 101 propositions had been
condemned on inaccurate information. The question should
be examined in France itself, and the Bishops who had not
1 On Celestino Sfondrati {ob. 1696), see Hurter, Nomendaior,
IV.', 383-390, and Blotzer in Freiburger Kirchenlex., XI.*, 235
seqq., on his wTitings against Gallicanism : Studien und Mitteil.
zur Gesch. des Benediktinerordens, 1929, 258 seq. ; on Francolini {ob.
1709), see Sommervogel, Bibliotheqiie, III., 939 ; on Fontana, sec
above, XXXIII., p. 236, n. 4. * [Cadry], III., Sec. 2, p. 139 seqq.
LETTER OF THE SEVEN. 45
received the Bull must be heard. But whereas Christ would
have excommunication inflicted only on those who refuse
to hear the Church, Clement XI. employed it against Bishops
who had appealed to the Church. There followed complaints
about the treatment of the Sorbonne and about the con-
demnation of books published " in defence of the truth ",
whereas writings full of corrupt teachings were tolerated and
even printed and circulated by order of the Pope : finally
they complained that the appeal to a council had been
described as a heretical act. The last request of the seven
Bishops was that Innocent XIII. should declare his
predecessor's Bull to have been surreptitious, thereby putting
an end to the disputes. Their wishes would be perfectly
satisfied if he consented to summon a General Council.
The letter of the seven is dated June 9th, 1721, but it only
reached Rome in November, via Austria. This was due to
the circumstance that its authors had striven, in Vienna,
to secure the support of the Austrian Bishops ; but their
efforts were in vain.^ In November their memorial appeared
in print in Latin and French ; it covered ninety quarto
pages. The printing had been done at Louvain.
Van Espen,2 declared that in his opinion the vigour and
wisdom that shone in its pages were not human but divine,
heavenly, and worthy of the days of the Apostles. In Rome,
however, the curious document was passed on to the Inquisi-
tion which condemned it on January 8th, 1722, in severe
terms. ^ Thus the Pope's position in regard to the Bull
Unigenitus was defined clearly enough, but the last doubt
was removed by a letter to the young King dated March 24th,
1722, the same day as that on which the decree of the Inquisi-
tion against the seven Bishops was published.'* In his letter
^ Fleury, LXXL, 179.
2 Letter to the Bishop of Boulogne [Cadry] IIL, Sec. 3, p. 85.
* K'Evscu, Index, II., y^o seq.
* D'Argentre, III., 2, 476 seqq. ; Fleury, LXXL, 264 seqq.
Acquaviva encloses copies of this Brief, as also the replies of the
King and of the Regent, dat. July 20, 1722, in his *Ietter to
Grimaldi of August 15, 1722. Simancas Archives.
46 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Innocent XIII. states in the plainest terms that with regard
to the Bull Unigenitus he faithfully followed in the footsteps
of his predecessor. The confusion to which its publication
gave rise was due to the disobedience of a few Bishops, which
provided certain ill-disposed persons with a pretext for
obscuring the plain tenor of the Bull. The Bull Pastoral! s,
the compromise of 1720, Noailles' two ambiguous pastoral
instructions, were not expressly mentioned, but everybody
could see what was meant when Innocent XIII. praised the
late Pope for having taken sterner measures, and approves
Clement XL's declaration, as against French efforts, that
simple, unquestioning obedience to the Roman See was the
only means of establishing concord. Experience had shown
how very right Clement XI. had been, for all the efforts
hitherto made had failed to induce the recalcitrants to make
a sincere submission. It was the duty of Clement's successor
to complete what that Pope had begun. But at the very
moment when Innocent was about to write to the King and
whilst he was waiting to hear that Rohan's negotiations had
been successful, the " boldness and audacity of the workers
of iniquity " had broken out " beyond all measure ", in the
" wholly schismatical letter of the seven Bishops which,
in a heretical spirit," confused things human and divine.
And in order that their pestiferous disease might spread still
further, they had published their letter by means of the
printing press, and to cap everything, they had even attempted
to make the papal authority the associate and support of
their perverseness, as if it were in the Pope's power to alter
the faith of the Apostles to which the whole Church, taught
by Peter, clings with the utmost tenacity. This is what the
delay of stronger measures has led to. To such shepherds
the flock of Christ can no longer be entrusted. The letter
concludes with a prophecy of grievous disasters even for the
State if things went on like this, and with a request for support
by the secular power. The same request was also made in a
letter to the Regent.^
^ March 24, 1722, in D'Argentre, he. cit. ; Fleury, LXXI.,
273 seq.
ATTITUDE OF THE REGENT. 47
Since the agreement of 1720 the Regent, even though
only for poHtical reasons, sided with the supporters of the
Constitution. He gave an unmistakable proof of his attitude
when he had the two papal letters published by the royal
printing press and that without their having been submitted,
in keeping with Galilean custom, to the approval of Parlia-
ment.^ He also ordered judicial proceedings against the printers
and booksellers who had published the letter of the seven
Bishops. 2 Moreover the Conseil published a decree ^ which
described that letter as " rash, calumnious, insulting to the
late King, the Holy See, the Bishops and the French Church,
as contrary to the consolidation of peace, to the registered
declarations of 1714 and 1720 ? " and as " an attempt against
the royal authority, a rebellious act and one exciting to
rebellion ". The memorial was accordingly prohibited and
the seven Bishops were threatened with judicial proceedings.
They attempted to defend themselves in a letter to the King,
dated July 19th, 1722.* After the death of the Duke of Orleans,
this letter was likewise condemned by the authority of the
State under the latter's successor.^
Cardinal de Bissy countered the letter of the seven with
a detailed defence of the Bull Unigenitus.^ The Bull, he
explained, was above attack and perfectly clear ; it was a
dogmatic judgment of the universal Church to which all
were bound to give an internal assent. A storm now broke
out over De Bissy. His letter had appeared in September ;
a few months later it was denounced to Parliament in a
1 [Cadry], III., Sec. 3, p. 75 ; Rocquain, 30.
2 [C.\dry], loc. cit., p. 76 seq.
' April 19, 1722, ihid., p. 75 seq. ; Rocquain, 27. An attempt
to have the seven tried by Parhament miscarried. [Cadry],
III., Sec. 2, p. 176.
* [Cadry], III., Sec. 2, p. 169-174 ; [Nivelle], II., 534-6.
^ December 19, 1723 [Cadry], III., Sec. 8, p. 40.
* June 7, 1722 (376 pages in 4°, with 204 pages of App.).
Fleury, loc. cit., 278 ; [Cadry], III., Sec. 5, pp. 34-42. To
the instruction was added a " Traite theologique " on the loi
propositions. [Cadry], loc. cit., p. 42.
48 HISTORY OF THE POPES,
memorial couched in violent terms. ^ Bissy, the document
said, appealed to the Bull Pastoralis which Parliament had
never recognized ; to prove the universal acceptance of
the Bull Unigenitus he referred to the letters of foreign
Bishops, but those letters taught the doctrine of papal
infallibility and had for their authors prelates brought up
in servitude and bowed down by the slavery of the Inquisition.
Before long the biting pamphlet was the talk of the town
and Noailles threatened that if Parhament did not deal with
Bissy he would censure him himself. ^ As a matter of fact
Parhament importuned the Court for a whole fortnight with
the request for permission to condemn Bissy,^ until Dubois
vented his annoj'ance with so many proposals by exclaiming
whether they wished to set fire to the four corners of Paris.*
Nevertheless, in January, 1723, another pubhcation against
Bissy saw the hght, obviously from the same pen as the first, ^
and in February there occurred a fresh denunciation to
Parliament, this time by Abbe Pucelle.^ However, the Regent
let that body know that they were to put off the examination
of the pastoral instruction. This demand did not imply that
the whole affair had been quashed ; accordingly, in March,
1723, a fresh accusation appeared ' which put the Jansenist
element on one side and only attacked Bissy from the Gallican
standpoint. Thereupon the victim of aggression requested
the King to have his instruction examined ; this task was
entrusted to two ecclesiastical and two secular dignitaries
towards the end of April. ^ But before this commission could
give its verdict, six out of the seven recalcitrant Bishops
^ [Cadry], III., Sec. 6, p. 16-20. Abbe Mengui is the author.
Ibid., p. 16.
* Ibid., p. 20.
3 Ibid., p. 34.
« Fleury, LXXI., 280.
' [Cadry], loc. cit., pp. 34-7.
* Ibid., p. 43 seqq.
' CouET, ibid., pp. 66-70.
* Ibid., p. 71.
CAMPAIGN AGAINST BISSY. 49
published a " reply " to Bissy ^ in which they stated that
never had the rights of the Crown and the dogmas of religion
been more openly attacked than in this instruction.
" Is it Bissy," they asked, ** who has written these things,
or is it the men who have so long sought to introduce an
abominable Pyrrhonism in regard to ecclesiastical tradition,
with a view to supplanting it by their own authors ? " Then
follows the accusation that Bissy made no account of the
authority of the Fathers, misquoted texts and made false
statements ; if the testimony of the foreign Bishops proved
the universal recognition of the Bull Unigenitus, it also 'proved
papal infallibihty. A further accusation is even more violent ^ ;
it goes so far as to demand that Bissy should be denounced
as an enemy of Church and State.
The commission, whose task it was to examine the pastoral
letter of the much mahgned prelate, at last pronounced
sentence ^ ; it was to the effect that Bissy had not offended
against the Gallican liberties, that the two accusations were
a tissue of calumnies, lies and declamations against Pope and
Bishops. In 1725 Bissy rephed to the six Bishops in a fresh
instruction.^
Besides Bissy the keenest champion of the Bull Unigenitus
was Languet, Bishop of Soissons. Whilst Clement XL still
sat on Peter's chair he published an explanatory letter on
the questions then pending.^ This letter saw several editions
within a short time ; it was reprinted in several dioceses and
distributed among the clergy ; on the Appellants' own
^ 228 pages in 4°., ihid.. Sec. 7, pp. 53-8. The former Bishop
of Tournai did not take part as Bissy was his Archbishopric.
On February 13, 1725, the letter of the six was put on the Index.
Fleury, LXXIL, 121.
* [Cadry], loc. cit., p. 58 seq.
' May 23, 1723, ibid., p. 60.
* Ibid., p. 61.
' " Avertissement de Msgr. I'eveque de Soissons d ceux qui dans
son diocese se sont declarez appellans de la Constitution " Uni-
genitus", 1718 ([Cadry], II., 128 seqq.). According to the
Jansenists Tournely was the real author. Hild, 144 seq.
VOL. XX.XIV. E
50 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
admission, it did their party much harm.^ Languet followed
up his explanation with similar publications ^ ; there was
scarcely a manifestation of some importance by the opposition
to which he did not answer. Replies by the Appellants were
not wanting, right up to the pontificate of Innocent XIII., ^
and one of Languet's publications was torn up and burnt
by order of Parliament.*
For the rest it became abundantly evident during
Innocent XIII. 's pontificate that the compromise of 1720
could not restore peace. The Government had indeed declared
the appeals to the Council null and void, but there were not
a few who repeated their appeal thereafter ; no less than
1,500 names appeared on the lists of Paris and in the Pro-
vinces.^ Elsewhere also resistance to the Bull Unigenitus
continued. Innocent XIII. 's first letter to the King was also
his last intervention in the French situation. In the Jubilee
Bull, at the beginning of his pontificate, he did not expressly
exclude the Appellants from its favours and graces, a circum-
stance which the Appellant Bishops of Boulogne and Senez
interpreted as implying that the Pope was in communion with
them.^ But this view was contradicted by the Bishop of
Amiens. In a pastoral letter he explained that the Bull
stated that it was not the Pope's intention to dispense from
any irregularity or e.xcommunication. A heated dispute
arose over this affair. The Chapter of Amiens appealed to
Parhament against its Bishop and both Bishop and Chapter
appealed to the court. Noailles declared that he would not
proclaim the jubilee until the pastoral of Amiens was con-
demned. As a consequence of the Archbishop's pressure and
after some consultations at the archiepiscopal palace, Duboig
1 [Cadrv], II., 139 seq., 337.
2 Ibid., 225, 231, 245. 259, 305-314, 331, 380, 406, 560-574 ;
in.. Sec. 5, p. 44 ; Sec. 6, p. 29 ; Sec. 7, p. 61.
3 A reply in five small vols. (1719-1722), ibid., II., 337 seq. ;
III., Sec. 3, p. 83.
* Ibid., II., 227.
* Ibid., III., Sec. i, p. 48 ; cf. p. 22.
" Ibid., Sec. 2, pp. 163-9.
MEASURES AGAINST THE SORBONNE. 5I
instructed the intendants of the provinces to watch lest the
Bishops disturb the peace of conscience. The Chapter of
Amiens was bidden to withdraw its appeal to Parliament.^
Innocent XIII. was of course by no means prepared to
enter into ecclesiastical communion with the Appellant
Bishops. The documents intended for their dioceses were
sent to the neighbouring Bishops. In the eyes of the
Ouesnellists this too was another of Rome's encroachments.
The Bishop of Pamiers complained to his fellow Bishops
that one could see that the Pope was taking advantage of
the existing situation in order to make himself the universal
Bishop.- In reality Innocent XIII. was very reserved ;
only in the last months of his life did he plan sharper measures
against the Appellants — at least so it was rumoured.^ On
the other hand the Regent dealt all the more sternly with
them. At first Philip of Orleans had imagined that he would
best serve the cause of peace by allowing the Quesnellists
full libert}^ but experience gradually taught him differently,
with the consequence that during his last years he let loose
a regular flood of orders of silence, sentences of banishment
and regulations of every description.
The recalcitrant Sorbonne felt the Regent's heavy hand
more often than any other body.* On December 11th, 1720,
Rollin, its Rector, praised the University for having upheld
its appeal in spite of the compromise.^ Thereupon the Govern-
ment announced that on its part it would also insist on the
execution of its decrees, hence the Sorbonne must immediately
reinstate the twenty-two Doctors whom it had excluded on
account of the Bull Unigenitus.^ On the occasion of the death
of Innocent X., Jollain, the Syndic of the theological Faculty,
suggested the celebration of a funeral service, so as to give
public proof of the SorbOnne's loyalty to the Supreme Pontiff,
1 Ibid., pp. 172-6.
2 Ibid., Sec. 6, p. i seqq.
^ Ibid., Sec. 8, p. 42.
* ScHiLL, 204 se^. ; Fleury, LXXI., 192 s<'^(7.
* The discourse is in [Nivelle], I., 576 seq.
« Ibid., 570. C/. XXXIIL. 296.
52 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
but in doing so he had taken care to let it be clearly seen that
the Faculty upheld its appeal. ^ His speech met with the
approval of the Faculty but a royal ordinance - forbade its
registration. Towards the end of May ten of the Doctors
who had renewed their appeal were sent into banishment ^
and fresh measures were issued in the first days of June ;
at the same time the Faculty was forbidden further to molest
the Bishop of Soissons on account of a thesis on papal
infallibility, and to discuss matters of this kind without leave
of the State Chancellor.'* Syndic Jollain exhorted the Doctors
to remain steadfast and suggested that a deputation be sent
to the King,^ but the court depreciated such a deputation,
deposed Jollain and a royal ordinance forced another S^Tidic
upon the Faculty, regardless of the right of election.^ The
mistakes of the new Syndic, Romigny, gave rise to lively
disputes, to discussions with the first President of Parliament
and to a futile petition to the King.' The Doctors treated
the new Syndic as an intruder ; the latter was eventually
forced to have the doors of the Archives battered in to enable
him to get hold of the registers of the Faculty.^ The Govern-
ment forbade the regular election of a new Syndic which had
been fixed for October 1st and upheld its protege for years. ^
In the space of seven months, up to September 1st, 1721,
twelve disciplinary measures had been taken against the
Faculty ^^ and the end was not yet.^^
The year 1722 brought fresh storms. Alexander VII. 's
^ The discourse is in [NiVELLE], I., 571 ; Fleury, LXXI., 196.
2 April 25, 1721, [Cadry], III., Sec. i, p. 12 seq.
^ Ibid., pp. 16-18.
* Ibid., p. 31 seq.
' The discourse, ibid., pp. 32-4 ; Fleury, LXXI., 202 seq. ;
[Nivelle], I., 572 seq.
« [Cadry], loc. cit., p. 60.
' Ibid., p. 62-70.
* Ibid., p. no.
» Ibid., p. 112.
»» Ibid., p. III.
" Ibid.,1^},; Sec. 4, pp. 16, 93, 103.
CHANGING ATTITUDE OF THE FACULTIES. 53
formula and Arnauld's condemnation had not been sub-
scribed to within recent years ; the Doctors loyal to Rome
now demanded that the omission should be made good.
The court supported their design by ordinances of May 20th
and 30th which demanded subscription under threat of
exclusion.^ At the stormy session of August 1st, Romigny
submitted a list of 150 Doctors, Licentiates and Bachelors
who were to forfeit their doctorate, or the hope of acquiring
one.^ The day before the Keeper of the Seals had sent for the
registers of the Faculty when, with his own hand, he deleted
the decision on the exclusion of the twenty-two Doctors,
the reinstatement of Petitpied, and the declaration of
January 17th, 1719, about papal infallibility.^ The Faculty
was forbidden to discuss the formula, a circumstance which
led to the exclusion of twenty Licentiates.* The supporters
of the Bull now constituted a majority among the Doctors. ^
The other theological Faculties of France were likewise
ordered to subscribe to the formula.^ Only in two Universities
did the measure meet with opposition ; that of Nantes wished
to give only a qualified adhesion to the formula, but when a
royal decree ordered it to cancel its decision and expelled
three Doctors from the Faculty, six out of the remaining
eleven made their submission.'^ The demands of the Govern-
ment encountered more serious opposition at the University
of Montpellier, though the theological chairs were held by
Jesuits, for Bishop Colbert was a determined Appellant.
There the formula was provided with an introduction which
took the sting out of it. The Intendant of Languedoc was
instructed to remove the introduction from the registers of the
Faculty but this did not prevent the Bishop from upholding it.
1 /6j(i., Sec. 4, pp. 104-111.
2 Ibid., pp. 186, 191.
' Ibid., p. 184.
* Ibid., p. 191.
= Ibid., p. 188.
* By order of the Secretaries of State, July 11, 1722, ibid.,
p. 181.
'' Ibid., Sec. 5, p. i seqq.
54 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
As not a few ecclesiastics preferred to study with the
Oratorians, who were less attached to Rome, than with the
Jesuits, and obtained their Doctor's title from the Faculty
of Law, a decree was issued to the effect that ecclesiastics
could not become Doctors of Law without subscribing to
the formula. The resistance of the Bishop, whose deposition
was repeatedly considered, caused the Government to inter-
vene more than once in the sequel also.^
Acceptance of the formula was to be enforced not alone
on the Universities. A circular of the Secretaries of State
informed the Bishops that the Regent was surprised that
subscription to the formula was no longer demanded ; in
future no ecclesiastical benehce was to be bestowed on those
who had refused to subscribe. A similar order was addressed
to the Chapters of Tours and Chalons. ^ Thereafter many
Bishops insisted on acceptance of the formula as a condition
for the reception of Orders.^ With a view to bringing pressure
to bear on the recalcitrant clergy of Rheims a decree went
forth that no Appellant might be present at the forthcoming
coronation of the King.^ Noailles was, of course, invited to
the function, but Bishop De Langle of Boulogne was excluded
by reason of his being an Appellant.^ For the same reason
Bishop Colbert of Montpellier was not admitted to the
Assembly of the States of Languedoc in 1724.^ The King
had been in the habit of assisting at the Holy Week
services in the church of the Feuillants, but in 1721 he denied
them that honour on account of their being Appellants.'
One of the consequences of the attitude of the Government
was that no opponent of the Constitution could entertain a
^ Ibid., Sec. 5, p. 5 ; Sec. 6, pp. 3, 51, 54 ; Sec. 7, p. 106.
* Ihid., Sec. 2, p. 181.
' Ibid. Thus at Evreux, ibid., Sec. 3, p. 27 ; at Chalons, ibid.,
p. 87 ; at Laon, ibid., p. 120 ; at Rheims, ibid.. Sec. 6, p. 13 ;
atLectoure, ibid., p. 21.
* 7&i£^., Sec. 3, p. ii6sfg'. ; Sec. 5, p. 9.
* Ibid., Sec. 5, p. 50.
* Ibid., Sec. 8, p. 45.
' Ibid., Sec. 3, p. 95 seq.
CHANGES IN THE EPISCOPATE. 55
hope of obtaining one of the vacant episcopal sees. Death
put an end to the appeals of the Bishops of Mirepoix, Chalons
and Verdun in 1720/ and to that of the Bishops of Laon and
Boulogne in 1721 and 1724, and in 1721 the equivocating
Bishop of Arras resigned his See.^ All these were succeeded
by keen opponents of their views. ^ In 1723 and 1724 there
occurred a number of vacancies, as at Rouen, Nantes, Lu^on,
Cambrai, Viviers, Saint-Papoul and Tours. With the sole
exception of Saint-Papoul, the supporters of the Constitution
had everywhere reason to congratulate themselves on the
new appointments.^ At Boulogne the change was a remarkable
one. Bishop De Langle had been an ardent Jansenist and had
deprived all the priests who obeyed the Constitution of their
faculties to hear confessions ; when the Bishop of Amiens
was nearing his diocese, the missionaries in his suite saw them-
selves surrounded by penitents from over the border of the
diocese and 4,000 subjects of the Bishop of Boulogne begged
the stranger for the Sacrament of Confirmation which their
own shepherd withheld from them. The situation at Boulogne
had become so tense that a Provincial Council had decided
to depose De Langle, but the Government forbade such a
step.^ De Langle's successor was the very antithesis of his
predecessor ; he did not mind, he declared, whether clothes
and hair were worn long or short, his great concern was that
people should be genuine Catholics ; it would be his aim to
make his diocese Cathohc and loyal to the Holy See.^ At
1 Jean, 318, 392,414.
2 Ibid., 172, 315, 322.
3 Jean, loc. cit. On the new Bishops, see [Cadry], III. :
Chalons, Sec. 3, pp. 87-9 ; Sec. 7, p. 20 ; Sec. 8, p. 77 ; Laon,
Sec. 3, pp. 1 19-162 ; Sec. 5, p. 58 seqq. ; Verdun, Sec. 6, p. 40 ;
Carcasonne, ibid., p. 39 ; Lectoure, ibid., pp. 21, 72 ; Sec. 7,
p. 67 ; La Rochelle, Sec. 8, p. 67 ; Lyon, ibid., p. 71.
■• Jean for each bishopric ; [Cadry], III., Sec. 8, p. 24 seqq.
On the Archbishop of Tours, see ibid., Sec. 7, pp. 37, 40, 1 14-124.
^ [Cadry], III., Sec. 7, p. 12 seqq., 91, 100.
* Ibid., p. 75. De Langle died on April 12, 1724, that is,
during the conclave of Benedict XIII. Ibid., p. 73.
56 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Bayeux conditions similar to those at Boulogne prevailed.
The Bishop, Francis of Lorraine {ob. 1728) was so strict that
not even nuns were able to make their Easter Communion
and almost all priests loyal to the Pope were forbidden to
hear confessions ; the Government itself wrote to him that
his whole diocese was on fire.^
The Regent's stern measures brought about a change in
the theological Faculties also. After fourteen Doctors had
been expelled at Rheims, the appeal to the Council was revoked
first by the Faculty and eventually by the whole University.^
Poitiers and Nantes acted in like manner,^ but difficulties
were made by the Faculty of Caen where the Bishop of
Bayeux gave his patronage to certain Jansenistic doctrines.*
The Government sent plenipotentiaries to the General
Chapters of several Orders whose task it was to press for
acceptance of the Constitution ; thus in 1723 the Bishop of
Laon was sent to the General Chapter of the reformed
Premonstratensions. He experienced no difficulty in getting
the formula accepted, but many members objected strongly
to the Constitution. 5 In May, 1724, after Innocent XIII. 's
death and during the conclave, the Chapter of the reformed
Augustinians accepted the formula by subscribing to it. and
the Constitution by word of mouth. ^ A sensation was caused
by the opposition to the Constitution on the part of a number
of Carthusians.' To put an end to the insubordination of
^ Ibid., Sec. 7, p. 21 seq. The Bishop tried to defend himself
against the accusations {ibid., p. 22 seq.) ; however, the theological
Faculty of Caen, the Archbishop of Rouen and the Parliament
of Normandy also raised objections against his views. Jean,
348-
' [Cadry], III., Sec. 7, pp. 10, 86.
« Ibid., Sec. 6, pp. 38, 58.
* Ibid., Sec. 3, p. 43 ; Sec. 6, p. g ; Sommervogel, Bibliotheque ,
III., 131555^.
* [Cadry], III., Sec. 7, p. 7 se^.
* Ibid., Sec. 8, p. 77.
' Ibid., Sec. 3, pp. 28-36, 195 ; Sec. 7, pp. 26-34 '< Sec. 8, pp.
1-16.
CHANGE IN THE ORDERS. 57
individual religious, especially in Paris, the General Chapter
of the seven French Provinces of the Order issued a decree
which made subscription to the formula and oral acceptance
of the papal Constitutions against Jansenism a condition of
admission into the Order, of ordination and the exercise
of the priestly functions.^ Thereupon fifteen Carthusians of
Paris appealed to Parliament and lengthy disputes ensued.
The General Chapter ended by excluding the recalcitrants
from the Sacraments, whereupon twenty-six of their number
fled to Holland in 1725.2
Many Benedictines continued to offer resistance to the
Bull Unigenitus, but at the General Chapter of the Maurists
at Marmoutier, in 1723, the Archbishop of Tours, acting
as the King's plenipotentiary, secured at least the acceptance
of the formula ^ ; a similar result, though only in so far
as the recognition of the question of right was concerned,
was obtained by the Procurator-General of the Parliament
of Besangon at the General Chapter of the Congregation of
Saint-Vanne held at Luxeuil in 1723.* The Monks' state of
mind is sufficiently revealed by a petition addressed to the
Chapter of Marmoutier : it describes Clement XL's Bull
as the most dreadful weapon of Sfondratism and Molinism.
Should the Congregation of St. Maurus be destined to founder
in the storms raised by the Constitution, it was better it
should perish than that it should be defiled : an alliance
between the Bull and Christ was a monstrosity ; death was
better than acceptance of the Constitution ! ^ A Carthusian
wrote to the Abbot-General that in the whole of the Church's
history the Constitution was the measure which it was least
possible to uphold."
^ Ordinance " Quo zelo ", April 25, 1723, in [Nivelle], II.,
2, 480 ; [Patouillet], IV., 41 seq.
* Cf. [Nivelle], II., 2, 469-543 (Apology of the fugitives
[extract], 532 seqq.) ; [Patouillet], I., 95, 104 seq.
» [Cadry], III., Sec. 7, pp. 35-44 ; [Nivelle], II., 2, 652-6.
* [Cadry], loc. cit., p. 24 seq. ^ Ibid., p. 39.
* " L'acte le plus insoutenable qui ait jamais paru dans I'Eglise."
Ibid., Sec. 8, p. 3.
58 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
As throughout the history of Jansenism, communities of
women once again drew attention to themselves by their
spirit of resistance. Thus eighteen Visitation nuns of Paris
declared their inabihty to submit to the Constitution ^ ;
but an even greater sensation was caused by the Ursulines
of Orleans, Beauvais and Clermont who were eventually
forbidden to teach by the Bishops of these dioceses. ^
However, on the whole, and in spite of opposition, a change
in favour of the much attacked Bull was under way. Rumour
had it that in his last days the Regent was planning a great
blow which would put an end to opposition to the Bull and
with it to disturbances which endangered the State itself.
A royal declaration was to safeguard the Bishops' freedom
against the encroachments of Parliament, whilst at the same
time a papal Brief was to assign a time hmit after the lapse
of which the Appellants would be regarded as having incurred
excommunication. The declaration was urged by the court
even after the Regent's sudden death and when the latter
had been succeeded as Minister by the Duke of Bourbon ;
however. Parliament offered decided opposition and when
Innocent XIII. died there was no further question of either
declaration or Brief.^
(4.)
In the Dutch Mission the spirit of insubordination had
shown itself openly during the last years of Clement XI. ;
under Innocent XIII. a complete separation from the Church
ensued when the Ouesnellists took it upon themselves to
appoint a Bishop of their own, independently of the Holy
See. For more than a decade the territory of the Seven
United Provinces had been without a Bishop. Though the
Vicar Apostolic Daemen, who died in 1717, was an Arch-
bishop, the Jansenists had made it impossible for him to
' Ibid., Sec. I, p. 46 seq. ; Sec. 3, p. 193 seq.
2 Ibid., Sec. 5, pp. 14-34, 79-95 : Sec. 7, p. 74 seq. ; Sec. 8,
p. 25. Cf. Sec. 6, p. 44 for the Presentandines.
* Ibid., Sec. 8, pp. 38-44.
A JANSENIST BISHOP FOR UTRECHT. 59
reside on Dutch soil. His successor Bijlevelt, who died in
1727, did not receive episcopal consecration as the opposition
of the States would have prevented him from exercising his
functions. The wish to have a Bishop of their own, like other
Christian countries, favoured the rise among the QuesneUists
of a conception of episcopal jurisdiction which was calculated
to render feasible the appointment of a Bishop by their own
authority. Holland, it was claimed, could not be regarded
as a missionary territory administered by simple papal repre-
sentatives ; on the contrary, the Vicars Apostolic, from Vosmeer
to Codde, were also true Archbishops of Utrecht, whilst the
men whom Rovenius had appointed as advisers to the Vicar
Apostolic were to be regarded as the genuine and rightful
successors of the old Metropolitan Chapter of Utrecht, and
as such enjoying the right of naming a Vicar Capitular at the
death of the Archbishop and of electing a successor to the
vacant see. The Pope had no right to suppress the pre-
rogatives of the Chapter since he was subject to, and not above,
the laws of the Church.
These views did not tally with reality, not even with regard
to the facts adduced. Vosmeer and his successors could only
be regarded as Vicars Apostolic ruling in the Pope's name and
liable to be removed from office at his good pleasure. The
college of priests instituted by Rovenius as the assistant
council of the Vicar Apostolic, was not the legal heir of the
long extinct old Metropolitan Chapter, ^ and even if it were,
it would nevertheless not have been empowered to elect a
successor to the archiepiscopal see, seeing that this right had
passed to Charles V. in the year 1528, with the consent of
the Chapter,^ and since the erection of the new Dutch dioceses
by Philip 11., the nomination of Bishops lay in the hands of
^ Cf. the present work, XXXII., 492.
" The Chapters conceded to Charles V., that they " nuUius in
eorum episcopum eligendi ius vel potestatem haberent, praeter-
quam illius, quern dictus Carolus rex ut dux Brabantiae et comes
Hollandiae significandum, insinuandum nominandumque
duceret ". Clement VII., August 20, 1529, in Mozzi, I., 23.
6o HISTORY OF THE POPES.
the King of Spain. ^ But even if the Chapter's right of election
were beyond question, Canon Law made it impossible to
"elect a legitimate Bishop independently of the Pope since
without his authorization no Bishop could presume to give
episcopal consecration ; that much was granted even by
the oracles of the Ouesnellists, Van Espen, and at a later date
by Febronius.2
But these objections failed to impress the Ouesnellists of
Holland. The Dutch Church, they declared, was in a state
of self-defence against the Pope, seeing that he was bent on
destroying her legal existence. Such a situation knew no
law so that the Dutch Church was justified in whatever she
did to save her existence.^ Her only difficulty was to find a
Bishop who would take it on himself to impart episcopal
consecration without the Pope's consent.
It was difficult to find such a Bishop, but they ended by
discovering one. Dominic Mary Varlet,^ a Doctor of the
University of Paris, after devoting a few years to the pastoral
ministry in his native land, had joined the Paris Seminary of
Foreign Missions and had become Vicar-General to Bishop
Chevriere of Quebec in Canada. Clement XI. turned to this
able man when the Superior of the Persian Mission, Pidou
de Saint-Olon felt the need of an assistant. On September 17th,
1718, Varlet was named Bishop of Ascalon and Coadjutor
of Babylonia and on January 19th, 1719, he received episcopal
consecration at the Seminary of Foreign Missions in Paris.
When Propaganda received information of the death of the
Bishop of Persia, Varlet was instructed to present himself to
nuncio Bentivoglio in Paris and to set out for Persia via
Holland. However, under various pretexts, Varlet avoided
the nuncios of Paris and Brussels for he sided with the
' Paul IV., May 12, 1559, ibid., 36.
* Ibid., II., 120.
' Ibid., 112 seq.
* On Varlet, ibid., 115 scqq. ; [Dupac], 461 seq. ; [Cadry],
III., Sec. 7, p. 44 seqq. ; Analectes pour servir d I'hist. ecclds. de
Belgigue, XI. (1874), 4445^5'.
BISHOP VARLET. 6l
Appellants and feared lest he should be made to subscribe
to the Bull against Quesnel. Without leave of the internuncio
of Brussels, and on the sole authority of the " Chapter " of
Utrecht, he took it on himself to administer Confirmation at
Amsterdam where he lodged with the Jansenist parish priest
Krys. He then set out for Persia, travelhng via Moscow,
Astrachan and the Caspian Sea. Meanwhile Rome had been
informed of Varlet's real sentiments, with the consequence
that the Bishop of Ispahan was instructed to forbid him to
exercise any episcopal rights. ^ Thereupon Varlet returned to
Europe where he rejoined his Amsterdam friends. From
there, after a short stay in Paris, he wrote two letters
to Pope Innocent XIII. and a third to Propaganda, for the
purpose of justifying his conduct. Carafa, Propaganda's
Secretary, replied, urging him to submit to the decisions of
the Holy See, to accept the Bull and the formula, to leave
the company of the rebels and to take up residence in some
Catholic town — some of his friends in France would provide
for his maintenance.^ However, Varlet insisted on the Pope
first absolving him from all censures and declaring his conduct
irreproachable. He formally refused to subscribe to the Bull
and the formula and on February 15th, 1723, he appealed
to a General Council from the censure of the Bishop of Ispahan
and from any papal measure that might be taken in the future
in favour of that BuU.^
By this step Varlet had thrown in his lot completely with
the men of Utrecht so that there remained but little doubt
that he would be prepared to consecrate a Bishop even without
the consent of the Pope. By means of letters to Innocent XIII.*
and the efforts of their agent, Le Vage, they had sought to
persuade the Pope to give them an Archbishop, but these
^ The decree of suspension, dated Kasbin, December 17, 1719,
inMozzi, II., 11'/ seq. ; Fleury, LXXI., iGgseq.
* Mozzi, II., 124 seqq.
' Ibid., 129 seqq. The appeal is printed in [Nivelle], II.,
Suite, app., 16-27 '> extract in [Cadry], III., Sec. 7, p. 47 seqq.
* June II, 1721, and September 30, 1722, [Cadry], loc. cii.,
50-
62 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
endeavours proved in vain, as did the negotiations with the
nuncio.^
Accordingly on November 17th, 1722, they decided upon
independent action. Pamphlets were circulated among the
people to prepare them for so rash a step,^ whilst consultations
of scholars and Universities were meant to calm the scruples
of the educated classes. However, the answers were not what
had been expected. Van Espen gave a favourable reply ^
and the Paris theologians and jurists inclined to side with
them, but they made it a condition that their assent should
be kept secret. The Universities of Nantes and Rheims were
inclined towards greater boldness but the Government forbade
them to make their opinion public. Among the scholars who
were favourable was the Dominican Hyacinth Serry, but he
too did not openly advocate his opinion.* After assuring
themselves of the favourable dispositions of the Dutch
Government,^ they proceeded, on April 27th, 1723, to elect
an Archbishop. The choice fell on Cornelius Steenoven, a
student of Propaganda, who had been commissioned to
obtain an Archbishop from the nuncio in Brussels in 1706
and 1711. At the time of the election he held the office of
Vicar-General of the two Chapters and quite recently (1719),
in his funeral eulogy of Quesnel, he had publicly proclaimed
his Jansenist sentiments.^ In that panegyric he congratulated
the city of Amsterdam on having had the privilege of giving
hospitality, for the space of fifteen years, to a man like
Quesnel.' Steenoven was recognized by the Jansenist Bishops
^ [DuPAc], j[8o seq.
^ Ibid., 482 seq.
' December 12, 1722, ibid., 484.
* Ibid., 485 seqq. The six questions put to the Universities are
given in Mozzi, II., 119.
^ [DuPAc], 491.
* Ibid., 492 ; Mozzi, II., 135.
' " . . . eenen zoo grooteu man, die als een zonae niet alleen
verHchtcde de geheele wereld, naar zelfs de engelen in den
hemel ..." (in H. J. Allard, in Stiidien, LIX. [1902], 209).
SERVAIS HOFFREUMONT. 63
of France,^ but only papal approval could have a decisive
effect. On the very day of the election a letter was written to
Innocent XIII., praying him to confirm Steenoven's nomina-
tion and on May 18th the elect himself wrote to Rome,
forwarding his profession of faith, viz. that of the Council
of Trent which, in view of existing circumstances, could not
be considered adequate. Other letters from the Chapter
followed on August 1st and December 29th. Innocent XIII.
was about to reply with a sentence of excommunication when
his voice was silenced by death. ^
Quesnel's influence made itself felt not only in Holland
but in the Austrian Netherlands also.^ Servais Hoffreumont,
a parish priest of the diocese of Liege, was known as an
opponent of the Bull Unigenitus and for this he was accordingly
taken to task by the Vicar-General.^ Hoffreumont refused
to recognize the Vicar-General as competent to judge him
and appealed to the Emperor, on the ground that the action
against him was contrary to the laws of the Empire and the
prerogatives of Liege. He then repaired to Vienna in person,
to forward his cause with the imperial Aulic Council. Besides
the incompetence of the judge, he pleaded that the Bull
Unigenitus had been pubhshed without imperial placet and
accordingly did not possess force of law within the Empire ;
the Emperor was competent to prevent the introduction of
new formulas of faith which lacked the assent of the Church ;
^ In 1723, by the Bishop of Boulogne, in 1724 by the Bishops of
Auxerre, MontpeUier and Senez {Recneil des temoignages, 185 seq.,
189, 198). After the consecration, letters of recognition came from
the Bishops of MontpeUier (November 13, 1724), Auxerre (January
28, 1725), Bayeux (March 5, 1725), Macon (March 8, 1725),
Pamiers (March 22, 1725), from the Vicar-General of Rodez
(March 19, 1725) [ibid., 201-8).
2 [DuPAc], 493 ; Mozzr, II., 141 ; [Cadry], III., Sec. 7, p.
51-
^ Ibid., Sec. 3, p. 2 seqq.
■• April 23, 1720, ibid., p. 2. On Hoffreumont, cf. H. J. Allard in
Studien, 1878, 47-54 ; Analecies pour scrvir a I'hist. eccles. de la
Belgique, XL, 464.
64 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
in acting thus he was not arrogating to himself the right to
decide dogmatic questions but merely prevented people from
adding anything to the faith professed by the Church without
her clear consent.^
The imperial Government disapproved of the steps taken
by the Vicar-General of Liege and showed itself favourable
to Hoffreumont. An ordinance addressed to the Elector of
Cologne as Bishop of Liege ^ commanded that an end be
put to the Vicar-General's " persecution " of the Jansenists
and that a report on the matter be sent in within two months.
How Government circles in Vienna viewed the case appears
from an instruction of the Emperor to his ambassador in
Rome, Cardinal Althan. The troubles, we read, to which the
Constitution Unigenilus had given rise in France, were
imperceptibly spreading beyond the frontiers, not only into
the Austrian Netherlands, but hkewise into divers dioceses of
the Empire. As was shown by the memorials enclosed, they
had led to an intolerable oppression of clergy and laity.
Germany was already sufficiently torn by rehgious dissensions,
hence it was absolutely necessary to stem the progress of the
evil and to quench as quickly as possible a conflagration
fanned by excessive zeal. But whilst the matter was being
studied, they had repeated painful experiences. It was
reported that in the dioceses of Cologne, Treves, Liege,
Mahnes and others, certain ecclesiastical judges allowed
themselves to be carried away by the incautious eagerness
of certain over-zealous people who lacked vision, for they
were inconsiderately taking the unwonted road of a stern
Inquisition ; their first question to the learned and the
unlearned, to men and women in the confessional, and even
on their death-beds, related to this unfortunate Constitution
of Clement XI. and the dying were allowed to expire without
absolution if they pleaded ignorance as their excuse. Thus
were spirits embittered, priests rendered odious, the devout
scandalized and the ungodly strengthened in their impiety.
1 [Cadry], III., Sec. 3, p. 3 seq.
^ September g 1^21, ibid., -p. ^seq.
SERVAIS HOFFREUMONT. 65
Let Cardinal Althan represent to the Pope that in Germany
it was not possible to pursue the line of harsh rigour which so
many Archbishops and Bishops had taken with their demand
for a fresh promulgation of the aforesaid Constitution and
their insistence on its being accepted. Especially was it
necessary to leave the common people in peace and in its
blissful ignorance.
The Elector of Cologne's reply to the ordinance concerning
Hoffreumont ^ was to the effect that he was not competent
to alter the dogmatic definitions of the Holy See, especially
after they had been received by the Bishops, nor could he
allow them to be attacked with impunity by his subjects.
The ordinance declared that there was nothing the Emperor
had so much at heart as to maintain unimpaired the Bishop's
authority in the spiritual sphere. ^ But that authority would
be overturned if a Bishop was compelled to tolerate priests
tainted with the errors of Ouesnel, errors which constituted
an obvious peril for public tranquillity also. The Constitution
had been accepted throughout the diocese of Liege ; those
who had refused to subscribe to it numbered less than a score.
If there were any secret adherents of Quesnel in the diocese,
prompt measures must be taken and the Bishop could not
suffer such views to take root and to spread among the people.
But this would undoubtedly happen if Hoffreumont and his
associates were granted what they wanted, for in that event
other Quesnellists would spread their errors with impunity
all over the diocese. There had never been any " persecution " ;
nothing more had been asked of Hoffreumont than what had
been demanded from the other suspect clergy who, with
three or four exceptions, had all subscribed, as had also all
candidates for Holy Orders.
The Vicar-General of Liege did not carry the imperial
ordinance into effect,^ and in the end Hoffreumont's appeal
was rejected by an imperial decree.* Hoffreumont fled to
^ 'November 2j, ijzj, ibid., p. g seq.
* Ibid., -p. 4. ^ Ibid., -p. 10.
* By imperial decree and covering letter for the Elector,
February 5, 1723, ibid.. Sec. 6, p. 62.
VOL. xxxiv. F
66 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Holland where he became a professor at the Jansenist
Seminary of Amersfoort. He died at Rijnwijck, among the
fugitive Jansenist Cistercians of Orval. Shortly before his
death he had joined the French Appellants and revoked his
previous subscription to Alexander VH.'s formula.^
After the Emperor had finally sided with the Bishops in the
affair of Liege, he even went a step further. On the repre-
sentations of the Cardinal Archbishop of Malines he declared,
by letters to the Governor and the Bishops of the Netherlands, ^
that the Bull Unigenitus had been validly promulgated in
those countries and that this promulgation was to have its
full effect in law. Disciplinary action should be taken against
any public and scandalous opposition to the Bull.^
(5.)
With regard to the development of the missions. Innocent
Xni.'s short pontificate is memorable for the fact that he
completed what his predecessors had initiated. Thus he
approved the rules of the Missionary College of the Trinitarians
of S. Maria delle Fornaci, which had been founded in Rome
on the model of the Franciscan Colleges.* He subjected it to
Propaganda, with the express purpose of fostering the
^ Copy of the document in [Nivelle], II., Suite, App. 40,
Ibid., 33 seqq., are given isolated appeals from Malines, Antwerp.
Namur and Liege of the years 1729, 1731, 1735 and 1737.
* May 26, 1723, in [Cadry], III., Sec. 7, p. 52.
* In 1732 the Prince-Bishop of Liege decreed that all those
who did not accept the constitution Unigenitus would ipso facto
fall under the ban of the Church. In Maestricht the Quesnellists
appealed against the decree to the States which exercised sovereign
power in Maestricht, together with the Prince-Bishop of Liege.
The States, in fact, did intervene, a fact which led to altercations
between the two Powers (Fleury, LXXIV., 22-9 ; Decree of
the States, September 6, 1732, ibid., 25 seq.). On December 23,
1739, by order of the Pope, the Bishop of Liege published a new
decree to enforce the Constitution. This time it met with no
opposition {ibid., LXXVI., 281).
« Cf. XXXIII. , 365.
THE POPE AND THE MISSIONS. 67
apostolic spirit in the whole Order. ^ On February 3rd, 1721,
Clement XI. had created the diocese of Fogaras for the Uniate
Rumanians of Transilvania ; on July 17th of the following
year Clement's successor promulgated a Bull on the subject. ^
For the purpose of healing a schism among the Maronites,
the Holy See had despatched to Mount Lebanon Abbot
Gabriel Eva.^ Innocent XIII. was able to congratulate the
Patriarch Peter and his people on the restoration of unity.*
The gravest hindrance to the progress of reunion among
the Ruthenians was the circumstance that the converts were
punished with confiscation of their property for having
remained in schism ; a Brief of February lOtl^ 1724, sought
to put an end to this abuse. ^ The new Pope only followed in
the steps of his predecessors when, at the request of the
Commissary of the Franciscans, Emmanuel del Rio, he
confirmed anew all their privileges in the Holy Land ^ ;
the Custos and Guardian was empowered to administer
Confirmation.''
The missions were bound to benefit at least indirectly by
the erection, by the Pope, of the College of Santiago de Leon
of Caracas into a University with nine chairs of philosophy
and theology ^ ; by the faculty granted in perpetuity to the
Augustinian Hermits of Peru and Michoacan to bestow the
dignity of Doctors on six of their members,^ and by the
approval of the statutes of the Congregation of St. Hippolytus
in the West Indies. ^^ The Brazihan Carmelites of the provinces
of Bahia, Rio de Janeiro and Maranhao were also empowered
1 Brief of August 4, 1721, luspontif., II., 348.
2 Ibid., 345.
3 XXXIII., 362.
* Hergenrother, IV., 148 ; Die, in Diet, de theol. cath.. X.,
Tiseqq.
^ luspontif., 363.
« Ibid., 345.
' 7&iJ.,35i.
' August ig, 1722, ibid., 358 seq.
» Ibid., 353 seq., 354 seq., 356 seq.
^^ Ibid., 356 seq.
68 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
to confer the doctorate in theology.^ The Augustinian Province
of Mexico was authorized to increase the number of its
ordinary Masters of theology by eight. From these petitions
we gather that the province already numbered twelve Masters
of theology, forty-hve monasteries, fifty-five parishes for
natives and 1,000 members. ^ Whilst these dispositions bear
witness to a desire of maintaining and even raising the
intellectual level of the missionary Orders, a decree of Pro-
paganda placing the Colleges of the Observants under the
immediate authority of the General, points to the deter-
mination to put the direction of these most important
missionary institutions in the best hands.
The progress of the work of spreading Christianity continued
to depend on the religious Orders. The Society of Foreign
Missions of Paris, which is so important to-day, only entered
upon its magnificent development in the nineteenth century ;
up to the end of the eighteenth century it only fulfilled in a
small measure the hopes with which its foundation had been
greeted. But its importance was great even in the first years
because many of the Vicars Apostolic belonged to it, though
in 1722 it only counted nine priests and four Bishops in its Far-
Eastern missions.^ One cause of the growing decline of the
Society, besides the difficulties of the period, was the circum-
stance that the two Superiors, Brisacier and Tiberge, had to
strive with all their might to prevent the infiltration of
Jansenism : they inexorably refused any applicant who was
in any way suspect in this respect."* In 1717 three of the
Directors of the Society had to be dismissed on account of
Jansenism. 5 Tiberge and Brisacier informed the Pope of the
fact and in their letter they admit that the heresy had pene-
trated into the missions.^ The Seminary was subsequently
* Ibid., 3G1 seq., 403 seq.
* Ibid., 354 seqq.
' Launay, 479 seq., 499, 501 seq.
* Brucker in £tudes, LXVII. (1896), 500.
' Launay, I., 491.
* " D'uiie part, co sont dcs honimes inibus de nouvcUes
doctrines, qui se sont introduits dans ces belles missions, ct croicnt
THE MISSIONS. 69
able to purge itself before Innocent XIII. of the suspicion of
Jansenism/ but on the very day of that Pope's death
De Teneim wrote that rumour had it that there were rebels
against the Pope in the Seminary. Innocent decided that all
these should be dismissed.^
We hear but little of fresh conquests in the mission field
during the reign of Innocent XIII., though after a royal
edict of 1723 all the natives of the Isle of Mauritius were
instructed in the Catholic faith, with the aid of the French
India Company.^ In California the Jesuits founded new
missions in 1721, so that the Gospel was preached over the
whole of the southern section of the Peninsula.^ The zeal of
the Franciscans in the missions of Texas, Ecuador and Peru
is attested by the martyrdom of some of their missionaries
in 1721.^ On the Maranhao the Franciscans ministered to
pouvoir seuls les occuper. D 'autre part, toute la mission s'attire
de la haine et de la jalousie, pour avoir comme admis dans son
sein la peste de ces erreurs " (Launay, I., 492). Instead of signing
the Bull, the Seminary priest Fleury crumpled it up and threw
it in the face of the Provicar who had demanded the signature
[cf. Lemmens, 113). When Clement XI. demanded subscription
to the Bull Unigeniiiis as a preliminary condition for the consecra-
tion of the Seminary priests Le Blanc and Guisain as missionary
bishops, instructions were sent to the missionaries from the
Seminary by the Janscnist parish priest Krys, of Amsterdam,
advising them not to accept the Bull. Le Blanc died in China
before his consecration, Guisain was consecrated without having
subscribed to the Bull, probably because only the Brief of nomina-
tion but not the Papal demand from the consecrators had been
transmitted to him. [Cadry], IV., Sec. 29, p. 292). There were
disturbances in the seminary when Jobard, an opponent of the
Bull, was made Superior ; the niatter ended with Jobard's
appeal against the Constitution and his final expulsion from the
Seminary {ibid., 292-312). Cf. Appendix No. 16.
1 Launay, I., 4805?^^.
" [Cadry], IV., 305.
^ ScHMiDLiN, Missionsgesch., 369 seqq.
* Astrain, VII., 273.
^ Lemmens, 247, 287, 294.
70 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
500 converts in five stations.^ We read glowing accounts of
the great zeal of the Jesuit Jose Gumilla, on the Orinoco,
where he founded five new Reductions between 1718-1722.2
A report of Archbishop Zuloaga of Lima to the Pope speaks
highly of the missions of the Jesuits and the Bethlemites in
Peru ; among the ten bishops of thfe Vice-Kingdom he singles
out for special eulogy the two Dominicans, Nicolalde, Bishop
of Concepcion in Chile, and Mimbela of Trujillo.^ Whilst the
Jesuits maintained their high standard in Peru, in spite of
the universal moral decadence, symptoms of a loss of fibre
appeared in Quito which rendered necessary the intervention
of the General of the Order.*
In 1722 the Barnabite Calchi and the secular priest Vittoni
founded a mission at Pegu in Farther India. The King of
Alva authorized Calchi to preach and to build churches ;
he even went so far as to speak of the Pope as the first among
men. Vittoni was sent to Rome as the bearer of the King's
gifts to Innocent XIII., to do homage to him in Alva's name
and to pray for more missionaries.^
(6.)
Calchi and Vittoni had journeyed to the East in the suite of
Mezzabarba, the Papal Legate whose " permissions " led to
a further increase and confusion of the dispute over the
Chinese rites. Naturally enough the Jesuit missionaries in
China interpreted Mezzabarba's instruction in their favour.
The Emperor Kanghi sent one of their number, Niccolo
Gianpriamo, to Rome by the overland route in the suite of
the departing Russian ambassador. In November, 1772,
Gianpriamo had his first audience with Innocent XIII.
1 AsTRAiN, VII., 431.
2 Ibid., 459.
' Ibid., 331 seqq.
* Ibid., 378.
5 ScHMiDLiN, 387 ; Gallo, Stovia del cristianesimo nelV impero
Birmano, I. (1862), 92.
THE CHINESE RITES. 7I
and another in the following year, when he explained ^ that
Clement XL, through Mezzabarba, had complied with some
of the Emperor's wishes when he allowed precisely those rites
which were most contested and which most surprised the
Europeans. Only three points were left undecided, on which
the Emperor awaited a favourable answer. The first concerned
the divine names of Tien and Shang-ti. Might they not be
used to designate the true God, since the Emperor and the
Chinese literati had so often used them in the same sense ?
Might not likewise the tablets of Confucius and the ancestors,
with the customary inscription Goei, be tolerated seeing that
according to the Emperor's declaration and in the opinion
of the literati and that of most of the missionaries, they
pointed not to a real but to a purely spiritual presence, or
were mere reminders of Confucius and the ancestors ? Lastly,
was it really necessary, whilst carrying out ceremonies
authorized by the Pope, to exact an explicit profession of
faith ? No one saw anything wrong in these rites, but an
impression would be created that there was something evil
in them if what the decree seemed to prescribe was actually
carried out.
When the Emperor contended for these three points with
some of the missionaries, Gianpriamo argues, he fought on
behalf of truth which was clearly acknowledged throughout
his vast empire. After the promulgation of so many imperial
decisions, which Kanghi was prepared to maintain resolutely,
the Emperor fought for his honour and prestige as well as for
the tranquilhty of his empire, which would be destroyed
if hands were laid on inviolable laws. Painful experiences
had been made in this respect in the course of the past years ;
the Emperor had been so hurt that he had forbidden the
practice of the Christian religion. The execution of the
prohibition had indeed been put off, but only in the expecta-
tion of an answer from the Pope which would meet the
Emperor's wishes. On the basis of this expectation alone
^ His memorial in Platel, VII., 151-4, and in Anecdotes,
v., 193-8.
72 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
the Emperor had instructed the tribunals not to molest
the Christians and the missionaries for the time being.^
By the time Gianpriamo made these requests they had
become objectless. On December 22nd, 1722, Kanghi was
carried off by death and as the Bavarian Jesuit Ignatius
Kogler writes,^ with him vanished the last human support
for Christianity in China. The new Emperor, Yong-Tshing,
had never had any dealings with Europeans and now that he
was Emperor he designed at most to make use of one or two
of their number. True, the imprisoned Lazarist Pedrini
recovered his freedom on the occasion of the change of regime ;
on the other hand the Mandarin Chao, who favoured the
Christians, was thrown into prison and one of the missionaries
was executed. The Jesuit Mourao, who had enjoyed the
special regard of the late Emperor on account of his knowledge
of Chinese, was one day asked bj^ Kanghi who, in his opinion,
should succeed him. Mourao endeavoured to evade the
dangerous question but ended by praising the qualities of the
Emperor's ninth son. The consequence was that Yong-
Tshing, who had already rendered six of his brothers harmless,
banished Mourao to Tartary together with this ninth son of
Kanghi.^ The rooms in which the two were confined were
only separated by a partition, hence they were able to
establish communication with each other. This promptly
caused them to be suspected of high treason, a suspicion
which procured for the prince a harsher confinement whilst
it led Mourao to the scaffold.*
^ Anecdotes, V., 190-8.
* " Cum mortuo cecidit pene omne, quod in humanis crat,
sustentaculum s. religionis in hoc imperio." Letter of October 10,
1723, State Archives, Munich, Jesuit, in gen., fasc. 16, n. 278.
* *Lcttcr of the Jesuit Ilavich, October 8, 1723, ibid.
* Bahr, Merkiviirdigkeiten, 130 seq. The enemies of the Jesuits
spread the rumour that Mourao had really intended to commit
high treason. Bahr (131) says, however : " Ich stche in cinem
solchen Ort, allwo die ganze Sache nicht unbekannt, ich wohne
in demsclben Zimmer, in welchem dieser angcriihmte Pater
lange lahre gclcbet, ich lebe unter solchen Mitbriidern, die annoch
PERSECUTION. 73
For the Chinese Christians there now opened a long period
of persecution. On September 7th, 1723, the Viceroy of
Fukien pubhshed an edict ordering the Christians to renounce
their faith, their eighteen churches to be seized and the
missionaries to be banished.^ The tribunal of the rites con-
firmed the decree ; those missionaries who might be of use
to the court were to remain at Peking, the others were to be
taken to Macao. Meetings for Christian worship were made
punishable. 2 The Emperor approved the decision on
January 11th, 1724.^ The missionaries were accordingly
expelled and the churches turned into storehouses, schools or
pagodas.* Only on August 1st, 1724, did Yong-Tshing grant
lebendige Zeugen sein konnen, sowohl des Lebenswandels dieses
Missionarii, als des Ausgangs semes Tods, welches alles zu niehrer
Sicherheit dem geneigten Lescr dienen mag." Moreover it is
hard to beheve that if Mourao had really committed high treason,
the first penalty would have been mere banishment. Mourao's
" confession " contains nothing incriminating either himself or
the ninth prince who. according to Mourao, had more than once
said that he did not aspire to the throne. The final condemnation
of Mourao, although based on treason, furnishes no concrete facts
(Anecdotes., V., 88 seq.). Pedrini also seems to be inclined to
believe the accusation, but, says the Carmelite Wolfgang, Pedrini
faUs under the spell of fixed ideas when he speaks of the Jesuits
(Appendix, n. g, § 3), and he too only speaks of a " suspicion "
(soupgons) of the Emperor that the Christians were taking part in
rebellions (Thomas, 327). Recently, in a long chapter, Thomas
(307-315) has asserted that the conspiracy of P. Mourao must be
regarded as a fact.
1 DeMailla.XI., 384.
* Ibid., 390 seq.
' Ibid., 391.
* De Mailla's letter of October 16, 1724, lettres edif.. III., 365 seq.
Ibid., 346-364, further particulars on the edicts of persecution.
According to the enemies of the Jesuits the " conspiracy " of
Mourao was the principal reason for the persecution of the
Christians (Thomas, 316 seq.). But there are many arguments
against this supposition : (i)thc persecution did not begin at
Peking, but at Fukien ; (2) it began only on September 7, 1723,
74 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
an audience to the Jesuits, when he informed them that he
would allow them to remain at Peking, and in Canton, but
that Confucius must not be touched. He told them that he
himself, as far as religion was concerned, honoured heaven,
the Lord of heaven. Foe (Buddha) and the Pope. If the whole
of China were to become Christian, she would sink so low as
to be no more than a vassal of the Europeans.^ Ever}- effort
to make the Emperor see things in another light was in vain.
If evil days befell the missionaries in China, worse ones
came for the Jesuits in Rome. For a considerable time already
dark clouds had been gathering over their heads ; under
Innocent XIII., who was no friend of theirs, the storm seemed
about to burst. The worst reports about them had reached
Rome. Tournon ascribed his failure to their intrigues ;
embittered as he was by illness and imprisonment, he suspected
in every untoward event that befell him the hand and the
ill will of these supposed enemies of his.^ His friends shared
his sentiments. In their opinion Kanghi was prepared to
concede everything that the Pope asked of him through
Tournon, brilhant prospects were opening for the Church
whereas Mourao's arrest took place already on April 3, 1723 ;
(3) in the documents on the persecution no reference at all is made
to Mourao ; what is found fault with in Christianity is rather :
its recommendation of the practice of virginity, the assistance
at divine worship by men and women in common, the neglect of
the worship of the ancestors and auricular confession {cf. the
documents in De Mailla, XL, 379-400). " Depuis le temps que
durent vos disputes, vous voyez le train que prennent vos affaires,"
said Kanghi's thirteenth son to the Jesuits [ihid., 392).
1 *Letter of the Jesuits of Peking, January 13, 1725, State
Archives, Munich, loc. cit. There the Emperor is quoted as saying :
" Coeli Dominum vocatis Tienchu et risui vos exponitis, sicut
secta Foe, per Tienchu vocandi Coeli Dominum." Cf. De Mailla,
XL, 401.
2 XXXIIL, 446. Cf., e.g., his letter to the Jesuits of
January 18, 1715, Anecdotes, IL, 175 seqq. According to this they
are the cause of all the misfortunes of the Chinese mission, the
Emperor is a mere plaything in their hands, everywhere they
put traps for him, i.e. for the Legate.
ATTACKS ON THE JESUITS IN ROME. 75
in China, had not the Jesuits induced the Emperor to insist
on the rites and thus destroyed the magnificent hopes for
the future.^ Maigrot, who on his return to Europe was
summoned to Rome to report, worked there in the same sense.
In a dissertation on the right of patronage in China, he
1 *Vidde [Tournon] aperta la porta alia cattolica fede, per
stabilirsi per sempre nella China, poiche rimperatore di China
stava molto bene inchinato di concederli quanto era per dimandarli
in nome del 88. Pontefice, certo che I'havesse dimandato un
imperial diploma per firmare in perpetuum la santa fede nella
China, o di permettersi in perpetuum in ogni citta una chiesa
ai christiani, I'havria certamente ottenuto, se non se li fossero
opposti, che voglion esser soli per vivere a gusto loro in China. —
Vidde a tocco con mani come li pretesi obedientissimi figli della
santa madre Chiesa unironsi in Pekino contro di quella. Oh
Dio ! 8e questi si fossero uniti con li santi dettami di Sua Em.,
o almeno non li fossero opposti, gia si saria stabilita per sempre
la santa madre Chiesa cattolica in quest'imperio di China, poiche
rimperatore di questa stava ben inchinato a favoriria (Le presenti
relazioni, che contengono epilogatamente li piu public! e manifest!
strapazzi, che pati in China et in Macao I'em. sig. card, d! Tournon,
National Library, Munich. Cod. ital., 568, Miscell. stor. eccL,
f. 221). To this the Jesuits replied : *An ipse imperator in gratiam
paucorum Europaeorum convellere opinionem publicam, contra
literatorum et procerum suorum sententiam et libros ire, incurrere
gravem seditionis ac tumultus metum voluisse censendus est ?
Quaenam in hoc toto negotio authoritas apud ilium nostra esse
potuit ? Ita enim nonnulli dictitant, nos id ab eo et proceribus
consequ! posse, ut ritus ill! et consuetudines a christianis penitus
omittantur. Nae, qui sic loquuntur, errant longissime; neque
satis animadvertunt, quam sit natio in priscis moribus ritibusque
conservandis religiosa et constans, quos ita mordicus tenet, ut
fortunas, dignitates, omnia denique sib! potius erip! patiatur,
quos si vel minimum attentare conentur Europaei, tanquam
hostes reipublicae, impii, conscelerati exterminabuntur. Testis est
laponia . . . ; floreret adhuc inter lapones Christiana lex, si
cautius cum illis et prudentius initio res gesta fuisset. Exulcerati
sunt eorum anim! a malevolorum dolo aut parum consulta bonorura
pietate . . . (Libellus supplex of the Chinese Jesuits to Clement
XL, State Archives, Munich, loc. cit., ibid., 279).
76 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
endeavours to prove that nothing could be more disastrous
for the missions in the East than to grant this right to " the
Portuguese, or more correctly, to the Jesuits ", whilst con-
trariwise, nothing would so benefit the Chinese Church as its
deliverance from the servitude in which it found itself as a
result of the greater part of the Empire having been assigned
to the Jesuits.^ According to the author of this dissertation,
every salutary measure of the Holy See was thwarted b)^ the
Jesuits ; they were tj'rants against whom no one dared raise
a finger ; every violence committed b}' the Portuguese was
instigated by them. The Jesuit General was the Pope in those
parts, with full powers to preach the gospel of Confucius. -
Maigrot was a member of the Paris Seminary of Foreign
Missions ^ and the most active opponent of the Jesuits in the
question of the rites was precisely that Seminar}'. Ouemener
and Charmot, who were Maigrot's agents in Rome since
1694, also belonged to it. On the question of the rites the
most distinguished missionary Bishop of the rising institution,
Pallu, had been completety won over to the views of the
Dominican Navarrete, whom he had met at Madagascar when
on his way to China whilst the latter was returning to Europe.'*
^ *De lure patronatus in ccclesiis imperii Sinarum, Staatsbibl,
Munich, Cod. ttal., 562.
" " Cum omnimoda facultate Confucii evangclium Sinis praedi-
candi. . . . Verun est, quod quotiescunque Icsuitae Sinarum
imperatorcm impellent ad Legatum Apost., missionaries et
ipsum Papam, si illuc iret, Macaum detrudendos tradcndosque
in manus Lusitanorum, tunc domini seu potius satellites egregii
futuri Lusitani sint, illisque facturi, quidquid lesuitae vohierint."
Ibid.
3 In Reusch, Index, II., 773. In another place lie is erroneously
said to be a Lazarist.
* " *Je me trouve si esclaire des entretiens de ce bon religieux
et des memoires que j'en ai dresse qu'il me semble que j'ensuis
suffisamment pourveu pour me bien conduire dans I'estat present
des affaires de cettc mission " (Pallu, December 28, 1670, Letlres,
I., 129). " Je ne puis vous exprimer combien les entretiens que
j'ai eus avec ce bon religieux m'ont donne de secours pour servir
THE PARIS SEMINARY AND THE JESUITS. 77
In tlie sequel the Seminary Priests addressed petition upon
petition to the Pope against them ^ ; these documents spared
neither the defenders of the rites nor their writings. More-
over the Seminar}^ succeeded in getting the Sorbonne to take
part in the dispute. As some of the quahficators of the Roman
Congregation favoured the Jesuits, Charmot sought to
neutralize their influence by obtaining from the Sorbonne,
through Archbishop Noailles of Paris, an expression of
opinion on the points in dispute which were then being
examined in Rome. As a matter of fact, on May 8th, 1700,
several Doctors condemned in the severest terms no fewer
than twenty-nine propositions dealing with the rites. More-
over the Director of the Seminary denounced to the Sorbonne
two publications by the Jesuits Le Comte and Le Gobien ;
as a result of thirty sittings of the Doctors, five propositions
from these writings were condemned on October 18th, 1700. ^
By prohibiting all further writing on the rites Clement XL
put a stop to the polemics, though two decades later the
Seminary ^ caused to be published by the Jansenist Viller-
meule, a collection of documents ^ which constitute an odious
Ubel on the Jesuits.
A Dominican missionary in China, whom the persecution
efficacement la mission de la Chine qui est reduit dans un tres
fascheux estat " (to Nesmond, August 4, 1671, ibid., II., 350).
On his journey Pallu was accompanied by Artus de Lyonne and
Charles Maigrot, who were afterwards his most violent opponents
in the dispute about the rites. Launay, I., 256.
^ April 20, 1700 (CoRDiER, II., 886), October 15, 1709, and
February 2, 1710 {Anecdotes, III., 210-18, 222-235), Reponse
d la protestation des Jcsuites {ibid., 236-241), etc. Cf. Anecdotes,
l..35seq.
* Brucker in Diet, de theol. cath., II.", 2374 seq. ; Sommer-
VOGEL, Bibliotheqiie , II., 1358-1361. The condemned propositions
in Feret, JEpoque moderne, II., 373-8 ; Dupin, Hist, de I'^glise,
IV., Paris, 1726, 403 seq.
* Reush, Index, II., 777.
* Anecdotes sur I'etat de la religion dans la Chine, 7 vols., Paris,
Aux depens de la Societe, 1733-1742.
78 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
drove to Rome, wrote there in Maigrot's sense.^ For this
reporter also it is quite evident, though he too furnishes no
proof, that every unfavourable measure must be ascribed to
the Jesuits,^ though at the same time he extols the con-
ciHatory dispositions of his brethren in religion towards
them 3 ; care was taken to give the widest publicity to these
accusations by means of a Spanish, Latin and French
edition.
Even more disastrous for the Jesuits was the enmity of
many missionaries and officials of Propaganda. Propaganda's
first Secretary, Francesco Ingoh, who was in office between
1622-1649, gave proof of his short-sighted preventions
against them, to quote only one instance, by his attitude
towards that great Englishwoman, Mary Ward.^ His successor,
Urban Cerri (1675-1679) drew up, on the basis of inadequate
material, a report on the missions of so much open hostility to
the Order that certain non-Catholics showed their appreciation
of it by the publication of a French and English translation
at Amsterdam and in England.^ In his pamphlets against
the Jesuits Antoine Arnauld was able to emphasize the fact
that he had drawn information not only from the Dominican
archives in Rome and Paris, « but even from those of
Propaganda.^ After Clement XL's condemnation of the
conduct of the Jesuits in China, it is easy to understand that
the other missionaries should have deemed it a meritorious
act, and even a duty, to turn their backs on them. The
1 Francois Gonzales de St. Pierre, Relation de la nouvelle
persecution de la Chine jusqii'd la mort du cardinal Tournon,
1714.
« DupiN, loc. cit., 51, 70, 286.
» Ibid., 75.
« Jos. Grisar in Siimmen der Zeit, CXIII. (1927). 42- Cf.
the present work, XXIX., 24 seqq.
» R. CoRRiGAN. Die Kongregation " de Propaganda Fide "
und ihre Tdtigkeit in Nordamerika, Munich, 1928, .19 seqq.
« Morale pratique des Jdsuites, Arnauld, CEuvres, XXXIV.,
314. 319, 466, 471. 562 se^.
■> Ibid., 472. 587 ; XXXIII., 289. 328, etc.
GROWING OPPOSITION TO THE JESUITS. 79
Superior of the French Jesuits in Peking, d'Entrecolles, wrote
on November 3rd, 1724, to the French Assistant of the General
in Rome, that the missionaries of Propaganda were so pre-
judiced against the Jesuits, that without a miracle of the
first order, it would be impossible to remove their preventions,
in fact they could not describe things as they saw them with
their own eyes, for if they did they would be accused of
having gone over to the Jesuit side, and would be punished
accordingly ; thus Tomacelli of the Clerics Minor and a friend
of the Jesuits, had been recently recalled from China. ^
The campaign of calumny, which eventually led to the
suppression of the Order, had been inaugurated in the first
years of the century. Already there were those who openly
worked for the destruction of the Society of Jesus. In the
Congregations dealing with the rites, Cardinal Casanata
said that though the Society had been at one time the Church's
right hand, even the right hand must be cut off when it has
1 " *y_ jj vedra nella mia lettera scritta al P. Generale, ciie
per la nostra giustificazione mi fondo molto sopra le diffuse scrit-
ture degli anni precedenti. In effetto io le stimo convincenti per
li fatti, de' quali si tratta. Ma vol direte, queste non sono che
testimonialize de' Gesuiti. A che rispondo, che le persone inviate
qui dalla S. Congregazione sono venuti cosi prevenuti contro
di noi sulli punti contestati, che sarebbe necessario un miracolo
di prima classe il rimuoverli da un tal pregiudicio. Ne pure si sono
tralasciate le offerte di danaro per impegnare qualcheduno a
sostenere la lore causa. Io lo so da persona che e testimonio a chi
fu fatta tale offerta. E come mai si potra sperare neiravvenire,
che alcun soggetto della S. Congregazione ardisca scrivere le cose
come noi le scriviamo e le veggiamo con gli occhi, per non dispiacere
a certe persone, perch e cio basta per il dire che il tale b passato al
partito de' Gesuiti, che e un falso fratello e perche sia severamente
punito ? L'esempio del P. Tomacelli chierico regolare minore
richiamato quest'ora dalla Cina, come altresi del S. Gagliardi
cirussico arrestera da qui innanzi qualunque della S. Congrega-
zione dallo scrivere anche suUa testimonianza de' propri occhi
cio che giudicasse esser favorevole a' Gesuiti." Letter, property
of the Jesuits.
8o HISTORY OF THE POPES.
become useless.^ The Procurator of Propaganda in China,
Perroni, sums up his opinion of them in one sentence :
" Away with them ! " ^ When Bishop Laghi of Lorima,
Vicar ApostoHc of Shansi, rephed that if the Jesuits had been
at fault, they might amend, his one answer was : " Away
with them ! " and when told that it was monstrous so to
condemn them, he repeated his " Away with them ! " ^
The Jesuits considered as their principal enemy and
calumniator the Lazarist Pedrini who long enjoyed unshake-
able prestige in Rome.'* They were so convinced that envy
and jealousy were the driving power in the troubles occasioned
by the question of the rites, that like the two women before
Solomon, they were prepared to renounce utterly the child
of their anxiety and toil, the Chinese mission, and to surrender
it to their opponents, lest everything perish amid the endless
quarrels.^ The Jansenist literature, which never ceased to
fan the discord, took advantage of the accusations against
the Jesuits in order to work for their destruction, and on
occasion it openly admits the fact.^
^ " *Quod autem ea praecipue adversariorum intentio fuerit,
ut Societatem, si possent, penitus destruerent, S. D. N. Clemens XI.
ipsemet satis advertit at iterate Claris verbis dixit ; quin etiam
asseruit, non dubitasse em. card. Casanata in una congregatione,
cui ipse adhuc cardinalis intererat, palam edicere, Societatem
fuisse quidem aliquando manum dexteram Ecclesiae, sed etiam
manum dexteram Ecclesiae, cum iam inutilis esset, abscindendam
esse." Castner, c. 4. * " Eradicemus illos, eradicandisunt."
' *Sommario addizionale, n. 4, in Appendbc, n. 11.
« Ibid.,n. I.
* " *Date illi, date, obsecro, infantem vivum et non inter-
ficiatur. Date illi missionem totam, integram, plenam, tantum-
modo ne pereant animae Sinarum, quas in Christo genuimus "
(Stumpf, Succinta chronologica narratio, dedicated to the holy
Angels). " *Quodque iam aUas . . . professi sumus, dcauo
obsecrare [nos testamur] : detur alteri, dum viva servetur,
proles, nee divisa interficiatur " (letter of the Jesuits of Peking
to the General, dat. October 28, 1724, appendix, n. 7a).
• Anecdotes, III., 242 : " Le feu d'une division [kindled bj'
the Jesuits} qui selon toutes les apparences ne s'eteindra que par
MEZZABARBA. 8l
True, Maigrot and Pallu were no followers of Jansenist
teachings/ but it can scarcely be questioned that the hatred
of which the Society was the object sprang from the spirit
which, as a result of Jansenist manoeuvres, had taken root
in a considerable section of the French clergy, in fact that
spirit had even reached the missions ^ ; and almost more
than anything else it insisted on aversion for the Society of
Jesus.
The worst consequence for the Jesuits of this aversion was
that the Legate Mezzabarba allowed himself to be drawn
into the opposition which confronted them. Tournon, his
predecessor, deserves our admiration for the intrepidity with
which he sought to fulfil his mission, but his successor possessed
no such qualities. Mezzabarba was not a strong character.
At first and whilst at Peking, he seemed to stand up whole-
heartedly for the blamelessness of the Jesuits, but at Macao,
and after his return to Europe, he spoke in a different tone.
The change of attitude is undeniable. After Mezzabarba's
volte-face the Jesuit Mourao wrote to him on September 25th,
1726, from his place of banishment at Si-tai-tum. In this
letter the Jesuit confronted Mezzabarba with his earlier
statements : the Legate, Mourao wrote, had taken heaven
to witness that he would support the Jesuits in the affair of
the rites. ^ Shortly before Mezzabarba's departure from
Peking, the three highest Jesuit Superiors called on him and
prayed him on their knees for his parting counsel and advice.
If he had any fault to find with them, let him do so freely
1 'extinction de la Societe qui est 1 'unique cause de nos nialheurs."
Ibid., IV., 342 note : [Tournon] " dent la canonisation annoncera
a rUnivers la ruine prochaine de la Societe qui I'a fait mourir,"
etc.
1 Launay, I., 182, 333.
2 Above, p. 68.
^ " *Alem destas rezoes, que bastao a persuadirme que V. S.
I lima nao he inimigo nosso, tenho para a mesma persua9ao outro
motivo na quelle juramento com que V. S. 111"^* tomando o ceo
per testemunha me uno praesente jurou defender o credito dos
Jesuitas na causa Sinica." Cf. Appendix, n. 14.
VOL. xxxiv. G
82 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
and if they were guilty, let him punish them. The Legate
replied that what he had observed in the members of the
Order was all most pleasing to God and worthy of the highest
praise ; if it ^yere otherwise he would not have withheld
correction until the last moment. Let the Fathers be of good
heart, he would defend their innocence in Rome against those
who calumniated them and would procure some relief for
them.^ This was the burden of an apology the accused Jesuits
addressed to the cardinalitial Congregation which was charged
to decide their fate, and this in Mezzabarba's life-time. In
the letter referred to above, Mourao boldly, though in polite
terms, tells Mezzabarba to his face that fear was the reason
of his change of conduct. Pedrini's name is also mentioned
in this letter. In a pamphlet written by the latter and broad-
cast at Canton by Appiani, Mezzabarba was reproached with
partiality for the Jesuits. Now, as the Legate had frequently
observed to Mourao, this was precisely the reproach he was
most afraid of, for nothing would so damage both his legation
and the Mission in Rome.^ Mourao bluntly tells Mezzabarba
that he could only explain certain passages in his pastoral
letter to the Chinese missionaries in the light of a desire
to counteract the above-mentioned suspicion. The reason why
the Legate had put off the defence of the Jesuits in Rome
was because of the preventions against them which prevailed
there. ^ However, if reasons had existed for temporarily
hiding the truth, the time had come for justice to be done to
them. Mourao reminds the Legate of declarations made
by himself in China ; namely that heroic efforts became an
^ " * . . . se nihil nisi religiosum et valde commendabile in
Societatis hominibus notassc, secus se ad illud usque tempus
iustam monitionem, increpationcm aut animadversionem non
fuisse dilaturum. Bono insuper Patres animo esse iussit, se
innocentiam ct calumniis opprcssorum patrociniuni Romae suscep-
turum et Icvamen certe allaturum." Memorial of the Jesuits to the
Congregation of Cardinals, September, 1726 (see below, p. 203,
n. 6),No. 18.
' Appendix, n. 14 (f. 149^).
' Ibid. [f. 150b].
DECREE AGAINST THE JESUITS. 83
ecclesiastic of noble lineage where the service of God and the
Church were concerned ; he believed that God had reserved
to him this mission to China for His service and for the good
of the numerous Christian communities there. On another
occasion he had declared that there would have been no
easier road for him towards the cardinalate than if he had
returned to Rome, without further effort to discharge his
mission, when the Emperor refused him a first audience.
" But of what use would the purple be to me before the
tribunal of Christ if I had deceived His Vicar on earth, to the
detriment of numberless souls ? " ^
Mezzabarba roundly rejected a later apology of the Jesuits
as evidence against them on account of its manifest contra-
dictions,^ but before a fuller light was thrown on his own
testimony, his evidence was bound to tilt the scales heavily.
In view of the constantly recurring accusations the Pope
could not remain silent in the long run. By his orders Aluigi
Carafa, the Secretary of Propaganda, directed a Brief, dated
September 13th, 1728, to Michele Tamburini, the Jesuit
General, which can be regarded as a forerunner of the decree
of suppression of the year 1773.^ The document begins by
stating that after mature discussion and consideration the
Pope had come to the definite conclusion that the excesses
of the Jesuit missionaries in China could be tolerated no
longer. They were for ever disobeying the directions of the
Holy See, refused to carry out their duties as missionaries and
to administer the Sacraments, to the very great injury to
souls, and never ceased, by means of cunning artifices, to
obstruct the execution of the Apostolic ordinances, more
particularly that of Clement XL's Bull on the Chinese rites,
although they had sworn to observe it. The General himself
had failed in his duty towards men whose conduct was in
1 Ibid., [f. 152b].
* Below, p. 203 seq.
^ " Ordini intimati al P. Generale della Compagnia di Giesu
da Msgre Segretario della S. Congrcgatione di Propaganda per
commando di N. S. Sotto 11 13 septembre 1723," Anecdotes,
v., 254-260.
84 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
open contradiction with his solemn declaration of submission
of November 20th, 1711. He had also failed to carry out
the command which Clement XL had given to him and to his
Assistants, in the presence of the Prefect of Propaganda,
Cardinal Sagripanti, and its Secretary, Archbishop Carafa,
previous to Mezzabarba's departure, for though the insub-
ordination of the Peking Jesuits in particular had come to
his knowledge year by year, he had neglected to take suitable
steps to enforce their compliance and had not even appealed
to' the Holy See when faced by their impudence.
Nevertheless in his fatherly gentleness the Pope was
unwilling to act with the strictness with which he might well
proceed. He had given his orders to the Secretary of Pro-
paganda by word of mouth and confirmed them by a letter
of the Secretary of State dated September 8th, 1723. These
were now being communicated, on September 13th, to the
General and his Assistants, with strict injunctions for their
execution. They were to the following effect : 1. The General
must find means to compel the Jesuits of China, Tonking
and Cochinchina to obey strictly the papal prohibition of the
rites and to resume their missionary activities and the adminis-
tration of the Sacraments in accordance with the oath they
had taken, but which they had failed to keep. Those who
refused to obey were to be recalled from the mission field.
2. Within a period of three years, beginning on October 1st,
1723, the General must furnish proof of his own and his subjects'
obedience ; if he failed to do so the Society would be forbidden
to receive novices after the lapse of three years. 3. From the
day of the promulgation of this prohibition the General was
to send no fresh missionaries to the Far East. 4. The General
is to revoke all faculties to the contrary granted by sub-
ordinate Superiors. 5. The General is to write to and to bring
the utmost pressure to bear on, the Jesuits in Peking in
particular " who are known to be the originators and pro-
moters of the imprisonment of other missionaries, where, to
the greatest possible scandal they had acted as policemen and
gaolers, especially on the occasion of the arrest of the priest
Theodoric Pedrini." They must be made to do their utmost
DECREE AGAINST THE JESUITS. 85
to the end that he, as well as Appiani and Guigues, should
recover their freedom. 7. The General must send a circular
to the whole Order forbidding all opposition to the decree
on the rites. 8. Gianpriamo is not to return to China without
the Pope's leave. Nos. 6 and 9 settle the mode of execution.
Like so many other documents, a breach of confidence
caused this one too to fall into the hands of the Jansenists,
who published it.^
There is no need to insist on the crushing effect of this
decree on the Chinese missionaries. In November, 1724, in a
letter to Lisbon, the Bavarian Ignatius Kogler, after lamenting
the collapse of the mission, ^ in consequence of the persecution
by the Emperor Yong-Tshing, goes on to say : " Whilst
we weep over these pitiful ruins, whilst we hope for some
comfort from Europe, all we get is a letter from our General,
written by order of Propaganda, which leaves us prostrate
with grief and almost kills us ! Thus nothing remains to us
but extreme and universal abandonment. Good God ! Until
now I had believed that when, out of pure love of God and
the Gospel, a man left his country to go to the ends of the
earth, he ran no other risks than those which the Apostle of
the Gentiles experienced in so large a measure, and that he
would only have to undergo such trials as are wont to befall
all men. But it is a more grievous trial and one beyond
human endurance that the least of his sons should not only
be rendered suspect to the Holy Father of enormous crimes,
but that they should be condemned without first being tried,
and that punishment should be extended even to our guiltless
Mother [the Society of Jesus] , a thing that causes the heretics
to rejoice, the hypocrites to triumph and which, there is
every reason to fear, will do grievous injury to the Church
of God. My tears and sighs do not allow me to go on. If your
Reverence can do anything, help us and our common Mother ;
1 Ibid.
- In a letter to Stiehl, confessor of the Queen of Portugal,
reported in the latter 's *letter of June 17, 1726, State Archives.
Munich, lesiiit. in gen., fasc. 16, n. 27S. Cf. Appendix, No, 8..
86 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
appeal to our royal patrons. . . . Testimonies to our complete
innocence of the things we are accused of have been forwarded
year by year and in great abundance, so that one is amazed
that fresh testimonials should be constantly required. Maybe
these documents are buried in the Archives and are not pro-
duced lest the calumnies of our accusers should be confounded.
Will the fresh attestations meet with a like fate, especially
as the most unheard of crimes of which we are accused, are
regarded as incontestable ? "
The Pope cannot be held responsible for the harsh language
of the decree of Propaganda. When he was told of the manner
in which his order had been communicated to the General,
he declared that the directions and penalties were only to
be regarded as having been intimated and that on the basis
of the report of one party ; his wish was that a documented
defence should be submitted by the Jesuits. This was done.
The Pope reserved to himself the examination of the affair
with a view to submitting it to a Congregation of Cardinals.^
Innocent XIII. 's death prevented an immediate examina-
tion by* the Cardinals, but Tamburini, the General of the
Society, had submitted an apologia during the Pope's life-
time.^ Tamburini begins by observing that before judgment
was given he would like to be informed of the main points
of the accusation ; this had also been the Pope's wish, but
effect had not been given to it. The Secretary of Propaganda
had indeed let Gianpriamo know that he was free to submit
anything he liked, but he was told nothing of the nature of
the particular accusations. After Tamburini had ascertained
that the inquiry was in progress and after Gianpriamo had
requested, for three days in succession, that the accusations
should be communicated to him, he was told that there were
no instructions to that effect. The Secretary of State, Giorgio
Spinola, was also approached with a like request. Thus it
was clear that the Society had not refused to meet its accusers.^
1 " *Informazione " of January, 1725, Appendix, No. 10.
2 It is printed in a French translation only, without the docu-
ments, in Anecdotes, VI., 1-478.
3 Ibid., 7.
JESUIT general's DEFENCE. 87
As for the accusations, Tamburini calls God to witness
that he felt innocent of every one of the imputations and that
he had good reason to beheve that the greater number of his
missionaries in China had not strayed from the path of
duty.^ To justify his own conduct Tamburini submitted
documents showing that he had dispatched instructions to
China ordering the prohibition of the rites to be complied
with and rebuking the transgression of a few missionaries.
Every year he had reported to the Holy See on the situation
in the East and on the difficulties created by the observance
of the decrees on the rites. ^
For the rest the papal decrees of 1704 and 1710 were only
published in China in the year 1715. The Bishop of Peking
had represented to the Holy See the necessity of postponing
the promulgation of the decrees and Fernandez, the Com-
missary of the Franciscans, wrote that- not one of the
Vicars Apostolic had published them. In these circumstances
it was necessary for the General to hold his hand lest his
orders should cross those of the Bishops.
With regard to his missionaries, the General states that he
was in possession of convincing proofs of their prompt and
willing obedience, with the exception of a very few individuals.
Documentary attestations of their having sworn to the Bull
was dispatched to Clement XI. who received them with every
manifestation of intense satisfaction. For China, the
1 " Non si cognosce gravata la conscienza " {ibid., 4 seq.).
The reprint of the defence in Anecdotes, Vol. VI., accompanies
Tamburini's exposition with odious observations which have no
objective value. For example, Tamburini's protestation of his
innocence is countered thus {loc. cit., 4) : " Le P. Tambourin ne se
contente pas de refuser la soumission au jugement du Pape qui
le condamne, . . . il se presente aux pieds du 8. Pere pour lui
donner un dementi. Le Pape le blame de sa negligence, le General
ose assurer qu'il n'a manque a aucune des diligences necessaires.
Le Pape declare les Jesuites de la Chine rebelles a ses ordres, le
General a la temerite de les dire innocens et soumis . . ." We
refrain from making any further comment on such " answers ".
* Ibid., 24 seqq., 42 seqq., 47 seqq.
88 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Vice-Provincial of China and Japan attested that the Jesuit
missionaries caused their flock to submit, regardless of the
danger of persecution, and a Propaganda missionary testified
that all the missionaries had taken the oath to the Constitution.
The Jesuits of Cochinchina were accused of insubordination
and the General deemed it his duty to take them to task ;
subsequently, however, he learnt that they had subscribed
four times before the Vicar Apostolic obhged them to do so.
When the Bishop of Malacca demanded compliance in Siam
he too met with a willing response. One Jesuit, of the name
of Sanna, had been singled out as having refused the oath
and having permitted the Christians to practise the forbidden
rites. By order of Propaganda he was rebuked and punished
by Tamburini, but it turned out that Sanna had been falsely
accused by the Jansenist Fleury and his innocence was
affirmed not only by the Provincial but likewise by the Vicar-
General of the Bishop of Buggio and the Franciscan Jerome
of the Blessed Trinity.^
Tamburini admits that a number of missionaries had ceased
to administer the Sacraments to the Chinese. He declares that
^ Ibid., 53 scqq. " *Catalogo di alcuni soggetti {cf. Appendix,
n. 7) : II P. Generale della Compagnia per ordine della S. Congrega-
zione di Propaganda a' 28 Febr. 1720 gravissimamente riprende
e intima castighi al P. Giov. Batt. Sanna per alcuni supposti
reati di lui nella Cocincina. L'istesso ordina al P. Visitatore della
Cina, che severamente castighi il P. Sanna e lo rimuova dalla
missione. II P. Sanna al primo Luglio 172 1 protesta esser calumnie
le accuse poste contro di lui, e d'essere state inventate da persone
sospette di dottrina condemnata. A' 22 Luglio 1722 si lagna
d'esser condamnato senza esser udito. Avvisa che il sig. Carlo di
Flory un de' suoi accusatori fu scommunicato dal Vicario e dal
Provicario Apost., ma non fe case alcuno della scommunica.
A' 26 Luglio 1722 asserisce, che il detto sig. Flory di nuovo era
state giudicato e publicamente scommunicato dal P. Cesati
commissario delegate da Msgr. Mezzabarba, e manda copia di tali
sentenze e scommuniche. Testimonianza del vescovo Bugiense
Vicario Apost. a favor della calunniata innocenza del P. Sanna.
Altra simil testimonianza d'un P. Franccscano Provicario Apost.
a favor del medesimo."
JESUIT general's DEFENCE. 89
he had informed them of his disapproval and that the matter
was now in order. The reason of the Jesuits' conduct lay in
the fact that on account of their attachment to the rites,
even after the papal decisions, most of the Chinese Christians
were not fit to receive the Sacraments. ^ The missionaries of
Propaganda continued to give the Sacraments, on the ground
that there was no obligation to question penitents about their
attitude to the rites, or, alternately, that one could be content
with a promise on their part, even if one felt that it was not
seriously meant. Thus they administered Baptism without
saying a word about the prohibition of the tablets of the
ancestors.- Some of them were content to hear half a dozen
confessions after which they felt they could say that they
had enforced the prohibition on their entire flock.
One of the most odious accusations with which Tamburini
had to deal was that his subjects had instigated the arrest
of other missionaries and that they had acted towards them
in the capacity of policemen and gaolers. This calumny
referred to the case of Appiani and Pedrini. Appiani, whilst
acting as Tournon's interpreter, had incurred the Emperor's
displeasure ^ ; this he expiated by a close on twenty years
imprisonment. But he himself admitted that the Jesuits
were not to blame for his fate.^ Pedrini had incurred the
Emperor's anger because Kanghi held him responsible for the
papal Constitution on the rites. ^ His resentment broke out
when Pedrini refused to append his signature to the so-called
" Diary " of the Mandarins, viz. an account of Mezzabarba's
negotiations at court and likewise refused to state the reasons
of his refusal. The Emperor ordered him to be bastinadoed
and thrown into prison. However, at the request of Mezza-
barba and the other missionaries, he mitigated the sentence
^ On the reasons for not administering the Sacraments any
longer, see Anecdotes, VI., 73 seqq. Cf. XXXIII.. 465, and
Laureati's letter to Me^zabarba, February 2, 1721, Anecdotes, IV.,
278 seqq.
2 Ibid., VI., g6.
» Cf. vol. XXXIII., 429 seqq.
* Anecdotes, VI., 166. » cf. vol. XXXIII., 459 seqq.
90 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
to the extent of assigning the house of the French Jesuits as
Pedrini's prison. There he had a large room, with an ante-
room and a small garden at his disposal. At a later date the
Emperor took the prisoner with him into Tartary. On their
return, Pedrini imagined that he was at liberty, but according
to Chinese customs this was by no means so. Thereupon he
created scenes of such violence for the Jesuits that the latter
were compelled to ask for the help of the mandarins.^ There
can be no question of their having acted as gaolers for the
Jesuits could not decline the task laid upon them by the
Emperor, however distasteful it must have been for them.
At the Emperor's death in 1722, Pedrini recovered his freedom
in virtue of a general amnesty. Through an oversight Appiani's
captivity was prolonged for another nine months. It is
remarkable that during his last years Pedrini {ob. 1746) lived
on terms of friendship with the Jesuits whom he had combatted
so long : they assisted him and he sought their advice. ^
Tamburini formally refutes the accusation that at the
audience of January 14th, 1721, Kanghi had been quite
willing to drop the question of the rites but that the Jesuits
had subsequently induced him to change his mind. He
explains ^ that the imperial statement in question only
meant that, as far as they themselves were concerned, the
Europeans were free to adopt what line of conduct they hked
in regard to the rites, but it included no similar permission
for the Chinese Christians.^
' Anecdotes, VI., 170 seqq., and Tomacelli's letter of November
29, 1721, Appendix No. 6.
2 " J'ai consulte trois Peres Jesuites de mes amis, hommes
vraiment pieux et judicieux (to I. B. Spinucci on October 24,
1740, in Thomas, 417). Dans cette maladie les Peres Jesuites
(non pas les anciens qui sont morts) m'ont assiste avec grande
charite nuit et jour " (to Ceru, October 23, 1741, ibid., 419).
" Cette annee, j'ai ete oblige d'emprunter et les Peres Jesuites
qui savent que tout a ete fait par ceux qui m'accusent m'ont
fait la charite de me preter un peu d'argent " (letter of 1742,
ibid., 420).
3 Anecdotes, Yl., 336 seqq. * Ibid., ^71.
JESUIT GENERAL S DEFENCE. 9I
Finally, Tamburini draws attention to the many accusa-
tions against the Jesuits which had proved to be false, as for
instance those against Sanna and the Jesuits of Cochinchina.^
Three accounts of Pedrini's captivity had been proved to be
false ; two others, drawn up by Appiani and Costerano, had
been described as inaccurate by the Franciscans Serrano and
Allemoni, whilst the Bishop of Peking had written that too
much reliance was placed in Rome on the reports of the two
Propaganda missionaries in Peking. ^
As for the witnesses in favour of the Jesuits, Mezzabarba
was not the only one to have acted as their friend whilst in
Peking and as their enemy at Macao and in Europe. According
to information from China, the other missionaries had decided
not to give evidence in their favour, so as to spare themselves
any unpleasantness ; as a matter of fact the Franciscans had
been taken to task on the plea that they had defended the
alleged contemners of the papal ordinances. Costerano wrote
to a colleague that he had been threatened with forfeiture
of his pension on account of his attachment to the Jesuits
and that he had accordingly dropped his old friends. Another
missionary of the name of Ripa had publicly declared that
he would risk his good name in Rome if he spoke in favour of
the Jesuits. The other persons in Mezzabarba's suite, it was
reported, were similarly disposed towards the Order ; it
was said that previous to their departure from Macao they
had been made to promise that on their return to Europe
they would side against the Fathers of the Society. The
Franciscan Commissary Fernandez, the Dominican Bishop
Gregory Lopez and an Augustinian Bishop, Alvaro de Bena-
vente, had lost all the prestige they had enjoyed in Rome
on account of their friendliness towards the Jesuits ; as for
Tomacelli he had spoken of them at Lisbon and in Rome
in a different tone from that which he had adopted at Peking.^
Innocent XIIL was unable to reply to this apologia — the
1 Above, p. 88.
"^ Anecdotes, VL, 377.
' Ibid., 400.
92 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
affair was still pending when he was carried off by death.
In addition to the Chinese rites, the Malabar rites were also
examined under Innocent XIII. by a special Congregation.
The Jesuit Brandolini, who taught theology at Goa, came
specially to Rome in order to defend his brethren in religion.
In a voluminous document he explained that some of the
customs in question had not been sanctioned by the Jesuits
whilst the remaining ones had no religious meaning. On this
question also the Pope's death prevented a decision being
arrived at.^
(7.)
Throughout his pontificate Innocent XIII. had been dogged
by ill health. The gloomy forebodings expressed at his
accession were to be only too fully verified.
In June, 1723, the Pope's condition was such that negotia-
tions for the coming conclave began in good earnest. ^ In
December he had another of those attacks of gravel which
used to strike him down with unpredictable suddenness.^
" The danger is over for the time being," Cardinal Acquaviva
wrote on December 2nd, 1722, " but it is a good thing to
keep the conclave always in mind, so as not to be taken
unawares." On the same day the Cardinal drew up a detailed
report on the prospects of those Cardinals who could be con-
sidered as eligible for the papacy.^
On January 1st, 1723, everything was ready for a Te Deum
in thanksgiving for France's preservation from the plague, but
at the last moment the Pope felt unable to take part in the
service. The Pope's entourage strove in vain to disguise the
real condition of the ailing Pontiff. Innocent gave audience
to a few of his ministers but only on condition that they did
^ £. Amann, in Diet, de thiol, cath., IX., 1727.
* Anonymous *report to a Cardinal, dated Rome, June 26,
1722, Archives of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican.
3 Cienfuegos' *reports of December 5 and 12, 1722, ibid.
* Both *reports to Grimaldi, Simancas Archives.
THE pope's health. 93
not come to discuss any exacting business.^ Though there
was an improvement in January, everyone knew that a
fresh attack of the disease was to be feared at any moment. ^
About the middle of January Cardinal Acquaviva expressed
his astonishment at the Pope's mental and physical vigour ;
for all that his anxiety was fully justified.^
In February Acquaviva again mentions the ailing condition
of the Pope : " The prospect of a conclave is always an
actuality," he writes.^ In March the Cardinal received the
desired instructions for the next election ; they were most
timely, he writes, because the Pope was once again unable to
take part in the rehgious functions and only his ministers
were received in audience.^ An improvement followed but it
did not last. On Easter Sunday Innocent felt unable to assist
at the High Mass ; he gave his blessing from one of the
balconies of the Quirinal.^ Soon it was rumoured that he
intended to take advantage of the return of the warm season
for a stay at the Villa Catena, situate between Gallicano and
Poh. On April 10th Acquaviva wrote to Madrid that though
the Pope was sufficiently recovered to exclude an immediate
danger, it was advisable to keep the conclave in view by reason
of the uncertainty of the improvement and the Pope's great
weight.' However, on April 26th the Pontiff set out for Villa
Catena where his brother, Joseph Lothair, Duke of Poli,
offered to him the keys of the place.
The Pope was accompanied by a number of Cardinals,
among them being Alessandro Albani, Corradini, Paolucci,
Origo, Ottoboni, Colonna, Barberini, Altieri, Olivieri and the
Secretary of State, Spinola. A few members of the diplomatic
corps also joined the party, as for instance the Portuguese
ambassador and the French chari^e d'affaires, Tencin. During
' Acquaviva's *report to Grimaldi, January 2, 1723, ibid.
^ Acquaviva's *report to Grimaldi, January 9, 1723, ibid.
' *Acquaviva to Grimaldi, January 16, 1723, ibid.
* *Acquaviva to Grimaldi, February 13, 1723, ibid.
'•' *Acquaviva to Grimaldi, March 13, 1723, ibid.
• *Acquaviva to Grimaldi, April 3, 1723, ibid.
' *Acquaviva to Grimaldi, April 10, 1723, ibid.
94 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
his stay at the Villa the Pope paid three visits to his native
city ; on May 1st he said Mass in S. Pietro and presented to
that church some precious vestments which have been pre-
served to this day. The people of Poli and Guadagnolo were
gladdened by a remission of taxation for a period of ten years
and by donations for the poor.^
On May 3rd the Pope returned to Rome. The change seemed
to have revived his energy. The summer proved exceptionally
cool, 2 and he got satisfactorily through the autumn and the
following winter. The new year opened auspiciously. One
Wednesday, Cienfuegos reports, Alberoni received the red
hat at a public consistory. During the long ceremony the
Pope seemed quite well and in excellent spirits. ^ Though not
free from his chronic gravel, he soon after visited the church
of the English College where he proclaimed an Indulgence for
the oppressed Irish Catholics.* In the sequel he eagerly
discussed with Cienfuegos the terms of a formula for the
restitution of Comacchio ; he was most anxious to bring
that affair to a satisfactory conclusion.^
On February 12th, 1724, we hear of a fresh attack of
illness ^ ; it was hoped that the return of the gravel trouble
would be of short duration,'^ however, the condition of the
Pontiff grew considerably worse. On February 26th it was
reported that there remained some hope of a recovery though
the repeated and almost daily attacks were bound to cause
^ Cascioli, 221 seqq.
2 J. Galli, Le irregolariid delle stagioni, in Mem. d. Accad. dei
Ntwvi Lincei, XXX. (1921).
' Cienfuegos' *report to the imperial chancellery, January 15,
1724, Reuss Archives, Ernstbrunn.
* Cienfuegos' *report to the imperial chancellery, January 22,
1724, ibid.
' Cienfuegos' *rcports to the imperial chancellory, January 30,
and February 12, 1724, ibid.
* Cienfuegos' *letter to the imperial chancellery, February 12,
1724, Archives of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican.
' Cienfuegos' *letters to the imperial chancellery, February 19
and 26, 1724, ibid.
DEATH OF INNOCENT XIII. 95
grave anxiety for his life. The Pope was very weak ; his
confessor and his physician stayed with him day and night.
Though every possible remedy was applied, the effects of a
cold could not be overcome.^ On February 29th the physicians
found that the Pontiff suffered from dropsy and the exhausted
old man asked for the Last Sacraments. ^ In the sequel good
days alternated with bad ones, but there could be no doubt
that the Pope suffered from dropsy. " His Holiness may
last a few days," Acquaviva wrote on March 1st, *' but the
end may also be sudden." The Cardinal Secretary of State
was alone permitted to see the sick man.^ At sunset
on March 7th Innocent XIII. was released from his
sufferings.*
The universal grief which prevailed throughout Rome was
proof of the dead Pontiff's popularity.^ In his funeral oration,
besides the other excellent qualities of Innocent XIII., the
speaker was able to stress the fact that he had left nothing
to his family except his name and his choice library which
demonstrated his love of learning.^
Innocent XIII. 's last resting place is in St. Peter's though
no monument recalls his memory in the basilica. His name
lives in the liturgy by reason of the extension by him of
^ *Acquaviva to Grimaldi, February 20, 1724, Simancas
Archives.
* * Acquaviva to Grimaldi, February 29, 1724, ibid.
* *Acquaviva to Grimaldi, March 4, 1724. Cf. also Cienfuegos'
♦report of the same day, Reuss Arch., Ernstbrunn.
* * Acquaviva to Grimaldi, March 7, 1724, loc. cit. ; *Cienfuegos
on the same day, loc. cit. On dropsy as the cause of his death,
see Cascioli, 225. A Latin poem in which Rome mourns the death
of Innocent XIII., in Cod. Vat. 7249, f. 25, Vatican Library.
* " *Conc]ave di Benedetto XIII.," Cod. I., 8-2, Bibl. Angelica,
Rome. Cf. Cardinal Cienfuegos' *letter to the imperial chancellor.
Count von Sinzendorf, March 7, 1724, in which he says that
Innocent XIII. was " signore e cavaliere nato ". Reuss Archives,
Ernstbrunn.
' Iac. Amadorius olim de Lanfredinis, Oratio in funere
Innocentii XIII.,'R.oim.G, i']2.\.
96 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus to the universal
Church.^
For an equitable judgment of Innocent XIII., both his
chronic illness and the shortness of his pontificate must be
taken into consideration. In so short a time he was unable to
improve conditions in the Pontifical States, but credit is
due to him for the fact that in view of the crisis in agriculture
and the annona which had become acute under Clement XL,
he commanded, by an autograph letter of September 27th,
1723, that the prescriptions of previous Popes should at
length be carried into effect, viz. the prohibition of hoarding
grain for the annona, permission for the grain producers of a
limited export and maintenance of free trade in the interior.^
The consequence was that the economic situation in Rome was
excellent and the Pope's memory was long cherished by the
people. It was generally felt that had he but had a longer
pontificate, everything would have been righted and everyone
regretted that only a reign of no more than two and a half years
should have been granted to him.^
The Pope enriched the Vatican library with oriental manu-
scripts * and with Cardinal Alessandro Albani's valuable
collection of coins acquired by him.^ Vincenzo Gravina was
given a chair of law at the university.^ The archaeologist
Francesco Bianchini was made a Domestic Prelate. '^ He also
accepted at the hands of the Maurist Constant, the edition of
the papal letters which that scholar dedicated to him.^
^ NovAES, XIII., 24. Cf. ibid., 22, 30, 39, on the institution of
feasts of Saints.
* Benigni, 74 seq.
* De Brosses, Lettres, II., 121. From these it appears how
unjustly M. INIartin {Hist, de France, XV., 142) judges him when
he speaks of him as " presque en enfance ", " pontife insouciant
et voluptueux ".
* Carini, 102 seq.
* Blume, III., 114 ; Studiedocimi., V., 373.
* Arcadia, Atti, III. (1918), 63.
' Muratort, I., 147.
« PiTRA, Analecta novissima, I. (1S85), CXXXVIII.. seq.
BUILDING ACTIVITIES. 97
Notwithstanding the shortness of his pontificate Innocent
XIII. found time to repair the foundations of the bridge of
S. Angelo,^ the Vatican obeHsk ^ and the church of St."
Eustace.^ By his order Gian Paolo Pannini decorated several
of the rooms of the Quirinal with paintings.* About the middle
of October, 1723, he gave orders for the construction of the
steps leading up to Trinita de' Monti, the erection of some
annexes to the Quirinal ^ and the construction of the principal
fagade of the Lateran basilica ^ — all works the completion of
which he was not destined to witness.
1 Cracas, August 15, 1722.
* Ibid. March 27, 1723. Cf. Sergardi, Discorso sopra il
nnovo ornato della guglia di S. Pietro, Roma, 1723. Innocent XIII.
also renovated the pavement of the Sala Paolina in Castle S.
Angelo, as appears from his coat of arms there. His coat of arms
appears also on the Arco Oscuro which leads to Acqua Acetosa.
On the construction of a bridge in Monte Circeo, see Mel. d'archeol.,
XXV. (1905), 193.
' Cracas, September 25, 1723.
* L'Arte, 1909, I., 20 ; Ozzola, G. Pannini, Torino, 1921 ;
Bollet. d'arte, N. S., III. (1924), 351 seqq.
' There, in the great court, on a clock over a large picture
of the Madonna, there is an inscription of the Pope of the year
1723, in letters of gold, on a blue background ; see Forcella,
XIII., 162.
* Cracas, October 16, 1723 ; cf. November 30, 1723, and
Cecconi, Diario, 676 seq. We must mention here that Acquaviva
obtained permission for the Spanish Government to export the
paintings bought from Maratta's heirs (*Acquaviva to Grimaldi,
January 16, 1723, Simancas Archives). From the accompanying
*note it is clear that besides works by Maratta, there were also :
a " S. Appolonia " and a " S. Caterina " by G. Reni, a " Martirio
di S. Placido ", " Pieta ", and " L'orazione nell' orto " by
Correggio, a " Sacra Familia " and " Marriage of Psyche " by
Giulio Romano, a Madonna by Giov. Bellini, numerous works of
Annibale and Ludovico Caracci, landscapes by Domenichino (also
the Portrait of Gregory XV. by the same), Andrea Sacchi and
G. Poussin ; finally, packed in a special case, the " Quadro di
Raffaelo con suo cornicione intagUato e dorato, rappresentante
il riposo di Egitto ".
VOL. XXXIV. H
CHAPTER 11.
Pontificate of Benedict XIII. — Election and Govern-
ment— Cardinal Niccolo Coscia — Ecclesiastical
AND Political Concessions to the Emperor and to
THE House of Savoy.
With a view to preserving public tranquillity during the
vacancy of the Holy See, through the death of Innocent XIII.,
a number of edicts were issued, with excellent results. Thus,
for instance, Alessandro Falconieri, who was confirmed in his
office of Governor of Rome, ordered that until the election
of a new Pope a Hght was to be put at night in the window
of every house. ^
On March 20th, 1724, the Mass of the Holy Ghost was said
and the learned Francesco Bianchini preached the customary
sermon on the papal election. ^ The Cardinals then entered
the conclave, at the Vatican, which was closed late that same
evening. Only thirty-one electors were present at the
beginning but by degrees their number rose to fifty-three.^
Of these one had been created by Clement X. and one by
Innocent X., viz. Orsini and Pamfili ; five had been created
1 Crag AS, March, 1724.
* Fr. Blanchinus, Oratio de eligendo s. pontifice post obitiim
Innoceniii XIII., Romae, 1724.
' Cracas made an accurate note of the arrival of each one.
Besides the contemporary *Istoria del conclave in cui per morte
di P. Innocenzo XIII. e .stato assunto al sommo pontificato il
card. V. M. Orsini {Miscell., XV., 130, f. 93 seqq., Papal Secret
Archives and Cod. I., 8-2, Bibl. Angelica, Rome), written by a
well-informed conclavist, and *Conclave nel quale h stato assunto
al sommo pontificato il card. Fr. V. M. Orsini . . . {Cod. blue,
332 [BoHM, 1036], f. 129-209, and Cod. white, 706 [Bohm, 383],
f- 335-369. State Archives, Vienna, and Cod. ital., 55, f. 76 seqq.,
State Library, Munich). Cf. the detailed *reports of G. B.
Gentilotti, Auditor of the Rota and well acquainted with Roman
affairs (his tomb is in the Anima ; see Scumidlin, 618), to the
98
THE CONCLAVE. 99
by Alexander VIII., viz. Giudice, Barberini, Ottoboni,
Imperiali and Altieri ; three by Innocent XII., viz. Paolucci,
Boncompagni and Sagripanti ; forty-one owed the purple
to Clement XI. ^ As for Innocent XIII. 's three Cardinals,
Chancellor, Count von Sinzendorf, in Reuss Archives, Ernstbrunn,
No. 6, and the *letters of Count Max Ulrich von Kaunitz to
the Emperor, in Wrbna-Kaunitz Archives, Holleschau (resp.
larmeritz), where I also found the ^instruction to Kaunitz and his
interesting *diary of 1724. Other reports, made use of in his
usually uncritical way, in Petrucelli, IV., 23 seqq. " *Diaria "
and other *writings on the election of Benedict XIII. in Cod.
Barb., LI., 60, Vatican Library. Ibid., XLIX., 57 : " *Scrutinii
durante il conclave 1724." * Satires and poems during the conclave
of 1724 in Cod. 2070, Mazarin Library, Paris, and in Cod. Ottob.
2813, Vatican Library. A very rich collection of *Satires in Wrbna-
Kaunitz Archives, Holleschau ; among them the following must
be mentioned : II Crivello (two parts), Risposta al temerario
autore del Crivello, Memoriale dato da un Gesuita al conclave
(Sonetto) and Risposta de' porporati al Gesuita (anti- Jesuit),
Rimprovero al conclave, Roma ribellata al conclave e Contro
il conte Carbonara che si dichiaro parente del card. Olivieri.
A priest who, during the Sede Vacante, had published some
" sonetti maledici ", was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment,
but was pardoned by Benedict XIII. on September 4, 1728 :
see Bibliofilo, XI. (1890), 153.
* GuARNACCi, II. , 426 seqq. Those nominated by Clement XI.
were : Pignatelli, Corsini, Acquaviva, Ruffo, Spada, Gualtieri,
Vallemani, Fabroni, Priuli, Gozzadini, Annibale Albani, Pico,
Davia, Cusani, Piazza, Zondadari, Bussi, Corradini, Rohan,
Tolomei, Odescalchi, Bissy, Caracciolo, Scotti, Patrizi, Niccolo
Spinola, Borromei, Giorgio Spinola, Bentivoglio, Barbarigo,
Belluga, Pereyra, Salemi, Borgia, Cienfuegos, Colonna, Origo,
Polignac, Olivieri, Marini, Alberoni. Tanara died during the con-
clave. The names of the other twelve Cardinals who did not take
part in the papal election, in Guarnacci, II. , 429 seq. I. Rud.
CoNLiN, Roma sancta sive Benedicti XIII. Pont. Max. et Em.
et Rev. S. R. E. cardinalium viva virtiitum imago. Continentur vitae,
familiae, patriae, legationcs aliaque scitu et menioratu digna omnium
S. R. E. Cardinalium qui ultimo conclavi anno 1724 interfuere,
Augustae Vindelic, 1726, with engravings by I. Ch. Kolb.
100 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
only Conti and Alessandro Albani took part in the conclave,
hence the nephew Conti was only able to make himself felt
because the Cardinals of the sqiiadrone volante allied themselves
with him. Among these the following were considered as
papahili : Pamfili, Tanara, Spada, Boncompagni, Imperiali and
Orsini. The Albani party, whose leaders, Alessandro and
Annibale, disagreed, could show a much greater number of
papahili, such as Gozzadini, Fabroni, Corradini, Paolucci,
Corsini, Bussi, Sagripanti, Olivieri, Zondadari and Ruffo.^
In view of the political situation harmonious action, during
the conclave, by France and Spain could be taken for granted.
The interests of Spain were represented by Acquaviva whom
Philip V. had ordered on January 23rd, 1723, to proceed in
close conjunction with the French. ^ France's representative,
Cardinal Rohan, was away from Rome. The Emperor's
interests were in the hands of experienced Cardinal Cien-
fuegos ; to support him Charles VI. sent Count Maximilian
Ulrich von Kaunitz to Rome as envoy extraordinary.^
At the very outset of the conclave the party of the
" Zelanti " made an attempt to get Cardinal Imperiali
elected, but in view of the lattcr's extreme unpopularity both
with the French and with the Spaniards, the effort failed.
The representatives of the Bourbon courts, Acquaviva and
^ " *Osservazioni intorno al presente conclave con I'esame del
genio e modi de' sig. cardinali cavate dalle relazioni del fu conte
di Gallas ambasc. Ces. alia corte di Roma," Wrbna-Kaunitz
Archives, Holleschau.
* Acquaviva's letter to Grimaldi, April lo, 1723, Simancas
Arch.
' The *Relazione of Pietro Capello of March 6, 1728, the aim
of which is to induce Venice to interest herself more keenly in
Roman affairs and which deals rather fully with Benedict XIII.,
expresses a wish, in view of what happened in 1724, that Venice
should take a more active part in the election. Like Tuscany,
Venetian prelates and Cardinals should be supported in Rome,
evidently with a view to a distinct party of their own, since
nowadays a papal election is " di vcrita piii tosto un mancggio
politico che un voto d'ispirazione ", State Archives, Venice (see
Ranke, III., 216* seqq.).
THE CONCLAVE. lOI
Gualtieri, protested vigorously against any precipitate step
and insisted on the necessity of awaiting the arrival of the
absent Cardinals who were on their way, as well as the
instructions of the Catholic crowns, before they seriously
proceeded to the election of a new occupant of the papal
throne.^
For a time it looked as if Cardinal Paolucci would obtain
the tiara. In spite of his 73 years he remained hale in body and
alert in mind and enjoyed the esteem of the whole of the
Sacred College, ^ but in view of his Bourbon sympathies the
Emperor had vetoed him at the last conclave and this circum-
stance still constituted an insuperable obstacle to his election.
The hope that Charles VI. might be induced to change his
mind was not fulfilled ; a negative reply came from Vienna,
though it fully acknowledged Paolucci's outstanding quaHties.^
The proposal by Cardinal Albani of six candidates seemed
to offer a solution : the candidates were Corsini, Spada, Bussi,
Barbarigo, Piazza and Olivieri. Albani's action was inspired
by the secret hope of getting Olivieri elected, or faihng him,
Bussi. ^ When Cardinal Rohan arrived in Rome on April 12th,
a rumour spread in the conclave on the following day that
the French Cardinal had been instructed by his sovereign to
support Olivieri in every possible way. At the same time a
memorial was secretly distributed about the enormous con-
cessions which OHvieri was alleged to have held out to the
French Government in return for its support ; among other
^ Cardinal Cienfuegos' reports to the Emperor, April 9 and
May 7, 1724, State Archives, Vienna. Cf. Wahrmund, 225, 320 ;
also Petrucelli, IV., 30.
* *Parere ed informazione del segret. imp. barone de Malanotte
per il conclave dell' a. 1724," who says of Paolucci : " Se avesse
digerita I'exclusiva e convenisse un' altro governo Albani, sarebbe
senza comparazione il piu degno del papato " (Archives of the
Austrian Embassy at the Vatican). Gentilotti expresses the same
sentiments in his *letter of March 25, 1724, Reuss Archives,
Ernstbrunn.
* *Istoria del conclave, Papal Secret Archives, loc. cit.
* Ibid.
102 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
things, so the document stated, he had promised the with-
drawal of the Bull Unigenitus and the investiture of Don Carlos
with Parma and Piacenza as well as with Castro and Ron-
ciglione. The report provoked a regular uproar. Headed by
Fabroni and Fabrizi, the " Zelanti " raised the cry of simony.
In the city too there were symptoms of the greatest dis-
satisfaction with Albani who was generally credited with
having put forward and with pushing the election of his friend
Olivieri. The excitement was such that Olivieri's candidature
had to be dropped.^
Meanwhile Cardinal Cienfuegos laboured for the elevation
of Piazza, but by the time negotiations to that effect had
begun with Rohan, Piazza was stricken with so violent a fever
that he was compelled to leave the conclave on April 23rd.
Cardinal Polignac entered the conclave on April 25th ^ ; the
Emperor's envoy extraordinary. Count Kaunitz, also arrived
in Rome on the same day. His instructions were to co-operate
closely with Cienfuegos.^
Cienfuegos' instructions of March 25th, 1724, name as
agreeable to the Emperor Cardinals Pamfili, Vallemani, Spada,
Piazza, Corradini, Caracciolo, Tanara, Gozzadini, Orsini,
Ruffo, Colonna, Davia, Boncompagni, Pico and Pignatelli.
Tanara died on April 25th, 74 years old. The Emperor desired
the exclusion of Paolucci, Olivieri, Bussi, Sagripanti and
Origo.'«
Count Kaunitz sought at once to establish communication
with Cardinal Cienfuegos. In his diary he himself informs
us how he managed to do so. It was arranged that the
Cardinal should go to the barber's room near whose window
* Ibid. Cf. Petrucellt, IV., 35 seq., also the *reports of
Guidotti, April 15, 22, 25, 1724, loc. cit.
* *I.storia del conclave, loc. cit.
* See the secret instruction for Kaunitz, dat. Vienna, April 3,
1724, which makes reference to the instruction of the imperial
Chancellery. Wrbna-Kaunitz Archives, Holleschau. Ibid.
" *Riflessioni intorno aU'elezione del S. pontefice a S. E. il sig.
conte di Kaunitz."
* Wharmund, 319.
THE CONCLAVE. IO3
there was another small casement to which Kaunitz had
access from outside : " The place," Kaunitz writes, " is
such that in order to reach the window, which is fairly high
up in the wall, I had to mount some wooden steps where I was
obliged to kneel on the window sill and as it were force one
arm and my head through the window, before I could con-
verse with the Cardinal. Moreover this small casement was
so far from the one at which the Cardinal stood that I was
obliged to hand over to him your Majesty's most gracious
autograph letter by sticking it on the point of my sword." ^
Cienfuegos gave Kaunitz an account of the conclave which,
he said, had made no more progress than on the first day. His
task was made difficult by the great number of candidates.
If he had betrayed towards which of them he inclined, he
would have ruined all the chances of his candidate. His aim
was to prevent the election of a man who would be unaccept-
able to the Emperor.2 In company with many Cardinals,
Cienfuegos had hoped that Kaunitz would be the bearer of the
revocation of the exclusion pronounced by Charles VI. against
Paolucci : his disappointment was great when this hope was
not fulfilled. Paolucci himself bore the heavy blow with
wonderful equanimity.^
The situation now became even more confused. It was
hoped that Rohan, who had returned to the conclave on
April 29th after the arrival of a courier from Paris, would
make a clear statement of policy, but this too proved a vain
expectation.* Kaunitz, who on April 30th had the customary
^ See Count Kaunitz' *journal, entitled: Anmcykungen zu
denen abzustatten kommendcn Relationen (Wrbna-Kaunitz
Archives, Holleschau). Cf. Count Kaunitz' *report to the imperial
chancellery, May 3, 1724, Reuss Archives, Ernstbrunn.
2 Ibid.
' *Istoria del conclave. Papal Secret Archives, loc. cit. When
in his *letter of March 7, 1724, Cardinal Cienfuegos asked whether
Paolucci should be once more excluded, he made the observation
that such solemn exclusions always created very hostile factions.
Reuss Arch., Ernstbrunn.
* *Istoria del conclave, loc. cit.
104 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
audience at the main door of the conclave, noted in his diary
on May 6th that there was a complete standstill in the electoral
negotiations : neither party was willing to make a proposal.^
Cienfuegos, who was in constant communication with
Kaunitz,^ reverted to his plan of securing the tiara for Piazza,
and as the French were agreeable, he hoped to succeed, though
it was necessary for him to reckon always with Albani's
intrigues against Paolucci.^ If the imperial Cardinals had put
in an appearance. Piazza would be Pope by now, Kaunitz
wrote on May 12th.* But even so Piazza's prospects seemed
good : thirteen of Clement XL's Cardinals were in his favour ;
they were Paolucci, Ruffo, Gozzadini, Davia, Bentivoglio,
the two Spinolas, Conti, Pamfili, Colonna, Origo, Marini and
Alberoni. All these belonged to the squadrone volante, and
they were joined by every one of Alexander VIIL's Cardinals.
Together with the adherents of the great Catholic Powers they
constituted a block of thirty-two votes, so that they were only
four short of the three-quarters' majority. These four
Cienfuegos hoped to secure as Orsini, Cusani and Caracciolo
seemed to incline towards Piazza. Small wonder that a
rumour circulated in Rome that Piazza's election was
imminent.
However, AnnibaleAlbani felt deeply hurt by this attempt to
make a Pope without him : he accordingly resolved to do his
utmost to wreck a candidature he had himself put forward.
On the plea that the freedom of the electors must be safe-
guarded, he detached Orsini, Pignatelli, Fabroni, Tolomei,
Caracciolo and Barbarigo from the party of the " Zelanti ".
He successfully represented to Cardinals Corsini, Spada,
Bussi and Boncompagni, who were all papabili, that so
youthful and hale a man as Piazza might live a long time and
so frustrate their own hopes. He likewise succeeded in
winning over to his side Cardinals Patrizi and Scotti and he
was also sure of Cardinals Vallemani, Priuli, Pico, Zondadari,
^ *Journal, loc. cit.
» Ibid.
' *Istoria del conclave, loc. cit.
* *Journal, loc. cit.
piazza's failure. 105
Corradini, Salerni, Olivieri and Alessandro Albani. He
succeeded in prejudicing Cardinal Belluga, who arrived on
May 14th, against Piazza by accusing the latter of Jansenism.
For all that Cienfuegos did not despair of getting his candidate
accepted. He asked Cardinal Paolucci to intervene with
Albani. The former was generous enough to forget that the
Emperor had vetoed him and accepted the commission, but
he met with the most decided opposition on the part of
Albani. 1
How greatly Piazza's prospects had deteriorated was shown
on May 23rd when Albani made a trial of strength at which
twenty-six votes went to Orsini ; on May 24th he received
as manj^ as twenty-seven votes. Cienfuegos could no longer
hope to get Piazza elected. ^
1 The above is from *Istoria del conclave, loc. cit. Cf. Count
Kaunitz' *reports of May 13 and 18, 1724, Reuss Archives,
Ernstbrunn, and the detailed description in Cardinal Cienfuegos'
♦letter to the imperial chancellery of May 18, 1724, with the
♦Lista de' card., che fine al giorno d'oggi [18] si sono dichiarati
per la elezione del card. Piazza : Orsini, Giudice, Paolucci,
Barberini, Sagripanti, Acquaviva, Ruffo, Gualtieri, Gozzadini,
Davia, Rohan, Odescalco, Bissy, Scoto, Niccolo Spinola, Borromeo,
S. Agnese [ = Giorgio Spinola], Bentivoglio, Belluga, Pereira,
Borgia, Cienfuegos, Conti, Pamfili, Ottoboni, Imperiali, Altieri,
Colonna, Origo, Polignac, Marini, Alberoni (32, one of them
for the first time to-day). Dubbi : Pignatelli, Boncompagno,
Cusani, Caraccioli. As there are fifty-three in conclave, seventeen
are open opponents.
* See *Istoria del conclave {loc. cit.) and Cardinal Cienfuegos'
♦report to the imperial chancellery of June 6, 1 724, Reuss Archives,
Ernstbrunn, which throws a strong light on the intrigues of the
Albani. Kaunitz, in his *report of May 27, ibid., tried to console
him with the fact that of the votes given to Orsini, six had been
from Piazza's partisans and four " dubiosi ", so that the Albani
could only count on seventeen votes. On May 28 Kaunitz
notes in his *Journal the report of the imminent election of
Orsini, which, however, he would not believe as he had not heard
anything from Cienfuegos. The Journal adds : " Am 29. friih,
erhielt ich ein Billett von Kardinal Cienfuegos, worin er mir
bedeutet. es scheine. das Gott den heili?en Mann Kardinal Orsini
I06 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Meanwhile anger at the length of the concla\'e had reached
its height. The Romans grumbled and even the oldest
members of the party of the " Zelanti " no longer repressed
their impatience. The number of those Cardinals who realized
that the election could not be further delayed grew steadily,
hence when Annibale Albani, Tolomei, Corradini and Belluga
proposed a neutral candidate in the person of Orsini, the
suggestion met with considerable approval, for Orsini was
highly respected and possessed of excellent qualities, though
one serious drawback was the circumstance that he had no
practical experience of government administration. Fabroni
gave open expression to these misgivings and it was a fatal
thing that the wearj^ electors refused to take this deficiency
into account. Rohan was informed of the plan by Corradini and
Cienfuegos by Tolomei : both agreed, as did Acquaviva. Orsini's
conclavist, Coscia, had not failed to let the two Albani
know that his master would not readily accept his election,
though if he were elected he would show himself grateful.^
When on the evening of May 28th Cardinal Belluga informed
haben wolle " ; he would vote for him also because the Emperor
had no objection against him. Orsini had ahvays been a faithful
subject of the Emperor and had always shown much affection
for him and had the imperial inclusion.
^ *Istoria del conclave, loc. cit. Here the principal part in
the pratica in favour of Orsini is attributed to Annibale Albani,
whilst Cienfuegos in his *report to the imperial chancellery,
June 6, 1724 (Reuss Arch., Ernstbrunn), ascribes the real initia-
tive to Tolomei, Corradini, and Belluga, and asserts that the
Albani had at first made difficulties because they still thought
of Olivieri or Bussi. Cienfuegos, in his report, is evidently anxious
to justify, as far as possible, his assent to the election of Orsini.
Kaunitz did not agree with Cienfuegos' conduct. On June 4, 1724,
he wrote : " Dcr von Ihrer Mt. den 3. dieses expedirte Kourier
ist heutigen Tags allhier angelangt. Wollte Gott, dass selbter
um 14. Tag ehender eingetroffen oder dass der H. Card. Cienfuegos
nicht also gleich zu der Wahl des ietzigen Papstes concurrirt
ware, so wiirde selbter noch zurecht ankommcn sein, um den
Card. Piazza auf den papstlichen Thron zu setzen." " Journal," in
Archives Wrbna-Kaunitz, HoUcschau.
ELECTION OF CARDINAL ORSINI. I07
Orsini of his impending election the latter showed the utmost
reluctance. With sincere humility he excused himself on the
ground of his incapacity : he spent a sleepless night in
prayer and tears. In the morning Tolomei and Annibale
Albani thought that their persuasions had overcome Orsini's
resistance. However, it was soon learnt that he was still
unwilling ; only Corradini succeeded in reconciling him to
the inevitable.^ In deep anguish Orsini repaired to the Sistine
Chapel where all the votes fell on him. Even then his resistance
was not yet at an end. When he yielded at last, he took the
name of Benedict, in memory of the Dominican Pope, Bene-
dict XI. [1303-1304] who had been remarkable for his great
humility. It was at first suggested that he should be called
Benedict XIV., but the idea was abandoned since Pedro
de Luna, who had styled himself Benedict XIII., had been
an antipope.^ Whilst the new Pope was being carried into
St. Peter's on the Sedia Gestatoria, he had the procession halted
before the door and insisted upon entering the basilica without
pomp and on foot. Out of humility also he refused to accept
the Cardinals' homage before the middle of the altar, as was
the custom, but insisted on receiving it on the epistle side.^
When the ambassadors came to congratulate him, he com-
plained with tears that the Cardinals had forced him to accept
a dignity the weight of which was beyond his strength. Such
1 *Istoria del conclave, loc. cit.
* Cf. Cienfuegos' *report of June 6, 1724, after Orsini had given
his vote to Paolucci (Reuss Arch., Ernstbrunn). See also Genti-
lotti's *letter of June 6, 1724, which says : " NeU'eletto si trovo
la maggior ripugnanza del mondo di accettare le chiavi di S. Pietro
. . . Accetto questa gran dignita colla piii bassa opinione di se
medesimo che spiegare possa." Archives of the Austrian Embassy
at the Vatican.
' *Istoria del conclave, /oc. ci7. See also *Sonetto per la elettione
del S. P. Benedetto XIII., in " Sonetti diversi ", p. 54, Fondo
Gesnitico, 68, Bibl. Vittorio Emanuele, Rome [cf. ibid., p. 636) ;
also inter alia the leaflet " Ehrengeriist welches Ihr. Pabstl. Heil.
Beneditto XIII. zu Ehren im Vorhof d. Card, von Sachsen
Residenz ist auffgericht und beleuchted worden, Regensburg,
d. 3, September, 1724."
I08 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
was his excitement that he forgot the protocol and addressed
Kaunitz as " Your Excellency ".^
The elect of May 29th, 1724, towards whose election the
French and the Spaniards had co-operated, for the first time,
with the Emperor,^ was sprung from a very old family which
had already given two Popes to the Church, viz. Celestine III.
[1191-1198] and Nicolas III. [1277-1280], as well as many
Cardinals. 3 He was the eldest son of Ferdinand Orsini of
Gravina and Giovanna Frangipani, daughter of the Duke of
Grumo, and was born on February 2nd, 1649, in the small
town of Gravina, not far from Bari,^ where his parents occupied
the famous castle built by the Emperor Frederick II. At the
age of eighteen Pietro Francesco Orsini decided to enter the
Dominican Order. This decision so distressed his parents that
they appealed to Clement IX. The latter sent for Pietro, but
* Count Kaunitz' *letter to the imperial chanceller}', June 6,
1724, Rcuss Archives, Ernstbrunn.
^ Acquaviva calls special attention to this in his *letter to
Juan Baut. de Orendayn, July 29, 1724 (Simancas Arch.), in
which he passes the conclave in review. Biographical notes on the
new Pope : " *Compendio d. vita di P. Benedetto XIII.," Cod.
14, I., 14, f. 51 seqq., Library of the Seminary, Frascati ; Pittoni,
Vita di Benedetto XIII., Venezia, 1730 ; " *Vita di Bene-
detto XIII.," in Cod. 6553, State Library. Vienna.
* On the Orsini family, see Sansovino, Hist, di casa Orsina,
Venezia, 1595 ; Cancellieri, Possessi, 364 ; Litta, Famiglie.
NovAES (XIII., 43 seqq.) overlooks the fact that the earlier history,
up to Orso, son of Bobo and brother of Celestine III., is quite
unreliable; see Reumont, II., 1189. On the coat of arms, see
Pasini Frassoni, Armorial, 46 seq. Cf. also " *Documcnta varia
de familia fr. V. M. Orsini ", in Cod. X., 526, Archives of the
Dominican Gencralate, Rome.
* Three documents in favour of Gravina as his birthplace in
D. Nardone, Benedetto P.P. XIII., Gioia del Colle, 1924, 10 seqq.
Here also, in 1924, the second centenary of his elevation to the
papacy was celebrated ; cf. II congresso eucaristico interdiocesano
di Gravina e Irsina, Bari, 1924 ; P. C. Martini, II pontificato di
Benedetto XIII. Confercnza, Napoli, 1925, and the pastoral letter of
Bishop Giov. Mar. Sanna, Due centenari dioccsani, Bari, 1924, 9 seqq.
ANTECEDENTS OF BENEDICT XIII. I09
after examining his motives, he approved his resolution. ^
Previous to his profession on February 13th, 1668, Pietro
renounced his inheritance and all his rights in favour of his
brother Domenico.
Fra Vincenzo Maria, as he was now called, read philosophy
and theology at Naples, Bologna and Venice. He took a
particular interest in Church History : he is said to have read
Baronius' Annals twenty-four times. ^ He taught philosophy
at the convent of Brescia ; there also, in 1671, he pronounced
a panegyric of Cardinal Antonio Barberini, the protector of
the Dominicans, which appeared in print. He had already
published some epigrams of a religious nature in 1669.^ How-
ever, in spite of his modesty, the son of the Duke of Gravina
could not escape ecclesiastical dignities. At the persistent
request of his brother Domenico, Duke of Gravina, who had
married Ludovica Altieri, the Altieri Pope Clement X. raised
him to the cardinalate on February 22nd, 1672, when he was
only twenty-three years old and about to preach a Lenten
course of sermons at Bologna.* However, in his humility the
man thus honoured refused to accept the red hat ; only when
pressed by the General of the Dominicans, the Pope, and
Cardinals Boncompagni and Rossetti, did he desist from his
resistance.^ But even in the purple he remained a modest,
^ Borgia, Vita Benedidi XIII., 3 ; Nardone, loc. cit., 16.
* NOVAES, XIII., 48.
' Fr. Vinc. Maria Orsini O. Pr., Laperdita commie. Panegirico
nell' esequie dell' em. card. A. Barberino, Venezia, 1671 ; P. Fr.
Ursinus, Epigrammata sacra, Bononiae, 1669 (Italian translation,
Roma, 1730).
* Cf. the present work, XXXI., 745 ; also " *Documenta varia
de episcopali regimine et de cardinalatu fr. V. M. Orsini ", Cod.
X., 527, Archives of the Dominican Generalate, Rome.
' Cf. Ughelli, VIII., 176, and the Avvisi in Ademollo,
// mairimonio di Suor Maria Pulcheria, al secolo Livia Cesarini,
Roma, 1883, 25 seqq. ; Cartari, *Memorie, Piccolomini Archives,
Orvieto. *Brief of Clement X., March i, 1672, in Epist. ad princ,
I., Papal Secret Archives. According to *Cartari {loc. cit.),
Orsini came to Rome with the General of the Dominicans on
March 21, 1672.
no HISTORY OF THE POPES.
ascetic religious. At the beginning of 1675, Cardinal Orsini
was named Archbishop of Manfredonia (Siponto), where he
reformed both clergy and people and restored the seminary
and the cathedral ; the latter was adorned by him with
paintings and other decorations.^ His defence of ecclesiastical
immunity against Spanish officialdom caused him many an
anxious day.
With a view to freeing him from these conflicts, Cardinal
Altieri induced him in 1680 to accept the see of Cesena where,
as in Manfredonia, he reformed the clergy and saw to the
embellishment of the churches. The method adopted by him
in his pastoral visitations was already famous at that time.^
However, the climate of Cesena proved so injurious to his
health that, tormented as he was by fever and acting on
medical advice, he ended by appointing a Vicar-General in
his place, whilst he himself retired to the Dominican convent
he had erected at Gravina ; there he devoted himself to
prayer and study. ^ However, the energy of so excellent a
Bishop could not be lost forever to the apostolic ministry.
In March, 1686, Innocent XI. appointed him to the archie-
piscopal See of Benevento which he was to rule for thirty-
eight years. Under his government Benevento became a
model diocese.
In the third year of his administration a terrible catastrophe
befell Benevento. On Whitsun Eve, 1688, an earthquake
destroyed a large part of the town and nearly 1,300 of the
inhabitants perished. The archiepiscopal palace fell in ruins,
but Orsini, who had called upon his favourite Saint, Philip
Neri, had a wonderful escape.^ Tlie Archbishop, who was
1 Borgia, 7 5^^. ; biographical sketch of Orsini in " *Scrittura
politica sopra il conclave da farsi per la morte di Innocenzo XI.",
Liechtenstein Archives, Vienna. Orsini's ISIcthodus synodi dioc.
Sipontinae rite ac recte peragendae was published in 1678 at
Trani, his Epistola di avvertimenti pastorali al clero e popolo della
cittd e diocesi di Siponto at Manfredonia, 1680.
2 Barrier de Montault, V., 211 seqq. ; cf. 247 seqq.
' * Biographical sketch in *Scrittura politica, loc. cit.
* Lettera narrativa dell' accaduto in Benevento al card, fra Vincenzo
ARCHBISHOP OF BENEVENTO. Ill
at all times liberal, now redoubled his charities. He was to
be found everywhere, helping, comforting, distributing alms
with a lavish hand ; when his revenues gave out he drew
upon his private means. Work on the restoration of the
cathedral, the archiepiscopal palace, the tower of the celebrated
Benedictine Abbey of S. Sofia, the seminary and the church
of S. Bartolomeo was begun forthwith. In other ways also
the city experienced the effects of his paternal solicitude ;
he repaired the aqueduct, founded the hospital of S.
Diodato and a Monte di pieta. He did much to promote
agriculture,^ and saw to the safe keeping of the precious
manuscripts of the Chapter library on which Cardinal
Borgia subsequently drew when he wrote his history of
Benevento.2
More than anything else the salvation of souls was nearest
his heart in this diocese also. He was indefatigable in carrying
out the sacred functions, preached frequently,^ held a number
of diocesan synods and regularly visited his diocese, mostly
Orsini O. P., oggi Benedetto XIII., nel terremoto del 1688, dat.
in luce da A. Petroni di Solofra, Roma, 1726. Cf. also Ughelli,
VIII., 178 ; P. Sarnelli, Memorie de' vescovi e arcivescovi di
Benevento, Napoli, 1691, 159 seq. ; Memorie del collegio S. Spirito
di Benevento, Napoli, 1688 ; A. Meomartini, / monumenti di
Benevento, Benevento, 1889, 398 ; E. Isernia, Istoria d. cittd
di Benevento, II., Benevento, 1896, 199 seqq.
^ Isernia, II., 201 seqq. On the help he gave on the occasion
of an inundation near Bologna, during his pontificate, see
" *Progetto del sig. conte Luigi Ferd. Marsilli per liberare il
territorio di Bologna da' danni che gl' inferisce il torrente Reno,
1728 " (addressed to the Pope), in Cod. Barb. XLVIII., 153,
Vatican Library ; also F. Marsigli, Memorie idrauliche d.
Benedetto XIII. suite acque del Reno, Firenze, 1833.
* Borgia, Mem. storiche di Benevento, 3 vols., Benevento,
1760.
' *Septingenti sexaginta sex super quatuor mille vicibus
ambonem accessisse fertur (De vita et rebus restis Benedict! XIII.
P. O. M. lapidibus praesertim epigraphis consignatis, in Cod.
Vat. 8693 (Vatican Library). Many of these sermons were pub-
lished ; see Cat. Bibl. Casanat., I., 538 seqq.
112 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
on foot.^ To this day the acts of these visitations bear witness
to the diligence with which he proceeded on those occasions. ^
The two provincial councils held by him in 1G93 and 1698
drew up some salutary rules for the reform of the clergy.'
His solicitude for the churches, monasteries and hospitals of
his diocese, is recalled to this day by innumerable inscriptions
and stone tablets bearing his coat of arms. But the most
eloquent testimony of all is the grateful recollection in which
his name is held to this day by the people of Benevento.*
Contemporaries unanimously attest that Orsini administered
his diocese with such piety and conscientiousness as made
him a model for all. This impression was further heightened
by the circumstance that the princely Archbishop and Cardinal
continued to live like a simple friar. ^
In addition to his pastoral labours Orsini still found time
1 Ughelli, VIII. , 177 seqq. ; Borgia, Vita, 9 seqq. ; Synodicon
Beneventanae ecclesiae complectens constitutiones et appendices
edit, in XXVII. synodis ah a. 1686 usque ad a. 1722. Accesseritnt
addit. ex 28a synodo die 24 Aug. 1723 celehrala, Beneventi,
1723-
* The *Atti di visita, in Archiepiscopal Archives, Benevento,
which in April, 1903, were put at my disposal through the
generosity of the late Archbishop Benedetto Bonazzi, are exem-
plary and of great historical value, because for each church of the
diocese all the documents are carefully collected and a detailed
description of all the churches is given. The administration of the
diocese is illustrated in all its details in *Bullarium sub V. M.
card. Orsini. Also preserved there : Vol. I., 1686-8 ; Vol. II.,
1689-1691 ; Vol. III., 1692-3 ; Vol. IV., 1693-8 ; Vol. V.,
1699-170S ; Vol. VI., 1709-1724 ; Vol. VII., 1724-1730.
* Concilia provincialia Beneventana duo habita annis 1693 et
1698, Beneventi, 1698 ; Coll. Lacensis, I., Friburgi Brisg., 1870,
21-126, 127-156. Cf. Borgia, 12 seqq.
* A. Meomartini, Benevento, Bergamo, 1909. 66 seqq. Ibid.,
129 ; a reproduction of the monument erected to Benedict XIII.
by the inhabitants of Benevento, opposite the archiepiscopal
palace, and some gifts in the Tesoro of the cathedral.
» Cf. the *Scrittura politica in Liechtenstein Arch., Vienna,
quoted above, p. no, n. i.
ARCHBISHOP OF BENEVENTO. II3
to write works of a theological and practical character.^
His learning, his exemplary life, his humility and liberality
were acknowledged by all, though some felt that he stuck
too obstinately to his own opinions. A diplomatist, who
drew attention to this characteristic, observed in 1689 that
he deemed it very unlikely, though not impossible, that a
friar of such impetuous zeal should ever become Pope for
he resembled rather Elias than kindly and compassionate
Eliseus.2
Besides his reputation for strictness, especially with regard
to ecclesiastical immunity, Orsini's prospects of ever obtaining
the supreme dignity were chiefly hampered by the prejudice
that the tiara should not be allowed to fall to a Frate.^ But
more than anything else, it was a grievous handicap for him
that even those who otherwise admired his excellent qualities,
could not be blind to the fact that he lacked the necessary
knowledge of the world and of affairs of government.'* He
had never been out of Italy and had only spent a short time
in Rome, so that he lacked all the qualifications which would
have fitted him to cope with the complicated duties and
anxieties that fall to the lot of the Supreme Head of the
Church.
Benedict XHI.'s very exterior showed that a stern ascetic
had ascended the papal throne. He was of middle height
and with his grave, mortified countenance, lofty forehead,
long, hooked nose and dark eyes he presented a striking
^ Collected in Opere di Benedetto XIII., 3 vols., Ravenna,
1728 ; Vol. I. contains : I.ezioni scritturali sopra il s. libro dell'
Esodo ; Vol. II. : Sermons ; Vol. III. : Discourses on Purgatory
and Opuscula (practical instructions). Other editions in Cat.
Bibl. Casanat., I., 538.
* *Scrittura politica, loc. cit.
^ Cf. A *characterization of the papabili of 1721, also " *Parere
ed informazione del barone de Malanotte ", both in the Archives
of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican. See also Guidotti's
*report of March 25, 1724, in Reuss Archives, Ernstbrunn.
* Memoire siir les papables, 1721, in Michaud ; La fin d^
Cldment XL, 57 seq.
VOL. XXXIV, I
114 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
figure.^ From the very first the Pope made it quite clear that he
was determined to go on hving as a rehgious, simply and with-
out pomp. He refused to occupy the sumptuous apartments
of the Vatican and chose for his residence the modest rooms
in the upper part of the palace, to which he ordered the
simple bed of his cell in the conclave to be transferred on
the very evening of his election. ^ At a later date he had a kind
of hermitage constructed for himself in an outbuilding near
the Galleria Geographica, from which he had no view at all.
The walls were whitewashed, a few holy paper pictures
forming their only adornment. The rest of the furniture
consisted of a table, a small prayer desk with a large crucifix
and a few reed chairs.^ The magnificent furniture estimated
^ *Vita in Cod. Vat. 8693, P- 1^0^, Vatican Library. Portraits
of Benedict XIII. by Gaillard and P. L. Ghezzi, in Drugulin,
Portrdtkatalog, No. 1268/9. Cf. Guarnacci, II., 409. A large
statue of Benedict XIII. erected by Cardinal Quirini in the porch
of S. Alessio, Rome. A marble bust in the baptisteries of S. Maria
Maggiore and S. John Lateran, and in the sacristy of the Cathedral
of Urbino, to which the Pope had presented the Golden Rose.
A bronze bust in the corridor leading to the sacristy of St. Peter's
(FoRCELLA, VI., 175). a portrait in relief in the Mona.stery of the
Madonna del Rosario on Monte Mario. The best are tho busts of
Benedict XIII. by P. Bracci in Raccolta A. Barsanti, Bromi
ital., tab. 50, replica in the hospital of S. Gallicano. The head of
the statue on his tomb in the Church of the Minerva is also by
P. Bracci ; see Gandara, P. Bracci, 35 ; Ferrari, La tomha
nelV arte ital., tab. 181. A magnificent work, for which the artist
was highly praised, is the medallion of Benedict XIII. by
Hedlinger ; see I. Amberg, Der Medailletir I oh. Karl Hedlinger,
Einsiedeln, 1887.
* *Istoria del conclave, loc. cit.
' De Brosses, Lettres, II., 146 (Paris, 1858). When the
Dominicans of Venice decided to erect a marble statue as a token
of gratitude, the Pope expressed his grief and reproached
them for that : " . . . eo vos processisse, ut simulacrum e
marmore Nobis collocandum decernei-ctis. Alia prorsus et Nos
invant et vos decent oflicia." *Brief of December 14, 1724,
Papal Secret Archives.
THE pope's piety. II5
at 30,000 scudi, which Innocent XIII. had provided for
some of the rooms in the Quirinal, was given to the wife
of James III., the Enghsh Pretender. Benedict was greatly
attached to James and bestowed a pension on him. He
ordered this costly furniture of the Quirinal to be replaced
by a very simple monastic outht, as he had done in the
Vatican. 1
The first three days following his election were spent by
Benedict XIII. in complete retirement and in prayer ^ ;
on June 4th he was crowned,^ after which he began to give
many audiences at which his kindness and liberality called
forth universal admiration. Every day, Cardinal Acquaviva
wrote on June 10th, 1724,^ one hears of actions of his which
testify to his great virtue. However, as the Pope's reforming
activity at Benevento was well known, not a few people were
afraid of his strictness.^ In view of his tenacity and obstinacy,
the diplomatists felt that " negotiations with him, especially
in ecclesiastical affairs, would prove difficult ". It may be
taken for granted, Kaunitz wrote, that Benedict XIII. " will
firmly uphold the rights of the Church not only out of a holy
^ Cardinal Acquaviva's *report to Juan Baut. de Orendayn,
June 24, 1724, Simancas Archives. Cf. Muratori, XII., 115,
where also further details are given about the quarrel between
James III. and his wife, Clementina Sobieska.
* Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report of June 6, 1724, Reuss Archives,
Ernstbrunn.
^ Relazione delle ceremonie e solennitd nella coronazione di
Benedetto XIII., Roma, 1724. The taking possession of the Lateran
took place only on September 24, and on account of the great heat
the procession started from the Quirinal ; see Cancellieri,
Possessi, 3C0 seqq. According to Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report of
September 30, 1724 {loc. cit.), the Pope rode at the Possesso
with all the ease of a young prelate.
* *To Juan Baut. de Orendayn, Simancas Archives. Even
during the greatest heat of the summer Benedict XIII. gave
numerous audiences to all classes of people ; see Borgia,
39-
* Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report of June 17, 1724, Reuss Archives,
Ernstbrunn.
Il6 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
zeal, but also because he feels that he understands things at
least as well as anyone else ".^
Cardinal Cienfuegos' prognostications for the new pontificate
were far more optimistic. He hoped for a return of the times
of Pius V. who had likewise been credited with inexperience
in the affairs of government yet had proved an excellent ruler. ^
The Pope, Cienfuegos reported on June 10th, 1724, was for
ever furnishing proofs of the holiness of his life. There was
no change in his table and his apartments. He wore the same
undergarments as before, gave generous alms to the poor
and waited on thirteen of them at table several times a week.
He was resolved to reform the manners of the clergy and had
already announced that in particular he would not tolerate
the wearing of wigs. It was expected that his government
would be for the good both of the Church and of the Princes.
Cienfuegos singles out the peculiarity that Benedict XHI.
was resolved to carry out ecclesiastical functions in person,
such as the consecration of Bishops, churches and altars,
a thing his predecessors had long ceased to do and which
they had never done to such an extent.^
Another peculiarity of the Pope gave rise to difficulties
on account of the protocol. Benedict XHI. was resolved
to continue his habit of taking a two hours' walk before
sunset all by himself, for the sake of exercise, and for this
purpose he drove out incognito, in a closed carriage, saying
his Rosary. It was an unheard of thing for a Pope to appear
thus in public without escort, the Congregation of the cere-
monial accordingly hit upon a middle course ; this was that
the Pope should drive out on two or three days of the week
with the usual pomp, but on other days he might drive in
an ordinary carriage to the place where he intended to take
his walk. Though Urban VIII. had acted in this manner,
* Count Kaunitz' *Diary, Wrbna-Kaunitz Arch., HoUeschau.
* Cardinal Cienfuegos' *letter to Sinzcndorf, June 6, 1724,
Reuss Archives, Ernstbrunn.
» Cardinal Cienfuegos' *rcport of June 10, 1724, ibid. In the
liturgical sphere, Benedict XIII. tried to infuse new life into
ancient customs ; see ]'oyages de Montesquieu, I., 21 x.
PAOLUCCI SECRETARY OF STATE. II7
the innovation displeased a good many people.^ Fault was
also found with the abolition of the bodyguard, the lanze
spezzate, and the dismissal of a number of honorary chamber-
lains. Benedict XIII. 's first drive was to the hospital of
S. Spirito where he gave Extreme Unction to a dying man ;
after that he drove to a Villa. He continued this practice
in the future also and on all his drives he invariably visited
some church or hospital. ^ The appointments to the more
important positions at court did not meet with universal
approval ; the Albani alone appeared satisfied ; they boasted
that just as they had brought about Benedict XIII. 's election,
so were the ministerial posts in the hands of their friends.^
However, this was only true in part. Corradini retained the
post of Daiarius, Cardinal Olivieri that of Secretary of Briefs,
Giudice that of Maggiordomo, Cardinal Fabrizio Paolucci,
who had held that office under Clement XL, became Secretary
of State, whilst retaining the office of Vicar of Rome. As
Maestro di Camera Benedict XIII. named Niccolo Maria
Lercari, as Secretary of Briefs to Princes the Neapolitan
Carlo Majella, as Secretary of the Cypher Camillo Merlini,
as Secretary of Latin Briefs Luchesini and as Secretary of
Memorials Niccolo Coscia.^
Paolucci's appointment to the most important post of all,^
that of Secretary of State, Benedict XIII. justified to Cien-
fuegos on the ground that he was bound to entrust the govern-
ment of Church and State to men whom he knew, but that
he only knew Marescotti, who was too old, and Paolucci
whose experience he was in need of since he himself had no
personal acquaintance with affairs of Church and State.
^ Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report of June 10, 1724, loc. cit.
* Cardinal Acquaviva's *report to Juan Baut. de Orendayn,
June 10, 1724, Simancas Archives.
' Count Kaunitz' * Diary, Wrbna-Kaunitz Arch., Holleschau.
* Count Kaunitz' *report of June 10, 1724 {ibid.), which
contains a Hst of the nominations made on June 6.
* Baron de Malanotte makes special mention of this in his
" *Parere ed informazione per il conclave dell' a. 1724 ". Archives
of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican.
Il8 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Benedict would have been happy if Cienfuegos had expressed
himself satisfied with this choice, but the Cardinal excused
his silence on the plea that he had no instructions on the
matter from the Emperor. He deemed it inadvisable to
oppose the nomination, especially as Paolucci was universally
liked and esteemed on account of his gentle disposition and
because otherwise the Pope would have appointed one of
the " Zelanti ", such as Fabroni, Corsini or Spada, an
inadvisable choice in view of Benedict XIII. 's character.^
General opinion, Cienfuegos wrote, is to the effect that in
Church matters Benedict will be so strict that it will be almost
impossible to avoid collisions with the secular Governments ;
for the rest his intentions were excellent and his life that of
a saint. 2
In his drives and the visits to the churches made by him
on those occasions, the Pope sought to see for himself that
everything was in order.^ On the occasion of a visit to the
hospital of the Lateran, on October 12th, 1724, he personally
inspected the beds and when he saw the bad state they were
in he took the supervisors to task and told them that the
sick must be given the same attention as would be given
to the Pope himself who, as servus servorum Dei, saw in the
sick the Saviour Himself.* Not only at this visit, which had
a salutary effect on the other hospitals, ^ but in other ways
also Benedict gave proof of his deep humility and the goodness
of his heart. At the repast which followed the ordination
by him of Cardinal Ottoboni he insisted, against all established
custom, on sitting at the same table as the Cardinal on the
* Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report of June 6, 1724, Reuss Arch.,
Ernstbrunn.
2 " *I1 pronostico, che si fa del governo del Papa, si riduce a
crederlo rigido nelle cose ecclesiastiche, e che dove si tratti di
queste, possa egli dare in qualche stortura anche coUe corone.
Per altro le sue intenzioni sono rettissime e la vita sua lo canonizza
persanto." Ibid.
3 Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report of October 14, 1724, ibid.
* *Report of the same, October 24, 1724, ibid.
" Ibid.
THE POPE S KINDLINESS. IIQ
plea that Fra Vincenzo Maria was eating with the priest
Ottoboni.i ^^ tj^g procession of Corpus Christi he carried the
Blessed Sacrament on foot, to the edification of all, though
this too was an innovation. ^ At another procession he carried
a candle weighing no less than four pounds.^ One day, when
driving to St. Pauls' Outside the Walls, he saw a poor woman
kneeling at the entrance to a vigna and begging him with
a loud voice for a blessing in articulo mortis for a vine dresser
who was dangerously ill. The Pope immediately ordered
the coachman to drive into the vigna, went into the house,
heard the sick man's confession and left a generous alms.*
On the occasion of a visit to the German College, which he
held in particular esteem, ^ he assisted with the students at
a liturgical function in their church of S. Apollinare, as if
he were one of the pupils. When the kiss of peace was about
to be given to him by means of a silver cross, as is done for
Bishops, he ordered that it should be given with an embrace,
and after the students. At the end of the Mass the celebrant
knelt down, waiting for the Pope to give the Blessing, but
the Pontiff only blessed the priest and bade him give his
blessing to the people.^ On his frequent visits to S. Maria
sopra Minerva, he often remained for a meal in the convent,
when he insisted on being waited upon by the lay brothers
exclusively, though the most distinguished among the Fathers
strove for the honour.'' He wished to have his last resting
place in the church of the Minerva.^
^ Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report of July 15, 1724, ibid.
^ Count Kaunitz' note in his *Diary, Wrbna-Kaunitz Arch.,
Holleschau.
' Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report of October 7, 1724, loc. cit.
* The two chamberlains had overlooked the entry of the
coach into the Vigna and rode about looking for the Pope : it
was accordingly said in Rome " che le guardie del Papa havevano
smarrito S. S*^ ". Cienfuegos' report of October 14, 1724, ibid.
* Steinhuber, II., 1405^5.
* Cairdinal Cienfuegos' *report of August 5, 1724, Reuss Arch.,
Ernstbrunn. '' Ibid
* Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report of December 2, 1724. ibid.
120 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Probably no Pope has carried out so many church functions
as Benedict XIII. who was an excellent pastor of souls.
After the christening by him of the son of Prince Altieri
in 1724, it was calculated that in the course of the first six
months of his pontificate he had administered all the Sacra-
ments which a parish priest can give and carried out all the
consecrations that appertain to the ofiice of a Bishop.^
For the whole duration of the Holy Year, 1725, Benedict
determined to stay at the Vatican whereas his predecessors,
from Clement X. onwards, had preferred the Quirinal, so much
so that — on account of their being buried at St. Peter's —
the saying was that the Popes took up residence at the
Vatican only after their death. ^
In the sequel also the Pope showed a marked dislike for
the Quirinal. He remained deaf to all representations that
in summer the air was unwholesome in the low-lying Vatican,
but insisted on residing there even during the greatest summer
heat and it was with difficulty that in August, 1726, he was
prevailed upon to migrate to the Quirinal. For the sake of
relaxation he paid several visits from there to Sixtus V.'s
Villa near St. Mary Major. ^ But his favourite resort was
the small Dominican convent near the Madonna del Rosario
on Monte Mario, whither he was wont to retire once a year,
generally during the carnival, or for penitential exercises.
At times he would arrive unannounced, with only two com-
panions ; occasionally he taught the catechism to the children
in the adjoining little church of S. Onofrio.*
^ Ibid. On the " spese " of the consecrations, see *Cod. Vat.
9313, p. 152 seqq., Vatican Library.
* Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report of December 2, 1724, loc. cit.
3 *Reports of the same, May 18, July 27, August 3, 10, 24
and October 26, 1726, and July 27, 1727, ibid.
* Benedict XIII. visited this Monastery for the first time
in October, 1724, although he had been warned of the unhealthy
air (Cienfuegos' *reports of September 30 and October 7, 1724, loc.
cit.) ; later on he visited it frequently (*Reports of the same,
February 10, March 10, July 14, October 27, 1725, ibid.). In
1726 he consecrated several altars in the Church. To this day there
HIS LOVE OF LITURGICAL FUNCTIONS. 121
Relying on his strong constitution the Pope devoted himself
unsparingly, even during the hottest months, to the exacting
and lengthy sacred functions which his predecessors had only
undertaken with wise moderation. The consecration of
churches and altars in particular was a favourite occupation
of his. On the occasion of the consecration of the Lateran
basilica in May, 1726, it was calculated that since the beginning
of his episcopate, he had consecrated 360 churches and 1,494
altars. 1 Very frequently also he carried out the ordination
of priests and gave Confirmation, and he loved to hear con-
fessions. The way in which he taxed his strength during
Holy Week gave rise to widespread misgivings. In 1725 he
assisted at Tenebrae on Wednesday in Holy Week in the
Sistine Chapel. On Maundy Thursday he carried out the
whole function at the Lateran, gave his solemn blessing and
washed the feet of thirteen priests ; the function had begun
at six o'clock in the morning and it was one o'clock in the
afternoon when it ended. On Good Friday he was again
in the Chapel at an early hour ; later in the day he waited
on the pilgrims at Trinity dei Pellegrini. He also carried out
in person the long function of Holy Saturday, beginning with
the blessing of the fire and ending with the High Mass, the
whole ceremony lasting nine hours. He then took a drink
of chocolate, after which, without showing a trace of fatigue,
he seated himself in the confessional and remained there till
nightfall. Late at night he returned to the Vatican ; on Easter
Sunday he sang Mass at St. Peter's and gave his solemn
blessing. On the last two days, partly owing to his strict
fast, symptoms of great weakness had been observed in the
are two inscriptions recording the fact, and his stay in the
Monastery, in which, as is well known, Liszt resided later on ;
see FoRCELLA, XII., 270.
^ Cracas, May 4, 1726. By November 3, 1728, he had con-
secrated 1,600 Altars in 377 churches (according to Lez., 89,
n. 26, in Benedict XIII., Lezioni, on the book of Exodus, Opere, I.,
Ravenna, 1728, 407). In the church of the Minerva he gradually
consecrated no less than sixteen Altars ; see Berthier, Minerve,
214.
122 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Pope ; his entourage and the physicians thereupon pressed
him to refrain from such exertions which, in view of his age,
were fraught with danger to his hfe. His reply was that he
could only wish for such a death. ^
Whilst Benedict XIII. was thus absorbed in ecclesiastical
functions, pious exercises, visits to churches and hospitals,^
the actual business of government fell to the ministers. The
Pope was himself aware of his utter inexperience in such
matters and during the first six weeks he refused to have
anything to do with secular business.^ It was rumoured that
he had told his ministers that they should deal with worldly
affairs [fate voi) as he himself knew nothing of politics — that
he would pray for them.* Later on, however, he was forced,
willy-nilly, to busy himself with such things, but he did so as
little as possible for he was unwilling to let a church function
escape him. During the Roman Provincial Council of 1725,
the Secretary of State, Cardinal Paolucci, was unable to see
the Pope for a whole seventeen days. No wonder a satirical
poem spoke of the vacancy of the Holy See.^ In view of this
^ Cardinal Cienfuegos' *reports of March 31 and April 7, 1725,
Reuss Archives, Ernstbrunn.
* There he rendered to the poor the most humble services ;
cf. Acquaviva's *letter to Grimaldi, November 11, 1724, Simancas
Archives.
' Count Kaunitz' *Diary, June 24 to July i, 1724, has the
following entry : " Until now no foreign Minister has negotiated
with the Pope and ' stehet bis dahin die ganze Welt in Unge-
wissheit, auf wasfiireinen Fuss dessen Regierung gestellet werden
wird '. ' Die hiesigen Staatsgeschafte liegen noch zu dato alle
zu Boden und hat sich der Papst darin noch gar nicht informirt,
auch dariiber mit seinen Ministern nicht gesprochen, sondern hat
derselbe alle seine Zeit bis nun in lauter geistlichen Sachen und
zu seiner Andacht angcwendet.' " July 1-5 : Until now only
spiritual affairs : " die weltlichen Geschafte haben Ihre Hciligkeit
noch zu dato nicht einsehen wollen." July 8-15 : " Alles noch
in demselben zustand." Wrbna-Kaunitz Arch., Holleschau.
* Petrucelli, IV., 51.
•> Cardinal Cienfuegos' *reports of May 5, June 4 and July 7,
1725, loc. cit.
NICCOLO COSCIA. 123
peculiarity it is evident that much depended upon the Pope's
ministers and advisers.^ It was a fatal thing that among them
was found a man who shamefully abused the ingenuous
Pontiff's confidence.
Niccolo Coscia ^ was born in 1681, at Pietra de' Fusi, a
Neapolitan village in the diocese of Benevento, of a very
poor and obscure family. Chance having brought him in
touch with Cardinal Orsini, then Archbishop of Benevento,
he so successfully won that prelate's goodwill by his ability
that the Archbishop undertook nothing without first consulting
him.^ Orsini heaped favours upon him. In 1703 Coscia
became a Canon of S. Bartolomeo and in 1708 he obtained
a Canon's stall in the cathedral of Benevento.* That same
^ In his *Diary, loc. cit. Kaunitz emphasizes this very strongly,
and observes that the choice is all the more important, " zumal
der Eifer der Andacht und Religion ohnedem den Heiligen Vater
ofters diirfte emportiren." For this reason he and Cienfuegos
had exerted themselves with great zeal in this respect in the days
from June 1-3, 1724.
" NovAES, XIII., 87 ; Moroni, XVII., 306 seqq. ; Guarnacci,
II., 454 seqq. Cf. *Nascita e fortuna dell' em. sig. card. Coscia
nel pontificato di Benedetto XIIL, Ms. (purchased in 1901 in
Rome) in my possession ; contains the Roman " dicerie ".
Authentic details on the life of Coscia are in the *Acts of the
process against him. According to these he was born not in
1682, as is generally stated, but in 1681 ; see the baptismal
register : baptized, January 23, 1681, " fil. legitimus et naturalis
mag. Vincentii Coscia et mag. Hieronimae Gemma." He received
the first tonsure in May, 1696. (Papal Secret Archives, X., 150.)
Coscia's portrait (" Paulus de Matheis delin. et pinx. Hier. Rossi
sculp.") in Guarnacci, II., 454.
' *Si accrebbe tanto nel cuore del porporato I'affetto verso di
Niccolo che divenne da quella ora in poi I'arbitro ed il padrone del
cuore e della volonta di Sua Eminenza. Quando essendosi fatta
matura riflessione su tal mostruosita non mancarono persone che
affermassero di carta scienza che il card. Orsini fu in quell'occasione
ammaliato da uno stregono di Nardo. Nascita e fortuna di card.
Coscia, loc. cit.
* From the *Acts of the process against Coscia it appears that
from August 25, 1701, to October 20, 1703, he was master of the
124 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
year — 1708 — he became Chancellor of the archiepiscopal
curia and in 1716 secretary to the xA.rchbishop.^ In 1721 the
latter took him with him to the conclave. This was repeated
in 1724 when Coscia entered into negotiations with the
Albani which, if they were not decisive for the election of his
master, at least greatly helped it.^
With his nomination as Secretary of Memorials, when he
also became titular Archbishop of Trajanopolis, the parvenu
secured a post which, as a rule, formerly fell to a nephew ;
in this way he had frequent access to the Pope.^ As early as
June, 1724, Cardinal Cienfuegos reports that, as formerly
at Benevento, Coscia was all powerful with the Pope, with
the result that all the ambassadors sought to win his favour
by presents.'* Cardinal Acquaviva also reports in July, 1724,
that, realizing his utter inexperience in the affairs of govern-
ment, the Pope left them to Cardinal Paolucci, but that
besides him Coscia also dealt with a good deal of business. ^
Coscia, a man of the lowest character, abused the position
of trust which Benedict XIII. had allotted to him in the
most shameful fashion. He did not shrink from the worst
means when there was question of satisfjang his covetousness.
The unsuspecting Pontiff, almost exclusively occupied with
spiritual things as he was, refused to listen to those Cardinals
" mansionariato della metropolitana di Benevento ". From
October 12, 1703, to April 13, 1708, he was a Canon of S. Bartolo-
meo, and from April 13, 1708, to January, 1724, a Canon of the
Cathedral. He held other benefices besides. Papal Secret Archives,
X.,i54.
^ Chancellor from April zT), 1708, to February 27, 1716, secretary
of the Cardinal- Archbishop from February, 1716, to December,
1721. Ibid. * Above, p. 106.
' " *n segretariato de' mcmoriali e di confidcnza per I'accesso
frequente al Papa che suole conferirlo a qualche parente." Parere
ed informazione di Malanotte, 1724, Archives of the Austrian
Embassy at the Vatican.
* Cardinal Cienfuegos' *letter to Juan. Baut. de Orendayn,
June 17, 1724, Reuss Archives, Ernstbrunn. Cf. Petrucelli,
IV., 51.
* Acquaviva's *Icttcr of July 29, 1724, Simancas Archives.
COSCIA A CARDINAL. 125
of the party of the " Zelanti " who drew his attention to
the conduct of his favourite ^ : he continued in his bHnd trust.
In January, 1725, it was rumoured that Coscia was about
to be raised to the cardinalate. But the project met with the
opposition of a large section of the Sacred College, though at
that time even so shrewd a man as Cienfuegos was still of
opinion that everything that Coscia was reproached with
was simply calumny ! ^ The Pope was fully convinced that
it was so. Obstinate by nature and impatient of contradiction,^
the Pontiff persisted in his resolve to bestow the purple on
Coscia, in spite of the opposition of a number of Cardinals.
A consistory was held on June 11th, 1725, in which
Benedict XIII. proposed Coscia for the cardinalate, together
with his Maggiordomo Giudice. When after recommending
Coscia, he pronounced the customary formula : Quid vohis
videtiir ? nine Cardinals of the " Zelanti " party offered a
decided opposition. The Secretary of State spoke first :
referring to previous declarations b}' His Holiness he said
that, in view of Coscia's bad reputation, he felt bound to
vote against him. Cardinal Fabroni spoke in equally sharp
terms : he deemed it a duty of conscience to protest against
the elevation of a man of such ill repute.* Cardinals Pico,
Zondadari, Corradini, Tolomei, BeUuga, Salemi and Imperiali
also spoke emphatically against the elevation and stated the
motives of their decision. But the majority gave its consent,
Cienfuegos among them.^ Thus did Coscia become Cardinal-
Priest of S. Maria in Domnica.^
^ Ibid.
* Cardinal Cienfuegos' *letter of March 17, 1725, Reuss Arch.,
Ernstbrunn. ' Letters of the same of May 5 and 19, 1725, ibid.
* *Voto dell'E.mo e R.mo Signer Cardinale Fabroni in con-
giuntura della Promozione del card. Coscia, June 11, 1725, in
Fondo Gesuit., 196, p. 203, Vittorio Emanuele Library, Rome.
' Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report of June 12, 1725. loc. cit. ;
P. Cappello's *report of June 16, 1725, State Archives, Venice,
extract in Brosch, II., 62 seq. The *Votum of Fabroni in Cod.
]'at. 8631, p 63, Vatican Library.
* The Diaconia of S. Maria in Domnica was raised on this
occa.sion to a. iitolo presbiterale. Novaes, XIII., 87.
126 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Benedict XIII. again took no notice of the Cardinals'
protests when in July, 1725, at Coscia's request he consented
to the resignation by Cardinal Ottoboni of the Abbey of
Chiaravalle in favour of the son of a Milanese banker, then
still a minor, a step which led to a conflict with the Emperor.^
Whilst Benedict XIII. remained only too often deaf to
the counsels of his ministers,- he lent an all the more willing
ear to Coscia, who showed great concern for the health of
his master and even prevailed on him, in September, 1725,
to give up his accustomed visit to the convent on Monte
Mario. 3 On September 5th the Pope, who from attachment
to his former church had retained the see of Benevento,
appointed his all powerful favourite his coadjutor in that see,
with the right of succession.* There now occurred a revulsion
of feeling in Rome which up to this time had been largely
favourable to the Pope. Even Cienfuegos felt grievously
disappointed.^
On November 5th, 1725, the Pope, accompanied by a
small suite, went to Vignanello for the purpose of consecrating
a church erected by Francesco Maria Ruspoli, Prince of
Cervetri. For two years Ruspoh's daughter had lived apart
from her husband, the Duke of Gravina. The Pope, who
had at first attempted to bring the two together, now sanctioned
their separation, an act which gave rise to scandal. The
whole thing was ascribed to Coscia.^
^ Cardinal Cienfuego-s' *reports of July 31, September 15
and 29, 1725, Reuss Archives, Ernstbrunn.
* *Report of the same, August 11, 1725, ibid.
' *Report of the same, September i, 1725, ibid.
* *Acia consist., Barb. 2920, Vatican Libraiy. Cardinal
Cienfuegos' *reports on September 5, 1725 (loc. cit.) to the imperial
Chancellery : when Coscia was proposed the Pope spoke verj- rapidly
for fear of contradiction and without any pause let the blessing
follow the " Quid vobis videtur ? " The measure excites general
astonishment.
* Cardinal Cienfuegos' *reports of September 8 and 15, 1725,
loc. cit.
* *Report of the same, November 10, 1725, ibid. ; " *Diarium
pontif. Bencdicti XIII.," in Cod. 1320, p. 203 scqq., Casanatense
HIS GROWING POWER. I27
In January, 1726, it was said that the Pope did not receive
his ministers, whilst on the other hand he wiUingly hstened
to Coscia's advice. About this time the latter was also made
a member of the Congregation of the Inquisition, a step which
gave rise to general dissatisfaction, as only the most deserving
among the Cardinals received such an appointment.^ Benedict's
blindness is also shown by the fact that not long after he
entrusted Coscia with the visitation of the archdiocese of
Benevento.2 When reasons of health compelled Paolucci
to go to Albano, all business came to a temporary standstill.
Coscia's partisans, most of them natives of Benevento, as
for instance the ill-famed Private Chamberlain Niccolo
Saverio Santamaria,^ seized the opportunity to get hold of
all the best posts,* and, after the pattern of their patron,
to line their own pockets. In this respect, besides the Pope's
blind trust, his kindhness, which inchned him to grant requests
very readily, was of great profit to them. To this goodness,
and to the lack of conscience on the part of the favourites,
the Venetian ambassador. Baron Morosini, ascribes the fact
that so many extraordinary and unjustifiable favours were
granted, and that wholly unsuitable and undeserving persons
had positions assigned to them.^ Coscia sold the pubhc offices,
Library, Rome ; on Benedict XIII. 's efforts to reconcile the
couple, see Cardinal Acquaviva's *report of June 24, 1724,
Simancas Archives. Inscriptions in the church and in the Ruspoli
Palace record the visit of Benedict XIII. to Vignanello.
^ Cardinal Cienfuegos' *reports to Sinzendorf, January 5, 12,
and 26, 1726, loc. cit.
^ *Reports of the same, February 16 and 23, 1726, ibid.
' How bad the reputation of this favourite was appears from
*Vita e stravagante fortuna di Msgr. Niccolo Saverio Santa-
maria Beneventano, vescovo di Cirene, canonico di S. Pietro e
gia cameriere segreto participante del dcfunto pontefice Bene-
detto XIII. " [Cod. Vat. 9405, p. 63 seqq., Vatican Librar}-.
Cf. Le Bret, Magazin, IV., 142 seqq.).
* Valesio in Rassegna bibl. d'arte ital., XVI. (1913), 112.
" " Relazione di Roma del N. U. Barbon Morosini ambasc.
alia corte di Roma (Novembre 5, 1730 — Giugno 30, 1731),"
in State Archives, Venice, more accessible there than the extremely
rare reprint of 1865, Ceneda (pubblicazione per nozze).
128 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
granted everything in return for money and presents, and
enriched himself shamelessly.^ As early as August, 1725, it
was rumoured that he had amassed two million scudi. His
rooms were adorned with pictures taken from the state-
rooms of the Vatican. This fashion of decorating one's own
apartments was promptly followed by other prelates of the
palace. 2
Dissatisfaction in Rome, and aversion for the Beneventans,
rose steadily. There appeared an anonymous pubHcation
in the form of a letter, which proved by quotations from
the Councils, the Fathers and the Bulls of the Popes, that
it was the Cardinals' duty to advise the Pope, and the Pope's
to consult the Sacred College. All this was mordantly pro-
pounded, and contrasted with the regime in power. ^ Bene-
dict XIII. was informed of the nature of the pubHcation
and had inquiries made about the identity of its author, but
he made no change in his mode of government. Pubhc affairs
seemed to be of no concern to him. He continued to devote
all his attention to religious functions which, during Holy
Week, he once more carried out with the greatest self-sacrifice.
Afterwards he resumed the consecration of altars.*
Meanwhile Paolucci's health grew much worse. He had
been desirous of retiring already in June, 1724,^ and it now
became necessary to think seriously of a successor. In May
» CoRDARA, ed. DoLLiNGER, III., 3. Cf. Voyagcs, DE Montes-
quieu, I., 199 seq.
* Valesio, loc. cit., 114.
» Cardinal Cienfuegos' *rcport of April 13, 1726, Reuss Arch.,
Ernstbrunn.
* *Reports of the same, April 20 and May i, 1726, ibid.
' According to Cienfuegos' *report of June 24, 1724 [ibid.),
besides Paolucci's great age a circumstance of decisive effect
was that, besides the reform of the clergy, of the court, and of
the ceremonial, papal decisions which he could not prevent were
ascribed to him. Benedict XIII., however, did not accept the
resignation ; he is said to have answered that just as he himself
had been forced to accept the tiara against his will, Paolucci
also must retain the secretariate of state.
LERCARI SECRETARY OF STATE. I29
Coscia returned from Benevento and presented himself at
once before the Pope with whom he remained closeted from
one in the morning till five o'clock. ^ Paolucci's illness proved
a lingering one ; there were periods of improvement, but he
was no longer able to attend to affairs. The two Albani
proposed either Patrizi or Scotti as his successor. Coscia
seemed inclined to favour Aldrovandi or Cibo, or, if it had
to be a Cardinal, Banchieri.^ Meanwhile all business remained
in suspense. At this time Coscia was on such intimate terms
with the Pope that, on the strength of a former promise,
he addressed the Pontiff in the second person singular after
the Neapolitan fashion. ^
Paolucci died on June 12th, 1726 ; his death was as edifying
as his life had been.'* With him fell the last barrier which up
till then had prevented many an arbitrary measure.^
As successor to Paolucci in the Secretariate of State,
Benedict XIII., to the amazement and annoyance of the
diplomatists and of many Cardinals, appointed a simple
prelate, namely Niccolo Maria Lercari, a Genoese, born in
1675, whom he had come to know at Benevento, a man of
moderate ability, but utterly dependent on Coscia.^ The
^ Cardinal Cienfuegos' *reportof May 11, 1726, ibid.
* *Report of the same, May 18, 1726, ibid
^ *Report of the same, June i, 1726 (ibid.), relates that when
the Pope asked Coscia what he should do regarding a certain
nomination, the latter replied " all'usanza napolitana : S. Padre,
Tu domandi, che hai da fare ? La parola data da principio devi
mantenere, perche hai da pensare prima di promettere, ma
promesso che hai Tu devi osservare la parola ".
* " *LaSciando di se ottima opinione per la vita esemplare che
ha menata e per la morte santa che ha fatta," Cienfuegos writes
on June 15, 1726, ibid.
^ Voyages de Montesquieu, I., 213.
* Cienfuegos' *report of June 15, 1726, loc. cit. Montesquieu
[Voyages, II., 35) calls Lercari " bon, mais faible ". On Lercari,
of. GuARNACci, II., 479 seq. In his *report to the Emperor,
December 14, 1726 [loc. cit.), Cienfuegos describes Lercari's
character thus : Lercari, 50 years of age, of a middle-class family,
healthy, religious, of adequate learning and ecclesiastical spirit,
VOL. XXXIV. K
130 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Venetian ambassador Barbon Morosini thus describes the
change which now took place in the government of the
devout and well-meaning Pontiff : "At the beginning of
his pontificate Benedict showed less determination and
frequently listened to representations in an opposite sense,
but after he had effected the nomination of Coscia in the
teeth of the opposition of several prominent Cardinals, he
at last became fully conscious of his power : from that
moment, the only thing that restrained him was his sincere
veneration for the excellent Cardinal Paolucci whose repre-
sentations he frequently took into account ; but after the
death of the Cardinal, the Beneventans could dare and hope
for anything. Corradini alone continued to utter words of
warning and he prevented many things, but he was no match
for Coscia and his Beneventan following, especially as the
latter had secretly prevailed on the Pope to make a number
of concessions." ^
The papal auditor Prospero Marefoschi succeeded Paolucci
as Vicar of Rome ^ ; the office of a Maestro di Camera, which
Lercari had held, was given to Francesco Fini. The latter
was born in 1669 at Minervino in Neapolitan territory ^
held with little success " governi " in the States of the Church
under Clement XL, and as Governatore of Benevento, won the
affections of the Pope. As Maestro di Camera he ahenated many
by his harshness ; as Secretary of State he did wonders, against
all expectation, worked indefatigably " con somma schiettezza "
so that all praised his transformation " in gentilezza ". Lercari's
tomb [in bad taste — a soft-featured angel holds his effigy] is in
S. Marcello al Corso ; Epitaph in Forcella, II., 320.
^ B. Morosini, Relazione di Roma [cf. above, p. 127, n. 5),
State Archives, Venice.
2 Cardinal Cienfuegos' *rcport of June 22, 1726, loc. cit.
3 Moroni, XXIV., 310 siq. An anonymous author draws a
very dark picture of Fini in his " *Vita ", in Cod. ital., 548, p. 74
seqq., State Library, Munich ; he says : "In verita non cosi
pravi ha avuti i costumi come Coscia e S. Maria bench^ ancor esso
h stato buona parte contaminatore deH'onesta e pudicizia di
tante famiglic c ha fatto profitto neirintcrccssione delle grazie
al pari degli altri."
COSCIA S GREED. ' I3I
and had been one of the Pope's most trusted servants whilst
Benedict was Archbishop of Benevento. He had become a
rival of Coscia who for the time being succeeded in preventing
the bestowal of the red hat on Fini, as was the Pope's inten-
tion.^ Consequently on December 9th, 1726, Lercari and the
Franciscan Lorenzo Cozza were alone raised to the purple.^
Fini nevertheless retained the Pope's favour ^ ; on January
26th, 1728, he was admitted into the Sacred College.^
Coscia remained all powerful with Benedict XIII. in aU
the internal affairs of the Papal States.^ All efforts to open
the Pope's eyes to this unworthy personage were in vain.
In January, 1727, documentary evidence showed that Coscia
had raised, on his own authority, a sum of 11,000 scudi within
three months. Instead of taking him to task over it the
Pope made a present of the sum to Coscia by an autograph
•letter.^ This case is by no means an isolated one. The
Maggiordomo Camillo Cibo sought to lower the expenses
with which Coscia burdened the exchequer of the Apostolic
Palace, but the reform was thwarted by Coscia obtaining
an autograph letter from Benedict XIII. ordering the con-
tinuation of these expenses. A second attempt to remove
* Thus Cienfuegos, in his *letter of December 17, 1726, loc. cit.
* GUARNACCI, II., 471 se^(?.
3 Cienfuegos' *report of December 27, 1727, loc. ctt.
* GuARNACCi, II., 495 seqq.
^ Cardinal Cienfuegos' *rcport of May i, 1727, loc. cit. Cf.
the account in *Teatro storico del pontificato e governo di
Benedetto XIII. R. P. coll'aggiunta di un foglio dimostrativo
dello stato cattivo e passivo della R. Cam. Apost. e della intrata
ed uscita della borsa del Papa [Cod. ital., 55, State Library,
Munich), where it is stated (f. 185) : that Coscia attained such
importance " che le stanze sue paiono quelle del Papa e le stanze
del Papa quelle del guardiano de' Cappuccini ; non si seppe che
fosse il principe, o il Papa, che si era spogliato delle sue temporali
prerogative d'arbitrio, o Coscia, che si era ursurpato il dominio
a le qualita principal! ".
* P. Capello's dispatch of January 25, 1727, in Brosch, II.,
65-
132 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
the abuse made by Cibo soon after also failed.^ After this
Coscia's hatred of Cibo no longer knew any limits. For a
time he sought to force Cibo to resign his post, but when the
latter nevertheless succeeded in maintaining his position,
Coscia found other means for removing him from the office
of Maggiordomo : he advocated his elevation to the cardinalate !
By this promotion, which took place on March 23rd, 1729,
Coscia successfully removed Cibo from his important post
and at the same time forced a dignity on him which he accepted
with reluctance, as he lacked the necessary income to enable
him to maintain his new position. ^
When there was question of filling vacant posts Coscia
demanded payment in money from the candidates, or he
bargained with them for a share in the revenues which the
offices yielded. It happened sometimes that the engagement
thus made was not honoured ; when this occurred he brought
the matter to the notice of the Pope to whom he gave to
understand that the contribution had been agreed upon for
some pious purpose ; in this way he obtained his own end.
Coscia also derived a considerable income from the monopolies
created by him ; among them was a monopoly of shoe leather
and another of soap, from the holders of which he obtained
presents.^ The disorder of the finances, which Benedict XIII.
was quite unable to grasp,^ eventually became such that it
was necessary to appoint a special congregation to deal with it :
it included Cardinals Corradini, Collicola and Lercari. The
commission resolved to lay before the Pope a scheme destined
to eliminate superfluous expenditure, regulate the revenues,
1 C. Cibo's *Autobiography in Fondo Gcsitit. 99, p. 602 seqq.,
608 seqq., 629 seq., Bibl. Vittorio Emanuele, Rome, where the
Chirografi of Benedict XIII. in the case of Coscia are given in the
original text.
" Ibid., 102, p. I seqq.
3 Brosch, II., 65 seq.
* Cardinal Acquaviva reports this to Juan Baut. Orendayn
in his *letter of August 26, 1724, where he mentions the bad
advice given in this matter by Sardini of Lucca. Simancas
Archives.
PAPAL FINANCES, I33
improve the collection of taxes and impose new ones.
Benedict XIII. sanctioned everything, but he would not
hear of the imposition of fresh taxes. However, as the Venetian
ambassador Barbon Morosini wrote, it was impossible to
build on such decisions, as there was not the slightest prospect
that Coscia would allow the Pope to revoke contracts from
which the Cardinal derived so much money, or to curtail
expenditure of which the greater part flowed into the Cardinal's
pockets.^
A computation made in April, 1729, gives us an idea of
the financial straits. According to this account the income
of the Apostolic Camera, at the beginning of the reign of
Benedict XIII., amounted to 2,716,650 scudi, and the
expenditure to 2,439,308 scudi, leaving a surplus of 277,342
scudi. After Benedict XIII. had suppressed the meat tax
and the Lotto di Genova, erected 2,000 new liioghi di monte,
eased a number of contracts and raised many salaries, the
expenditure rose by 383,686 scudi, the result being an annual
deficit of 120,000 scudi. ^ A remedy, which it would have
been difficult to applj^ in any case, was not proposed for
Coscia's power remained unimpaired up to the Pope's death
[February 21st, 1730]. Coscia and his accomplices successfully
isolated the Pope by rendering access to his person as difficult
as possible and if in spite of every precaution someone managed
to speak frankly to the Pope, he became the object of calumny
and could be certain that never again would he be received
in a private audience.^ Whenever satires were published
against Coscia and his Beneventans, stern ordinances were
1 Brosch, II., 69. A list of receipts and expenses of 1729
in *Teatro storico, loc. cit.
^ MuRATORi, Annali d'ltalia, XII., Lucca, 1764, 127 ; Coppi,
Finanze, 19. Cf. also *Stato economico della Camera Apost.,
posto sotto gli occhi della Santita di N. S. Benedetto XIII.
I'a. 1729, which I purchased in Rome in 1902 (carte, 1107),
Baron von Pastor Library ; there also the plans of reform.
^ " *Conclave dopo la morte del P. Benedetto XIII.," Ms.,
ibid.
134 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
issued in order to inspire terror.^ At the beginning of
August, 1729, it looked as if a rift had occurred in the relations
between the Pope and Coscia,^ but it was soon seen that
Benedict could not dispense with his adviser. When Coscia
did not present himself before the Pope for several days, the
latter went himself to call upon him, and as the Cardinal
happened to be resting, he patiently waited for nearly an
hour, walking up and down whilst saying his rosary.^ When
Coscia set out for Benevento in November, the Pope could
hardly wait for his return, and as the favourite felt unwell
on his arrival in Rome, the Pontiff immediately called upon
him.^ Coscia refrained from meddling with purely religious
affairs : in spite of all his arrogance, he was shrewd enough
not to interfere with the Pope in such matters, but the internal
administration of the Papal States came almost completely
into his own hands.
In view of Benedict XIII. 's weakness, Coscia and his
Beneventans were in a position, in return for money, to appoint
both incapable and bad officials, and in this way they did
the Holy See incalculable harm.^ It was equally disastrous
that Coscia's influence extended to the decision of important
ecclesiastico-political questions. The diplomatists were not
slow to realize what services this sinister personage might
^ *Report from Rome of July 23, 1729, Archives of the Austrian
Embassy at the Vatican.
* *Report from Rome of August 5, 1729, ibid.
' *Report from Rome of August 12, 1729 {ibid.) : " II Papa
I'altro giorno essendo piii giorni che esso sig. card. Coscia non era
stato da lui, ando a trovarlo, e perche riposava, non voile per-
mettere la S. S. -che fosse svegliato, ma con somma bonta aspctto
sopra tre quarti d'ora passeggiando e dicendo la corona. II fatto
e verissimo."
* *Reports from Rome of November 17 and 25, 1729, ibid.
The *rcport of December 23, 1729 {ibid.) says: " II sig. card.
Coscia non vuole riceverc piu dame al Vaticano " : whether
he does this on his own initiative or by command of the Pope,
is not known.
* Cf. Benedict XIV.'s opinion as expressed to Tencin (see
below, p. 175 ; also Voyages de Montesquieu, I., 200, 2o'2.
I
MONARCHIA SICULA. I35
render them.^ To win him over was a task that required no
long calculation but merely money. ^
In the important question of the Sicilian Legation {Monarchia
Sicula), Coscia was quite willing to meet the Emperor's
representatives, though it was precisely on this point that
Benedict XIII. had spoken quite clearly in a Brief of July 21st,
1725, in which, regardless of all human interests, he thought
only of the glory of God and the welfare of the Church. In
that document he called upon the Bishops of Sicily to comply
strictly with Clement XL's Bull of abolition, for the self-
styled tribunal of the monarchy had been done away with
and he strictly insisted on its being considered as suppressed.^
This attitude of the Pope could surprise no one for, whilst
still a Cardinal, he had on one occasion given unequivocal
expression to his abhorrence for the Sicilian Legation by
subscribing to Clement XL's Bull of abolition on his knees.
The Emperor's representative. Cardinal Cienfuegos, who was
well aware of this, nevertheless protested loudly against the
" innovation " which the Brief was said to create.^ After
the consistory of September 5th, 1725, he bitterly reproached
the Pope, alleging that in making this innovation he had been
badly advised, that he upset the whole of Sicily, regardless
of the Emperor of whose attachment he had received so many
tokens.^ Cienfuegos, who had been a Jesuit but who acted
rather as an imperial ambassador than as a religious, and
who, in February, 1725, had been given the archiepiscopal
See of Monreale with its income of 70,000 gold florins,^ was
not concerned about the rights of the Church in this matter,
but exclusively about the interests of the Emperor. In his
reports to the Chancellor of Empire, Count von Sinzendorf,
^ Cf. Cienfuegos' *report above, p. 124, n. 4.
- Brosch, II., 70.
^ *Epist., II. -III., Papal Secret Archives ; Sentis, 162.
* Cienfuegos' *reports to Sinzendorf, August 4 and 11, 1725,
Reuss Archives, Ernstbrunn.
' *Report of the same, September 8, 1725, ibid.
* CoRDARA, ed. DoLLiNGER, III., 3, who speaks of the enormous
expenditure of this Cardinal.
136 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
he repeatedly counselled him to resist and by means of
threats and strong measures to compel the Pope to yield. ^
In comphance with the Cardinal's advice, Charles VI. sought
to render the Brief ineffective. By a decree of December 5th,
1725, he ordered the Sicilians to help him to uphold the
tribunal of the monarchy as it had existed at the time of
Charles II. of Spain, and not to yield in the slightest degree.
The Governor was instructed to expel at once any Bishop
who ventured to make the slightest innovation, and he had
every copy of Clement's Bull confiscated. ^
Cardinal Cienfuegos' expectation that Benedict XIII.
would allow himself to be intimidated by threats was not
fulfilled, on the contrary, the Pope repeatedly declared that
he would sacrifice his life rather than tolerate the tribunal as
it existed under Charles 11.^ ; but though he upheld
Clement XL's Bull, a Brief expressed his willingness to pave
the way for a compromise.^
About mid-January, 1726, Cienfuegos asked for an audience
with the Pope in the course of which, to quote his report to
Vienna,^ he alternately used wine and vinegar. He began
by stating that the Emperor demanded the withdrawal of
the Brief of July, 1725, and the restoration of the rights
which Charles II. had enjoyed. His Majesty did not deserve
such hard blows since he had done so much for Christendom.
Cienfuegos' eloquence made no impression. Benedict XIII.
told him that however grieved he felt on account of the
Emperor's annoyance, he nevertheless felt bound in conscience
1 Cienfuegos' *reports to Sinzendorf of August 11 and Septem-
ber 8, 1725, loc. cit. ; his *report of December 8, 1725, ibid., is
characteristic of the manner in which Cienfuegos entirely adopts
the standpoint of Charles VI.
2 Sentis, 162 ; Martini, La Sicilia (1907), 124 seq.
' Cardinal Cienfuegos' *letter to Sinzendorf of January 12,
1726, loc. cit.
♦ Ibid.
* *Letter of the same, January 19, 1726, ibid. Cf. also Felix
Cornejo's *letter to S. Ripcrda of February 16, 1726, Simancas
Archives.
MONARCHIA SICULA. I37
to uphold Clement XL's Bull to which he had sworn as a
Cardinal. For the rest he was willing to satisfy the Emperor
in the measure in which this was possible, and he invited him
to make suggestions on the subject. The Cardinal replied
that this was only possible if the ancient rights which His
Majesty had inherited as successor of Roger of Sicily, were
restored to him. There followed a lively discussion which
lasted a whole hour. In the course of the conversation,
Cienfuegos got the impression that though the Pope would
not cancel Clement XL's Bull of abolition, he was neverthe-
less disposed, through a Congregation specially constituted
for that purpose, to prepare the way towards a compromise
in the sense that the faculties might be granted to one or
more Bishops of Sicily. On his part Cienfuegos wished to see
the form of the Monarchia preserved ; he insisted that the
Emperor could not allow a Congregation to sit in judgment
on his rights. The Pope maintained his point of view, that
in so important an affair he needed the counsel of the Cardinals.
Thereupon Cienfuegos proposed that the Cardinal Secretary
of State Paolucci, Giudice as protector of Sicily, and Coscia,
should be asked for their opinion. To this Benedict XIIL
consented.
As the negotiations dragged the Emperor instructed the
Roman jurist and imperial agent in Rome, Pietro Perrelli,
of Naples, to lend help to Cienfuegos.^ Perrelli's advice was
* P. Perrelli, " *Storia ed apologia dell' apostolica legazia
di Sicilia " (71/5. transferred from the Library of the Oratorians,
Palermo, to the National Library), written under Clement XII.
for Charles III. of Naples, by no means impartial but the only
source for many events of that time (c/. Sentis, 163, 175), and
extensively used by A. Forno, Istoria d. apost. legazione annessa
alia corona di Sicilia, p. II., Palermo, 1801 ; it is, however,
marred by many mistakes (e.g. II., 74 : September 5, 1728,
instead of 1727, by which even such a careful scholar as Sentis
[170] has been led astray). Perrelli's account has been completed
and confirmed by Cienfuegos' *reports, of which, however, those
in the Reuss Archives, Ernstbrunn, go only as far as the end of
1727.
138 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
that the Pope should address a provisional Brief to the
Emperor, to the effect that he was willing to yield to the
many urgent requests of the imperial representatives for a
settlement of the question of the Monarchia Siciila ; that it
was his firm intention to clear up this matter, and that he
invited the Emperor to suggest some plan which would
enable him to do so without failing in his pastoral duties.
To this Benedict agreed. After a short consultation between
Perrelli, Coscia and Majella, the Secretary for Briefs, such
a document was drawn up. The word Monarchia was carefully
avoided, as was the expression favoured by the other side,
viz. " the pretended tribunal " [asserUim trihimale), and it
was agreed to describe the question in dispute by the expression
" ecclesiastical jurisdiction ". This draft was signed on
March 1st, 1727, by Benedict XIII., who suspected nothing
untoward, after which the Brief was dispatched.^ As the
representatives of the " Zelanti ", Cardinals Olivieri and
Corradini, happened to be away from Rome just then, no one
drew the Pope's attention to the fact that the imperial party
meant to make use of the Brief in their own sense.
A journey by the Pope to his beloved Benevento at this
time also served the cause of the imperialists, for the Pope
imagined that the splendid reception which the Neapolitans
gave him was due to the Brief. In obedience to an injunction
from Vienna, Perrelli accompanied the Pope, whilst Cienfuegos
continued his activities in Rome. At Benevento PerrelH
succeeded in securing for the tribunal of the Monarchy at
least an existence de facto, though only on sufferance and
1 Sentis, 164, who quotes a passage of the *Brief from Cod.
Vat. 8350, p. II, Vatican Library, but has overlooked the publica-
tion in FoRNO, II., 33 scq. (instead of 1726 read 1727). In Epist.,
II. -III., Papal Secret Archives, the Brief is on p. 573. When on
March 2, 1727, Cienfuegos dispatched the Brief to the imperial
Chancellery, he *wrote : that he had hurried the matter and had
taken advantage of the absence of the " ill disposed " Cardinals ;
he would leave everything in the hands of the Emperor ; the
result was favourable beyond expectation, considering the
opposition of the Pope in this affair. Reuss Archives, Ernstbrunn.
MONARCHIA SICULA. I39
provisionalI3^ This was quite against the Pope's real intentions.
Perrelli represented to the Pope that it would be a good
thing to provide for every eventuality, and for that reason
to warn the Bishops of Sicily to exercise the utmost prudence
in order to prevent any collision between the secular and
the ecclesiastical authorities during the short interval required
for the solution of the question. To this Benedict agreed ;
he also allowed an imperial letter of March 22nd, 1727, which
spoke of the prospect of a favourable solution of the problem,
to be communicated to the Bishops. In close alliance with
Perrelh, Coscia then wrote on April 28th, 1727, from Benevento,
to the Secretary of State Lercari, in Rome. On May 13th
Lercari sent the ordinance to the Bishops of Sicily together
with the imperial letter.^ By this means the imperialists
had gained a great success. The Bishops were no longer
able to fight existing conditions and the tribunal of the
Monarchia was able to function undisturbed.
This was certainly not Benedict XIIL's intention. On
his return to Rome the " Zelanti " among the Cardinals
drew his attention to the gravity of the situation. Meanwhile
on June 21st, the Secretary of State sent a second letter
to the Archbishops of Palermo and Messina, to the effect
that all that the Pope desired was that, whilst the negotiations
were proceeding, the Bishops should not put difficulties in
the way of an agreement by public complications, but that
it was by no means intended to suspend Clement XL's Bull.
However, Perrelli, with the help of Coscia, succeeded in obtain-
ing the Pope's approval of a third letter to the above-named
Bishops, declaring that the first letter alone was to be regarded
as a rule of conduct. ^
In the course of the deliberations which now ensued with
a view to a formal agreement on the pending questions, one
of the negotiators attracted particular attention, in fact
^ Sentis, 165 seq. To the sources given there must be added
Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report of May 10, 1727, loc. cit. The letter
of May 13, 1727, in Forno, II., 43 seqq., but with the wrong date,
" May 3 ".
2 Perrelli, *Storia, loc. cit. ; Forno, II., 50 seqq.
140 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
he was destined for a great future. This was Prosper Lamber-
tini, Archbishop of Theodosia and Secretary of the Congrega-
tion of the CounciL
This learned canonist, who was held in high esteem by
Benedict XIII., was instructed to try, in conjunction with
Perrelli, to harmonize divergent views by means of a com-
promise.^ Lambertini and Perrelli both agreed that this
should be done not by means of a Bull but by a Concordat
in which Clement XL's Bull of abolition would neither be
revoked nor expressly confirmed. "When the two prelates
submitted their draft to Benedict XIII., the Pope found
fault in particular with the historical introduction because
he wished to see the abolition of the Monarchia Sicitla by
Clement XI. explicitly confirmed in that document. Coscia
nevertheless prevailed on the Pope to content himself with
a few minor changes. On August 21st the Secretary of State,
Lercari, forwarded the draft of the Bull, " the result of
incredible labours," ^ to Cardinal Cienfuegos. The latter
sent it on to Vienna on the 25th, with the remark that he
regarded the agreement as acceptable in all its parts. More
could not be obtained either in the present or in any future
pontificate. The introduction mentioned not only the Bull of
Clement XL, but also the privilege of Urban II. which had
not been hitherto accepted, as it was regarded as apocryphal.
This mention was of such importance in practice, that it
implied a confirmation of the Monarchia. If there were a
few minor gaps in the Bull, it should not be difficult to obtain
what was lacking by a future Brief. In conclusion Cienfuegos
insists once more that so favourable an agreement could
not be hoped for from any other Pope or any other officials.
Vienna should take note of Benedict's great age. All His
Majesty's devoted servants felt as he himself did. He prayed
1 For what follows, cf. Perrelli, *Storia, printed in great part
by F'oRNO, n., 54 seqq. The excellent account of Sentis (169)
is also based on Perrelli.
" Cienfuegos emphasizes this in his *report to Sinzendorf,
August 25, 1727, loc. cit.
A COMPROMISE. I4I
for an early decision as Benedict was inconstant and might
change his mind.^
For the purpose of giving effect to these warnings PerrelH
decided to go to Vienna in person. He reached the imperial
city on September 5th, 1727, and gave the Emperor a personal
account of the state of the negotiations. On this occasion
he exhibited the original of a letter of the Archbishop of
Palermo to the Pope in which the Archbishop, in answer to
the second papal Brief, assures the Pontiff that with regard
to Clement XL's Bull of abolition, he would strictly comply
with His Holiness' orders, for he was resolved to give his very
blood for the freedom of the Church and to defy every violence
that the secular Power might have recourse to. This letter
had reached neither the Pope nor the Secretary of State,
for the imperiahsts had intercepted it ! Perrelli now made
use of it as a proof of the Bishop's determination to obey the
Pope, thereby offering the Emperor the alternative either of
promptly terminating the dispute on the basis of the negotia-
tions hitherto pursued, or of upholding the Monarchia by
force of arms.
In spite of this strong pressure Charles VI. put off his
decision. He submitted the project to a commission consisting
of councillors for Spanish and Italian affairs. Their opinion
was unfavourable, on the ground that the project sacrificed
the important prerogatives of the Legation. The Emperor
was not yet satisfied but laid the affair before his Cabinet,
presided over by Prince Eugene. The council announced
that the draft was acceptable as a basis for further negotia-
tions, but that everything prejudicial must first be cut out
of it. These demands were summed up in an Instruction for
^ Ihid. Another draft of the Bull, with the observations from
the imperial side, is included. The last points (39 and 40) are
missing ; further differences in the " Narratio " are : no mention
is made of the Bull of Clement XI., the steps taken by Charles VI.,
the concessions of Urban II., and all else is exclusively motivated
by the difficulties of communication between Sicily and Rome,
on account of the distance and of the dangers of the sea voyage,
especially in winter.
T42 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Perrelli who left the Austrian capital in the first days of
February, 1728. In Rome he first discussed the affair with
Cienfuegos and Coscia ; afterwards he also consulted Lam-
bertini and the latter's friend Galliani.
It was no easy task to get the Pope to consent to the
changes desired by the Emperor, especially in the introduc-
tion, as that part had been drawn up by Benedict XIII.
himself. Coscia was chosen for the delicate task, and when
he dechned, Perrelli was obliged to assume it. Contrary to
all expectations the Pope proved willing to accept the changes
and entrusted Lambertini with their execution. As the latter
had to return to his diocese of Ancona for Holy Week, his
friend Galliani drew up the new introduction which Cienfuegos
dispatched to Vienna on March 27th, 1728. The reply, which
arrived on June 16th, threw the negotiators into no small
embarrassment, because it demanded a great many altera-
tions. Cienfuegos was in despair but Perrelli did not lose
heart. He appealed to Lambertini who had become a Cardinal
in the meantime. Prolonged discussions finally resulted in
a draft which satisfied everybody : for greater safety it was
decided to have it confirmed by a Congregation of Cardinals. ^
Once again Perelli undertook to commend the new draft
to the Pope. Very adroitly he began his address by observing
that it seemed as if it were God's will that the negotiations
on the ecclesiastico-political affairs of Sicily, which had begun
under the Dominican Pope Pius V, should be brought to
a close under another Dominican Pontiff, whilst the Emperor,
on his side, was willing that the business should be finally
settled. After that the Pope read the draft with great atten-
tion : it satisfied him on the whole. Perrelh declared his
willingness to alter certain passages ; in respect to some others
he sought to reassure the Pope, but the latter declared that
before giving his approval he must consult with Cardinal
Lambertini. Thereupon Perrelli spoke once more, to represent
^ Perrelli, loc. cit. ; Skntis, 170 seq. The very long *Ietter
of the imperial Chancellery on the desired alterations, dated
Laxenburg, June 2, 1728, in Archives of the Austrian Embassy
at the Vatican.
LAMBERTINI S ADVICE. I43
to the Pope that the Emperor, as the great Monarch that he
was, must be dealt with accordingly ; hence he prayed His
Holiness to set up a Congregation of Cardinals ; should this
commission decide against the agreement, the Emperor
would forgo a decision,, but if it agreed, then let His Holiness
not put off his signature. It is said that after hearing Perrelli's
report the credulous Pontiff observed : " Questo e un angelo !
but which of the Cardinals shall we select for this purpose ? "
Thereupon Perrelli suggested Cardinals Davia, Vice-Prefect
of the Congregation of Immunity, Origo, Prefect of the
Congregation of the Council, Lambertini, the Secretary of
State Lercari and Coscia. Benedict XIII. agreed to the
proposal. Little did he suspect that Perrelli had already
submitted the draft to the aforesaid Cardinals, and that
he had spoken to them as if the document had already received
the papal approval !
On the very next day the Pope sent for Lambertini ; he
assured the Cardinal of his confidence and put three questions
to him : —
1° Whether Perrelli's draft was identical with the one
which he himself had drawn up, revised and approved ;
2° Whether the cause of God and Holy Church would
be safeguarded were it to be accepted :
3° Whether it was proper to submit the draft to a Con-
gregation and whether it was likely to be accepted by the
members designated by Perrelli.
Cardinal Lambertini answered the first question in the
alfirmative ; with regard to the second, he replied that the
cause of God demanded, and the souls of a whole realm pleaded
for a termination of so many and such thorny controversies.
The Bishops of Sicily were in the awkward dilemma of either
failing in their duty or of provoking their temporal sovereign.
Hence His Holiness could do nothing more pleasing to God
than to restore peace to the people of Sicily and to meet the
religious sentiments of the Emperor by accepting the proposal.
The third question Lambertini likewise answered in theaffirma-
tive, adding that the aforesaid Cardinals would assuredly
approve the conclusion of peace between Church and State.
144 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Benedict XIII. listened to these explanations with great
satisfaction and ordered the Congregation to meet within
three days. Lambertini and Perrelli took advantage of the
brief interval to confirm the members of the Congregation
in their favourable dispositions. As a matter of fact the result
of the dehberations was wholly in accordance with their
wishes. All the five Cardinals approved the agreement and
advised the Pope to sign and publish the Bull in the form
in which it had been laid before the Congregation. When
Lambertini informed the Pope of the decision, the latter
signed the draft with the words : " Approbamus, nee immutetur
umim iota."
Coscia promptly informed Cienfuegos of everything whilst
Lambertini had an accurate report of the sitting forwarded
to the Cardinal. Cienfuegos then dispatched a special courier
to Vienna.^ Both he and Perrelli were highly satisfied. At
the last moment, however, fresh difficulties arose. The
negotiations had been conducted with so much secrecy that
the " Zelanti " Cardinals only heard of the agreement when
it was an accompHshed fact. The Datarius, Corradini, was
particularly indignant at having been thus ignored. He
declined to subscribe to the Bull and persisted in his refusal
in spite of Coscia's and Cienfuegos' entreaties, nay even in
spite of a formal command by the Pope.^ To get over the
difficulty the Suhdatariiis was eventually made to sign in
his place. The Bull FideU was then completed on August 30th,
1728 3 ; it was promulgated at Palermo, through a special
Pragmatic, on February 15th, 1729.^
^ Perelli, in Forno, II., 179 seqq. ; Sentis, 173 seq.
- Sentis, ibid.
3 Bull, XXII., 670 seqq. ; Mercati, Concordati, 2 seqq. ;
Sinzendorf's and Kaunitz' letters of congratulation to the Duke
of Gravina on the compromise over the Monarchia Sicitla, in
Orsini Archives, Rome, t. 17. Ibid., t. 18, *private letters of
Benedict XIII. to the Duke of Gravina.
« Pragmaiica iuxta litteras S. CC. Maiest. pro observantia bull,
aposi. in visu concordiae circa usum iurisdict. cedes, iribunalis
apost. legaiiae, Panorni, 1729. Cf. Martini, La Sieilia, 131.
THE BULL FIDELI. I45
The Bull Fideli contains no confirmation of the original
privilege of the Monarchia Sicula} neither does it revoke
Clement XL's Bull of abolition, on the contrary, it expressly
mentions it in the introduction, but adds that the Emperor
Charles VI. had explained to the Pope that the rights of the
Apostolic Legation in Sicily were his and his successors'
in virtue of a privilege of Urban IL, and that these rights,
which had been granted to Roger, Duke of Normandy, and
his successors, had always been in vigour and practice through-
out six centuries. Though the Pope knew that these arguments
had failed to convince his predecessors, and though he himself
had subscribed to Clement XL's Bull whilst still a Cardinal,
he was determined to put an end to disputes which had
done so much injury to souls and to the tranquillity of the
State. Hence he decreed that in future only the more important
ecclesiastical affairs of Sicily would be reserved to the Pope
and that the sovereign of Sicily was empowered to appoint
a supreme judge, who would pronounce in the third instance
on all other ecclesiastical matters, in virtue of the apostolic
authority.
Though there can be no doubt that the Bull does not
recognize the legatine rights of the Sovereign of Sicily, and
that it makes no concession by which Clement's Bull of
suppression would be compromised, the fact remains that,
contrary to the attitude hitherto observed by the Curia,
it drops the demand for a fresh and express confirmation of
Clement's Constitution. ^ In glosses on the Bull published by
Lambertini, the latter states his conviction that most of
the mischief had been due to the excesses of the judge of the
Monarchia, and to the fact that by his open rebellion against
the Pope's formal commands, that functionary had ended
by playing the role of an antipope. Lambertini felt that
the possibility of a relapse had been removed by the fact that
the judge's mandate was expressly based on the apostolic
authority of Benedict XIII. , and by the disposition forbidding
^ As Martini (131) maintained quite recently.
^ Sentis, 185.
vol. xxxiv. l
146 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
the delegate to oppose at any time, or in any way whatsoever,
the orders which the reigning Pope, or his successors, issued
for Sicily by special rescripts signed by their own hand.^
Lambertini, however, overlooked the fact that it is the
peculiarity of absolutism to ignore the barriers of justice,
hence he lived to see the ruler of Sicily, soon after the agree-
ment effected by the Bull Fideli, asserting once more his
old pretensions to full legatine powers and re-establishing the
institution of the Monarchm in its old form. This was all
the more easy as the King was now free to name the judge
without even the necessity of a special confirmation. ^ This
explains why many of the older Cardinals were exceedingly
dissatisfied with the Bull.
The House of Savoy, in imitation of the example of the
Emperor, also sought to exploit Coscia's venality and the
favourable conditions thereby created for its Caesaro-Papistic
aims. Vittorio Amadeo II. of Savoy, who had been invested
with the royal dignity in 1713, had already been in conflict
with Clement XI. over Nicholas V.'s indult on the right of
nomination to bishoprics and abbeys, the violation of ecclesias-
tical immunity and the papal fiefs in Piedmont.^ With the
acquisition of Sardinia fresh misunderstandings had been
added to these. The Holy See insisted on its suzerain rights
over the island of which the investiture had been granted
to the royal House of Aragon by Boniface VIII., under the
express condition that it should never be severed from the
Aragonese crown, and according^ declared that Sardinia
had reverted to its suzerain, so that Amadeo could not be
recognized as its legitimate King until he should have obtained
investiture by Rome and the clause about the perpetual
union of Sardinia with the crown of Aragon had been
abrogated. Hence the new sovereign's right of patronage
1 Lambertini, Annotazioni alia holla " Fidcli ", in Gius. Lo
BuE, Su la facolia del giudice deU'apost. legazione Sicola in rispetto
alle dispense matrimoniali, Palermo, 1863, 197 ; Sentis, 185.
" Sentis, 186, with whose appreciation of the Bull I fully
concur.
a Cf. XXXIII., 344 seq.
NEGOTIATIONS WITH PIEDMONT. I47
over vacant benefices was not recognized, with the result
that most of the dioceses were orphaned.^
No agreement had been arrived at under Innocent XIII.
owing to the shortness of his pontificate, hence Benedict XIII.,
who grieved over the vacancy of so many sees, began fresh
negotiations, through tlie Franciscan Observant Tommaso
da Spoleto, in the very first year of his reign. Vittorio Amadeo
seemed hkewise ready to come to terms ; to this end he sent
to Rome, in 1725, one of his ablest diplomatists, Vincenzo
Ferreri, Marchese d' Ormea.^
That shrewd Piedmontese soon perceived which would
be the best means for winning the confidence of the pious
Pontiff. Almost every morning he assisted at the Holy Father's
Mass, with a great show of piety and fingering a big rosary ;
he also procured for the Pope a relic of St. Francis de Sales.^
He did his best to keep all knowledge of his plans from the
" Zelanti ". Like the Emperor's ambassadors, he treated
in secret with Coscia to whom he offered his services to
enable him to obtain the purple. On June 9th, 1725, he was
able to write to Turin that in the favourite he had found
an excellent instrument for the realization of his purpose.
He also won over Fini, Lercari and Lambertini and the
advocates Sardini and Pittonio, by approaching them too
from the side from which they seemed most accessible.*
In the negotiations for a compromise D'Ormea gave proof
of great skill. It was of considerable advantage to him that
after Paolucci's death in June, 1726, Coscia's creature, Lercari,
became Secretary of State. The last obstacles were removed
by Fini and Lambertini. Cardinals Alessandro Albani and
^ Hergenrother, Piemonis Unterhandhmgen init dem Heiligen
Stuhl im 18. Jahrhundert, "Wiirzburg, 1877, 25 seq.
* Carutti, Sioria del regno di Vittorio Amadeo II., Torino,
1856, 404 seqq. (3a ediz., 1897, 480 seqq.) ; Id., Storia d. diplo-
niazia, III., Torino, 1879, 601 ; Pierantoni, Autohiografia di
Giannone, Rome, 1890, 297 ; Giannone, II trihunale della
Monarchia Sic, ed. Pierantoni, ibid., 1892.
* Carutti, Vittorio Amadeo, II., 406, 409 seq. (3a ediz., 481).
* Ibid., Hergenrother, he. cit., 27 seq.
148 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Polignac also lent support. Thus it came about that on
October 25th, 1726, a Brief was elaborated, with the utmost
secrecy, which granted the King of Sardinia and his successors
the right of presentation to the episcopal sees of that island.^
This indult, and the recognition of Vittorio Amadeo as King,
were only made known by Benedict XIII. at a consistory
of December 9th, 1720, at which, owing to the bad weather,
only a few Cardinals were present.-
Other points in dispute had been dealt with at the same
time, more particularly the extension of Nicholas V.'s indult
to subsequently acquired territories. D'Ormea was shrewd
enough to let his Government know that it would be difficult
to obtain the right of nomination for all the dioceses of the
State, unless the Holy See were empowered to levy pensions
up to a certain sum. Turin accepted, but at this moment
Benedict XIII. made a settlement of the questions of benefices
1 RiGANTius, hi reg. II. cane. § i, n. 20, 51 ; in reg. I., § i, n. 299
(t. I., Romae, 1744, 81, 209, 214). Cienfuegos' * report of November
2, 1727, according to which Benedict XIII. at first refused to
publish this agreement in the Consistory, because he could not
praise Vittorio Amadeo II. before the question of the benefices
in Piedmont and Savoy was settled (Reuss Archives, Ernst-
brunn). The special congregation which drew up the text of the
Brief, consisted of only three Cardinals ; see the dissertation
" *Controversia tra la S. Apost. e il Re di Sardegna ", a contem-
porary Ms. purchased by me in Rome in 1908 [in Baron von
Pastor Library]. On Albani's collaboration, cf. the letters in
Bollei. stor. bibl. subalp., XXII. (1920), 305 seqq. ; Reumont,
Kl. hist. Schriften, 165.
* *Acta consist., Barb. XXXVI., 55, Vatican Library. According
to the Ms. quoted in the previous note, only " poco piu di quattro
cardinali " took part in the consistoiy. In his *repl}'- (dat.
December 18, 1726) to the letter of thanks of the King for the
" ius patronatus et viros idoneos nominandi ", Benedict XIII.
expresses the hope of a compromise for the remaining differences
{Epist., II. -III., Papal Secret Archives). On May 9, 1727, Philip V.
of Spain protested, through Felix Cornejo Aleman (substituido del
card. Bentivoglio), against the papal recognition of the Duke of
Savoy as King of Sardinia. *Documents in Papal Secret Archives,
REPRESENTATIONS BY ROME. I49
dependent on consideration being given to his complaints
about the violation of ecclesiastical immunity. From a papal
memorial handed to Marchese D'Ormea it is possible to gather
how far the court canonists had stretched what they called
the prerogatives of the State in this respect. The memorial
raises the following protests among others : — -
1° that Church property was subjected to State taxation ;
2° that not only were Bishops from other States who
held jurisdiction in those of the King, obliged to appoint
a special Vicar-General for those parts of their diocese,
but their subjects were formally forbidden to have
recourse to their tribunals outside the realm ;
3° that the Government refused to allow preachers,
missionaries, and visitors of religious houses to carry
out their functions without leave of the State ;
4° that Bulls and rescripts of the Holy See were not
allowed to be carried into effect without the exequatur ;
5° that the secular authorities proceeded against
ecclesiastics in civil and criminal causes ;
6° that the appellatio ah abnsu had been introduced ;
7° that, contrary to the Council of Trent, charitable institu-
tions were withdrawn from the jurisdiction of the
Bishops ;
8° that the Senate took it upon itself to watch over the
observance of holy days, etc.^
Benedict XIII., who as Archbishop of Benevento had
stoutly defended the rights of the Church against the Spanish
Government in these questions, likewise insisted on a change
of pohcy by the court of Turin. When transmitting the
memorial, D'Ormea remarked that unless some degree of
satisfaction, at least of apparent satisfaction, was given to
the Pope in the matter of episcopal jurisdiction and ecclesias-
tical immunity, all efforts for an agreement would be in vain.
He suggested that the facts quoted in the memorial should
be denied in writing, so far as it was possible to deny them ;
^ Carutti, Vittorio Amadeo, II., 417 seqq. ; Hergenrother,
36 seq.
150 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
with regard to the other points in dispute, care should be
taken not to enunciate principles which were at variance
with those of Rome, but an ambiguous formula should be
employed, so as to make a negative answer possible, one that
committed them to nothing ; only in regard to the article
concerning Church property and the exequatur no room must
be left for any doubts. This cunning proceeding became the
rule for all further negotiations.^
However, Benedict XIII. proved inflexible with regard
to the Church's immunity and freedom. He repeatedly
declared that he would rather be cut in pieces than make
any sacrifice in this respect ; on the contrar}', it was necessary
to secure the rights of the Church by a concordat. As on
the other hand the Government of Turin stuck to its Csesaro-
Papistic principles, the negotiations looked hopeless. D'Ormea
began to speak of the possibility of his being recalled. Coscia
now intervened and got Lambertini invited to take part in
the deliberations. The latter's proposal that they should put
up with bad conditions in order to prevent worse ones, greatly
impressed the Pope. The Piedmontese Government, too,
came to the conclusion that only by means of an agreement
could they escape the hateful concordat. ^
In the question of benefices Lambertini also played an
important role. This affair was also negotiated by Benedict
in great secrecy, with Lambertini, Fini and Lercari on the
one hand and D'Ormea on the other. This procedure caused
great indignation among the other Cardinals who saw them-
selves ignored in a matter of such importance. On Marcli 19th,
1727, Cardinal Corradini acted as the spokesman of the mal-
contents ; in grave words he warned the Pope not to allow
himself to be deluded by ambitious and inexperienced young
people, but to give his confidence to the old and natural
counsellors of the Holy See. Thereupon Benedict XIII.
spoke of submitting the affair to a fresh and more numerous
1 Hergenrother, 3855^.
2 Carutti, loc. cit., 424 seqq. (3* ediz., 498 seqq.) ; Hergen-
ROTHER, 43 seq.
AGREEMENT WITH PIEDMONT. 151-
Congregation of Cardinals, a project from which Lercari,
Lambertini and Fini dissuaded him. He decided that the
question of the immunity must be settled before his impending
departure for Benevento and that of the benefices before
his return ; the welfare of the faithful, deprived of their
pastors, brooked no postponement, he said, hence the stipula-
tions concerning the immunity must be set down in writing,
without delay, and subscribed to by his plenipotentiary
Fini, and by D'Ormea. He himself would give definite
instructions about the bishoprics ; the final touches should
be put to the Brief during his absence, so that he might
sign it on his return.^
The plenipotentiaries now hastened to conclude the dis-
positions concerning ecclesiastical immunity and jurisdiction.
In D'Ormea's clean copy the latter interpolated, on his own
authority, after the words stating that the Holy See was
unable to approve the previous edicts of the State, a clause
to the effect that equally the King of Sardinia could not
recognize the imposition of taxes on his property. Either
Fini failed to notice the interpolation, or he overlooked it
when, on March 24th, 1727, he put his signature to the
document submitted to him by D'Ormea. ^
The discussions between Lercari and Fini on the one side
and D'Ormea on the other, which opened after the Pope's
departure, proceeded both rapidly and favourably. Complete
agreement was reached on the most important points. A
new Brief was to state formally that the right of nomination
to bishoprics and consistorial benefices was included in
Nicolas V.'s indult and that it included the dioceses of Asti,
1 Carutti, loc. cit., 3a ecliz., 503 seqq. ; Hergenrother, 47 seq.
» Carutti, loc. cit., 431 seqq. (3a ediz., 504) ; Hergenrother,
49 seq. B. Morosini in his report (above, p. 127, n. 5), ascribes the
principal guilt for the great concessions to Fini : " II card.
Fini si fece suo unico impegno quello di ben servire il Duca "
(State Archives, Venice). The text of the " Progctto di accomoda-
mento fra Benedetto XIII. e Vittorio Amedeo II. Re di Sardegna
suirimmunita e la giurisdizione ecclesiastica ", in Nussi, Coh'
ventiones, 48 seqq., and Mercati, Concordati, 301 seqq.
152 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Saluzzo, Fossano and Alba ; the revenues which came in
during the vacancy of benefices were to be collected and
kept by a receiver appointed by the King for the benefit
of the Church and the successors in office ; no innovation
was to be introduced with regard to the spolia whilst a new
indult in favour of the King would be issued for the sees of
Casale, Acqui and Alessandria.^
Benedict XIII. returned from Benevento on May 28th
and on the following day he signed the Brief dealing with the
right of nomination to bishoprics ^ and the articles of the
concordat agreed upon with D'Ormea on ecclesiastical
immunity and jurisdiction.^
All this was done without the knowledge of the Sacred
College, hence it was not surprising that when the com-
promise was made public, several Cardinals, more especially
Corradini and Imperiali, openly expressed their indignation,*
whilst others gnashed their teeth in secret.^ According to
Cienfuegos' report of June 21st, 1727,^ the malcontents
complained in particular of the fact that the Pope should
have abandoned so easily one of the prerogatives of the
Holy See, seeing that in his time Nicolas V. had only conceded
the exclusion from benefices of politically suspect persons.
1 Carutti, loc. cit., 432 seqq. (3* ediz., 504) ; Hergenrother,
50 seq.
* The original text has been made known by Mercati (Con-
cordati, 207 seqq.) ; it differs from, the one known up to now.
Cf. Voyages de Montesquieu, I., 107.
3 The most recent impression of the Concordat of May 29,
1727, in Mercati, loc. cit., 310 seqq. Ibid., 309, the agreement of
February 21, 1728, between Fini and D'Ormea regarding the
taxation of the clergy in the territory of Montferrat. A manu-
script copy with important marginal notes is in the Altieri
Library, Rome.
* Carutti, loc. cit., 437 (3a ediz., 508) ; Arch. Rom., XIII.,
20.
* Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report to Sinzendorf of June 28, 1727,
Reuss Archiv^es, Hrnstbrunn.
* *To Sinzendorf, ibid.
TURIN S LARGESSE. 153
That which rendered the concordat still more distasteful
to the more rigidly minded was the circumstance that all
those who had had anything to do with it, were lavishly
rewarded by the Government of Turin. Cardinal Albani
obtained a wealthy abbey and the office of Protector of
Sardinia, Lercari a pension of 2,000 scudi, Fini one of 1,000
scudi, which was doubled on his elevation to the cardinalate ;
Lambertini also obtained a pension of 1,000 scudi, with the
expectation of a further 500 ; Lambertini's secretary Millo,
a pension of 400 scudi ; the Pope's confessor, the Dominican
Gregorio Selleri, was granted 300 scudi a year, the Abbate
Sardini 200, the Privy Chamberlain Niccolo Francesco
Santamaria 1,500, the advocate Pittonio 6,000 scudi ; Coscia's
reward is not known. ^ The recipients of these gifts may have
justified their conduct by pleading that Benedict XIII. did
not reject six silver candlesticks and an artistic crucifix with
which D'Ormea presented him in June, 1727, in the name of
his sovereign, for the cathedral of Benevento.^
On D'Ormea's advice and with a view to gratifying the
Pope, Vittorio Amadeo, when making his nominations to
vacant sees, chose members of religious Orders, especially
Dominicans, a circumstance that further increased Benedict's
satisfaction. In the Brief of July 12th, 1727, in which he
expressed his satisfaction, he once more urged the King
to impress upon his functionaries the duty of preserving
the Church's immunity.^ But the differences over the papal
fiefs in Piedmont and the Inquisition, remained unsolved,
nor was the Turin nunciature re-estabhshed.* In 1720, by
the elevation of Archbishop Ferrero of Alessandria to the
Sacred College, Vittorio Amadeo had the satisfaction of
securing for his State the right of a crown Cardinal in the
^ Carutti, loc. cit., ^^y seq. (3aediz., 509).
* Ibid., 415 (3a ediz., 509) ; V.\lesio, in Rassegna bibl. d'arte
t7a/.. XVI. (1913), 158.
' *Epist., IV. -V., Papal Secret Archives.
* Carutti, Storia d. diplomazia, III., 609 seq. The *Acts of
the negotiations between Fini and D'Ormea of the year 1728 are
in the Altieri Library, Rome.
154 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
same way as the Emperor, France, Spain, Portugal and
Venice.
In spite of his peaceable and accommodating disposition,
Benedict XIII. had to suffer at the hands of divers Govern-
ments, for the spirit of the age was everywhere in opposition
to the Church, even in the Catholic States. The surrender of
Comacchio by the Emperor, which after such prolonged and
patient waiting,^ had taken place on February 20th, 1725,^
^ Cf. Cardinal Cienfuegos' interesting *report to Sinzendorf.
June 24, 1724, on his audience, at which the Pope at once expressed
his earnest desire of hearing more about the question of Comacchio.
The announcement that the Emperor had decided on the restora-
tion gave the Pope great satisfaction. The audience in which
Cienfuegos expressed his desire of concord between the Pope and
the Emperor, was marked by great cordiaHty. The Pope,
Cienfuegos reports, rose, contrary to the ceremonial, kissed me
several times, and walked up and down the room with me.
" Non sono finzioni le opere di questo Papa, la di cui politica e
pura santita, non essendo egli avvezzo a trattare con dopiezza,
ma bensi di lasciar scorrere dalle labbra cio che nutrisce nel
cuore " (Reuss Archives, Ernstbrunn). On July 29, 1724, ibid.,
Cienfuegos *reports that the Pope was for ever asking him
about Comacchio ; on August 5 : " Benedict XIII. is very
impatient about this matter " ; on August 12 and 19 : " He
is very insistent " ; on September 12 : " Audience on the agree-
ment about Comacchio." The text of the *Bull of September 16,
1724, on the ratification and the *Brief of September i, conferring
plenipotentiary powers on Paolucci, the *agreement of September
10, between Paolucci and Cienfuegos, the imperial *decree
of ratification of February 22, 1724, as also the " Actus solemnis
dimissionis et evacuationis civit. Comachi secutae 20 Febr. 1725 "
(red silk), are in the Archives of the Austrian Embassy at the
Vatican. See Lunig, IV., 325.
• 2 In the agreement the rights of the Emperor and those of the
Este were reserved; see Muratori, Annal., XII., 109 seqq.
The communication to thfe Cardinals was made in the Consistory
of January 29, 1725 ; see Borgia, Vita, 62 seq. ; Cienfuegos'
♦report of February 5, 1725, loc. cit. On receiving the news of the
evacuation of Comacchio, the Pope at once gave public expression
to his joy (Cienfuegos' *report of February 24, 1725, ibid.).
BREVIARY LESSONS OF GREGORY VII. 155
was one of the few sunny spells granted to Benedict XIII, ;
otherwise he found himself for the most part involved in the
most tiresome disputes.
Characteristic of the violence with which even the smallest
States insisted on their alleged " sovereign rights ", is the
attitude of the canton Lucerne. On October 27th, 1725,
the nuncio of that city, Domenico Passionei, who was any-
thing but a zealot, was obliged to withdraw to Altdorf on
account of certain grievous encroachments by the Govern-
ment on the rights of the Church. Negotiations for a com-
promise with Lucerne, which had invoked the mediation
of France, led to no result ; however, a rupture was avoided
though Passionei had occasion to complain of further inter-
ference by the Government of Lucerne.^ Even the feeble
Duke of Lorraine, to the Pope's deep sorrow, took it upon
himself to infringe the Church's immunity.^
In Poland Benedict XIII. saw himself compelled to insist
on the Church's standpoint in the long standing controversy
about the patronage of abbeys, but here too he did not succeed
in enforcing his claims.^ Grievous injury was likewise done
to his authority in connection with the Polish nunciature,*
but he was even subjected to numerous annoyances on
account of one of his acts in the sphere of the liturgy. Paul V.
had canonized Gregory VII. ; on September 25th, 1728,
Benedict XIII. extended the Saint's feast to the Universal
Church. Naturally enough the historic lessons of the Breviary
related in eulogistic terms Gregory VII.'s action against
Henry IV. ^ This was considered politically dangerous and
^ Segesser, IV., 611 ; Hurbin, II., 432 seq. *Brief of January
3, 1726, reprimanding Lucerne for violating ecclesiastical immu-
nity ; * Brief of commendation (" Resipiscentes a coeptis contra
eccles. immun. laudat "), of January 25, 1726, Papal Secret
Archives.
* *Briefs to the Duke, January 27 and April 22, 1726,, ibid.
' Zeitschrift fiir osierr. Gesch., IV. (1914), 26 seqq., 34 seq.,
41 seq. * Bull, XXII., 726 ; Borgia, Vita, 110 seqq.
* The passage in the second lesson of the segond Nocturn
reads thus : " Contra Henrici imperatoris impios conatus fortis
156 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
there were those who pretended to see in it an attempt against
the sovereignty of princes and an incitement of the subject
to rebelhon. The Signoria of Venice and the Parhaments
and the Jansenists of France got tremendously excited and
protested vehemently. The Jansenist Bishop of Utrecht was
of opinion that the Pope's command was contrary to the
faith, and the Dutch Government " in order to safeguard
the reformed religion ", forbade the recitation of the Office
as well as its impression and sale, under pain of a fine of 1,000
florins.^ In a memorial of Count Harrach, Viceroy of Naples,
the latter had indeed to acknowledge that the Office gave an
objective account of the struggle of Gregory VII. with
Henry IV., but for all that he assured the Emperor that
these Breviary Lessons constituted a grave danger inasmuch
as they asserted the Pope's pretension to depose princes.
Harrach foresaw that a prohibition addressed to the Bishops
would be of no effect, hence he proposed that the printers
should be thrown into prison and all copies of the Office
confiscated, on the ground that they had been printed abroad,
without leave of the Government of Naples. ^ The Senate of
Palermo forbade the offending passages under a penalty of
1,000 scudi.^ In spite of his love of peace, Benedict XIII.
was anything but prepared to yield in this matter ; on
per omnia athleta impavidus permansit seque pro muro domui
Israel ponere non timuit ac eundem Henricum in profundum
malorum prolapsum fidelium communione regnoque privavit
atque subditos populos fide ei data liberavit."
1 GuERANGER, lustit. liiitTg., II., 450 seqq., in Migne, Pair, lat.,
CXLVIIL, 233 seqq. ; Bull, XXII., 841, 85S ; Stimmen aus Maria-
Laach, XIII. (1877), 26 seq. ; Schill, 252 ; Brunner, Mysterien
der Aufkldrung, 164 seqq. Cf. also De Brosses, Lettres, II.,
113 (Paris, 1858) ; Freib. Kirchenlex, V.^, 1125. Cf. below,
chap. IV.
2 *Copy of Harrach's long letter, dated Naples, March 30,
1729, in Archives of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican,
III., 5-
' BuRiGNV, Storia gencrale di Sicilia trad. d. ling, franc, dal M.
ScAPO, Palermo, 1792, V., 422 seqq.
BREVIARY LESSONS OF GREGORY VII. 157
December 19th, 1729, he declared all the decrees of the secular
authorities against the Office to be null and void.^
The Pope displa3'ed similar firmness towards the Portuguese
Government when the latter pressed him to raise nuncio
Bichi to the cardinalate.^
1 Bm//, XXII., 860.
* Cf. below, p. 181 seq.
CHAPTER III.
Benedict XIII. 's Reforming Activity — The Jubilee and
THE Roman Provincial Council of 1725 — Furthering
OF the Veneration of the Saints and other
Ecclesiastical Activities — The Two Journeys to
Benevento — Creations of Cardinals — The Missions.
Benedict XIII. had been a zealous Bishop at Manfredonia,
Cesena and Benevento, and had earnestly striven to raise
the moral condition of his dioceses. In view of his serious
temperament, the religiously minded felt that they could
confidently reckon on the Pope continuing in these sentiments,
whilst on the other hand, those who had been affected by
the spirit of the age feared his great strictness. However,
neither hopes nor fears were destined to be fulty realized.
The Pope was assuredly not lacking the will to work for
the betterment of the people. As early as the beginning of
June, 1724, he gave orders that all the inmates of the papal
palace must assist at a sermon every Saturday.^ There
followed earnest exhortations to the Roman prelates, especialty
to the officials of the Rota, the Segnatura and the Camera,
to a blameless life,^ edicts for the parish priests of Rome
1 *Diarium pontif. lienedicti XIII. (of the papal Master of
Ceremonies ; cf. Arch. Stor. Rom., IV., 430 seqq.), Cod. 1319,
p. I seqq. Bibl. Casanatense, Rome.
2 Acquaviva's *letter to Juan Baut. de Orendayn, June 24,
1724, Simancas Archives ; Cienfuegos' *report of the same day,
Reuss Archives, Ernstbrunn. According to this the Pope said
to the ecclesiastical officials, he hoped, " che si sarebbero astenuti
dal frequentare le conversazioni, massimamente della notte, e
dove ci sono dame, mentre il tempo era prezioso e doveva impie-
garsi negli studi e non ne' passatempi e ne' giuochi ; che se avesse
158
REFORMS. 159
inculcating the decrees of the Council of Trent to the effect
that priests were bound to explain the epistle and gospel to
the faithful on all Sundays, and various ordinances on the
conduct of clergy and people.^
From the first the Pope showed a special aversion to the
wearing of wigs by priests, as in this way the tonsure was
hidden. The fashion had spread from France, as appears
from the portraits of contemporary Cardinals, most of whom,
the members of religious Orders excepted, wore uncanonically
long hair or enormous perruques.^ These were an abomination
to Benedict XIII., just as his disapproval of clerical beards
was so strong that the Capuchins avoided appearing before
him.^ By this time, as far as the Cardinals were concerned,
the custom of growing a beard had almost completely died
out * ; now the perruque was also to be done away with.
The Pope made known his will with so much emphasis that
many, though not all, immediately laid aside their perruques.^
A stern edict of April 10th, 1725, led to a further improvement,
saputo, se qualche prelate andasse a simili conversazioni, non
gli avrebbe mica formato processo, ma poteva bensi il medesimo
assicurarsi, che la S. S. non gli avrebbe fatto godere la minima
convcnienza."
1 Cracas, October 7 and December 23, 1724.
"■ See the publication, Roma Sancta, of 1724, quoted above.
* CORDARA, ed. DOLLINGER, III., 4.
* In Roma Sancta all the Cardinals, with the exception of the
Spaniard, Belluga, appear clean-shaven. Cf. Archiv fur Kath.
Kirchenrecht, X. (1863), 103.
* Cienfuegos' *letter of June 10 and Count Kaunitz' *report
of June 17, 1724, Reuss Archives, Ernstbrunn. On August 26,
1724, a " *Circolare " against wigs was also sent to the nuncios of
Madrid, Venice, Lucerne and Malta, which says that in the first
days of his pontificate the Pope had had great consolation " di
vedere, che in Roma da tutto I'ordine degl'ecclesiastici, comiiici-
ando dai sig. cardinali, siano state con edificazione universale
deposte le perrucche ". The nuncios are enjoined to see to the
observance of the regulation among the clergy. Nunziat. di
Spagna, 365, Papal Secret Archives.
l6o HISTORY OF THE POPES.
but isolated Cardinals, such as Altieri, Pico and Alberoni,
refused to renounce their beloved head adornment.^ The
Pope made them feel his displeasure very plainly. When
Cardinal Alberoni came to take part in a Corpus Christi
procession the Pope ordered him to withdraw. ^ The works
of Jean Baptiste Thiers and Giulio Bovicelli against the
fashion of the perruque, were reprinted by order of the
Pope.^
In January, 1725, laymen were forbidden, on the basis
of an edict of Urban VIII. of the year 1624, to wear neckties
resembling those used by the clergy * A Constitution of
May 2nd, 1725, commanded the Bishops to see to it that
ecclesiastics wore clerical attire.^
On July 1st, 1724, the Pope gave orders for the continuation
of the visitation of the churches of Rome which had begun
under Innocent XII. ^ This went hand in hand with a number
of regulations for the reform of the Orders.' The gamble of
the lotto, which had crept in from Genoa, had been forbidden
by Innocent XL, Innocent XII., and again allowed by
Innocent XIII. Now it was once more prohibited for Rome
and the whole of the Papal States, at a later date even
under pain of major excommunication as the Pope was
^ NovAES, XIII., 70. Ibid., 67 seq., on the repeal of the excom-
munication which Innocent X. had issued on January 8, 1650,
against persons taking snuff in church. On the prohibition of
Urban VIII., cf. the present work.
2 Acquaviva's *reports to Juan Baut. de Orendayn of June 10
and 17, 1724, Simancas Archives.
' G. BovicELL, Istoria d. perrucche, lore orig., usanza, forma,
irregolaritd nelle ecclesiastiche, Benevento, 1722 ; J.-B. Thiers,
Hist, des perruques, Paris, 1690, also translated into Italian :
G. Tiers, La sioria delle parrucche, nella quale si fanno vedere
rorigine, I'tiso, la forma, rabitso e l' irregolaritd di quelle degli
ecclesiastici, Venezia, 1724.
* Cracas, January 27, 1725.
» Bull, XXII., 158.
• Ibid., 70.
' NovAES, XIII., 77, 80, III, 128 seqq.
JUBILEE OF 1725. 161
particularly indignant that even priests should take part in
the lotto}
As an enthusiast for religious manifestations, Benedict XIII.
derived particular satisfaction from the fact that the celebra-
tion of the jubilee of 1725 coincided with his pontificate.^
All the preparations were made with the utmost care, and
he himself displayed the greatest keenness to gain the jubilee
Indulgences by making the prescribed visits to the churches.
The beginning of the better season led to an increase in the
number of pilgrims. Up to Holy Week the Archconfraternity
of Trinita dei Pellegrini gave hospitality to 37,000 persons.
In March the number of strangers in Rome rose to 55,000 ;
one of their number, viz. the widow of Grand Duke Ferdinand
of Tuscany, Violante Beatrice of Bavaria, particularly dis-
tinguished herself by her piety. ^ Her suite included the
celebrated improvisor Bernardino Perfetti of Siena, a member
^ Ibid., 71 seq. ; Cancellieri, Mercato, 244 ; Rodocanachi,
Capitole, 191. Cf. Cardinal Cienfuego's *letters of August 16 and
23, 1727, who disapproves of the severit}' of the penalties and
observes that similar inconsiderate and strong measures are to be
feared daily, because the Pope " e troppo soggetto a certi impeti,
che non le lasciano godere I'uso di quelle riflessioni, le quali
potrebbero farle previamente presenti le conseguenze, che buone
o cattive ne hanno da seguire " (Reuss Archives, Ernstbrunn).
Cf. Felix Cornejo's *letter to Grimaldi of July 20, 1726, Simancas
Archives.
2 Promulgation of the jubilee, June 26, 1724, see Bull, XXII.,
53-
^ *Reports in Cod. Vat., 9314, Vatican Library ; Giuseppe
Giulii Mondi, *Anno santo del 1725, Diario, Barb. 4777, Vatican
Library ; " *Diarium pontif. Benedicti XIII.," Cod. 1320, Bibl.
Casanatense, Rome ; Tomm. Alfani, Istoria degli Anni Santi
dal di loro solenne cominciamento per insino a quello del regnante
Pontefice Benedetto, XIII., Napoli, 1725 ; Manni, Anni Santi,
2.-^j seqq. From Germany also came a great number of pilgrims ;
see *Registrum litt. passuum a. 1725, in Archives of the Austrian
Institute, Rome. The origin of the first " Confraternita del S.
Cuore di Gesu " in Rome dates from the year of the jubilee ; see
Civ. Catt., 1918, III., ^i^seqq.
VOL. XXXIV. M
l62 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
of the Arcadia, who by order of the Pope received the poet's
crown on the Capitol, the first instance of such an honour
since Petrarch's crowning.^
In the course of the jubilee year, thanks to a legacy of
the French ambassador Gouffier, Rome received one of its
finest ornamental structures with the flight of steps in Piazza
di Spagna, erected between 1721 and 1725 by Specchi and
Francesco de Sanctis. The problem presented by the not
inconsiderable elevation on which the church of Trinita de'
Monti stands, has been splendidly solved by so skilful a lay-
out that there is hardly any need of exertion in making the
ascent. The monumental flight of steps dominates the whole
of the Piazza di Spagna ; it shines with matchless beauty
when the rising or setting sun illumines it, and charms the
eye of the visitor who arrives by the Via Condotti.^
In spite of the opposition of a number of Cardinals, ^
Benedict XIII. persisted in his plan of holding a Provincial
Council in Rome during the year of jubilee. On April 15th,
1725, the day being the second Sunday after Easter, he
opened the assembly at the Lateran with an address lasting
three-quarters of an hour ; thirty-three Cardinals and eighty
Bishops were present.^ On this occasion Benedict spoke with
^ Atti per la solenne coronazione fatta in Campidoglio del sig.
Bernardino Perfetti, tra gli Arcadi Alauro Euroteo, Roma, 1725.
Cf. PosTUMO in Fanfiilla d. Domenica, II. (1880), ibid., 9. On
Violante's subsequent presentation with the Golden Rose, see
[M. A. Mozzi], Relazione della solenne funzione in occ. di essere
presentata la Rosa d'oro alia S'"" Violante Beatr. di Baviera,
Firenze, 1727.
2 The inscriptions in Forcella, XIII., 90 seqq. Cf. Gurlitt,
Barockstil, 442 ; lusxi, II., 11.
3 CORDARA, ed. DOLLINGER, III., 5.
* Concilium Romanmn 1725, Romae, 1725 : Diario del Concilio
Romano cclebrato 1725, Roma, 1728 ; Cod. Vat. 9257-9 : *Docum.
de Concilio Lateran, 1725, coUecta a Franc, de Vico, episc.
Elusino [of. la * Relazione with plan in Cod. Vat. 8688), Biblioteca
Vaticana ; *Varia notit. coUectio ad Rom. Synod. (1725) pertin.
per Fulg. Bellelli, Cod. S. 3-6, Biblioteca Angelica, Rome ;
PROVINCIAL COUNCIL OF ROME. 163
such energy and ability that everybody was amazed. It was
unfair, he said, to attribute to him an intention of introducing
inopportune innovations ; his real purpose was, on the
contrary, to set the Bishops an example for their own pro-
vincial and diocesan synods. He uttered grave words on
the duties of the Bishops whom he exhorted to restore the
collapsing discipline.^
Thereafter the Pope was so taken up with the labours of
the Council, at which he presided, that his ministers no longer
got any audiences and all affairs of Government were at a
standstill ^ ; religious functions alone he still insisted on
carrying out in person.^ With a view to investing the Council
with greater splendour and stimulating the Bishops, he had
a special Requiem Mass celebrated at the Lateran for the
Bishops who had participated in previous Councils. He
himself gave the absolution at the end of the function.*
The Roman Council passed a number of excellent decrees
on the obligation of Bishops and parish priests to preach,
on the instruction of children in town and country, on
preaching, which should be adapted to the understanding of
the hearers, on the Bishops' duty of making an annual visita-
tion of their dioceses, on the choice of Vicars-General and
their qualities, on the qualities of candidates for Holy Orders,
on a just and suitable distribution of benetices and canonries,
on the drawing up of inventories in all churches and charitable
institutions, on the conduct of the clergy, on the sanctification
*Diarium pontif. Benedicti XIII., Cod. 1320, Biblioteca Casana-
tense, Rome ; *Diario del cone. Rom., 1725, descritto da Aless.
Formagliari, Cod. 352, Biblioteca Classense, Ravenna ; I. Walch,
De emendat. eccl. Rom. per noviss. concilium Lateranense, lenae,
1726. Pier Leone Ghezzi's painting of the Council has disappeared ;
see Thieme, XIII., 540.
^ Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report of April 21, 1725, Reuss Arch.,
Ernstbrunn. On the apprehensions, see ibid. *Report of the same
of March 17, 1725.
* *Reports of the same, April 28 and May 5, 1725, ibid.
^ *Reports of the same. May 5 and 25, 1725, ibid.
* *Report of the same, April 28, 1725, ibid.
164 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
of holy days, on the fulfilment of the duty of residence by
Bishops and parish priests, on the duty of attending pastoral
conferences and on the celebi:ation of provincial and diocesan
synods every three years.
In the discussions the Pope did not at first display his
characteristic obstinacy,^ but later on he strongly pressed
his views, especially in matters concerning ecclesiastical
immunity. 2 On May 28th, the anniversary of his election,
the Pope closed the Council with a procession from the Lateran
to S. Croce in Gerusalemme.^ His satisfaction at the termina-
tion of the Council was mixed with sorrow because the rights
of the Holy See over Parma and Piacenza had been ignored
in the treaty of peace of April, 1725, between Charles VI.
and Philip V. of Spain.* In a lengthy address at a consistory
of June 11th, 1725, Benedict pointed out that in the interests
of religion he had had no keener desire than to see peace
restored between the Emperor and Spain ; now that peace
had been concluded, it had been spoilt for him by certain
clauses detrimental to the Holy See ; in particular he could
no more recognize the right of succession to Parma and
Piacenza which the Emperor had conceded to the Infante
Carlos, than his predecessor Innocent XIII., who had raised
a protest against this arrangement at Cambrai.^
^ Ibid.
* *Cardinal Cienfuegos on May 19, 1725, ibid. Cf. *letter of the
same of September 23, 1725, ibid.
* The decrees were not published until October 25, 1725.
B«//, XXII., 284.
* Cardinal Cienfuegos' *ietter of May 23, 1725, loc. cit.
* *Acta consist., Vatican Library ; Cardinal Cienfuegos'
♦reports of June 9 and 12, 1725, loc. cit. ; Borgia, Vita, 70 seq. ;
MuRATORi, XII., Ill seqq. Cf. also Baudrillart, III., 192 seqq.
The Congress which opened in June, 1728, at Soissons, and
at which nearly all the European States were represented, caused
Benedict XIII. many anxieties ; cf. the * Brief to the King of
France of October 28, 1728, Papal Secret Archives, and Hofler
in Pontes rer. Austr. Dip}., XXXII., 229 seqq. When the treaty
concluded at Seville in November, 1729, between France, Spain
CANONIZATIONS. 165
June 15th, 1725, saw the pubhcation of a Bull on the
Constitution of Gregory XIV. concerning ecclesiastical
immunity, and on the 18th another Bull, addressed to the
Bishops of Italy, on the duty of erecting seminaries, as
prescribed by the Council of Trent. At the same time a
special Congregation of Seminaries was created. ^ A decree
of March 7th, 1727, prescribed the' use of the revised Csere-
moniale episcoponim for the universal Church, ^ and Lambertini
was ordered to draw up an Instruction on the Bishops' duty
of periodically going to Rome — Visitatio liminmn Apostolonim.'^
Few Popes have done so much for the veneration of the
Saints as Benedict XIII. His first step was the promulgation,
on June 4th, 1724, of a number of canonizations effected by
his predecessors.* On December 10th,. 1726, he raised to
the altars Turibius Mogrobejo {ob. 1606), Archbishop of Lima,
the Franciscan Observant Giacomo della Marca and the
Dominican nun Agnes of Montepulciano ^ ; to these were
and England, which Holland also joined in March, decided,
among other things, that in order to safeguard the hereditary
claims of the Infante Don Carlos, Parma, Piacenza, Leghorn
and Porto Ferrajo should be garrisoned by 6,000 Spaniards,
Benedict XIII. appealed to Philip V. in a *Brief of January 28,
1730, but in vain. Papal Secret Archives.
1 Cracas, June 23, 1725. The Constitution of June 8, 1725,
on the immunity in Bull, XXII., 198 seqq., that of May 9, 1725,
on the Seminaries, ibid., 174 seqq. On the tax on the seminaries,
see Freib. Kirchenlexikon, XI. 2, 109, and circular letter of Pius X.,
January 23, 191 2.
2 Bull, XXII., 508.
^ Aug. LuciDi, De visitatione sacrorum liminum sou instructio
S. C. Concilii iussu Benedicii XIII . super modo conficiendi rela-
tiones de statu ecclesiarum exposita et illustrata, 3 vols., Romae,
188S. Cf. Freib. Kirchenlexikon, III.-, 862, and the most recent of
the liturgical books of the Roman Rite, viz. the Memoriale
rituuni (or Parvum Rituale), latest edition by I. Braun, Ratisbon,
1923.
* Bull, XXII., I, 7, 12, 16, 23, 31, 36, 41.
* A. Walz, O. Pr., Die hi. Agnes von Montepulciano, Diilraen,
1922, especially p. 155 seq.
l66 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
added, on December 27th of the same 3'ear, the Spanish
Franciscan Observant Francis Solano, the Servite Pellegrino
Laziosi and the Carmehte John of the Cross, and finally,
on December 31st, the Jesuits Aloysius Gonzaga and Stanislaus
Kostka.^ Whit-Sunday of 1728 saw the canonization of Mar-
guerite of Cortona, and March 19th, 1729, that of John Nepomuk,
The feasts of Pope St. Gregory VII., St. Wenceslaus, Duke of
Bohemia, and the Augustinian Hermit, John of Sahagun
[John a S. Facundo], were extended to the whole Church. ^
The following were beatified by Benedict XIII. : in 1726
Giacinta Marescotti, of the Order of Poor Clares ; in 1728
the Spanish Franciscan Observant John de Prado ; in 1729
the Proto-Martyr of Propaganda, Fidelis of Sigmaringen ;
1 Bull, XXII., 460, 464, 466, 474, 477, 480, 483, 487 ; NovAES,
XIII., 97 seqq. Cf. Vera e distinta relazione di tutto il maestoso
apparato, descrizione di medaglioni, e veridica misnra di tutto
il recinto dello steccato, e trono pontificio, come anche funzioni e
ceremonie fatte in S. Pietro dalla S. di N. S. Papa Benedetto XIII.
per la solenne canonizzazione de' gloriosi ; S. Turribio Mogrobesio,
arcivescovo di Lima ; S. Giacomo delta Marca, Min. oss. di S.
Francesco ; S. Agnese da Montepulciano, nionaca di S. Domenico.
Fatta li 10 Decembre, 1726, Roma, 1726. The magnificent ^a/jo«o
for the canonization of St. John of the Cross is in the treasury of
St. Peter's; cf. Anniiaire pontif., 1913, 564. On the occasion of
the canonization of the two Jesuits, their confrere, G. B. Memmi,
pubhshed the learned work entitled : II sacra rito di canonizzare
i santi spiegato, Roma, 1726. Cf. Gius. Rocco Volpi, Vitae
sanctorum octo a Benedicto XIII. fastis sacris adscriptorum a.
1726, Romae, 1727.
* Bull, XXII., 771, 781, 800; NovAES, XIII., 107 seqq., iii
seqq. ; Freib. Kirchenlexikon, VI. 2, 1659. The canonization of
St. John of Nepomuk led to the erection of statues of this Saint
on bridges in all Catholic countries ; one of the first to be erected
was in Rome, for in June, 1731, Cardinal Althan had a statue of the
Saint by Pornachini, erected on Ponte Molle, at his own expense ;
see Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report of June 10, 1731, Archives of the
Austrian Embassy at the Vatican. Consequently, the assertion
(which is very common) that this statue dates from the seven-
teenth century (thus Nibby, Dintorni, II., 581), must be corrected.
SPIRITUAL FAVOURS GRANTED. 167
in 1730, Pierre Fourrier.^ The Pope also did much for the
veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary.^ He hkewise furthered
devotion to St. Joseph,^ St. Juhana, St. Catherine of Siena,
St. Vincent Ferrer, St. Vincent de Paul and other Saints.*
Among the many Indulgences granted by him, note must
be taken of the Bull extending the privileges attached by
Innocent X. to the exercise of the Way of the Cross. ^ When the
Bishop of Pavia ordered an examination of the relics of
St. Augustine, which are preserved in that city, the Pope
confirmed their authenticity by a Brief dated August 5th,
1728, and by a solemn Bull of September 23rd of the same
year.^
The Pope cherished a great personal devotion to St. Charles
Borromeo ' and St. Philip Neri as is shown by his encourage-
ment of the Oratorians.^ He introduced the Society of the
1 Bull, XXII. , 389, 787, 837, 861 ; NovAES, XIII., 113 seqq.
* Bull, XXII., loi, 102 ; Freib. Kirchenlexikon ^, V., 1928 ;
VIII., 804, 808, 818, 819, 825 ; X., 1280, 1283 ; XI., 692.
" Ibid.,\l., 1844.
* NovAES, XIII., 115 seqq. ; Freib. Kirchenlexikon ^, II.,
341, 347 ; XL, 2010 ; XIL, 998. On the erection of the statue
of St. Francis in St. Peter's, see the periodical Roma, V. (1927),
172, 174. 5 Katholik, 1895, I-. 335-
* Cappelletti, Chiese d'ltalia, XIL, 484 seq., 485 seq. ; Bull,
XXII., 710.
' Zeitschr. fur Schweiz. Kirchengesch., IV., 73 ; Theol. Revue,
1926, 216 seq.
* Moroni, 155 seq. ; periodical Filippo Neri, Roma, 1894,
Nos. 19-20 ; Heimbucher, IL, 341. Cf. the *Documents in
Cod. H. 76, Bibl. ValUcelliana, Rome. A magnificent cope
with Benedict XIII.'s coat of arms, in the sacristy of the Chiesa
Nova, Rome. See also " *Misura e stima de' lavori di muro et
altro ad uso di stucature . . . per farsi il nuovo oratorio ..."
(with the specifications of the architect, D. Gregorini), Archives
of the Fabbrica of St. Peter's, Rome. Besides these, the Pope
made donations also to the church of St. PhiUp Neri in Naples
(a chasuble given to him by the Queen of Poland) and to the
Library of the Oratorians ; the Pope's bust is still to be seen in
the great reception room of the Oratory.
l68 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
French Doctrinarians into Italy. ^ The Benedictine Congrega-
tion of the Holy Ghost of Augsburg was granted divers
privileges. 2 He also showed great favour to the much attacked
Jesuits.^ To his love for the Dominican Order, to which he
himself belonged, he gave expression on every occasion.*
^ Freib. Kirchenlexikon, III. 2, 1875.
' Heimbucher, I., 158. On the protection of the Cistercian
Monasteries by Benedict XIII. against the abuse of the commenda,
cf. DoM. Willy, O. Cist., Pdpste, Kardindle nnd Bischofe aus dem
Zisterzienserordeti, Bregenz, 1912, 4, n. 8.
' CoRDARA, ed. DoLLiNGER, III., 3 ; Bitll, XXII., 207. On the
German College, cf. above, p. 119. In a *Brief of September 16,
1724, to the prefect and the assistants of the " congregatio
nobilium in domo professae Soc. lesu Neapolit.", in which
he thanked them for their congratulations, he said that he knew
the Institute " ab adolesc. ineunte cum in sodalitium vestrum
adsciti ad colendam disciplinam optima exempla haurire potui-
mus ". This " iucundissima, recordatio " made their homage still
more acceptable ; he would rely on their prayers [Epist., I., Papal
Secret Arch.). On December 22, 1725, Benedict XIII. strongly
recommended " Conr. Herdegen et coUegas S.J. " to the Arch-
bishop of Salzburg for popular missions in his diocese (Epist.,
II. -III., ibid.) and to the Archbishop of Treves *on July 2,
1727, the " causa collegii Neoburg, S.J. " (Epist., IV. -V., ibid.).
The celebrated Fr. Caravita had the honour of preaching before
Benedict XIII. ; see *Diarium in Cod. 1324, Bibl. Casanatense,
Rome. In his " Lezioni " on the book of Exodus (lez. 46, n. 24,
Opera, I., 188) Benedict speaks of " S. Ignacio, patriarca della
venerata Compagnia di Gesu ".
* Cf. above, p. iig, and below (Bull of November 6, 1724).
In the *Brief of August 7, 1724, to the Provincial of the Domini-
cans of Lombardy, Benedict speaks in a very touching manner
of his love for the Dominicans ; in =^that of the same day to the
" conventus S. Dominici Castellae ", he recalls God's goodness
which he experienced in this Order in his early youth ; by a * Brief
of October 6, 1724, he sends the Dominicans of Lyons a donation
" pro reficiendo conventu ", on October 13, 1724, he *recommends
the Dominicans to the Archbishop of Lyons (Epist., I., Papal
Secret Archives). Complaints about the Pope's preference for
religious in the appointment of Bishops, see Barb. IMorosini,
*Relazione of 1731, State Archives, Venice.
THE pope's attachment TO BENEVENTO. 169
The Pope also personally interested himself in the growth of
Bartholomew Holzhauser's Congregation of secular priests.^
Paul of the Cross, whilst planning a Congregation for the
purpose of promoting home and foreign missions, received
permission from him, in 1725, to receive novices. Thus arose
the Order of the Passionists or Discalced Clerics of the Sacred
Passion and Cross of our Lord.^ He approved the College of
the H0I3' Family founded at Naples by that most deserving
man, Matteo Ripa, for the education of young Chinese.^
Benedict remained extremely attached to his diocese of
Benevento. He treasured the memory of his long residence
there,* during which he had been able to give free play to
his attraction towards the pastoral work ; even as Pope he
felt more at home in Benevento than in Rome. Such was his
predilection for that city and diocese that his real confidants
1 Cf. the *Briefs to the Emperor, to the Elector of Bavaria,
to the Archbishops of Treves, Salzburg, Vienna, Posen, Gnesen,
Cracow, Prague and Constance, May 2, 1725, to the Bishops of
Eichstatt, Wiirzburg and Freising, October 23, 1726, to the Bishop
of Ratisbon, February 18, 1727, Epist., Papal Secret Archives.
^ Heimbucher, II., 286 seq.
' M. Ripa, Sioria d. fondazione d. Congregazione e del Collegia
dei Cinesi, 3 vols., Napoli, 1832 ; Ceva-Grimaldi, Delia ciiid di
Napoli, Napoli, 1857. The rights of the Pope over this foundation
are based on the Bull of Benedict XIII. and on those of his
successors, though the Italian Government has employed its
income for a secular ihstitution ; see L'Antico Collegio dei Cinesi
coniro il Ministero d. pubhl. Istruzione innanzi alia cbrte di appello
di Napoli, Napoli, 1883 ; Memorandum del Collegio dei Cinesi
di Napoli al Senato italiano, Roma, 1888 ; [R. de Martinis],
Osservazioni suU'intervento giudiziario d. S. Congreg. de Propa-
ganda Fide nella vertenza del Collegio dei Cinesi di Napoli, Roma,
1889. See also below. Book III., Chapter IV.
* Brief of February 22, 1726, to Cardinal Coscia, Papal Secret
Arch. On the records of the Pope in the archiepiscopal palace,
in the Chapter House, the Cathedral, the Tesoro and the Archives
of Beneventum, see Isernia, Storia di Benevento. Cf. Gius.
]\Iaria da Roma, *Vita et de rebus gestis Benedicti XIII., in Cod.
8693, PP- 108-200, Vatican Library.
170 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
in Rome were all Beneventans. Equally characteristic was
his preference for Beneventan artists, regardless of their
ability, or lack of it.^ His very first Brief was addressed to
the Chapter of Benevento. In addition to his thanks for
their congratulations it includes, characteristically enough,
an exhortation to maintain discipline. ^ When at a later date
the Government of Venice presented him with the relics of
Blessed John Orsini, who had been Bishop of Trau in Dalmatia,^
the Pope sent them to Benevento in a precious reliquary,
and great was his joy that by this means the holy Bishop,
his kinsman, would become a special Patron of his beloved
diocese.* But he longed to revisit in person the scenes where
he had laboured so long. His intention became first known
at the close of 1725. The Cardinals urged him to desist, for
they were afraid lest he should undul}^ prolong his stay, or
even take up his residence there. ^ But Benedict XHI. refused
to give up his intention. It was in vain that Cardinal Polignac
represented the serious drawbacks of a conclave at Benevento
in the event of his death. Other Cardinals pointed to the
heavy cost of the journey.^ But the Pope stuck to his plan.'
In March, 1726, he instructed Cardinal Corradini to draw up
the itinerary as far as Terracina, from whence he wished
to visit San Felice near Cape Circeo ; his intention was to
inspect the new fisheries which the Apostolic Camera had
established in that locality at great cost, on the model of
those of Comacchio.^ It would seem that it was the death
of Cardinal Paolucci and the nomination of a new Secretary
1 ScATASSA, Benedetto XIII. e i suoi artisti Beneventani,
in Rassegna bibl. d. arte ital., XVI. (1913). 112 seqq.
* *Brief of June 5, 1724, Epist., I., Papal Secret Archives.
» *Brief of thanks to Venice, April 6, 1725, ibid.
* Thus, in the Brief of Januar}^ 19, 1726, to the Chapter of the
Duomo of Benevento, Epist., II., ibid.
* Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report of December 22, 1725, Reuss
Arch., Ernstbrunn.
* *Report of the same, December 29, 1725, ibid.
"> *Report of the same, January 5, 1726, tbid.
* * Report of the same, March 16, 1726, tbid.
JOURNEY TO BENEVENTO. I7I
of State that prevented the journey from being undertaken
m 1726.1
However, the Pope had not by any means given up his
plan. In a brief address to the Cardinals assembled in con-
sistory on March 17th, 1727, he announced his intention of
going to Benevento in order to consecrate in person the new
church of St. Philip Neri which he had made a vow to build
at the time of the earthquake of 1688. He added that he
would return before long. In the meantime the Cardinals
were to take charge of affairs. He had drawn up a Brief
to the effect that the conclave must be held in Rome. The
Pope had gone to the consistory with a feeling of anxiety :
he left it radiantly happy. The prospect of once more seeing
his beloved Benevento seemed to have rejuvenated him.^
The journey began on March 24th. Early in the morning
the Pope went to Chiesa Nuova to say Mass at the tomb of
Philip Neri. After a prayer at St. Mary Major he set out
from Rome, escorted by a very small suite and with none
of the customary pomp. Some found fault with this arrange-
ment and pointed to the pomp displayed on their journeys
by Clement XI. and Innocent XIII. ; others excused it on
the ground of his humility. At Albano Benedict stopped at
the house of Cardinal Lercari who had had the table laid as
in a monastic refectory. The Pope blessed the table but ate
nothing whatever because it was a vigil and a fast da}^ though
he derived great enjoyment from watching the appetite of
the company.^ On the following day he said Mass at the
cathedral. So great was the concourse of people that but
for the guards the Pope would have been crushed. He left
on March 25th without having taken any food, owing to its
being a fast day. Nettuno was reached before nightfall.
^ Already, in April, 1726, he had postponed his journey until
October in order to consecrate the church of St. Philip Neri
at Benevento which he had built at his own expense ; see
Cardinal Bentivoglio's *letter to the Duque de Riperda, April 13,
1726, Simancas Archives.
* Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report of March 22, 1727, loc. cit.
' *Report of the same, March 29, 1727, ibid.
172 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
On the 26th he arrived at Torre Paola where, as a result of
his severe fast, he was taken ill and compelled to rest one
day.^ When he set out again he narrowly escaped falling into
the hands of Turkish corsairs who had made a raid on San
Felice on the 26th in the course of which they carried off
twenty-six persons into slavery.^ At the frontier of the
kingdom of Naples he was greeted by the Vicero}', Cardinal
Althan, who accompanied the Pope as far as Fondi where
the Pontiff spent the night at the Dominican convent. On
the 29th, escorted by Neapolitan troops, he journeyed to
Gaeta, and on the 30th to Capua. In each of these towns he
spent the night in a monastery.^ As soon as he entered the
territory of his diocese the Pope began to hold the episcopal
visitation of the churches along his route, and to administer
Confirmation.^ Benevento was reached on April 2nd. He
repaired at once to the cathedral and in an address of three-
quarters of an hour, exhorted the Canons to punctuality in
the celebration of the canonical Hours. ^
The Pope remained at Benevento until May 12th. During
that time he was unwearied in giving audience to all and
sundry, consecrating churches, teaching the catechism,
administering the Sacraments, preaching, and at night,
waiting upon the sick in hospital. He carried out in person
all the functions of Holy Week*. On the return journey he
confirmed 506 children at Monte Sarchio, consecrated an
altar in the cathedral and gave the first tonsure to a nephew
of Cardinal Caracciolo.^ From May 17th to 21st the Pope
stayed at Monte Cassino where he took part in all the rehgious
exercises. On the 19th he consecrated the church which had
been reconstructed and splendidly decorated after the havoc
of the last earthquake.' The feast of the Ascension was
1 * Report of the same, April 5, 1727, tbid.
2 *Report of the same. May 10, 1727, ibid. Consequently,
GuGLiELMOTTi, Ultimifatti, 86, must be corrected.
3 NovAES, XIII., 132.
* Cardinal Cicnfuegos' *rcport of April 5, 1727, loc. cit.
^ NovAEs, XIII., 133. « NovAES, iZ;jV/.
' Miscell. Cassinese, I., Montecassino, 1897, 21 seqq.
SECOND JOURNEY TO BENEVENTO. I73
kept at Frosinone. On 25th May he consecrated a new altar
dedicated to St. Phihp Neri in the cathedral of Sezze and on
the 28th, the eve of the anniversary of his election, he re-entered
the Eternal City amid the acclamations of the Romans.^
In 1729, to the very great displeasure of the Romans, ^
the Pope paid a second visit to Benevento. Accompanied by
a small suite, he set out from Rome on March 28th. During
the whole of the journey the nights were invariably spent
at some monastery. The Viceroy of Naples wished to give
him an escort of a hundred Grenadiers, but he declined the
offer. At Benevento he carried out with great devotion all
the functions of Holy Week, and held a Provincial Council
between April 24th and May 12th. On May' 8th he had the
body of St. Bartholomew the Apostle, Benevento's Patron
Saint, translated from the diiomo to the new church which he
had erected at his own expense. On the return journey,
which began on May 23rd, he again consecrated Bishops,
churches and altars. On June 10th he was back in Rome.^
Even more than by these journeys, the Romans were
annoyed by the fact that the Pope continually sent on to
Benevento nearly all the presents made to himself, as well as
important sums of money. ^ He also honoured the cathedral of
Benevento by the bestowal of the Golden Rose.^
In the autumn of 1727 it became known that the new
Elector of Cologne, Clement Augustus I., who simultaneously
held the sees of Miinster, Paderborn and Hildesheim,^ intended
to come to Rome for the purpose of receiving episcopal
consecration there. The difficulties of the ceremonial were
overcome by Benedict XIII. deciding to meet the Elector
^ NOVAES, XIII., 134 56^^.
* Valesio, in Rassegna bibl. d. arte ital., XVII. (1914), 139.
^ NovAEs, XIII., 162 seqq.
* Valesio, loc. cit., XVI. (1913), 157 seqq. ; XVII. (1914),
139.
* Reproduction of the Golden Rose, which exists to this day, in
Meomartini, Benevento, 72.
* Cf. Ennen, Frankreich und der Niederrhein, II., 165-370,
and Allg. Deutsche Biographie, IV., 302 seqq.
174 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
at Viterbo, and to carry out the consecration in that city.
He persisted in this intention in spite of the Cardinals' efforts
to dissuade him. On November 6th, in a storm of rain and
snow, he left for Viterbo, where he arrived two days later,
taking up residence at the Dominican convent of S. Maria
di Gradi. On Sunday November 9th, at the early hour of
half-past six, he repaired to the celebrated Dominican
sanctuary of S. Maria della Querela, two kilometres distant
from the city. Half an hour later the Elector arrived, when
the consecration began at once. The midday meal was taken
at the Dominican convent. Afterwards the Pope consecrated
an altar in the church of St. Bonaventure.^ The Elector,
who was accompanied by his sister Violante of Bavaria, Grand
Duchess of Tuscany, presented the Pope with six golden
candlesticks, a diamond cross and a cheque for 24,000 scudi
for his travelling expenses. ^ The drive to Orvieto for the
purpose of venerating the Corporal preserved in that town,
had to be abandoned on account of the bad weather. On
November 13th the Pope left for Rome, not without having
expressed his disapproval of the very worldly court of the
Elector.^
Whilst thus absorbed in religious functions, Benedict XHI.
allowed himself to be far too much distracted from the much
more important duties that were incumbent on- him. In his
efforts for reform he lost himself in minutiae. But the worst
was that he continued to give his confidence to Cardinal
Coscia and the latter's Beneventan followers. When in
August, 1727, he learnt that his prohibition of wigs was not
being observed, he spent a sleepless night,^ but to Coscia's
intrigues the unworldly Pontiff remained bhnd. He Hved in
habitual disagreement with the Cardinals but obstinately
refused to heed the warnings of men who shared the strict
1 Cardinal Cicnfucgos' *report of November 15, 1727, Reuss
Archives, Ernstbrunn.
2 NovAES, XIII., 143.
' See the *report referred to in n. i.
* Thus Cienfuegos in his letter of August 23, 1727, loc. cit.
ZEAL FOR REFORM. I75
views of the " Zelanti ". The consequence was that his
well-meant intentions to bring about a reform failed to
yield the fruits which might have been expected to result
from the excellent decrees of the Provincial Council. The
intrigues of Coscia and his clique were bound to have a
demoralizing effect on the officials, hence also, on the clergy.
This explains how no less a man than Benedict XIV. could
say that the decline of the Curia began with Benedict XIII. ^
It is tragic that this should have happened precisely under
so devout and well-meaning a Pope, for there can be no doubt
as to Benedict XIII. 's good intentions.
How greatly the Pope had at heart the reform of the
secular and regular clergy outside Rome also, appears from
a long list of his ordinances. These extend not only to Italy,
where he sought in particular to revive the holding of synods, ^
but likewise include Avignon,^ Germany,^ Switzerland,^ the
^ BENotx, XIV., Lettres a Tencin, II., 282.
2 * Briefs to Michele Bologna, Archbishop of Amalfi, October 7,
1724 ; to losaphat Battistelli, Bishop of Foligno, December 8,
1724 ; to Vincenzo Ferrero, Bishop of Gravina, May 4 and June 5,
1725; to Cardinal F. Pignatelli, July 3, 1726; to Alessandro
Borgia, Bishop of Fermo, July 26; 1726 ; to Antonio Fonseca,
Bishop of lesi, September 26, 1726 ; to Alessandro Litta, Bishop
of Cremona, September 30, 1728. Epist., Papal Secret Archives.
' *Briefs to the Archbishop of Avignon, May 10 and July 26,
1726, and February 25, 1728, ibid.
* *Briefs to the Archbishop of Treves, October 27, 1724, and
May 4, 1725 (reform of the Cistercians) ; to the general Congrega-
tion of the Swabian and the Bavarian Benedictines, March 22,
1726 ; to numerous German Bishops, May 2, 1726 (recommenda-
tion of the " institutum clericorum in commune viventium ") ;
to the clergy of Constance, September 5, 1726 (new seminary) ;
to the Emperor, November 15, 1726 (recommendation of the
" Seminarium Soeterianum " of Treves) ; to the Archbishop of
Mayence, and to Duke Leopold of Lorraine, March 14, 1727
(on the same subject) ; to the Elector, Clement Augustus of
Cologne, September 5, 1727 (nullity of his election capitulation).
Ibid.
* *Brief to Joseph, Abbot of St. Gall, July 26, 1727, ibid.
176 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Spanish Netherlands/ Poland ^ and Spain. Innocent XIII. 's
Bull against abuses among the Spanish clergy was approved
by a royal decree of March 9th, 1724, and its observance
strictly enforced.^ On September 23rd, 1724, Benedict XIII.
confirmed the reform decrees of his predecessors, and ordered
them to be printed and dispatched to all the Bishops.* As
they met with opposition, especially on the part of the Orders,^
they were inculcated anew and further elucidated in a Bull of
March 27th, 1726.^ The nuncio in Madrid was instructed
to see to their strict execution.^ This was no easy task, for
there was question of the most diverse subjects, such as
admission to the clerical state and the excessive number of
clerics of low degree, the learning and other qualities of the
candidates for Holy Orders, the action to be taken by Bishops
against unworthy clerics who forgot the duties of their state,
the presence of the clergy at the solemn conventual Mass
and the pastoral conferences, the conscientious fulfilment
by priests having the cure of souls of the obligation of preach-
ing, the erection of new parishes and dioceses, the preserva-
tion of the Bishops' prerogatives and honours, the enclosure
of convents of nuns, abuses in the sphere of the liturgy,
Masses and private oratories, ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and
in general, the observance of the disciplinary decrees of the
Council of Trent. ^ However, in spite of every effort, the Bull
^ *Brief to the Archbishop of Tournai, March 21, 1726 (exhorta-
tion to fulfil the duty of residence), ibid.
2 *Briefs to the " cougregatio Benedict. Poloniae ", July i,
1726 ; to the Archbishop of Gnesen, April 3, 1728 ; to " lacobus
Ludovicus princeps regni Poloniae ", April 29, 1728 (" CoUeg.
pontificium Leopoli institutum conimendat "). Ibid.
* Hergenrother in Archiv. filr Kath. Kirchenrecht, X. (1863),
189.
* Bull, XXII., 100. *Letter to nuncio Aless. Aldobrandini,
October 14, 1724, Nunziat. di Spagna, 365, Papal Secret Arch.
* Brief to Philip V., April 3, 1726, Epist., ibid.
* Mercati, Concordati, 297 seqq.
' *Lctter to nuncio Aldobrandini of April 3, 1726, loc. cit.
* Hergenrother, loc. cit. ; Martini, Pontificato di Benedetto
XIII., II seq.
ZEAL FOR REFORM. I77
with its wealth of prescriptions for the strict observance of
ecclesiastical discipline was carried into effect only by slow
degrees, and not in its entirety.^
^ *Briefs to Philip V. and to the Spanish episcopate, both of
March 22, 1727, and to the Prior of the monastery of the Escorial
of March 23, 1727. A *Brief to " Tarraconen, et coepiscopi in
concilio provinc. congregati " of May 22, 1728 ; he praises them ;
*another to the Spanish Bishops, August 24, 1728, concerns the
reform of preaching (" we have heard with sorrow gravissimum
praedicandi ministerium, quod in spiritus alimentum est institu-
tum, nonnullos in suae ambitionis ahmentum et inanem gloriam
vertisse ", as though they preached not Christ, but themselves ;
" fucato dicendi genere ad capiendam vulgi auram, ad audiendum
verbum convenientibus illudunt levissimis argumentis et concisis
ad ingenii ostentationem. Hanc corruptelam avertere cupientes,
zehim vestrum hortamur, ut qui simplicibus imbuere mundi
contemptum verbo et exemplo debent, vobis advigilantibus
officio respondeant," so that they be not accused at the Judg-
ment by those whose praise they have sought. " Qui ministerium
susceperunt, christianae doctrinae articulos" aut divinae legis
praeceptum, prout animarum necessitatibus opportunius, simplici
stylo exphcent ; inobedientes canonicis poenis coerceri volumus,
sublata praedicandi facultate, et ecclesiasticis censuris ubi
opus"). A *Brief to the same of October i, 1728, concerns
catechetical instruction (one of the most important pastoral cares
is the instruction of the faithful, especially of the children, in the
fundamental doctrines of the Christian religion. It belongs to our
ofhce to stir up your zeal ; we are speaking of the most important
duty of Bishops, the neglect of which will be severely judged ;
imitate the zeal of your predecessors. " Exponendae doctrinae
methodum ccrtam proponendam curavimus, quam editam utilis-
simam et parvulis accomodatam experti sumus." We are very
happy that some devout men, especially among the clergy,
have devoted themselves to this work " et vicos circumeuntes
doctrinam populis annuntiant nullis laboribus deterriti " ;
nothing is more pleasing to us. " Hortamur, ut has exercitationes
in dioecesibus vestris instituere et ad eas clericos vestros excitare
nitamini." Indulgences are granted both to those who teach
Christian doctrine and to those who attend such lessons). A Brief
to Philip v., July 12, 1729, recommends the execution of a Brief
" pro Cisterciens reformatis ". Papal Secret Archives.
VOL. XXXIV. N
178 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
On the whole Benedict XIII. was on good terms with the
Spanish Government and with most of the other Cathohc
Governments. He took advantage of this circumstance to
obtain the support of these authorities for such Cathohc
interests as lay outside their respective territories. By this
means he sought to obtain relief for the oppressed Catholics
of the German Diaspora} the Grisons,^ Great Britain ^ and
^ After the death of the Vicar ApostoUc of North Germany,
the excellent Agost. Steffani, Bishop of Spiga, Benedict XIII.
♦wrote to Charles VI. on May 18, 1728, in order to induce him
to intervene on behalf of the rights of the Catholics of Hanover.
The opportunity was favourable as the Duke of Hanover was
asking for favours and the Emperor could make the " fidem
pactorum " a condition. To this period also belong the *Briefs
of May II, 1726, to the King of Spain and to other princes
" pro principe Sulzbach " in liilichberg, and of January 18,
1727, to the Emperor ; recommendation of the " rationes domus
Palatinae et de Sulzbach contra molitiones march. Brandeburg ".
[Epist., Papal Secret Archives.) To Benedict XIII. 's solicitude
for the converts, the following *Briefs bear witness : to the Emperor
and the Kings of France and Spain, July 16, 1726 : recommenda-
tion of the " baro de Heinscheck ", to the Kings of France and
Spain, October 2, 1726 : recommendation of the " baro de Tann " ;
to the Emperor, February 21, 1728 : recommendation of
" Fredericus princeps Saxoniae " ; to the Elector Clement
Augustus of Cologne, July 9, 1729 : recommendation of the former
preacher, Herm. Heinrich Peters ; to Prince Eugene, September i,
1729 : recommendation of a convert [Epist., Papal Secret
Archives). *Letter to the Spanish nuncio, A. Aldobrandini,
August 16, 1727 : he should interest the King in Catholic affairs
in liilich-Cleve. Nunziat. di Spagna, 365, Papal Secret Arch.
* *Brief to the Emperor, March 28, to the King of France,
June 22, 1729, Papal Secret Archives.
3 Brief to the King of France, June 5, 1726, to the same and to
Cardinal Fleury, June 4, 1727, loc. cit. Cf. ibid., the *Brief to
the former of July 16, 1726 : your " regia beneficentia ad fovendos
catholicos Nos adducit, ut de tua observantia praeclare sentientes
opem tuam ad religionis amplificationem imploremus. Cum
Thom. Domin. WiUiams O. Pr. episc. Tiberiopolit. in meridion.
Anglia Vic. Apostol. nulUs redditibus vitam sustentare et opus
NEW CARDINALS. I79
Holland.^ His solicitude likewise embraced the Catholics of
Serbia,^ the Maronites oppressed by the Turks,^ the Catholic
Patriarch of Antioch * and the Catholics of the island of
Naxos who had to suffer from the vexations of the schismatics.^
(2.)
During his pontificate of five and a half years Benedict XIII.
carried out twelve creations of Cardinals, in which twenty-
nine prelates were invested with the purple. At the first
nomination, on September 11th, 1724, two Romans received
the red hat. They were Giambattista Altieri, who had long
been a cleric of the Camera under Clement XL, and Alessandro
Falconieri, a man universally esteemed on account of his
excellent administration as Governor of Rome.^ Falconieri
iniunctum perficere non possit, obsecramus, ut pensionem aut
beneficium ei conferendum cures ".
1 Transmission of a *letter of Propaganda to the Spanish
nuncio, dated March 3, 1725, on using his influence for the admis-
sion of the Vicar ApostoHc in Holland. Nunziat. di Spagna,
365, loc. cit.
* *Brief to the Emperor and to Prince Eugene, January 26,
1726, Papal Secret Archives.
^ Briefs to the Kings of Spain and Portugal, July 8 and Decem-
ber 2, 1727, to the King of Spain and to the Emperor, July 17,
1728, to the King of Poland, August 11, 1729, to the King of Spain,
September 20, 1729, ibid.
* *Brief to the King of France, August 12, 1729, ibid. To
" loseph patr. Chaldaeorum " he sent a *letter on March 12,
1725, encouraging him to resist the Nestorians. Ibid.
^ *Brief to the King of France, September 30, 1727, ibid.
« GuARNACci, II., 430 seq. ; Cardella, VIII., 201. Cardina
Cienfuegos thus describes the new Cardinals : *Altieri Romano
e un uomo di ottimi costumi, umile, di tratto amabile e ritirato^
poco meno del card. Lorenzo suo fratello, e piu giovine di lui di
qualche anno, non avendo grande spirito ne dottrina, ma buon
cuorc. Falconieri pure Romano e dotato d'un animo signorile ed
eroico, e bene conservato nella sua eta di 68 anni, k alquanto
l80 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
restored the famous Villa of the same name at Frascati,
partly Borromini's work, as we see it to-day ; his name is
seen on the first gate with the date 1729. Benedict XIII.
himself consecrated the chapel of the Villa which Falconieri
had embellished.^
On November 20th, 1724, the Neapolitan Vincenzo Petra,
and on 20th December Prospero Marefoschi and Agostino
Pipia, were raised to the cardinalate.^ Petra, who was
Secretary to the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars,
happened to be with Cardinal Cienfuegos when he was informed
of his promotion. He was no less surprised than the whole of
Rome, but there was general satisfaction that a man should
be honoured who had faithfully served the Holy See for many
years and who had made a name for himself in the learned
world by a work on the Penitentiaria and by his commentaries
on the Apostolic Constitutions.^ Prospero Marefoschi had
been Uditore Santissimo since the pontificate of Clement XI.
Agostino Pipia, a native of Sardinia, had been General of
the Dominicans since 1721. He was one of the Pope's intimates.
At the last nomination, the Pontiff had informed the
ambassadors of the great Cathohc Powers that he intended
forte nelle cose che imprende, ed e nobilmente fornito di dottrina,
avendo sostenuto con somma laude per piu anni la carica di
auditore della S. Ruota. Though formerly attached to the French
party, he has given proofs of his devotion to the Emperor. Letter
of November 25, 1724, Reuss Archives, Ernstbrunn.
^ On the lower gateway to the garden, now closed, we read :
" Alexander | S. Mariae de Scala Diaconus | Cardinalis Falconerius
I A° 1729 " ; in the interior of the villa, over the entrance :
" Benedictus [XIII.] Dominus nobis haec ostia fecit 1724." The
frescoes are by Maratta, Giro Ferri, a pupil of Pietro da Cortona
and Ghezzi (by the latter also caricatures and a portrait of him-
self, 1727), the oil paintings arc by Ilotzendorf. Cf. D. Seghetti,
Die Villa Falconieri, in Westcrmanns Monatshcflen 1906, 742 seqq.;
F. ZiDEK, Villa Falconieri (Progr.), Kalksburg, 1907.
2 GuARNACCi, II., 438 seqq., 443 seqq. ; Cardella, VIII.,
203 seq.
3 Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report of November 25, 1724 [loc. cit.) ;
here also he emphasizes Petra's devotion to the Emperor.
NUNCIO BICHI. l8l
to create twelve Cardinals in all.^ On June 11th, 1725, Niccolo
Coscia and Niccolo Giudice received the red hat.^
Under Innocent XIII. the Portuguese Government had
failed to obtain the purple for Bichi, a former nuncio in
Lisbon ; its efforts were renewed in the summer of 1724.
Though Bichi had been recalled, Portugal persisted in regarding
him as a nuncio, refused to allow Giuseppe Firrao, who had
been recently appointed in his place, to enter on his office,
and declined during the vacancy of the Holy See to receive
the letter by which the Sacred College informed it of the
demise of Innocent XIII. When the new Pope informed the
King of his elevation, the Government intercepted the letter
and pretended that it had never arrived. Thereupon the
Portuguese ambassador was handed a duplicate of the letter
which he dispatched to Lisbon by a special courier. In this
he saw a great triumph, so that he thought he would be able
to extort Bichi's elevation. Benedict XIII. replied that
so long as Bichi remained in Lisbon he would not receive
the red hat ; let him come to Rome and justify himself ;
after that it would be decided whether he was worthy to be
admitted into the Sacred College. The ambassador's threat
to take his departure did not at once induce the Pope to
change his mind,^ but as the peace-loving Pontiff was anxious
to avoid a rupture, he yielded in 1725 to Portugal's ceaseless
pressure, in spite of the disapproval of many Cardinals, to
the extent of promising Bichi's elevation as soon as the
latter left Lisbon.^
On September 11th, 1726, at the request of the French
ambassador. Cardinal Polignac, the purple was bestowed on
Andre Hercule Fleury who had been Bishop of Frejus from
^ Report of the same, December 24, 1724, loc. cit.
* Cf. above, p. 125. On Giudice, see Marchesi Buonaccorsi,
504 5e^.
* These incidents are recorded by Cardinal Acquaviva in his
*letter to Juan Baut. de Orendayn, August 5, 1724, Simancas
Archives.
■* Cardinal Cienfuegos' *reports of June 9, September 15 and 22,
1725, loc. cit.
l82 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
1698 to 1715, then tutor to Louis XV., and, finally, leader of
France's policy as head of the Council of State. ^ The candidate
of the French Government was a remarkable statesman,
religiously minded and of irreproachable morals and altogether
worthy of the purple. ^ The Emperor had let it be known
that he approved of Fleury's elevation, on condition that
Polignac gave a guarantee that in any future creation of
Cardinals the Pope would not exceed the number of twelve
or thirteen.^
In the sequel Benedict XIII. saw himself pressed from every
quarter to fill the vacancies in the Sacred College. At a con-
sistory held in the first days of September, 1726, the Portuguese
Cardinal Pereyra complained bitterly of the fact that, without
consulting his sovereign, the Pope had named Fleury and
passed over Bichi, though he had promised to make no
promotion without including Bichi. Having made his protest,
he left the hall and remained in the ante-room until the
end of the meeting. On the previous day Polignac had prayed
the Pope not to appoint more than twelve Cardinals after
his election. Benedict rephed that he could not set a dangerous
example to his successors by consenting to a restriction of
his right of nomination, but he would promise to create fewer
Cardinals than his predecessors. When Polignac continued
to press him, the Pope, speaking in a loud and excited tone,
so that the bystanders were able to hear him, declared that
he would not yield — he would rather return to Benevento.^
^ GuARNACCi, II., 411 seqq. ; Rev. d'hist. cedes., 1910, 830.
On September 16 the Pope charged Gualterius to take to the King
of France the red biretta destined for Fleury. Ep. ad princ.,
Papal Secret Archives.
* Monograph by Verlaque (Paris, 1879).
3 *Lctter of the imperial Chancellor to Cardinal Cienfuegos,
dat. Vienna, September i, 1726. Reuss Archives, Ernstbrunn.
* Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report of September 14, 1726, according
to which the Pope said to Polignac : " Non imponam iugum
sacerdotio, non imponam iugum sacerdotio, e piii tosto con
queste lane di cui vcsto, sar6 capace di ritornare a Benevento.
Ibid.
PRESSURE BY PORTUGAL. 183
At an audience in October, 1726, Cardinal Pereyra complained
that the Pope had had knowledge of a memorial of the Sacred
College against Bichi's nomination and that he had inspired it.
Benedict was able to deny both statements.^ About mid-
November an order came from Lisbon commanding all
Portuguese subjects to leave Rome should Bichi not be
promoted within eight days.^
Cardinal Bentivoglio, who had become Spanish ambassador
in July, 1726,3 had been pressing the Pope since September
to bestow the red hat on the Portuguese Infante Emmanuel.
Benedict's answer was that the thing was only possible if
the Prince first took Holy Orders and if Portugal gave its
consent. Against this Bentivoglio argued that sovereigns
had never been obliged to take Orders and quoted some
precedents. However, the Pope maintained his point of view,
observing that it was not possible so suddenly to exchange
the helmet for the mitre. ^ Meanwhile Bichi's nomination
had become impossible, although the Portuguese threatened
to leave, for the Cardinals, more particularly Corradini and
even Polignac, had vigorously protested against the unseemli-
ness of bestowing the purple on a man who refused to obey
the Holy See.^ In like manner when Bentivoglio, supported
^ Report of the same, October 12, 1726, ibid. On November g,
1726, Cienfuegos writes to the Emperor : the Pope is in a predica-
ment, many dissuade him in order that the party of the Cardinals
of Clement XI. might retain its strength for the Conclave ;
on the other hand the candidates urge him on. The latter course
is the better one for Your Majesty, because the predominance of
the Albani would be pernicious, and if he delays, more Cardinals
will die, so that in view of the Pope's chronic indecision and his
advanced age, the crowns would never see their " nomina "
realized. Ibid.
* *Report of the same, November 16, 1726, ibid.
' According to Cienfuegos' *report of July 27, 1726 {ibid.), the
nomination caused a great sensation at the court, as Bentivoglio
was known to be very hot-headed and irritable ; even Pohgnac
was not enthusiastic.
* *Report of the same, September 28, 1726, ibid.
» Ibid.
184 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
by Cienfuegos, renewed his demand for the nomination of
the Portuguese Infante, the Pope insisted on the Prince
first taking Orders.^ At this time several Cardinals prayed
Benedict XIII. to include his nephew, the Oratorian Mondillo
Orsini-Gravina, Bishop of Melfi, in the impending promotion.
The Pope, who abhorred every form of nepotism, refused
to comply with the request. ^
The nomination was confidently expected to take place
at a consistory fixed for the beginning of December, 1726.
Bentivoglio and Belluga, whose wishes in regard to the
Portuguese Infante were certainly not going to be realized,^
stayed away from the meeting. The Pope arrived an hour
later than announced. When the voting on the canonization
of Stanislaus Kostka was over everybody present thought that
the promotion would surely follow, but the Pope asked
^ *Report of the same, dat. December 17, 1726, ibid. Already
on September 28, 1726, the Secretary of State had written to
the Spanish nuncio that the canons required that the Prince of
Portugal be ordained before the promotion ; therefore explain
" che volentierissimo S. B. ammettera la petizione del Re promuo-
vendo S. A., ma salva la quiete della propria coscienza, non
essendosi potuto superare sin'ora questo suo grave scrupolo "
{Nunziat. di Spagna, 365, Papal Secret Archives). See also
" *Manifestando al Papa el sentimento de S. M. ", on the refusal
to promote Don Manuel, Archives of the Spanish Embassy
at Rome, 1726, f. 126. Cf. ibid., f. 134 ; 1727, f. i, 55, 60, 255.
* Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report of November 30, 1726, Reuss
Archives, Ernstbrunn. On Benedict XIII., the enemy of nepotism,
see NovAES, XIII., 169 seqq.
^ On Bentivoglio's unceasing efforts, with Cienfuegos, Coscia
and others, see his *Ietters to Grimaldi after his nomination as
Minister, August 3, September 21, 25, 28, October 26, November 2,
9, 16, 23, 27, 30, 1727. On December 2 he *reports the last, very
lively conversation he had with the Pope and the final negative
decision of the Secretary of State of the same day (Simancas
Archives). In spite of everything, Bentivoglio made fresh
attempts ; see his *letters of January i, February r, 15, 22,
March 8, 12, April 26, June 28, September 20, November 12, 1727,
and January lo, 1728 {ibid.).
MORE CARDINALS. 185
what time it was, and as the hour was advanced, he rose from
his tlirone and withdrew whilst giving his blessing. All present
were beside themselves with astonishment.^
At length, on December 9th, 1726, nine Cardinals were
created, but seven of them were reserved in petto, owing to
the impossibihty of providing for them. In his allocution
the Pope commented on the fact of his nephew being passed
over. As a Dominican he had long ago renounced all inclina-
tion towards flesh and blood, and at this time also he recalled
to mind what God spoke to Abraham : "Go out of the house
of thy fathers ! " ^ The two Cardinals proclaimed on Decem-
ber 9th were the Secretary of State, Niccolo Maria Lercari,
and the devout General of the Franciscans Observant, Lorenzo
Cozza, whom the Pope held in the highest esteem.^ Of the
seven reserved in petto, several were remarkable for their
learning, such as the Venetian Angelo Maria Ouirini, a Bene-
dictine of Monte Cassino and Archbishop of Corfu since 1723 ^ ;
^ Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report of December 7, 1726, Reuss
Archives, Ernstbrunn.
2 *Report of the same, December 14, 1726, ibid.
5 GuARNACCi, II., 479 seqq., 499 seq. ; Cardella, 217 seq.,
223. On Benedict XIII. 's affection for Cozza, see Cienfuegos'
*report of November 30, 1726, loc. cit. In his *letter of December
14, 1726 {ibid.), Cienfuegos thus characterizes Cozza : he is
reputed to be learned, pious, peaceful, and gentle, is 75 years of
age, and in poor health ; in the spring he had a stroke. Cf.
Freiburger Kir chenlex ikon, III. 2, 1172 seq. A caricature of
Cozza by Ghezzi in the periodical Roma, V. (1927), 173, On
Lercari, cf. above, p. 129.
* GuARNACCi, II., 474 seq. ; Cardella, VIII., 214 seqq. ;
HuRTER, II. 2, 1395 seqq. ; monograph by Baudrillart, Paris,
1889 ; life by C. Castelli in Brixia sacra, 1920, 79 seq. ; A.
Sambuca, Letiere intorno alia morte del card. A. M. Querini,
Brescia, 1757 ; autobiography of Quirini in Comment, de rebus
pertin, ad A. M. card. Quirini, Brixiae, 1749. On November 29,
1729, Cienfuegos *reports : Quirini, a friend of Polignac, " sa
bene il fatto suo," " ha spirito ed arte," " un naturale placido,"
in speech " schietezza de' sentimenti ", is said to have won the
favour of the Pope by such means and even by flattery [loc. cit.).
l86 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
the Bolognese Prosper Lambertini, Secretary of the Congrega-
tion of the Council and one of the principal advisers of the
Pope in questions of Church policy ^ ; Marcantonio Ansidei
of Perugia, assessor of the Inquisition since 1722, and the
Dominican Gregory Selleri. To these were added Antonio
Banchieri of Pistoja, who had succeeded Falconieri as Governor
of Rome in 1724 ; the Treasurer-General Carlo Collicola,
of Spoleto, and the Maestro di Camera Francescantonio Fini.^
There was a widespread belief that Bichi was one of those
reserved in petto, hence the Cardinals' opposition to his
nomination became increasingly sharp. At the end of
January, 1727, the Secretary of State, Lercari, presented
to the Pope a memorial in this sense bearing the signatures
of many Cardinals.^ This did not remove the anxious feeling
that Benedict would nevertheless carry out the promotion
on the occasion of his journey to Benevento.-* However, this
Cf. Fr. Lauchert, Die irenischen Bestrebungen des Kardinals Aug.
M. Quirini, speziell in seinenl literarischen Verkehr mit deutschen
protestantischen Gelehrten, in Stiidien «. Mitt, aus deni. Benedik-
tinerorden, XXIV. (1903). Quirini Epistolae, quotquot latino
sermone edidit, published by N. Coleti, Venetiis, 1756. On
his correspondence in the Brescia Library, see Giorn. stor. d. lett.
ital., XXXI., 47 seq. ; Rev. des langues romanes, XL. (1897),
501 seqq. Letters in the University Library, Udine ; see Raccolta
Veneta, I., 82 seqq. A very unfavourable criticism of Benedict XIV.
on Quirini as a scholar in Heeckeren, I., 141, 317.
1 Above, p. 139 seqq.
2 GuARNACCi, II., 483 seqq. ; Cardella, VIII. , 218 seqq. ;
Marchesi Buonaccorsi, 485 seq., 494 seq. On Selleri, cf. Tauri-
SANO, Hierarchia ord. Praed., Romae, 1916, 117 seqq.
' Cardinal Cienfuegos' *reports of January 4 and 25, 1727,
according to which Ottoboni refused to subscribe, declaring
that the Cardinals could not lay down the law for the Pope (Reuss
Archives, Ernstbrunn). The text of the petition in Cod. ital.,
190. P- 345 seqq.. State Library, Munich ; a copy in Cod. 2670,
Bibl. Casanatense, Rome.
* Cardinal Cienfuegos' *reports of January 25 and April 5,
1727, loc. cit. In the *report of August 2, 1727 (ibid.), Cienfuegos
writes : because the Pope introduced the custom of holding
CREATION OF I727. 187
fear did not materialize, any more than that felt by not a few
that Bichi might be promoted without the concurrence ot
the Cardinals.^ In September it was rumoured that the
Pope was about to proclaim both the Cardinals reserved
in petto and those proposed by the Great Powers. ^ This
anticipation also proved premature. The death of Cardinal
Fabroni on September 19th caused a fourth vacancy in the
Sacred College.^
The Pope had promised the ambassador of Venice to take
into consideration the Venetian candidate at the creation of
the crown Cardinals. As on the one hand Cienfuegos became
ever more insistent, and the Infante of Portugal had withdrawn
his candidature, whilst on the other hand there were only
four vacant places in the Sacred College, Benedict resolved,
in order not to try the ambassadors' patience any longer,
to begin by proclaiming the Venetian Quirini, one of the
seven reserved in petto, with a view to satisfying the other
Powers with the four remaining seats.* Accordingly, on
November 26th, 1727, the following nominations took place :
Sigismund Kollonitsch, Archbishop of Vienna, on whose
behalf Cienfuegos had exerted himself since the beginning
of the year ^ ; Diego of Astorga, Archbishop of Toledo, for
Spain ; John de Motta y Silva, a brother to the Portuguese
Consistories at an early hour in the morning and of beginning
them with only two or three Cardinals present, it was feared that he
intended to proclaim Bichi in the presence of but a few Cardinals.
For this reason the Cardinals handed in a new memorandum on
Monday, through the Dean, in which they declared that they had
heard with regret certain complaints against the Cardinals, to
the effect that they showed but little consideration for the Pope
and that so few of them appeared at the consistories ; however,
they were not to blame, as the Pope began much earlier than was
customary, hence they asked for an alteration.
^ According to Cienfuegos (*report of July 7, 1727, ibid.),
this had been considered.
- *Report of the same, September 27, 1727, it Jii. ' .
* *Reports of the same, September 27 and October 20, 1727,
ibid.
* *Report of the same, November 26, 1727, ibid. * Ibid.
l88 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
ambassador in Rome, for Portugal, ^ and Philip Louis von
Sinzendorf, the son of the Imperial Chancellor of Austria,
for Poland ^ : Quirini's elevation was published at the same
time. Cardinal Ottoboni had sought, at the last moment,
though in vain, to get the creation postponed, as he was
anxious to procure the purple for his nephew, Minotti Ottoboni,
who was also the Venetian candidate. He was very much
annoyed when, out of consideration for Cienfuegos, the
nomination took place in spite of him.^
Of those reserved in petto on December 9th, 1726, Fini's
nomination was made public on January 26th, 1728,* and
that of Ansidei, Lambertini, Selleri, Banchieri and Colli-
cola on April 30th, 1728. ^ On the latter date two members
of religious Orders were likewise admitted into the Sacred
College, namely the Dominican Vincent Louis Gotti and
the Benedictine Leander Porzia, Abbot of St. Paul outside
the Walls since 1722. Gotti was born at Bologna in 1664.
Under Clement XL he had taught for eleven years at the
University of Bologna, and for a time (in 1715), had acted
as Inquisitor-General at Milan. He had also written a book
on the true Church of Christ to confute the Swiss Calvinist
Giacomo Picenino. He was an old friend of Benedict XIII.
Gotti's theological erudition, on which the Pope rightly set
a very high value, is attested by the sixteen volumes, remark-
able both for matter and form, in which he expounds dogmatic
theology in the spirit of St. Thomas, and by his Apologia
of the Christian religion.^
^ ScHAFER, Portugal, v., 184, 198.
^ From 1726 onwards the " nomina di Polonia " constitutes
the principal theme of Cardinal Cienfuegos' *letters (Reuss
Archives, Ernstbrunn). The Pope declined for a long time the
nomination of a German proposed bj' Poland. Biographies of the
new Cardinals in Guarnacci, IL, 478 scqq. ; Cardella, VIII.,
229 seqq. ' Cienfuegos' *report of November 29, 1727, loc. cit.
* *Acta consist., Papal Secret Archives * Ibid.
* Guarnacci, II., 530 seqq. ; Cardella, 232 seq. ; Quetif,
II., 814 ; RiccHiNi, Vita card. Gotti, Romae, 1742 ; Hurter,
IV., 1353-1357 ; Freiburger Kirchenlexikon, V.^, 939 ; Coulon,
in Diet, de theol. cath., VI., 1503 seq.
PORTUGUESE REACTIONS. 189
On September 20th, 1728, two more Cardinals were named,
viz. the NeapoHtan Pierluigi Carafa, a kinsman of
Innocent XII., who had been nuncio in Florence from 1713
to 1717, Secretary of Propaganda in 1717, and Secretary of
the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars in 1724 ; and
Giuseppe Accoramboni, Siihdatarius under Innocent XIII.,
and Uditore Santissimo under Benedict XIII. ^
In the; summer of 1728, the Portuguese Government decided
to carry out the retaliatory measures which it had so long
threatened on account of Bichi having been passed over.
In the first days of December the Portuguese subjects in
Rome, both ecclesiastical and lay, left the city, whilst at
the same time the nunciature was closed at Lisbon and a
decree issued forbidding Portuguese subjects to apply to
Rome for any benefice. ^ A year later, with a view to paving
the way for a compromise, the Pope invoked the mediation
of Spain,^ but Lisbon declined to enter into negotiations.*
On March 23rd, 1729, Camillo Cibo, a member of the princely
house of Massa-Carrara, who had been Benedict XIII. 's
Maggiordonio since 1725, was received into the Sacred
College.^
Francesco Borghese, Fini's successor as Maestro di Camera
and later on Benedict XIII. 's Maggiordomo, was given the
red hat on July 6th, 1729, at the same time as the Dominican
^ GuARNACCi, II., 537 scqq. ; Cardella, VIII., 236 seqq. ;
Karttunen, 238.
2 MuRATORi, XII., 123 ; *Reports from Rome of November 26,
December 3 and 24, 1728, Archives of the Austrian Embassy
at the Vatican.
3 *Brief to Philip V., December 3, 1729, Papal Secret Arch.
* *Report from Rome of December 30, 1729, Archives of the
Austrian Embassy at the Vatican.
5 GuARXACci, II., 547 seqq. ; Cardella, 239 seqq. ; the above
quoted [p. 132, n. i] : " *Vita del card. C. Cibo da lui stesso des-
critta " in Fondo Gesuit., 94-104, Bibl. Vittorio Emanuele,
Rome. Ihid., 86, on his earlier activities. Part of the papers left
by Cibo has been preserved in the Archives of the Congregation of
Religious ; in 1924 they were transferred to the Papal Secret
Archives.
igO HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Carlo Vincenzo Maria Ferreri. In his allocution in the con-
sistory the Pope said that it was his wish to close the octave
of St. Peter with the bestowal of the purple on a Dominican
in place of the recently deceased Selleri.^ On February 8th,
1730, Benedict XIII. proceeded to his last cardinalitial creation
when he summoned into the supreme senate of the Church
Alemano Salviati, a scion of the ancient Florentine family
of the Marchesi of Montieri-Bocchigiani, a prelate distinguished
by his virtues and his liberality. ^
(3.)
In the mission field Benedict XIII. had occasion to extend
his solicitude to the Christian East. He confirmed the decrees
of the provincial synod of Zamosc of 1720,^ and following the
example of his predecessors, he. guaranteed their possessions
to the Ruthenians who became reunited to Rome.^ The Bishops
and Archbishops of the Ruthenians were usually taken from
the Basilian Order, with the result that not a few of the
monks sought outside recommendation for these high posts.
Benedict XIII. countered this abuse by decreeing that
solicitation of offices without leave of the Archimandrite
rendered the persons concerned ipso facto incapable of the
desired dignity. ^ In the district around Damascus a movement
towards the Catholic Church had made itself felt since the
beginning of the eighteenth century.^ In 1724 a former pupil
of Propaganda, Seraphin Tanas, having been elected Patriarch
of the Melchites, took the name of Cyril VI. and dispatched
to Rome another student of Propaganda, John Amenio, for
^ Cf. *Acta consist., loc. cit. Cf. Guarnacci, II., 549 (where
instead of " June " read " July ") ; Cardella, VIII., 241 seqq
2 Guarnacci, II.. 559 seqq. ; Cardella, VIII., 242 seqq. ;
Marchesi Buonaccorsi, 499 seq.
* On July 19, 1724, lus pontif., II., 365.
* August 12, 1724, ibid., 366. Cf. above, p. 67.
5 December 16, 1728, lus pontif., II., 411.
* Vol. XXXIII.. 375.
THE MISSION FIELD. I9I
the purpose of getting his election confirmed.^ The Capuchin,
Dorotheus of the Blessed Trinity, was commissioned to do
this, 2 but only after receiving Cyril's profession of faith and
a promise not to introduce any changes in the Greek Liturgy.
The privileges of the Holy Land, which were enumerated in
detail in the document, were also confirmed by a papal decree.^
The Franciscans' missionary zeal is proved by the fact
that they sought and obtained permission ^ to found a College
in each of their Provinces of the East and West Indies for
the formation of future missionaries. One of the main theatres
of the activity of the Franciscans and the Jesuits was Mexico.
A report to the Viceroy, dated June 20th, 1725, speaks in
terms of high praise of the Jesuits' work in Ostimuri, Sonora
and Cinaloa ; the Indians, we read, earn their livelihood by
agriculture ; they are decently dressed, and in many places
they were able to enhance the religious ceremonies by a
musical accompaniment. ^ In 1690 there were ninety Jesuit
missionaries in Mexico ; about the middle of the next century
they numbered 120.^ The Jesuit Ugarte [ob. 1730] introduced
agriculture into California with a view to making the mission
independent of outside aid, but the poverty of the soil and
the lack of water prevented him from realizing his plans
everj'where. In spite of formidable obstacles in the shape
of polygamy, magic, immorality and endless wars and
epidemics, a number of missions were successfully founded
in California.'^ In 172G only 1,000 Christian Indians were
left in the mission of Florida.^ In the North, the Jesuits of
^ Cf. the Consistory of February 3, 1744, in Magnmn Bull-
arium, XVI., 179.
* On August 13, 1729, lus pontif., II., 414. Cf.
Lemmens, 28.
^ March 3, 1727, Ins pontif., II., 396 ; cf. 368.
* On April 3, 1727, ibid., 401.
^ AsTRAiN, VII., 305 seg. For the Franciscans, c/. XXXIII., 391.
« ASTRAIN, VII., 245.
' Ibid., 274 seq. ; Z. Engeliiardt in The Catholic Encyclop.,
III., 178 ; Id., Missions and Missionaries in California, I., 130 ;
ScHMiDLiN, Missionsgesch., 411. * Schmidlin, 412.
192 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Canada went among the wild Indian tribes, such as the Sioux,
as far as the western shore of Lake Superior, whilst Aulneau
penetrated even further West.^ In the rising of 1729 the Jesuit
Poisson was murdered by the Natches, and his brother in
rehgion Souel by the Yasus,^ whilst Rasle was put to death
in 1724 at Nanrantsuak by some English who had recently
occupied Nova Scotia.^
In South America a visitation report of 1730 mentions
twenty-two settlements in the Jesuit mission on the Maranon,
with 5,194 Christian Indians.^ At the close of 1727 the General,
Tamburini, expressed his satisfaction to the Provincial of
New Granada with the progress in the mission of the Llanos.^
In Paraguay, in 1715, there were 116,488 souls in twenty-two
Reductions and 133,117 in 1730.^ Generally speaking the
Indian missions were making constant progress ; thus the
Franciscans worked successfully in Peru from their centre
at Okopa, the Capuchins in the Llanos from their base at
Caracas, the Jesuits among the Chiriguans and the Dominicans
on Haiti in the Small Antilles.'
Benedict XIII. also intervened indirectly in the American
missions when in 1726 he appointed Bishop Nicolas of Herrea
Vicar Apostolic and Commissary for the district of the Orinoco,
including the Antilles.^ As we learn from Gumilla, a certain
Canon Nicolas Labrid of Lyons and three other priests had
approached Benedict XIII. with the request that he would
send them as missionaries whithersoever he pleased, where-
upon the Pope made them Bishops for four continents, the
territory of the Orinoco being assigned to Labrid. After
^ RocHEMONTEix, 1., 182 seq.
2 Ibid., 353 seqq.
^ Cath. Encyclop., X., 386 ; Goyau in Rev. d'hist. des missions,
I., 121.
* AsTRAiN, VII., 415.
* Ibid., 461.
* Ibid., 565.
' ScHMiDLiN, Missionsgesch., 401, 404, 406 ; Id. in Zeitschr.
fiir Missionswiss., 1929, 15 seq.
* lus pontif., II., 390 seq.
JESUIT MISSIONS IN INDIA. I93
waiting for a long time in Cayenne for his Bull and Spain's
assent, he went among the Caraibs on the Aquire where he
was murdered by the savage natives. Years after that event
the name of the Pope was still pointed out on the fragments
of the broken altar which Benedict XIII. had himself con-
secrated for the use of Labrid.^
In India the Church of the Uniat Christians of St. Thomas
maintained itself under the guidance of the Carmelite John
Baptist of St. Teresa ; in 1725 a colleague of his started new
missions at Mahe and Ramatali.^ Among the old Orders the
Franciscans of the Province of St. Thomas, in 1724, had three
convents, five colleges, two seminaries, forty-eight parishes,
fifteen missions and one hundred and sixty religious ^ ; in
their oldest convent, that of Schaul, the Dominicans numbered
scarcely more than twelve to fifteen friars ^ ; outstanding
figures among the Carmelites were Innocent (Kollonitsch)
of St. Leopold, a brother of the Archbishop of Gran, and
Peter of the Holy Trinity, both Vicars Apostolic in Malabar
and Bombay.^ In 1738 the Capuchins maintained two hospices
in Bengal and three in Nepal where in consequence of too
scanty results. Propaganda saw itself compelled to reduce
their numbers.® The Jesuits continued to be the most zealous
and the most successful labourers on India's soil. A number
of Jesuit missions bore evidence of intense vitality, as, for
instance, and apart from Goa, the stations in Malabar, where
Fr. Hanxleden, a native of Osterkappeln near Osnabriick,
distinguished himself as a Sanscrit scholar "^ ; in Madura
where ten Fathers were at work in seven residences ^ [their
^ JosE GuMiLLA, El Orinoco ilustrado, Madrid, 1745 ;
ScHMiDLiN, Missionsgesch., 406.
* MiJLLBAUER, 314.
* Ibid., 329.
* Ibid., 354.
5 Ibid.. 348.
* Ibid., 361.
' Ibid., 289 ; HuoNDER, J esuitenmissiondre , 174 seqq. ;
SoMMERVOGEL, BibUotheque, IV., 80 seq.
* MiJLLBAUER, 239 seq.
VOL. XXXIV. O
194 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Superior, Father Vieira, baptized 818 persons at Marara ^] ;
at Carnate 8,000-9,000 Christians were looked after by five
missionaries ; in 1727 and 1730 new churches were erected
there at the sovereign's expense.
Frenchmen from the Seminary of Foreign Missions,
Portuguese Jesuits, Spanish Franciscans and Itahan Barna-
bites — all of them in one vicariate — were at work in Cochin-
China. The Paris Seminary accordingly proposed a partition
of the missionary territory. In 1727 Benedict XIII. sent out,
as Apostolic Visitor, Bishop des Achards de la Baume,
of Avignon, who took a large number of their missionary
stations from the Spanish Franciscans, though these Fathers
had been sent for by the Vicar Apostohc Perez who had
confirmed them in all their missions before his death. The
Franciscans lodged an appeal with the Pope but the question
was only decided under Benedict XIV.^ In 1729 a persecution
broke out in Siam on account of the Christian books ; the
Vicar Apostolic Tessier of Querelay was summoned to surrender
them and when he refused a decree prohibiting Christianity
carved in stone was set up in front of the Church.^ The
priests of the Paris Seminary stayed at their posts throughout
the period of persecution, viz. in Tongking, under Neez, who
died in 1739 after an exemplary government of the mission
over a period of sixteen years ; in Cochin-China under Labbe,
up to 1723 and after that date under the Itahan Barnabite
Bishop De Alexandris.* In November 1724, the Bavarian
Franciscan Valerius Rist and the Italian Seraphin of Borgia
opened a mission in the Empire of Cambodia, the sovereign
having given them leave to spread Christianity. ^
Under Benedict XIII. the Chinese mission continued as
a source of painful anxiety for the Roman See. Most of the
1 Ibid., 246.
2 Lemmens, 114. Acts of the visitation in Launav, Hist, de
la mission de Cochinchinc , II., 45 seqq.
' Launay, 517 seq.
■• Ibid., 509 seqq.
■' Lemmens, 112; E. Schlund, Nach Cochinchina. Die
Missionsreise des P. Valerius Rist, Trier, 191 1.
MISSIONS IN CHINA. I95
missionaries had been expelled ; they only maintained
themselves in Kiangnan and Tshekiang, on the plea of age
and sickness, whilst they were allowed to remain in Peking
solely because the Emperor had need of them. Christian
worship continued, but without musical accompaniment.
For the benefit of the women Mass had to be said in private
houses, whilst in the provinces catechists acted as substitutes
for the priests.^ A few decades later it was reported that the
missionaries were returning in secret and resuming their
activities as much as possible. ^
Benedict XIII. did not remain an indifferent witness to the
ruin of the mission. Soon after his accession he sent the two
Carmelites, Gothardt Rinaldi and Ildefonsus Wolfgang, to
Peking ^ with two Briefs for the Emperor Yong-Tshing ;
the first was one of congratulations on the Emperor's accession;
in the second, dated October Gth, 1724,* the Pope -expressed
his satisfaction at the liberation of Pedrini and prayed for
a similar favour for Appiani and Guigues. Yong-Tshing
received the papal embassy in solemn audience and accepted
the two Briefs on the following day. His reply was to the
effect that if Appiani and Guigues had not been set at liberty,
in spite of the amnesty, the fact was due to forgetfulness on
the part of the Mandarins.^ The two Carmelites were scarcely
given a chance to utter a word.
Meanwhile Propaganda's decree of September 13th, 1723,
against the Jesuits, with its formidable accusations and
corresponding penalties which, if executed, would have
amounted to the suppression of the Order, was still in force. ^
In January, 1724, the Jesuit General Tamburini presented to
the Pope the apology which he had laid before his predecessor.
^ Car. Slavicek, *Relatio de missione Sinica of Nov. 20,
1725, State Archives, Munich, lesuit. ingen. fasc. 16, n. 277.
* *Report to the Bishop of Noyon, September 12, 1759,
Lcttres edif., IV , Paris, 1843, 89.
' Slavicek, loc. cit. ; De Mailla, XL, 430.
* Translation in Thomas, 326.
* On the replies, cf. Anecdotes, V., 91, 93 ; De Mailla, XL,
430, note. 8 Cf. above, p. 84.
196 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
However, it soon became necessary to supplement that
document, for on October 12th, 1724, Tamburini received
from the papal Secretary of State a fresh letter with further
charges. A report had come from China that though Kanghi's
successor had granted complete liberty to preach the Gospel,
the Jesuits nevertheless refrained from administering the
Sacraments, and that at Macao they were very remiss in the
cure of souls and the evangelization of the pagans. It goes
without saying that the Jesuits did not remain silent in the
face of these accusations. In January, 1725, Tamburini
submitted a fresh apology ^ in an appendix to which he gave
extracts from letters of his missionaries with statistics of the
Sacraments administered and various details of their zealous
work for souls at Macao." Thus the charges against the
Jesuit missionaries under these two heads were shown to be
no less inaccurate than the statement that the new Emperor
favoured Christianity. Consequently Tamburini took the
hberty of drawing the attention of the Congregation to the
fact that one could not rely on the account of a situation by
one side only ; it was necessary to hear the other side also.
It had long been only too evident that the aim of many
informers was to render the Jesuits hateful in Rome and
throughout Europe. Many missionaries of Propaganda,
when setting out for the mission field, had received instructions
not to side with the Jesuit party, and not to subscribe to
anything that might be written in their defence. Whenever
one of these missionaries wrote in favour of the Jesuits he was
severely rebuked ; it was even said that in the preceding
year four of their number had been recalled to Europe for
that reason. From Peking false reports spread to the provinces ;
if an identical report came from Peking and the provinces,
the agreement between the two accounts led Rome to conclude
that it must be true.
1 " *Informazione in risposta sopra i nuovi ordini spettanti
alia Cina intiniati al P. Generale della Compagnia di Gesu sotto
li 12 ottobre 1724," Property of the Jesuits (as also all the un-
published documents quoted in the sequel).
2 See Appendix No. 8.
VINDICATION OF THE JESUITS IN CHINA. I97
These two apologies were not without effect. On
February 27th, 1725, Benedict XIII. quashed the worst of
the penalties by word of mouth. ^ The Jesuits were once
more allowed to receive novices and the General was
empowered to propose ten of his subjects for the mission in
China. An inquiry by Propaganda would make it clear
whether the remaining dispositions of the decree should not
be abolished likewise. For the rest the apology of 1725 had
drawn attention to the fact that, as a result of Kanghi's
death and Pedrini's liberation, many of these dispositions
had become meaningless.
The Congregation was in no hurry with its investigation,
a circumstance that enabled the Jesuits to submit fresh
evidence in their own defence in September, 1725.^ The
main charges against them were that they had not obeyed
Clement XI's. prohibition of the rites and that they had
shown their insubordination to the papal command by
completely abstaining from all pastoral work in China.
Now with regard to the Jesuits of Canton, the missionary and
notary apostolic Domenico testified on December 8th, 1724,
and on December 2nd, the Provincial Commissary of the
Franciscan mission, Miguel Roca, that as soon as they received
the text of the Clementine Constitution Ex ilia die, they
immediately took the prescribed oath and resumed their
pastoral ministry.^ " I never heard it said that they were
wanting in submission to the papal decree," Roca adds.
The same testimonial was given on July 15th, 1722, by the
1 Text in Anecdotes, V., 286.
* *" Summarium continens testimonia iurata pro vindicandis
missionariis S. J. in Sinis a pluribus criminationibus contra illos
delatis ad S. Sedem annis praeteritis."
' *" Administraron," Roca writes, " siempre los sacramentos a
los neofitos : estando en esta ciudad algunos anos, per la falta
de ministros que havia, acudian a administrar las christianidades
de esta mision serafica ; y en las damds misiones en que se hallaron
siempre me consta, que administraron, sin que aya oido fama
ni rumor en contrario, ni tam poco de que faltassen a la puntual
observancia de los preceptos de la dicha constitucion."
198 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Franciscan Observant Emmanuel a Plagis, Vicar-General of
the Bishop of Nangking, Emmanuel of Jesus and Mary, to a
Jesuit in Tshekiang, and to another on November 22nd, 1724,
by the above-named Roca.^
To these declarations by outsiders must be added the
assurances of the Jesuits themselves. With reference to
the decree of Propaganda of September 13th, 1723, the Vice-
Provincial of China, Charles von Rezende, attests on October
30th, 1724, that both he and his subordinates submitted
fully and punctually to the Apostolic decrees on the rites,
more especially to the Constitution Ex ilia die ; that they
administered the Sacraments and devoted themselves to the
pastoral ministry in accordance with the oath taken and
hitherto kept by them. At the same time he protests in his
own name and in that of his subjects, that they had done
nothing to encourage the Emperor in his opposition to the
papal prohibition of the rites. In like manner it was sheer
calumny to say that they had had anything to do with the
arrest and imprisonment of Pedrini, Appiani and Guigues.
Fresh inquiries and sworn evidence had shown that none of
his subordinates were involved in the two last named crimes,
" which one could not mention without shuddering." With
regard to the other commands of Innocent XIII., the Vice-
Provincial promises obedience but observes that in view of
altered circumstances, they have become partly objectless,
or hardly capable of execution on account of the persecution
and the dispersion of the missionaries. ^
1 *Summarium, § 1-5.
2 *. . . testor et profiteer me ct mcos subditos intcgrc ct
exacte parere apostolicis decretis ad ritus Sinenses spectantibus,
sacramenta administrando et missionum munia (ut tempus
praesentis persecutionis fert) obeundo, praecipue vero sincera
submissione ea omnia adamussim exequi, quae continentur in
praccepto dementis XI. p. m., iuxta tenorem iuramcnti, quod
et praestitimus et per Dei gratiam hactenus servavimus. Similiter
protestor pro me et meis subditis, nos nunquam egisse apud
imperatorem aut eius ministros, ut persisteret in proposito non
admittendi decreta S. Sedis circa ritus Sinenses. . . . Praeterea
VINDICATION OF THE JESUITS IN CHINA I99
These statements of the Vice-Provincial were personally
confirmed by the six Jesuits of the Chinese Vice-Province on
October 22nd, 1724/ and on 30th October they were joined
by the five French Jesuits of Peking.^ The blame for the
Emperor's prompt withdrawal of his alleged permission of
the omission of the rites by the Christians, was laid on the
Jesuits Bouvet and Suarez who, after the others had been
dismissed, were detained by Kanghi at the conclusion of the
audience of January 14th, 1721. To destroy " a suspicion so
horrible, rash and most false ", the two above-named
missionaries swore on November 2nd, 1724, on their word of
honour as priests and before God, that there was no truth
whatever in the whole accusation. The Emperor had never
said that he was prepared to tolerate the omission of the rites,
in fact he was not even in a position to grant such toleration.^
Whereas the documents quoted up till now are content
with a mere statement of facts, a letter of the six Jesuits of
the Chinese Vice-Province to their General expresses their
pain at these terrible accusations.* After refuting all the
charges as unfounded, they draw attention to the fact that
it was not very likely that men who could furnish testimony
to the blamelessness of their conduct whilst they were still in
Europe, from those who knew them, would suddenly fall into
enormous crimes in China.
tester nee me nee meos subditos ullam habuisse partem in com-
prehensione et detentione tarn D. Pedrini quam DD. Ludovici
Antonii Appiani et Antonii Guigues. . . . De duobus his postremis
facinoribus, soil, molitione, ut imperator Sinarum persisteret in
proposito non admittendi decreta S. Sedis circa ritus Sinenses,
et instigatione, ut comprehenderentur illi tres missionarii, mode
per me facta Pekini interrogatione, ubi ea machinatio solum
strui poterat, interposito plurium nostrorum iuramento ad me
refertur, nullum e nostris in calumniose nobis imputata ea crimina,
quae sine horrore dici non possunt, lapsum fuisse. . . . Sum-
marium, § 7.
1 Ibid., § 8. 2 7^;-^^ I g
' Ibid., § 6. Cf. Appendix, n. 9.
* *Summarium, § 88. Cf. Appendix, n. 8.
200 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
" But if our protests and attestations are not received, or
if they are powerless against the arguments, or rather the
sophisms of our accusers, and if the charges against us continue
to be regarded as incontestable, there remains nothing for
us but to throw ourselves, as guilty children, at the feet of
His Holiness and the feet of our General and to humble
ourselves under the fatherly hand that chastises us. Though
we feel innocent of the crimes of which we are accused, we
do not deny that we have all offended in many things ; far be
from us the blasphemy of saying that we are without sin,
thus making a liar of Him who is just and true and who
cleanses us from all guilt. But even though the Pope be
resolved to punish his guilty sons, we cease not to pray that
he would at least spare the innocent mother (viz. the whole
Order) who has no share in the guilt of her children. The
supreme Judge of all judges has laid it down that the father —
and the mother also — should not bear the guilt of the son.
For the sake of ten just He was willing to spare five cities ;
is it possible that the most lowly Society of Jesus should be
deemed worse than Sodom and Gomorrah, and that the whole
body should suffer for the guilt of a few, seeing that it is
adorned by so many holy men and by numberless just ones."
In spite of all representations the accused were imable to
obtain an acquittal in the cardinalitial Congregation of
September 14th, 1725. The Jesuits accordingly made a
fresh assault. Up to this time they had only been able to
adduce in their discharge the testimonies of members of the
Society, or of other Congregations, but now, with a new
collection of documents,^ they threw into the scales the
sentence pronounced by Juan de Cazal, Bishop of Macao, on
^ " *Ristretto de' nuovi documenti, che li missionarii della
Compagnia di Gesu dimoranti nella Cina, nel Tunkino e nella
Cocincina, esibiscono alia S. Congregazione di Propaganda Fide,
in prova della lore obedienza al precetto Apostolico della Con-
stituzione ' Ex ilia die ', ed agli altri ordini intimati al P. Generale
della medesima Compagnia in nome dTnnocenzo XIII. di glor.
mem. da Msgr. segretario della stessa Congr. alii 13 di Settembre
Tanno 1723."
FURTHER VINDICATION. 201
the basis of a judicial inquiry conducted by Emmanuel of
Jesus and Mary, Bishop of Nangking. The latter attests
submission to the Clementine Bull and the continuation of
the administration of the Sacraments for thirteen Jesuits on
December 1st, 1724, and on the 11th for another five, all of
them being mentioned by name ; for a short time only, some
of the five had refrained from administering the Sacraments,
from scruples of conscience.^ Two of the above-mentioned
thirteen and six others were similarly defended by Bishop
Laghi of Lorima, Vicar Apostolic of Shansi, by the Bishop of
Nangking once more, by his Vicar-General and by four
Franciscans, in duly authenticated depositions. ^ Testimonies
from outsiders were not obtainable everywhere, as for instance,
in places where there were no other missionaries except
Jesuits. Accordingly ten of the latter swore on their word of
honour as priests ^ that some of their number had administered
the Sacraments immediately after swearing to the Clementine
Constitution, and that all did so long before Innocent XIIFs.
decree was communicated to them.'* This statement amounts
to an admission that some of the above-mentioned ten had
not done so immediately after taking the oath to the Constitu-
tion, but in this matter those chiefly inculpated were not
these ten, but the Jesuits of Peking. Thereupon the six
Jesuits of Peking attested under a joint oath signed by them
on October 22nd, 1724, ^ that they obeyed, as punctually
as possible, all papal decrees, especially the ordinance Ex ilia
die, and that they had always obeyed them. From motives
stated by Laureati, the Visitor at the time, motives which
Mezzabarba had approved at least in practice, they had
refrained for a time, as they explained in a letter to Tamburini,
dated October 2Sth, 1724, from administering the Sacraments
publicly, though they had never ceased to do so privately,
to such as were prepared to submit to the papal decrees.
In view of the Emperor's commands and threats they could
^ Ibid., n. I and 4.
2 Ibid., n. 2-3, 5-10.
' "In verbo sacerdotis."
*■ Ibid., n. II. 5 Ibid., n. 13.
202 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
not do so publicly without the obvious risk of the whole
mission being destroyed at a single stroke. That the
Sacraments were secretly administered is proved by the fact
that after Mezzabarba's departure a family of the imperial
blood, numbering seventy persons, became Christian almost in
its entirety, the only exception being its head.^ They further
protest that they made no attempt to dissuade Kanghi from
tolerating the prohibition of the rites nor were they aware
that " anyone was guilty of so enormous a crime ". The
five French Jesuits of Peking issued a similar declaration, ^ as
did Placid Hervieu, the Superior of the whole French Mission
in China. 3 As Joseph Suarez and Mourao, more especiallv
the latter, were particularly charged with having strengthened
the Emperor in his resistance to the papal decree, and with
having been the cause of the imprisonment of the three
missionaries, documents were furnished in justification of
Mourao in particular.* That Pedrini's imprisonment had been
^ On this converted family, many members of which saved
themselves from the Emperor's wrath by renouncing Christianity,
cf. Parennin, Aug. 20, 1724, in Lettres edif., IV., 366-393.
* *Ristretto, n. 14.
^ In a letter of November 21, 1724, to Tamburini " attesta
in primo luogo che tutti i suoi sudditi, che stavano divisi per le
provincie, o da che fu lore intimata la constituzione Ex ilia die,
o almeno piu anni prima di quel tempo in cui scriveva, avevano
amministrato i sagramenti ammettendoci que' christiani che
giudicavano essere debitamente disposti a riceverli, de' quali
pero aggiunge che esso con suo molto dolore, n'aveva trovati
pochi. 2. The Sacraments were invariably given to persons
dangerously sick. 3. Che fuori di questi casi, quei di loro che
nelle provincie fuori di Pckino s'astcnnero per alcun tempo dall'
amministrazionc de'sagramenti . . ., protestarono dinanzi a Die,
e di nuovo protestano, che cio non fecero per mancamento del
rispetto e della obbedienza dovuta alia Scde Apost., ma perche
sapevano esserci ima gran varieta d'opinioni tra li missionarii,
anco degli altri ordini, et tra gl' istessi Superiori ecclesiastici
intorno alia natura del precetto contenuto nella gia detta con-
stituzione e il sin dove si stendesse. , , ." Ibid., n. 16.
* Ibid., n. 17-18.
FURTHER VINDICATION. 203
occasioned by his having told a He about Kanghi ^ is also
confirmed b}^ Yong-Tshing's reply to Benedict . XIII. 's
second Brief. ^ The conclusion declares that the documents
submitted are a justification of 40 Jesuit missionaries in
China.
The Jesuit missionaries of Tongking were defended by
the Dominican Giuseppe Valerio, the Cleric Minor Giovanni
Andrea Masnata ^ and Simon Sofiietti, and those of Cochin-
China by the Vicar Apostolic and Bishop of Buggio, two
Franciscans, a missionary of Propaganda and an Annamite
cleric. The native Christians, the Bishop wrote, are of opinion
that the Jesuits upheld most strictly the Clementine prohibi-
tions and it was quite false to say that some of them had ceased
to administer the Sacraments. All and each of them worked
with exemplary and indefatigable zeal. But for them no
missionaries would be left in Cochin-China, especially in these
days of persecution.^ One of the Franciscans expressed the
opinion that it would be a good thing if the accusers of the
Jesuits would imitate their zeal.^
In September, 1726, the accused submitted all these
testimonials, together with the three earlier memorials to
the same effect, to the Cardinals ; at the same time they
presented a fresh memorial ^ in which the whole of the material
submitted is surveyed and its bearing appraised. With
regard to the testimonies without legal authentication, they
were so numerous and so weighty as at the very least to
counterbalance the statements to the contrary which were
also without judicial authentication. This being so the
Jesuits' guilt was not established and they must be acquitted.'
1 Cf. XXXIIL, 459.
* *Ristretto, n. 19.
^ Ibid., n. 20-2.
* Ibid., n. 23.
5 Ibid.
* " *Memoriale informative con la giustificazione, de' missionarii
della Comp. nella Cina presentata alia S. Congregazione nel
settembre del 1726."
' Ibid., n. 10.
204 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
It was difficult to see why the word of the accusers should
carry greater weight than that of the Jesuits and their friends ;
on the other hand ^ there were objections to the persons of
their detractors on account of which their evidence ought to
be rejected ^ ; this was true of Mezzabarba ^ and a number of
others, many of whom were avowed enemies of the Jesuits
whilst others were friends of the Jansenists.* To all this should
be added the duly authenticated evidence in discharge of the
accused. The charge of disobedience, the " enormous
calumny " that they were responsible for the failure of
Mezzabarba's legation to Kanghi and the accusation that
they were accomplices in Pedrini's imprisonment were thereby
disposed of.^ After such a justification there was no need for
the Jesuits to furnish yet another apology.
The question of the Malabar customs made a step forward
under Benedict XIII. The Congregation set up by Innocent
XIII. for the purpose of studying this delicate matter, was
confirmed by his successor. It approved the decree of the
Legate Toumon on the administration of the Sacraments to
the pariahs. Thus Benedict XIII. went farther than Clement
XI. who had declined to decide this matter.^
1 Ibid., n. II-I2.
^ Ibid., n. 13.
' Ibid., n. 14-16.
■• Ibid., n, 17-20.
^ Ibid., n. 26 seqq.
« £. Ammann in Diet, de theol. cath., IX., 1728.
CHAPTER IV.
Jansenism in France and the Netherlands — Death
OF Benedict XIII.
(1.)
Benedict XIII. had no sooner ascended the throne of St. Peter
than a rumour spread in France that, as a Cardinal, the new
Pope had been an opponent of the Bull Unigenihts and that
he had pleaded on his knees with Clement XL not to pubhsh
it.^ More than one circumstance seemed to give substance
to the rumour. The customary Jubilee Bull published at
Benedict's accession ^ contained not a single phrase excluding
the Appellants from the graces of the Holy Year ; on the
contrary, some of its expressions appeared to favour the
Jansenist teaching about irresistible grace. ^ The Dominican
Church historian Noel Alexandre, though an Appellant, was
informed that he might resume his correspondence with
Benedict, whereupon Alexandre expressed the hope * that
the Pope who, as a Dominican, had been reared on the pure
1 Fleury, LXXI., 719 seq. He is still suspected of Jansenism
in M. Martin, Hist, de France, XV., 142.
* June 10, 1724, Bull., XXH., 50.
3 [Cadry], IV., 78. Cf. Letter of the Jansenist Bishops Soanen
and Colbert to Benedict XIIL, February i, 1725 (in [Nivelle],
IL, I, 285), who exult over the expression of the Jubilee Bull
" divinae voluntati resistere neminem ". Cf. [Cadry], IV., 231.
■» On August 13, 1724, [Cadry], IV., 8 seq. Before his death,
on August 24, 1724, Alexandre probably retracted his appeal.
Cf. CouLON, O. P., in Rev. des sciences phil. et thdol., VI. (1912),
49 seqq., 279 seqq., who, however, does not take into considera-
tion the letter of August 13, 1724, and merely glides over that
of Prior Jainville of January 8, 1725 ([Nivelle], L, 268 ;
[Cadry], IV., 191). Cf. XXXIIL, 279.
205
206 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
teaching of St. Augustine and St. Thomas, would restore
peace to the Church. A pamphlet, in the form of a letter to
the Pope, actually demanded that he .should withdraw the
Bull against Quesnel.i The Bishops of Auxerre, Bayeux and
Rodez, whose Jansenistic opinions had been condemned by the
Inquisition on July 14th, 1723, addressed to the Pope a
lengthy apologia in which they sharply criticized the ignorance
and presumption of that tribunal which had presumed to
summon the supreme shepherds and teachers in the Church
before its bar.^
However, if there ever were those who doubted Benedict
XIII., they were destined to be promptly undeceived. If the
presumptuous letter of the three Bishops was not condemned,
it was probably due to the fact that it had not been printed.
The rumour about Cardinal Orsini's opposition to the Bull
Unigenitus was laid when a Franciscan Provincial of Avignon
appealed to Cardinal Corsini and when the Pope himself
described the report as untrue. =^ The deficiency in the Bull
of 10th June was made good by a supplementary declaration
of 14th July,* which became known in Paris during Advent.
It was to the effect that the favours of the Jubilee did not
extend to those whom the Pope's predecessors had cut off from
the charity of the Christian community. The Appellant
Bishops ignored this declaration. ^ Further Indulgences
granted on 22nd July, were limited to persons in communion
with the Holy See.^ If Benedict XIII. had communicated
with Noel Alexandre, it was in the hope of winning over that
aged scholar.' The Pope spoke quite plainly when praising
the zeal of the Bishop of Gap for the Constitution against
Quesnel,^ as well as in a further Brief in which he commented
1 [Cadry], IV., 97.
- Ibid., 83-9.
' Fleury, LXXL, 719 seq.
* Bull, XXII., 68 seq.
^ [Cadry], IV., 174.
« Ibid., 5. Cf. Bull, XXII., 76.
' CouLON, loc. cit., 292.
* On November 19, 1724, in [Cadry], IV., 173.
APPEALS TO THE POPE. 207
on the advice given him by the Bishop of Blois at the beginning
of his pontificate. There were two parties, the Bishop had
explained,^ viz. the Jansenists and the Molinists. Up to that
time the Popes had only struck at the Jansenists, hence the
Molinists were triumphant. The Bishop accordingly prayed
Benedict XIII. to defend grace, as his predecessors had fought
for freedom, and by expounding the truth, to put an end to
the disputes. The Pope replied in courteous language ^
but at the same time he made it perfectly clear that there was
only one remedy for the French troubles, namely, simple
obedience, and that the Apostolic See could not be blamed if
peace had not been restored long ago. People were for ever
looking for help which they themselves owed to the suffering
Church.
These steps reveal clearly enough why Benedict XIII. 's
elevation gave rise both to fear and hope among the various
parties in France. As a Dominican the Pope had held the
doctrine of efficacious grace. Now one reason why Noailles
and the Appellants had rejected the Bull against Quesnel was
that it put unjustifiable limits to the freedom of theological
schools — in other words, it created difficulties for the advocates
of efficacious grace. ^ Since the publication of Pascal's last
Provincial Letter the Jansenists had, on the whole, taken the
standpoint that their teaching on grace was none other than
that of the Dominican school.* The Jesuits sought to deprive
them of this defence by pointing to the divergences of the
Dominican from the Jansenist teaching,^ but a few MoHnists
had also gone so far as to assert that the Bull Unigenitus was
irreconcilable with efficacious grace. ^ This opinion was
^ thid., 132-5. 2 Brief of January 12, 1725, ibid., 194.
' Cf. XXXIII. , 251. " Ibid.
'•' [Patouillet), I., 291-308, III., 183. Cardinal de Bissy
affirmed the divergences in his mandement of 1710 {ibid., I.,
301), the Jesuit Annat enumerates eighteen differences {ibid.,
302).
* In a censure of Douai, 1722, the Dominicans Massoulie and
Contenson were accused of Jansenism, an accusation which
called forth many apologias. [C.\dry], III., sect. 5, p. 76, 79.
208 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
shared by a number of Dominicans who sided with the
Appellants for that very reason ^ ; in their eyes, to receive
the Bull was the same thing as deserting the school of St,
TJhomas for that of the Molinists.^ It was, of course, exceedingly
painful for an Order which until then had always been a
bulwark of the Holy See, to find a spirit of insubordination
insinuating itself into its ranks. Antoninus Cloche, the
General, took action at once and declared the appeal null and
void, and when this measure led thirty-two Dominicans of
Saint-Jacques in Paris to appeal both from the Pope and from
all present and future ordinances of their General, he forbade
all such steps under pain of excommunication.^
It seems probable that the divisions within the Order and
the suspicions from without, could have been prevented if the
Pope himself had spoken one word with a view to settling the
dispute. Ever since July, 1714, the Dominican Graveson had
sought to influence Benedict XIII. in this sense. He prayed
^ The Appellants of the Monastery of Saint-Jacques, Paris,
give as one of the motives for their appeal of October lo, 1718,
the following : " cognita denique aemulorum doctrinae
Thomisticae pertinacia, quae eo perducta est, ut passim iactitent
turn voce turn scripto, a praefata constitutione ultimum vulnus
esse inflictum doctrinae Thomisticae de gratia Dei suapte natura
efficaci " ([Nivelle], I., 266). Sharper still are the Dominicans
of Angouleme, January 5, 1719 : " The Bull has been extorted
par les ennemis declares de I'ecole de saint Thomas " who want
to do away with a doctrine that is and remains " la lumiere
et le flambeau de I'figlise, voulant substituer en sa place et faire
regner des opinions dereglees, une morale relachee ", etc. {ibid.,
II., 2, 311).
2 " Pour le groupe des ' appellans ' de Saint- Jacques quiconque
recevait la buUe, etait considere comme deserteur de I'ecole
de saint Thomas et s'inscrivait par le fait meme parmi les
partisans de I'ecole rivale " (Coulon, loc. cit., 281).
3 Letters of Cloche, February 26, 171 7, and December 6, 171 8,'
in Coulon, loc. cit., 77 seq., 79 seq. Cf. Brucker in fitudes, L.
(1890), 31. Appeal of the " Grand Couvent " of April i, 1717,
in [Nivelle], I., 114. On Cloche {ob. 1720), cf. Rev. Thomiste,
XIX. (1911), 421 seqq.
THE BULL UNIGENITUS AND THOMISM 209
for a papal declaration to the effect that efficacious grace and
gratuitous predestination to eternal life had not been
condemned by the Bull Unigenihis, on the contrary, that this
was the teaching of the Church based on the unshakable
principles of St. Thomas and St. Augustine. The Pope did not
seem disinchned to grant the request. On October 24th, 1724,
he requested Graveson that a petition to this effect should be
addressed to him in the name of the whole Dominican Order.^
The new General, Augustine Pipia, accordingly sent in a
petition - in which he expressed three demands. The first
concerns the doctrine of efficacious grace and predestination
to eternal life, independently of any scientia media, or any
merits foreseen by such a knowledge. The Pope was asked to
declare that this was the ancient teaching and that it was
the one most in harmony with Holy Writ, the papal decrees
and the principles of St. Augustine and St. Thomas, and that
it was in no way condemned by the Bull Unigenitus. The
Pope was further requested to declare that no doctrine of
St. Thomas, either in dogmatic or moral theology, was affected
by the aforesaid Bull ; lastly «the Pontiff was invited to
proceed with canonical penalties against those who dared to
censure the doctrine of efficacious grace. The three petitions
were followed by a postscript referring to a Bull said to have
been drawn up by Paul V. at the conclusion of the celebrated
discussions on grace. ^ If the Pope deemed it expedient, with
a view to tearing out all new opinions by the roots, as well as
benefiting the Church, let him publish that Bull.
It is evident that the petition was not immediately aimed
at the Jansenists who made a show of favouring the Thomists,
whilst they opposed the Bull, but rather against the
protagonists of that document and the enemies of the Thomist
teaching, viz. the Molinists. This is evident from the nature
of the arguments made use of in the petition. In the very
first sentences, protection is asked for the opinions which the
^ Brucker, loc. cit., 34 seq.
* Published, ibid., 37-42 ; Astrain, VIL, 171-6.
s On the Bull, cf. the present work, XXV., 249, n. i.
VOL. XXXIV. p
210 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Dominicans were stated to have defended so brilliantly and so
powerfull}' in the Congregations De Auxiliis under Clement
VIII. and Paul V. The petition then goes on to assert that
since the days of Innocent I. the Popes had declared the
doctrine of efficacious grace to be in conformity with the
teaching of the Fathers of the Church, more especially with
that of St. Augustine and St. Thomas, but that at the present
time false rumours were being spread, especially in France,
by means of writings, theses, sermons, to the effect that
these two points of doctrine had been condemned by the Bull
Unigenitus. There follows a quotation from the Bull
Pastor alls in which Clement XI. rejects, in the severest
terms, the Jansenists' false claim that the Bull Unigenitus
had condemned Thomism. This papal declaration, the
petition states, had made no particular impression on the
opponents of the Thomist school because the twin doctrines
of efficacious grace and gratuitous predestination had not
been expressly mentioned. ^ In order to secure concord and
peace in the Catholic schools and to guarantee to the Order
of Preachers its teaching, «Benedict XIII. was accordingly
asked to supplement the omission of Clement XI.
There can be no doubt that Benedict XIII. personally
held the opinions of the Dominican school, but even a friend
of the Dominicans could not comply with everyone of these
requests. The Pope issued neither dogmatic decision nor Bull
addressed to the universal Church : all he did was to address
a Brief ^ to the Order of Preachers in which he exhorts its
members to scorn, in their magnanimity, the false accusations
against their teaching, more especially against the doctrine
of efficacious grace and predestination ante praevisa mcrita,
1 " Ex eo Clementis XI. silentio advcrsarii scholae nostrae
Thomisticae ansam etiamnum arripiunt huic doctrinae de gratia
. . . censurae notam inurendi eamque cum haeresi lanseniana,
quae lure optimo ab Ecclesia damnata est, perperam confun-
dendi, ut his atrocibus calumniis in scholam Thomisticam
coniectis omnium catholicorum odium ct invidiam ei conflare
possint." Brucker, loc. cit., 39-
2 " Demissas preces," November 6, 1724, Bull.. XXII., 109 seq.
BRIEF TO THE DOMINICAN ORDER. 211
viz. independently of any merits foreknown by God. The
Pope likewise refrained from declaring that the Dominican
opinion was better in keeping with the sources of the faith
and the principles of St. Augustine and St. Thomas ; all he
did was to observe that the Order had laudably taught these
opinions until then and that it gloried, with commendable
eagerness, in having deduced them from the writings of
St. Augustine and St. Thomas and the sources of revelation.
Alluding to those Dominicans who were also Appellants, the
Brief pointedly observes that the genuine disciples of St.
Thomas should be distinguished for their unimpeachable
loyalty and submission to the Holy See. This amounts to an
official statement that in spite of their constant appeal to
St. Thomas, the Appellants could not claim to be true followers
of the Angelic Doctor. The Brief designates the enemies of
the Apostolic See, that is the Jansenists, as the authors of the
calumnies against the Dominicans and sees in the accusations
against the preaching Friars a sequel to those proffered against
the Holy See.^ Just as these people twisted the Scriptures
and the papal definitions, so did they distort the teaching
of St. Thomas. If none of this could prove acceptable to the
Appellants, least of all could they relish the eulogy of the
Bull Umgeniius which the very first sentences described as
a most salutary and most wise pronouncement by Pope
Clement XI. The fact that there was no opposition between
the Bull and the Thomist teaching was thus confirmed by the
recognition of both.
The Brief did not meet with everybody's approval in Rome.
The Pope had not submitted the draft — it was probably from
the pen of Graveson — to the Cardinals of the Holy Office. ^
^ " Indeque audere nonnullos apostolicae aiictoritati ac
vestrae existimationi detrahere, quod . . . quodque alienae
prorsus calumniosaeque interpretationes ad conflandam memora-
tae constitutioni invidiam temere excogitatae [by the Jansenists ;
cf. Bull " Pastoralis ", 52, Bull, XXL, 810] ad iniuriam quoque
vestri nominis redundarint."
2 [Cadry], IV., 165.
212 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
On the whole it failed to make the desired impression on the
Appellant Dominicans, even though Benedict went so far as
to write an autograph letter to the community of Saint-Jacques
in Paris ^ ; nothing less than the complete withdrawal of the
Bull Unigemtus would have satisfied the Appellants of that
house. Nor did the Brief lead to the slightest change in the
dispute between the theological schools. In a publication by
a friend of the Jesuits, an attempt was made to show that the
Brief gave the Molinists no cause for anxiety and to the
Thomists no reason to exult, nor could the Ouesnellists appeal
to it ; the Brief left the Thomists free to advocate their
opinions, but the same was true of the other Catholic schools. ^
A few over-enthusiastic Dominicans did indeed enormously
exaggerate the bearing of the papal document. This was
particularly the case with the distinguished but passionate
Billuart who composed a whole series of polemical pamphlets
on this occasion.^ But more than all the rest the Ouesnellists
claimed that the Pope had declared that the Thom-ist doctrine
of grace was derived from St. Augustine and St. Thomas,
thus completing that which had been begun by the Congrega-
tions held under Clement VIII. and Paul V. In this way
the Jesuits had been unmasked as calumniators, innovators
and seducers of the people, whereas the gentlemen of Port-
Royal had been justified.^ On the whole the Brief confirmed
the Appellants in their opposition to the Bull. They regarded
the Brief as a kind of pa}^ment on account : if the Pope had
consented to make declarations on one point of the doctrine
of grace, there was reason to hope that he would do likewise
^ CouLON, loc. ciL, 306. They made a full submission in 1728
{ibid., 307).
2 [Cadry], IV., 169 seqq.
* Billuart, Siipplementum citrsus theologiae, Wiirzburg, 17O0,
Vita auciovis ad a. 1724. One of these polemical writings is
entitled : Le Thomisme triomphant par le bref " Demissas
preces ".
* [Cadry], IV., 171 seq. Cf. the letter of the Jansenist Bishops
Colbert and Soanen to Benedict XIII., February i. 1725, in
[Nivelle], if, I, 285.
ALARM IN SPAIN. 213
on other points, until nothing remained of the Bull.^ As for
the French Government, Fleury prevented the registration of
the new Constitution which the Dominicans had demanded.^
In Spain the Brief gave rise to a veritable theological
struggle, which it took all the Inquisition's authority to
repress.^ On the other hand Cardinal Bentivoglio, the Spanish
ambassador in Rome, who records the fact, is himself a striking
example of the strange notions which the papal Constitution
had called forth. When the Pope meditated yet another
similar step in 1727, Bentivogho communicated the matter
to Madrid in terms full of positive alarm. It would be
remembered, he wrote, that on March 26th, on the occasion
of the Pope's projected journey to Benevento, he had expressed
a suspicion that advantage might be taken of this journey
•of the Pontiff to pass some measure against the Bull Unigenitus
which would upset the Catholic religion throughout the
Christian world. That suspicion was now a reality for, on
His Holiness' return he had ascertained that a Bull was in
print which, on the plea of confirming the privileges of the
Dominicans, approved the Dominican teaching in terms that
amounted to a condemnation of the Bull Unigenitus and
robbed it of its efficacy. Suspicion was further increased by
the mystery in which the printing was wrapped. The
manuscript text- of the Bull was sent in, sheet by sheet, the
printing was done in the presence of the Dominican Amia,
^ Ibid., 172 ; CouLON, loc. cit., 306. On November 13, 1724,
NoAiLLES wrote to Rome : " L'amour que le S. Fere a pour
la verite, ne doit pas se renfermer dans I'ecole de saint Thomas.
II doit s'etendre sur toutes les verites auxquelles la buUe donne
atteinte " ([Cadry], IV., 132). Cf. his letters to the Pope of
November 17, 1724 {ibid., 178), and January 15, 1725 (ibid.,
209 ; cf. 212) ; Soanen, August 28, 1726 ([Nivelle], II., i,
93, n. XVI) : " Sa Saintete a deja accompli une partie de nos
vociix, et nous ne nous lassons pas d'attendre de sa part de
nouveaux secours."
* Hardy, 26.
* Cardinal Bentivoglio, memorial of June 6, 1727, in [Cadry],
IV., 832 seq.
214 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
who at once took possession of the printed sheets. The
excitement which these things called forth in the Sacred College
and the ferment throughout Rome could not be imagined.
The worst was to be feared ; the pubhcation of the Bull
might prove the signal of a general war of religion throughout
the Christian world and the schism which up till then had
been restricted to a few corners of France, might well spread
to every country. If one Pope altered the dogmatic definitions
of another, what became of papal infallibility ? And what
security for the future was there for the faithful in matters
of faith ?
In these circumstances Cardinal Belluga had called on him
on Thursday morning and Cardinal Cienfuegos on the previous
morning ; they had unanimously decided to represent to the
Pope that their respective Governments could not remain •
indifferent in the matter on account of the political
disturbances which there was cause to fear. For this reason
they prayed His Holiness to communicate the Bull to them
previous to its publication as otherwise there was a danger
of its not being accepted. A number of envoys had presented
a memorial in this sense. ^
1 *Tendra V. S. muy presente que en mis cartas de 26 marzo,
en que di cuenta del viage del Papa a Benevento, motive al mismo
tiempo la sospecha y ponderable temor que aqui se tenia de que
S. S^l en este su viage hiciese alguna cosa perjudicial a la con-
stitucion Unigenitus que disturbase per todo el mundo christiano
la religion catolica, y ahora debo decir a V. S. que este mi rezelo
con grande dolor mio viene a verificarse, por averse discubierto
en la buelta de S. B. que se imprimio una bula en la qual con
pretexto de renovar los privilegios a la religion Domenicana se
antra a aprobar su doctrina con tales terminos que la constitucion
Unigenitus queda totalmente condennada e inutil, siendo lo
que maiormente augmenta el temor, el gran recato y cautela
con que se ha hecho esta impresion que fue remitiendo aqui el
original pliego por pliego, y hechose imprimir en presencia del
pre M^o Arnea Dominicano quien lucgo que un pliego se acababa
da imprimir lo retirava y tenia siempre la imprenta. Asseguro
a V. S. che no podra S. M. figurarse la justa commocion que csta
noticia ocasion6 a todo cl s. colegio y el tumulto dc toda Roma :
ALARM IN SPAIN. 215
The watchword " efficacious grace ", the memorial explains,^
was a cloak for every Jansenist heresy ; in its name they
lodged appeals and demanded explanations ; the Bull in
question would be considered as the desired explanation and
the Constitution against Ouesnel would be rendered ineffective.
Noailles and the Appellants would not fail to misuse the new
Bull ; they would be triumphant. The expression " efficacious
grace " was first used by Calvin. Why then, in opposition
to the opinion of many theologians, was the doctrine of
efficacious grace ascribed to St. Thomas since it was first
propounded by Calvin ? Other expressions and definitions
in the draft of the Bull were similarly objected to.
The Spanish ambassador had yielded to unfounded fears.
Benedict XIII. had indeed had a gigantic Bull drawn up ^
which contained a list of all the privileges of the Dominican
ciertamente la cosa puede ser de mas funestas copsequencias,
y que si el Papa publica esta su bula, sera indicio de una guerra
universal de religion per todo el mundo christiano, y el scisma
que iva picando en pocos angulos de la Francia se hard universal
a todos los reynos, y si un pontifice retrata las decisiones de otro
en materia de fe, en donde estara la infalibilidad de la cathedra
de S. Pedro ? y que certeza tendran de qui adelante los fieles
en su creencia ? Sin embargo yo escrivo una carta y no una
disertacion. En este tal estado de cosas vino a verme el s. card.
Belluga el jueves per la manana para excitar con su acostumbrado
e innato zelo el mio, y ahier manana viene tambien el s. card.
Cienfuegos, y aviendo juntos comparado y examinado la materia,
hemos concertado de representar a S. S^ el interes de nuestros
respectivos soveranos en esta importantisima materia por las
turbulencias civiles que podian temerse en sus reynos y dominios.
Por lo que suplicamos a S. B. se dignase communicarnos dicha
bulla antes de arreglarla al borron de no ser admitida [?] ; el
qual passo ambos hemos executado ahier con las memorias que
con copia del billete que he scrito al card, secretario de estado
incluyo a V. S. Correspondencia del card. Bentivoglio al Marques
de la Paz, Simancas Archives.
^ Extract in [Cadry], IV., 832 seq.
2 By the auditor Accoiamboni under the direction of Mola,
Procurator-General of the Dominicans. Ibid.
2l6 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Order and confirmed and further amplified them ; even
a lengthy section on the teaching of St. Thomas in the
Dominican Order was not wanting. However, the Pope had
no intention to trench too closely on the Bulls Unigenitus
and Pastoralis, though they were not expressly mentioned
in the first draft of that particular section.^ It was likewise
a fact that Benedict XIII. had his Bull drafted and printed
with the utmost secrecy, though the affair nevertheless came
to the knowledge of some of the Cardinals in a roundabout
way, whereupon these, that same night, from July 5th to 6th,
conferred with the two Albani, Pico, Zondadari and Salerni ;
they decided to inform Cienfuegos, Polignac and Bentivoglio,
the ambassadors of the Emperor and the Kings of France
and Spain. The latter failed to see the Pope in time, but they
sent a letter to the Secretary of State in which they complained
that the Pope was taking important decisions without the
advice of tbe Cardinals, deprived the Molinists, so it seemed,
of their freedom to express their opinions and put the
Dominicans in a false position in more than one diocese.
The Bull should be withdrawn for the Government would not
receive it. Cardinal Belluga further objected that as recentl}'
as Innocent XIII. 's reign the privileges of the Orders had
been curtailed. ^
The Pope yielded to these representations to the extent
of submitting his Bull to an examination by the Inquisition
and as a sequel to its observations and those of Bentivoglio,
and in order to prevent the various courts from interfering
with it, he had it revised and reprinted.^ In its definitive
form the Bull has a much impugned paragraph in which the
teaching of St. Thomas is extolled and earlier papal approba-
tions of his works confirmed anew. Then to stop the calumnies
of the troublesome and obstinate disturbers of the Church's
tranquillity, it strictly forbids all offensive attacks on the
^ There is nevertheless question of the " crreurs proscrites
do Quenel ". Ibid., 835.
= Ibid., 831 seq. ; Fleury. LXXII., 433 seqq.
» Bull Preiiosus of June 28, 1727, Bull, XXII., 522-554.
Some doubts arc removed on September 28, 1728 [tbid., 730).
THE BULL PRETIOSUS. 217
teaching of St. Thomas and that of his school, which stands
in such high repute in the Church, as if it were identical
with that of Jansenius and Ouesnel, especially where in
that school there was question of efficacious grace and
predestination. 1
The final text of this paragraph differs from the draft
chiefly by the fact that the doctrine of efficacious grace and
unconditional predestination is no longer ascribed to St.
Thomas, as it is in the draft, but only to his school. Moreover
a clause is omitted which had placed under papal patronage
not only those two points of doctrine, but even all those
opinions which, in the Thomist view, are intimately connected
with it. 2 Furthermore it is no longer stated that up to that
time the Order of Preachers had studied the works of its
master unfalteringly.^' In view of the appeals of the French
Dominicans such a eulogy may have been considered no
longer in place.
Naturally enough the new Bull also led to endless
discussions. The Dominicans are triumphant, we read in
a Jansenist publication,* the Molinists are crushed. It will
not be difficult to show that efficacious grace and unconditional
predestination were nothing but Ouesnel's teaching. At the
Archbishop's palace the Bull gave great satisfaction though
on account of the numerous privileges granted to the
Dominicans and the recognition of the Bull Unigenitus,
^ " Ut aut^m turbulenti ac pertinaces tranquillitatis Ecclesiae
catholicae perturbatores desinant, orthodoxam s. Thomae
doctrinam calumniari . . ., mandamus, ne doctrinam memorati
s. Doctoris eiusque insignem in Ecclesia scholam, praesertim
ubi in eadem schola de divina gratia per se et ab intrinseco
efficaci ac de gratuita praedestinatione . . . agitur, uUatenus
dicto vel scripto contumeliose impetant, ac veluti consentientem
cum damnatis ab Apost. Sede et signanter a constitutione . . .
Unigenitus lansenii, Quesnellii et aliorum erroribus traducant. . . ."
^ " Aliasque [sententias] cum ipsis in D. Thomae schola intime
connexas." Cf. [Cadry], IV., 838.
^ " Inoffenso pedc," ibid.
* July 22, ibid., 839.
2l8 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
it could not be received in France. The inno\'ators, the
Archbishop of Aries wrote/ were jubilant because they saw
the fire started at the Vatican and they merrily danced
round the flame. The Jesuits of Paris, we learn from another
quarter,^ behaved as if the affair did not concern them, but
those in the provinces felt the blow very deeply. In Rome
itself the " Zelanti " among the Cardinals raised yet another
protest on account of their not having been consulted in
these most weighty decisions. A further ground for complaint
was likewise the fear of yet another Bull in favour of the
Thomists.^
With a view to forestalling unfortunate developments the
General of the Jesuits, Tamburini, addressed a circular to
his subjects.^ The Bull, we read, certainly put no obstacle
in the path of the Jesuits' teaching, but harm might be caused
if one or more Jesuits failed to practise the requisite restraint.
In the name, therefore, of the General, Provincials should
recall to the attention of everyone the Order's particular
obligation of showing the utmost reverence and obedience
to the Apostolic See ; let no one presume to utter one word
against the Constitution or any one of its clauses. Professors
of philosophy and theology in particular should give proof
of the greatest esteem for the Dominican Order and its
teaching ; in view of existing circumstances, if the slightest
complaint reached the ears of Rome, the worst consequences
might ensue.
Benedict XIII. 's successor expUcitly stated ^ that it had
not been the purpose of his predecessor's ordinances to
circumscribe the libert}- of the Catholic schools.
1 Ibid., 840.
^ Ibid.
^ " Han temido y temen que se maquine alguna nueva bulla
acerca de la doctrina de los Thomistas." Bentivoglio to De la
Paz on September 20, 1728, Simancas Archives.
^ July 12, 1727, in AsTRAiN, VII., 181.
* On October 2, 1733, Bull., XXIII., 541 seq. The Bull Pretiosus
had already been revoked before (February 13, 1731, and March,
1732, ibid., 232, 324), in so far as it contained any innovation.
THE POPE AND NOAILLES. 219
(2.)
In his pronouncements on the teaching of St. Thomas,
the Pope was undoubtedly also prompted by consideration
for Noailles whom he hoped to win over by acknowledging
the concept of efficacious grace as uncensurable from the
Church's standpoint.
The Archbishop had taken advantage of the accession of
the new Pope to attempt a rapprochement. He promptly
addressed a letter to Benedict XIII. / in which he lavished
eulogies on the newly elected Pontiff and expressed the
hopes that he would give peace to the Church : the time
for action had come, peace must be the everlasting memorial
of his reign. He himself yielded to none in humble submissive-
ness to the Apostolic See ; in fact this man of endless changes
of opinion went so far as to protest that he wished he were
in Rome, as he would then convince the Pope of the straight-
forwardness which had marked all his actions. Since 1717
no papal document had come into the hands of Noailles hence
the Archbishop could look upon it as an event when Benedict
XIII. sent him a friendly reply,^ though not without hinting
that it was for Noailles to contribute his share to the
restoration of peace. To such exhortations the Archbishop
would not listen. He began by enlightening the Pope on the
state of affairs in France in a long letter.^ In his opinion
all the mischief was due to the fact that the papal Constitutions
were exploited for party purposes. In this way things have
come to such a pass that it was not enough to subscribe to
Alexander VII. 's formula, unless one renounced at the same
time the teaching of St. Augustine and St. Thomas. Noailles
himself was considered a supporter of the Jansenists and
distinguished writers contended that the doctrine of efficacious
grace was at variance with the papal Constitutions against
the Jansenists. With the publication of the Bull Unigenitus
^ July 16, 1724 [Cadry], IV., 7 seq.
* August 21, 1724, Epist. ad princ, I., 191, Papal Secret
Arch. [Cadry], IV., 80 ; Schill, 213.
' October i, 1724, [Cadry], IV., 1 19-126.
220 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
confusion rose to its highest degree and the parties of Molina
and Jansenius conspired in falsifying and misusing the Bull
by their explanations. It was the Pope's business to provide
a remedy ; let him, Noailles suggested, explain the Bull.
He then enumerates a whole series of points on which the
Holy See should give its decision. ^ In the hope of receiving
explanations in his own sense, Noailles assured the Pope
that he fully submitted to him and to the Church all that
he had written, spoken or done, and that he received the
Bull Unigenitus in the same sense in which the Pope wished
it to be accepted and himself accepted it.^ The fact is that
Majella, through his agent, the Dominican Graveson,^ had
let the Cardinal Archbishop know that if he complied with
all that was asked of him, Benedict XIII. would grant
whatever Noailles would ask for, with a view to the peace of
the Church, such as declarations on efficacious grace, against
lax moral teaching and abuses in the administration of the
Sacrament of Penance.
The Pope was delighted with Noailles' letter,* as a matter
of fact it meant a step forward. How greatly the Archbishop
realized the insecurity of his position appears from a somewhat
later circular with which he sought to obtain, though in vain,
the adhesion of his followers among the Bishops to the step
^ Ibid., 124.
2 " Je soumets entierement a V. S. et de [sic !] I'figlise tout
ce que j'ai ecrit, dit ou fait " (ibid., 122) ; " que je regois la
constitution non d'une autre maniere, mais precisement dans
le meme sens, dans le meme esprit et dans Ics memcs vues, que
V. S. veut qu'elle soit re^ue et la re9oit elle meme " {ibid., 123).
^ Graveson on August 29, 1724, ibid., 80 (cf. 117).
* The Pope read the letter aloud in his private chapel before
the Blessed Sacrament to the indescribable jubilation and joy
of the whole court, *CardinaL Cienfuegos reports to the imperial
Chancellor Sinzendorf on November 11, 1724, Reuss Archives,
Ernstbrunn. Cf. *Cardinal Acquaviva to Grimaldi, November 25,
1724, Simancas Archives. The Pope is said to have exclaimed
several times : " Che poteva dire di piii questo buon cardinale ! "
[Cadry], IV.. 175.
LETTER TO NOAILLES. 221
he had taken in regard to the Pope. In this document Noailles
expressly states that it was no longer possible to maintain
that the Bull against Ouesnel had not been universally
accepted by the Church.^ However, Noailles desired a retreat
which would allow him to appear as a victor ; the Pope of
Rome should issue declarations of the kind desired by the
Pope of Paris and submission was to be based on these
declarations. Through some intermediaries negotiations in
this sense were opened.^ Noailles offered to submit a draft
for a Bull which would give precise directions as to what
was to be thought on every single dogmatic or moral dispute
that had arisen since the Council of Trent. Those who
submitted to the Bull would have done their duty and could
no longer be attacked by reason of the distinction of right
and fact. As against this Rome insisted that before any
declarations Noailles must withdraw his appeal and his
pastoral instruction of 1719, or at least include such a measure
in his declaration of obedience.^ The Pope's reply to the
Archbishop of Paris' letter was in this sense. The Brief ^
is couched in a conciliating tone, but for all its friendliness
it insinuates that, the time had come for Noailles to do what
remained for him to do, in other words, that the assurances
hitherto given were inadequate. The Pope promised to use
the utmost mildness in recalling those who had gone astray
in France, though the almost unheard of scandals that
had occurred there demanded very different treatment ;
accordingly the Archbishop should join his efforts to those
of the Pope with a view to the restoration of peace.
1 Letter of February i, 1725 {ibid., 141) : " L'argurneiit qu'on
tire dii silence des eglises etrangeres, se fortifie par le nombre
des annees et le laps du temps. En France I'acceptation de la
part de tous les eveques, a la reserve de trois ou quatre, est
expresse. Comment peut-on dire aujour-d'hui que la constitution
n'est pas re9ue ? " 2 [Cadry], IV., 127-133.
' Ibid., 129, 198 ; Polignac to Noailles, November 29, 1724,
ibid., 176.
* *December 5, 1724, Epist. ad pvinc, L, 364, Papal Secret
Arch. ; [Cadry], IV., 179 seq. ; Schill, 213.
222 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Thereupon Noailles sought to obtain another Brief on the
model of the one to the Dominicans, with declarations on
various important points. On his part he would follow up
the Brief with the pastoral letter that was asked of him and
in which he would correct his instruction of 1719 ; after that
the formal Bull might follow and serve to cover Noailles'
retreat. Noailles forwarded ten articles for which he desired
a place in the Bull ; these are probably the first draft of the
twelve articles which subsequently gave rise to much
discussion. 1 In a letter of January 14th, 1725, ^ the Archbishop
voices his surprise that anything further should be asked
of him at all, though he once more submits everything he
has written to the judgment of the Pope, with express
mention of his pastoral instruction of 1719. The conclusion
of his letter has a retort to the papal summons that he should
complete what he had begun against the Pope, as if the Holy
See were to blame if peace had not been restored.
Noailles had instructed Graveson not to hand in his answer
to the Pope if the examination of the twelve articles was
entrusted to the Congregation of the Council ^ ; he wished
the examination of the twelve articles to be made with the
utmost secrecy and without the concurrence of the Inquisi-
tion, as had been done in the case of the Brief to the
Dominicans.'* The twelve articles were not submitted to
the Congregation of the Council, but to a joint discussion
by five Cardinals, viz. Paolucci, Ottoboni, Corradini, Tolomei
and Pipia.^
Meanwhile a rumour spread in France to the effect that
^ [Cadry], IV., 20I seq. (Noailles' instruction of January i,
1725). Noailles' printed report dates the dispatch of the twelve
articles as from the beginning of December, 1724. Text of the
twelve articles in [Cadry], IV., 341 seq. ; Picor, 11., 170 seq. ;
Lafitau, II., 217.
2 [Cadry], IV., 208 seqq. ; Fleury, LXXIL, 103 seq.
3 [Cadry], IV., 207.
* Ibid., 202.
* Ibid., 243 ; Lafitau, II., 221. Cf. also Voyages de Montes-
quieu, II., 47 seqq.
FRENCH PROTESTS. 223
Cardinal Polignac had let Noailles know ^ that Benedict XIII.
was willing to confirm the twelve articles ; that the text
of a pastoral letter was being drawn up in Rome in which
Noailles was made to announce his submission to the Bull
Unigenitus ; that as soon as Noailles returned this pastoral
letter with his signature, the twelve articles would be approved
and peace could be said to have been restored. The twelve
articles were already being spread in a pamphlet, ^ on the
very title-page of which they were described as approved
by Benedict XIII. At the instance of the nuncio the Royal
Council put a stop to this barefaced forgery.^
These reports created a great stir. Bishop Languet of
Soissons published an open letter ^ addressed to the Jesuit
De Vitry in Rome, in which he said that, according to the
rumours circulating, Noailles was going to accept the Bull
against Ouesnel solely on the basis of declarations suggested
by himself, but that this would amount to an admission by
the Pope that that Bull jeopardized the truth. The Jansenists
exulted whilst the Catholics were depressed. The letter in
which the Archbishop of Paris announced his submission was
equivocal. He avoided those expressions which were considered
as evidence of real submission, that is, that he accepted the
Bull " without addition or distinction ",^ and that when he
said that he accepted it as the Pope himself accepted it, in
Noailles parlance this only meant that he accepted with the
explanations which he had himself suggested to the Pope.^
Several French Bishops, headed by Cardinals Rohan and
De Bissy, forwarded to Rome a memorial against the twelve
^ February 22, 1725, [Cadry], IV., 245 ; cf. 247 seq. On
Polignac's activity in Rome, 1724-1731, cf. also E. Griselle,
Vers la paix de I'Eglise de France d'apres les lettres inedites du
negociateiir le card. Polignac (i 725-1 732) in Rev. de I'hist. de I'Eglise
de France, II. (191 1), 271 seqq., 404 seqq.
« March, 1725, Fleury, LXXII., 114.
' June, 1725, ibid., 115 ; [Patouillet], II., 120 seqq.
* [Cadry], IV., 251 seq.
* " purement et simplement."
* [Cadry], IV., 252.
224 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
articles.^ The Cardinal Archbishop Du Boussu of Mahnes,
in an open letter to the Pope ^ pronounced himself strongly-
opposed to Noailles whose plain duty, he said, it was to
submit sincerely to the Bull Unigenitiis.
Opposition to the twelve articles was no less decided in
Rome. It was said that a protest against them by twenty-two
Cardinals had already been drawn up.^ The pastoral letter
which Noailles was to have published, was submitted by the
Pope to the Inquisition which condemned it in severe terms,
on the ground that it contained no profession of submission
but rather a justification of the Archbishop's rebelhon.
Noailles was accused of introducing, on his own authority,
many alterations into the text sent to him from Rome.
To say that he accepted the Bull as Benedict XIII. accepted
it, was meaningless for the Pope submitted to it without
addition or distinction, expressions which Noailles refused
to use. Furthermore Noailles accepted the Bull on the basis
of the Pope's learning and piety and that only in the sense
expressed in the Brief to the Dominicans. The new formula
of acceptance in the sense of Benedict XIII. would only give
rise to fresh confusion ; one man would go by the new formula,
another by the old one ; disputes would arise as to what was
Benedict XIII. 's meaning ; one man would interpret it in
the light of the Brief to the Dominicans, another in that of
the approval of the twelve articles, and so things would
go on.^
The commission of five Cardinals charged with the examina-
tion of Noailles, gave its decision at the end of March : it was
to the effect that Noailles must accept the Bull Unigenitiis
without addition and distinction and withdraw any utterances,
writings, or actions of his, which the Holy See had condemned,
more especially his appeal and his pastoral instruction.^
As for the twelve articles, the Pope was resolved to defer
^ Ibid., 250, 252.
* March 16, 1725, ibid., 264-8.
3 Ibid., 256.
* Report of Ansidei, ibid., 257 seq.
* Ibid., 259.
ROMAN COUNCIL OF 1725. 225
judgment until after the great Provincial Council ^ which
he had planned for some considerable time already and which
was actually held in Rome from the middle of April until the
end of May, and was attended by thirty-two Cardinals,
forty-four Bishops, three Abbots and thirty-five repre-
sentatives of absent Bishops.^ The Council had an unpleasant
surprise for the Jansenists : the assembled Bishops, with the
Pope at their head, recognized the Bull Unigenitus as a canon
of faith. The Jansenists claimed that the words to that effect
had only been fraudulently inserted in the text at a later date
by the Secretary of the Council, the future Cardinal Fini.
However, Benedict XIII. made no protest when the acts
were printed in Rome ^ ; moreover, quite apart from the
expression " rule of faith ", the Council demanded complete
submission to the Constitution and qualified every opposition
to it as a rebellion against which the Bishops were bound to
take action. A second edition of the acts of the Council
made no change in the expression in question.* In the same
year the Council of Avignon also described the Constitution
as a rule of faith. ^ By the time the Council concluded its
work, the decision of the five Cardinals was in Noailles' hands.
On July 23rd he replied that he was unable to publish the
pastoral letter which had been sent to him from Rome.^
The negotiations were nevertheless not yet at an end.
The Pope seemed resolved, in dealing with Noailles, to go to
the uttermost limits of what was permissible. The draft of a
new pastoral letter which Polignac dispatched to Noailles on
29th August, dropped the demand for submission without
1 Ihid., 339.
2 Tit. I, c. 2, in Coll. Lacensis, I., 346 ; Lafitau, II., 223 seq.
In France the acts of the Council of Rome were confiscated.
[Cadry], IV., 480.
3 ScHiLL, 319 ; Fleury, LXXIL, 5-10.
* [Cadry], IV., 602.
* Coll, Lacensis, I., 479 seq.
* [Cadry], IV., 405-410; Fleury, LXXIL, 116 seq. Ibid.,
119, on the proposal for a reconciliation by the Oratorian Girard,
July 26, 1725.
VOL. XXXIV. Q
226 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
addition or distinction hitherto insisted upon, and no longer
demanded the pubhcation of the pastoral letter with the
submission as a preliminary condition of the approval of the
twelve articles. The Inquisition was not to be consulted
about the Brief which would be simply addressed to the
Dominicans as had been the earlier Brief on efficacious
grace. ^ However, Noailles remained unsatisfied ; he sub-
mitted a fresh draft,- one that differed completely from
the Roman one and which, in fact, was not presented in
Rome.
Meanwhile the Pope's readiness to yield filled a number of
people in France with serious misgivings. Polignac was
given a commission which had been least expected by those
hostile to the Inquisition, namely not to let pass anything in
connection with Noailles' affairs which had not been approved
by the Inquisition ! ^ This decision was subsequently altered
in the sense that only that was to be accepted which the Pope
had decreed together with the Cardinals.*
When Noailles' fresh draft of his acceptance of the
Constitution became known in France, Cardinals Rohan and
Bissy and a little later Cardinal Fleury also, warned Rome of
the ambiguity of that document.^ Noailles, they wrote,
proposed a new formula for his acceptance of the Constitution,
that is, he was ready to submit to it in the same way as the
French clergy. But why a new formula ? Its very novelty
rendered it suspect. Why was Noailles unwilling to express
himself like the others ?. Why does he not submit like the
French clergy ? Does that clergy's submission differ from
that of the rest of the Catholic world ? The Appellants
claimed that the French Bishops were not unanimous in
1 [Cadry], IV., 413
2 September 17, 1725, ibid., 415.
* Ibid., 416.
■^ Cardinal Cienfucgos' *letter to the imperial chancellor
Sinzendorf, October 6, 1725, Reuss Arch., Ernstbrunn.
* October 9, 1725 [Cadry], IV., 427-432 ; Fleury, LXXIL.
235 seq. ; Hardy, 33 seq. The letter was printed secretly.
[Cadry], IV., 729.
LETTER OF THREE BISHOPS. 227
their acceptance of the Bull, hence for that reason alone the
new formula was of no use.
The letter of the three Bishops — the " Three Powers "
as the expression was — then takes up Noailles' declaration on
the subject of his pastoral instruction of 1719. There could
be no doubt that that instruction was incompatible with
Catholic dogma and the authority of the Church. Could the
recantation proposed by Noailles be considered adequate ?
He merely declared that his thoughts and sentiments were
quite alien from whatever might displease the Holy See ;
should anything of the kind be found in his pastoral instruction,
he desired that instruction to be considered as non-existant,
if there was in it anything offensive to the Holy See. Now
there could be no doubt that there were many things in that
instruction at which the Holy See took offence. Hence
Noailles must not speak in the conditional but condemn his
instruction in simple and direct terms.
As regards the twelve articles, it was a strange request
that the Holy See, with a view to an explanation of the Bull
Unigenitiis, should approve articles some of which had nothing
whatever to do with that Constitution, or formulated articles
of faith which no one impugned, whilst yet others concerned
matters of such delicacy that they could not be touched upon
without calling forth fresh controversies. The twelve articles
had no sooner become known in France than troubles and
disputes arose which rendered necessary an ordinance of the
Royal Council ! Moreover it was dangerous to enter on the
path of concessions. The Appellants would feel encouraged
to put forward fresh doubts ; for ten years already they had
done their best to represent the Constitution as equivocal,
obscure and as endangering sound doctrine. Should the Pope
consent to issue declarations, he would thereby admit that
the Bull was in need of explanations, hence also that it was
obscure.
The Pope had himself realized that it would be dangerous
to issue a formal Bull. On the other hand difficulties would
not be removed if the new papal manifesto was given the form
of a Brief addressed to the Dominicans. In matters of faith
228 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
it was indifferent to whom the decision was addressed. It was
accordingly impossible to circumvent consultation with the
Cardinals ; in any case the Brief would either not be accepted
in France or it would be badly complied with. If the Brief
were addressed to the Dominicans, the act might be construed
as a sort of silent rebuke for other theological schools, since
this time there was question of teaching common to all schools.
The three prelates conclude with a prayer that every appearance
of political huckstering should be avoided ; obedience must
be sincere and perfect in every respect.
When Polignac laid this new document before the Pope he
was given a promise that, in compliance with the King's
request, the affair would be examined anew by some of the
Cardinals. Accordingly the previously appointed commission
met once more, Falconieri taking the place of Pipia who was
absent. To them were added the Secretaries of the Congre-
gation of the Council and of Briefs to Princes, Lambertini
and Majella, the Master of the Palace, Selleri, the General of
the Franciscans Conventual Baldradi, and the Abbot of
Montecassino, Porzia, whilst Ansidei, Archbishop of Damietta,
acted as Secretary.^ The discussions opened on January 8th,
1726, and soon took an unfavourable turn for Noailles. His
assertion that the Bull Unigenitus was being misused in
France, was countered by the letter of the " Three Powers ",
and Noailles' persistent silence when repeatedly challenged
to furnish proof of this misuse, could scarcely make a good
impression. 2 His case was also grievously damaged by a
small pubhcation of the Jesuit De Vitry. How was it possible,
so we read there, to give to the Appellants explanations of
the Bull, since their heresy consisted precisely in the fact of
their demanding such explanations ? ^ On top of everything,
Rome came to hear of a pastoral letter * in which Fenelon's
nephew, Beaumont, Bishop of Saintes, severely criticized the
twelve articles and the small pubhcation which they had spread
1 [Cadry], IV., 476.
2 Jbid., 479.
» Ibid.
* November 26, 1725, extract, tbid., 516-19.
RESISTANCE IN FRANCE. 229
as approved by Benedict XIII. Cardinal Paolucci praised
the pastoral letter.^ It was followed by similar pastorals by
the Archbishops of Marseilles ^ and Malines ^ and several
other Bishops were preparing mandements of the same kind or
sending drafts of them to Rome.'*
The Congregation of Cardinals finally declared ^ that the
decision of March, 1725, must be upheld. In this way all
Noailles' successive steps were declared null and void. There-
upon Polignac secured a mitigation of some of the expressions
in the pastoral letter to which the Archbishop was to put his
signature,^ in particular, instead of acceptance of the
Constitution " without addition or distinction ", acceptance
" without limitation or qualification " was now demanded.'
For the rest, in a letter tQ the Paris nuncio,^ Paolucci said
that the cardinalitial Congregation would remain adamant in
its demands.
Cardinal Pohgnac was satisfied with these conditions, as
was the French court, ^ but not so the jurists and officials
whose opinion Noailles had sought. They viewed the draft
of the pastoral that had come from Rome as a work of the
Inquisition and were appalled that, in opposition to the
Galilean liberties, a decree of that body should have force in
France.^" As was to be expected, the consequence was that
Noailles refused to sign the draft and laid all the blame for
the miscarriage of the compromise on his opponents, as did
his adherents. This he did, even before he had in hand the
final decision of the Cardinals' Congregation, in a letter to the
1 Fleury, LXXII., ii6.
- January 14, 1726 [Cadry], IV., 520-4.
^ January 20, 1726, ibid., 526.
' Ibid., 525 ; Hardy, 35.
'- [Cadry], IV., 532 ; Fleury, LXXIL, 236 seq.
° In the sessions of February 5 and 12, 1726. Ansidei in
[Cadry], IV., 533.
' " Sans aucune limitation ni relation." Ibid.
* February 6, 1726, ibid., 553.
' Paolucci to the nuncio in Paris ; see Ansidei, loc. cit., 538.
'« Ibid., 558.
230 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Pope overflowing with assurances of his innocence and laments
over the wickedness of men.^ His friends, on the other
hand, exercised their ingenuity in finding objections to the
demands of the cardinitial Congregation. Noailles, they said
had submitted to the Constitution in 1720, " in its true
sense," were he to accept it now out of obedience to the
Cardinals " without restriction or reference ", he would be
accepting it without reference to its real sense and without
excluding its false interpretation ! He was unable to with-
draw his pastoral instruction of 1719 since it had only been
condemned by a decree of the Inquisition, so that his with-
drawal would mean recognition of an authority that was
banned in France.^ The Bishop of Bayeux exhorted his
colleague to make it clear to the whole Church, by means of a
pastoral, that for the sake of peace and charity he had consented
to ask for an explanation of the Bull Unigenitus and to concur
in the efforts by which it was proposed to restore unity and to
safe-guard the honour of the Holy See. Let Noailles repeat
his appeal, other Bishops would join him ; the names of the
Bishops of Auxerre, Blois, Troyes, Rodez were mentioned.^
The parish priests of the archdiocese came to the assistance
of their Archbishop with a declaration against the pastoral
letter of the Bishop of Saintes and in defence of the twelve
articles ; at the beginning of April this manifesto appeared
in print.* However, the document, which bore the signatures of
163 parish priests and 400 other clergy, met with the displeasure
of the Government which had already stated its view on the
twelve articles ; a decision of the Conseil prohibited it on
18th May. 5 For all that fresh negotiations for Noailles'
submission were being constantly initiated. This is not
surprising. Rome and the Bishops attached to Rome were of
opinion that opposition to the Bull Unigenitus would be
almost completely broken, and not in the archdiocese of
1 It begins with the words : " Ergone quern amas deseris ? "
Ibid., 540 ; Fleury, LXXII, 239-245.
* [Cadry], IV., 554 seq.
^ Ibid., 559.
* Ibid., 560-3. * Ibid., 577 seq.
FLEURY AND NOAILLES. 23I
Paris alone, if they succeeded in winning over the Archbishop.
The latter himself felt uneasy in his conscience on account of
his obstinate disobedience. Moreover the year 1726 had
brought him a fresh embarrassment : 1725 had been kept in
Rome as a year of jubilee, with all its rich graces and In-
dulgences and the Pope had extended the jubilee to the
whole of Christendom for the year following ; the appellant
Bishops, however, had been excepted. In the archdiocese
of Paris the Indulgences of the jubilee could not be gained,
however much the faithful longed for them, and Noailles felt
it greatly that he was to blame for it.^ The task of finally
winning over the Archbishop, who was already wavering,
was considered as his particular task by a man who had just
then seized the reins of government, for after the fall of the
Duke of Bourbon, on June 11th, 1726, Andre Hercule Fleury
was in effect the first minister even though he did not bear the
title of one.^ Noailles promptly got in touch with him through
his niece, the Marquise de Grammont, but Fleury insisted,
though in the most courteous and gentle terms, on the Arch-
bishop withdrawing his pastoral instruction without any
declarations.^
In July, 1726, Noailles submitted yet another mandemevi *
for examination by Rome and this time Benedict XIII.
entrusted this task not to a Cardinal, but to a commission of
four prelates and four theologians.^ Now it so happened that
^ Ibid., 644 seqq., 733 seqq. ; Fleury, LXXII., 273-7. Cf.
also the three " *Lettere de' zelanti cattolici della Francia scritte
alia S. di P. Benedetto, XIII. sopra la dottrina e condotta del
sig. card, di Noailles, 1726," in Cod., 14, i, 14, p. 89 seqq. Library
of the Frascati Seminary.
" Hardy, 36 seq.
3 Letters of June 30 and July 3, 1726, ibid., 41-3.
* Extract in [Cadry], IV., 633.
* The prelates were : Lambertini, Ansidei, Majella and Fini ;
the theologians : the Benedictine. Abbot of St. Paul, Porzia,
the Commissar^' of the Inquisition, Lucini, the Generals of the
Dominicans and the Franciscans Conventual, Ripoll and Baldradi.
[Cadry], IV., 635.
232 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
previous to this twenty-four Cardinals had lodged a protest
against the fact that the Pope had not consulted them,
especially in the negotiations with Sardinia and over Noailles.^
Their being passed over this time also added to their
discontent,^ but in answer to the representations of Cardinal
Albani, the Pope stated that he had appointed the commission
of prelates for his own benefit, and for his own personal
information. On September 21st and 22nd the commission
approved the first two articles out of the twelve, but its
decision remained without effect because Polignac promptly
declared that the French court would only accept decrees of
the Congregation for which it had itself prayed. The Pope
repeated to Polignac what he had already told Albani, but
the meetings of the Congregation were nevertheless put off
until October and they were not resumed in the sequel.
In December the Pope informed the Cardinal of Paris that
he must submit without addition or distinction ; in other
words he renewed his earlier demands.
For all that yet another mandement was being prepared in
Paris ! In February an extraordinary courier arrived for
Pohgnac, the bearer, it was rumoured, of Cardinal Noailles'
definitive comphance with the Roman demands. Now it so
happened that precisely at this time Benedict XIII. was
unwilling to receive any ambassadors ; however, Pohgnac
^ It appeared in print : Memorial presentd a S. S. Benoist XIII.
par les cardinaux soussignds en I'annee 1726, ibid., 557 seq.
2 *(;)ueda esta corte con summa agitacion per haver mandado
el Papa al P. Porcia Benedictine y al P. Graveson que examinasen
una carta circular del card, de Noailles sobre la constitucion
Unigenitus temiendo de esto que Su Santitad no obstante la
justissima oposicion de la congregacion del S. Oficio y sus repre-
sentacioncs, que se le tienen hecho contra las malsonantes pre-
tensiones del referido card, de Noailles y sus parcialcs, resuelva
tan delicado punto sin intervencion de la expresada congregacion,
lo qual si sucediesse, seria de considerable escandalo a toda la
christianidad, y de summo perjuicio a la iglesia universal.
Bentivoglio to the Marquis de la Paz, December 7, 1726, Simancas
Archives. Cf: [Cadrv], IV., 635 seq.
PRESSURE ON NOAILLES. 233
insisted so much on the necessity for him to see the Pope at
any price, that the latter heard him, half sitting, half standing,
in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel of St. Peter's. Noailles, so
it was rumoured in Rome, had at last really submitted and
executed all that was asked of him.^ In Paris also everybody
in January, 1727, awaited the pastoral letter announcing
Noailles' submission. ^
As a matter of fact at the end of November, 1726, Fleury
had entered into negotiations with Noailles, with a view to a
compromise and numerous discussions had taken place in
the Archbishop's palace and at Fleury's house for the purpose
of bringing matters to a head.^ A royal letter requested the
Pope to compel Noailles, the Benedictines, the Genovefans
and the Oratorians to accept the Bull, promising that after
an interval of two months the Government would lend
support to the measures taken by the Pope.^ The Jansenist
clergy began to feel anxious about the constancy of its leader ;
accordingly at Christmas seven parish priests of Paris, ^ and
at the beginning of February another thirty, made representa-
tions to their ordinary which they further substantiated in a
1 " *A esta corte llego al card. Polignac un extraordinario
de Paris sobre la importantissima materia de la constitucion
Unigenitus y se dice sea la aceptacion de ella arreglada al proyecto
que de aqui se le embio al card, de Noailles rechazandole al mismo
tiempo diversos temperamentos que este purpurado propuso
para ella ; el referido card, de Polignac despues del arrivo de
dicho correo hizo tanto rumor en protestarse tener precisa necesi-
dad de hablar al Papa que ultimamente enfadado S. Santidad
sin embargo de no querer oir absolutamente ningun ministro
medio sentado y medio en pie oyo a este en la capilla del Sacra-
mento de la iglesia de S. Pedro y se espera que esta ultima
aceptacion del card, de Noailles que se vocifera sea verdadera
y la que se deseaba, sobre cuyo particular procurare informarme."
Bentivoglio to De la Paz, February 22, 1727, Corresp., p. 253,
Simancas Archives.
« [Cadry], IV., 682.
3 Ibid., 676 seqq., 679, 693. Draft of the mandement that
ought to satisfy Rome, ibid., 680. Cf. Hardy, 50-6.
* Hardy, 45. * [Cadry], IV., 678 ; [Nivelle], I., 584.
234 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
memorial.^ The tone of these documents was exactly the
same as that of Noailles' letter to Rome : they began with
protestations of deepest regard, after which they announced
that he would not be followed should he submit and demand
submission from his priests, and as the Archbishop had
behaved towards the Pope, and the priests towards their
Bishop, so would the laity act towards the clergy : the
memorial of the thirty priests states that people of every
condition and sex came to them, declaring that they would
immediately leave the church if the acceptance of the Bull
was announced there. Thus there was rebellion on all sides
and all the bonds of ecclesiastical obedience seemed to dissolve.
Even before the opening of the discussions with Fleur}',
Noailles had drawn up an account of the interrupted negotia-
tions with Rome, in order to justify his conduct. The
document is dated September 16th, 1726,^ and in April of
the following year it appeared in print without, it was said,
the concurrence of the Archbishop.^ Rome put it on the
Index of forbidden books ^ and published another account of
the negotiations written by Ansidei.^ Thus for the moment
relations with Rome were rendered impossible. Moreover
Noailles was taken very seriously ill and for a whole year he
was almost completely incapable of any mental application.
In the course of his illness the representations of the thirty
city parish priests received the approval of their colleagues
in the country ^ ; on the other hand, by a decree of the Conseil
of June 14th, 1727, the Government proceeded against the
thirty, whereupon the parish priests made representations to
1 [Cadry], IV., 683 ; [Nivelle], I., 585-592 ; Fleury,
LXXII., 429 scq. ; 426-8.
" [Cadry], IV., 531 ; Hardy, 57 seqq. Polignac was greatly
distressed by it and thought of writing a personal apolog>^ ; see
♦Cardinal Cienfuegos to the imperial chancellor Sinzendorf,
May 31, 1727, Reuss Archives, Ernstbrunn.
3 [Cadry], IV.. 776.
' September 20, 1727, ibid., 777.
■' Ibid., ']'jj seq.
" June 7, 1727, ibid., 781 ; [Nivelle], I., 592.
THE BISHOP OF BAYEUX AND BOURBON. 235
the King, only to draw on themselves a rebuke by the Council
of State.i
(3.)
Whilst negotiations with Noailles were pending, the French
Government had had to occupy itself in other ways also with
the Jansenist disputes. The Regent Philip of Orleans had
died in 1723, but his death brought about no substantial
change in the religious policy of the Government. His
successor, the no less dissolute but much less able Duke Louis
of Bourbon-Conde also opposed the innovators, not indeed
from any religious motives, but for the sake of peace. ^
The first Jansenist Bishop to come into collision with the
Duke was Frangois Armand of Lorraine, Bishop of Bayeux.
In spite of his noble lineage, Lorraine had been debarred from
the episcopal dignity by Louis XIV. and then for a whole year
by the Pope after the Regent had named him for Bayeux in
1718.^ That he really advocated Jansenist opinions was seen
soon after his entry upon office. The Jesuit De Gennes, who
was engaged in a dispute with the professors of theology of
the University of Caen, appealed to Lorraine ^ and requested
him to take steps against various errors, this being his duty
as a Bishop. The Bishop, in fact, did take action,^ but in
such a way that the Inquisition prohibited his mandemcnt.^
With the publication, in 1727, of another ordinance against
divers small publications," in which he attacked the Bull
^ Hardy, 60 seqq. ; [Nivelle], I., 592-5 ; Patouillet, III.,
450 seqq.
2 SCHILL, 220.
=> Jean, 347.
* ]\Iarch 28, 1 72 1, [Cadry], III., 44. C/. Sommervogel,
Bibliotheque , III., 1315 ; Fleury, LXXI., 583, 585.
* January 5, 1722 [C.\dry], III., 46 seqq. ; [Nivelle], II., i,
686 seqq.
® July 14, 1723 ; see Reusch, Index., II., 741. Cf. above,
p. 205.
' July 17, 1724, [Cadry], IV., 69 seq.
236 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Unigenitus and the compromise of 1720, Lorraine challenged
the Government also, with the result that an ordinance ^
prohibited not only the pamphlets attacked by Lorraine, but
likewise the episcopal manifesto on the subject. In October,
1725, the Assembly of the Clergy also dealt with Lorraine's
ordinance of 1722 ; it was resolved to request the Government
to allow the holding of a Provincial Council for the purpose
of condemning the Bishop of Bayeux.-
Lorraine did not suffer these attacks in silence. Together
with the Bishops of Auxerre and Rodez he appealed to
Benedict XIIL against the decree of the Inquisition.^ To
the King he made lengthy representations on the subject of
the prohibition, by the Government, of his second mandement.
As that prohibition had faced him with the compromise of
1720, he impugned its validity on the plea that the requisite
conditions had not been observed.* His protest against
the decree of the Assembly of the Clergy was rejected by that
body ^ ; he accordingly defended himself in a detailed pastoral
instruction addressed to his diocese ^ and forwarded his
protest to the Duke to whom he represented that the root
of the religious troubles lay in the fact that the Bull Unigenitus
was considered as a law both of the State and of the Church.'
Bourbon rephed that he was not a theologian, but this much
he knew, viz. that with few exceptions, all the Bishops accepted
the Bull. Thereupon Lorraine sought to produce evidence
that it had not been accepted unanimously.^ Bourbon had
not been content to reply with the pen only ; decrees of
' September 4, 1724, ibid., 73.
* Ihid., 443 seq.
» Reusch, Index, II., 742.
« [Cadry], IV., 74-8 ; [NivELLE], II., I, 699-706.
6 [Cadry], IV., 444 seq.
« October 25, 1725, ibid., 445 ; [Nivelle], II., i, 690-3.
1 [Cadry], IV., 568.
8 Lorraine's letters of April 5 and 22, 1726, and that of Bourbon,
of April 9 in [Cadry], IV., 568 seq. Nivelle (II.. i, 706 seq.),
is mistaken in putting the correspondence in August.
COLBERT OF MONTPELLIER. 237
banishment against Lorraine's adherents were dispatched to
Caen and Bayeux.^ But this was not warning enough for
the incautious Bishop of Bayeux ; in a pastoral letter of
January 15th, 1727, he declared that a General Council was
necessary and defended the twelve articles. ^ Several parish
priests now pronounced against their Bishop and at the
instigation of the Government the pastoral letter was
suppressed by the Parliament of Rouen. ^
Lorraine had defended the Appellants and their right to
appeal, though he himself was not of their number, on the
contrary, in 1720 he had accepted the compromise the validity
of which he later on impugned. Colbert of Croissy, Bishop
of Montpellier, who had always been in the front line of the
Appellants, asserted himself even more loudly though with
much less skill. When in 1722 the Government demanded a
fresh subscription to the formula, Colbert provided it with an
introduction in which he declared that the signature was
only given with the distinction of right and fact in the sense
of the Clementine Peace.^ However, the Government insisted
on a signature without any such declaration ^ and on
March 11th, 1723, it ordained that if it should become
necessary, the subscription might be executed in presence
of the Archbishop of Narbonne, Colbert's metropolitan.^
Owing to the negligence of the Intendant of Languedoc this
1 [Cadry], IV., 74, 569.
2 Ibid., 699-701 ; [Nivelle], II., i, 708-715.
* [Cadry], IV., 784 seq. Bishop De Caylus, of Auxerre, also
came in conflict with the Government. He had censured some
propositions of the Jesuit Le Moine ; a correspondence followed
between the Jesuits and the Bishop in which the Duke of Bourbon
and Fleury intervened. A pastoral instruction of the Bishop was
conliscated, but it got into print in a roundabout way (c/. ibid.,
315. 505. 620, 745 seqq. ; Sommervogel, Bibliotheque, II., 141,
v., 1356). That the instruction savoured of Jansenism appears
from the extract in the Menioires of Trevoux, 1727, 1553-1557.
* [Cadry], III., sect. 5, p. 5.
^ Ibid., sect. 6, p. 4.
* Ibid., sect. 8, p. 51,
238 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
decree was only put into execution on February 26th, 1724.
The majority of the clergy subscribed whilst three Canons
who proved recalcitrant, lost their positions.^ In a letter
to the King - and another to his diocese,^ Colbert sought to
justify his introduction to the formula with a claim that it
was in agreement with the Clementine Peace. Colbert's
temerity earned for him the praise and approval of persons
in the highest quarters, but a governmental decree of
September 21st, 1724, declared that not only was subscription
to the formula demanded by a Brief of Alexander VII., but
that in addition to this a supplementary royal ordinance
decreed the sequestration of the revenues of such Bishops as
refused to sign. Colbert was liable to this penalty ; the
Intendant of Languedoc was to see to it that the Bishop's
revenues were administered for the benefit of the poor.'* This
sentence, together with a warning to vigilance in procuring
the signature of the formula, was forwarded to all the Bishops,
Universities and Cathedral Chapters and for the most part
it met with willing compliance.^ After some delay it was
carried into effect in regard to Colbert ; the Bishop was
accordingly compelled to reduce his household expenses for
now he only retained the benefices which he possessed outside
his diocese.*^ He now appealed to the Pope himself.'' He
began by extolling the merits of Benedict XIII. and those
acts of the Pontiff which were interpreted as opposed to the
Bull Unigenitus. His election was a manifest proof of divine
omnipotence ; scarcely had he been raised to Peter's throne
when, in the Jubilee Bull, he had spoken of the irresistibility
of the Divine Will, and shortly after, to the delight of some
and the despair of others, of efficacious grace. Let the Pope
^ Ibid., IV., II seqq.
* May 2, 1724 (64 pages in 4°), ibid., 15-19 ; [Nivelle], II.,
I. 293-315-
* June 4, 1724 (69 pages in 4°) [Cadry], IV., 19-21.
* Ibid., 107-111.
* Ibid., 112 seqq.
* Ibid.,. 111.
' February i, 1725, ibid., 231-4; [Nivelle], II., i, 2S4-291.
COLBERT AND THE POPE. 239
finish what he had begun. The Bishop then recounts aU
the encroachments which the French Government had
committed against the Bishops and against himself in
particular. As a matter of fact in November, 1724, the court
had excluded him from the meeting of the States of Languedoc
and had forbidden both him and the Jansenist Bishop of
Pamiers to take part in the election of the delegates to the
Assembly of the Clergy. ^ The Bishops, who had come together
for this election, thereupon deliberated whether they should
ask for a Provincial Council against Colbert. As soon as
the hot-blooded man heard of it, he raised a protest in a
circular letter addressed to all the Bishops of France. ^ His
letter was printed in July ; in November it was prohibited
by the State. In Paris it had been the talk of the town. As if
he had not already sufficiently proclaimed his Jansenism,
Colbert extolled Pavihon as the model and the father of the
French Bishops, as the peculiar glory of the ecclesiastical
province of Narbonne, as the saintly and magnanimous
champion of truth. In like manner the gentlemen of Port-
Royal also obtained their meed of praise : " Who has rendered
better service to Church and State than those famous men
whom it is intended to represent as the enemies of both ? "
They have helped to win for France that superiority which
raises her above other nations ; they constituted a seminary
of heroes whom God raised in order to cleanse the temple and
the sanctuary and to cause Israel to flourish anew. There
are no Jansenists for no one defends the five propositions
and who are they who are listened to against the alleged
Jansenists ? They are people who have been induced to
propound throughout the world principles and moral teaching
so corrupt that the very pagans would blush thereat.^ "Colbert's
writings abound in such sallies against the Jesuits.
Two letters to colleagues written at this period ^ give us
further insight into the state of mind into which the Bishop
1 [Cadry], IV., 183.
- May 2, 1725, ibid., 334-9 ; [Nivelle], II., i, 344-9.
^ [Cadry], IV., 336 seq.
•• June 20 and August 25, 1725, ^bid., 381-6.
240 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
had worked himself. " Above all, no compromise ! No
concessions ! " is the gist of them. However much they
might deplore the statement of the Roman Council on the
Bull Unigenitus as a rule of faith, he nevertheless rejoiced
thereat, inasmuch as it was bound to defeat every attempt
at a compromise. Even with the twelve articles the Bull was
unacceptable ; the Pope was sure to withdraw it ; God's
omnipotence guaranteed it ; already the Pope had defended
efficacious grace, whilst miracles went to show that God was
with the Appellants. " So long as every disguise, all secrecy,
all lies, are an abomination to us, so long are we invincible,
but as soon as we begin to call good evil and evil good, we
are lost beyond redemption. I doubt not, and hold it as
certain that the day will come when the Bull will be generally
scorned and rejected by the Church. I believe that that
day will come as firmly as if I already saw it before my eyes."
Meanwhile the Assembly of the Clergy had come together
on May 30th, 1725. In his inaugural speech the Bishop of
Angers turned sharply upon the Appellants, whilst the
Bishop of Toulouse did so in the address to the King.^ A
special commission was set up for the examination of doctrine.
On its proposal the Assembly resolved to pray the King for
a Provincial Council for the purpose of condemning the
Bishops of Montpellier and Bayeux.^ However, the Assembly
had to break up without having done anything. It refused
to grant to the Government a fresh heavy tax, namely one-
fiftieth on Church property. Thereupon the Duke of Bourbon's
anger, which the Appellants had had to feel until then, burst
upon the Bishops who were true to the Church. Bourbon
dissolved the Assembly on 20th October. He allowed it
to sit till the 28th, but on 9th November Maurepas arrived
in Paris, entered the Archives of the Assembly and cancelled
all the discussions which referred to the fiftieth or which
had taken place after 20th October.^ A letter from the pen
of Languet, in which the Bishops laid the situation of the
^ [Cadry], IV., 337 seq.
• Ibid., 442, 443.
3 Ibid., 448-455.
COLBERT S FURTHER ACTIVITIES. 24I
Church before the King/ nevertheless appeared in print
after the termination of the Assembly, but the Parliament
of Paris suppressed it.^ The bitter remarks which the Advocate-
General passed on the letter on that occasion were greatly
surpassed by the Procurator-General of the Parliament of
Rennes when that body likewise prohibited the letter.^
However, the Procurator-General's invectives were so offensive
for the Bishops that the Royal Council suppressed his speech
and administered a personal rebuke to him.* The speech of
the Advocate-General in the Paris Parliament hinted at a
wish to see the twelve articles approved ; Noailles accordingly
made haste to forward them to the Pope.^
It goes without saying that Colbert did not accept in
silence the judgment pronounced upon him by the French
Clergy. However, the pastoral letter ^ in which he informed
the diocese of Montpellier of his protest against the Assembly
of the French Clergy, was prohibited by the State,' together
with another pastoral letter ^ in which he sought to exploit an
alleged miracle as God's witness in favour of the Appellants.
In spite of everything Colbert soon reappeared in the field
to defend the twelve articles and to attack, in his usual style,
their opponent, the Bishop of Saintes. In his eyes " the
pastoral letter of Saintes is a fresh scandal, which one finds
it difficult to believe, even when it is impossible to doubt it ".
In it the most ordinary Christian truths were trampled under
foot. " "Will it be believed at last," he exclaims, " that
there is a conspiracy on foot which aims at eliminating the
^ Ibid., 453 seq.
^ January 10, 1726, ibid., 487 seq., 509.
^ February' 27, 1726, ibid., 511.
* May 4, 1726, ibid., 575 seq.
* Ibid., 489. A correspondence between the Jansenist Bishops
and Bourbon on the occasion of the general assembly in
Crousaz-Cretet, 26 seq.
* December i, 1725 [Cadry], IV., 472 seqq. ; [Nivelle],
II., I, 349-352.
' April 15, 1726 [Cadry], IV., 565.
* October 20, 1725, ibid., 470.
VOL. XXXIV. R
242 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
most solid truths of faith and morals ? How often have we
not drawn attention to it ! This criminal purpose is now
unveiled before the whole world." ^
(4.)
No Provincial Council took place against Colbert ; on the
other hand such an assembly was convened against another
prelate, less noisily self-assertive than the Bishop of
Montpellier, but reputed the real saint of the party, viz.
Jean Soanen. Born at Riom in 1647, Soanen had entered
the Oratory as a young man in 1661 when Quesnel became
his spiritual guide. On the completion of his studies he
became an appreciated preacher, even before the court and
the Assembly of the Clergy. At that time he employed his
oratorial gifts in combatting Jansenism. ^ It was undoubtedly
his ability as an orator that led to his elevation to the see of
Senez. Quesnel took it in very bad part that he did not
refuse the mitre. " Soanen," he wrote, " is a little diplomatist
whose head has been turned by a desire to make a name for
himself. I was his best friend but I think that that is all over
now ! " ^
In spite of his preaching against Jansenism, Soanen stuck
to his former spiritual director. Even after the Bull Unigenitus
Quesnel remained in his opinion " an innocent man whom
the Jesuits wish to stone and to turn into a heretic against
his will, because he has uttered too many truths ". In the
same way the " Moral Reflections " remained for him " a book
full of piety, which during thirty years has led to a vast
number of conversions and has produced in myself, as in a
thousand others, two great effects, viz. that of filling the
heart with sorrow for one's wretchedness and with courage
to do one's duty ".^
^ Pastoral instruction of May 19, 1726, ibid., 616.
* Jean, 200.
3 Le Roy, La France et Rome, 504, n. 2.
* Soanen to Noailles [Nivelle], II., i, 35.
SOANEN OF SENEZ. 243
Soanen stuck to Ouesnel even after the papal decision
against the latter, hence the Bull Unigenitus gave a new
turn to his life at a time when he had reached his sixty-sixth
year. It was he who, in 1717, instigated the appeal to the
General Council and up to the time of his death, in his ninety-
fourth year, he displayed the greatest zeal for Quesnel and
against the Bull. When the Inquisition condemned his
appeal, he convened a synod against the Inquisition, When
Clement XL published the Bull Pastoralis, Soanen appealed
once more ; when the compromise of 1720 came about he
appealed again ; when Clement XI. died, he instructed his
successor, in the letter of the seven Bishops, about the Bull and
on the means of getting it out of the way. When the Conseil
prohibited the letter of the seven, he offered advice to the
Conseil. In this spirit he replied to De Bissy's pastoral
instruction ; jointly with De Langle he admonished the
newly elected Benedict XIII. not to suffer Molina to triumph
over St. Augustine and St. Thomas and a medley of all sorts
of corrupt opinions and a sacrilegious mixture of true religion
and idolatry to take the place of the religion of Christ.^
It was amid such effusions and manifestos, in which the
eloquence of the aged author is still perceptible, that Soanen
attained his eighty-first year, in fact it was even rumoured
that he was dead. Foreseeing that, in effect, his end could
not be very far off, Soanen, on August 21st, 1726, took
occasion of the rumour to leave his diocese a kind of spiritual
testament with his supreme admonitions. As the farewell
speech of a dying man, as the last blessing of a Bishop, the
document is sufficiently curious. It is a polemical pamphlet
of portentous length, ^ born of a fighting spirit and spending
itself in fighting. In the very first sentence he speaks of the
conflicts of the times on which, he declares, he had sufficiently
spoken in the past, on which, however, he could not be silent,
and that for sLx reasons which he develops at length. Even
in the introduction Soanen deals hard blows to his opponents :
1 Cf. ibid., XII.-XV., 30-57.
* Two dozen folio pages, in [Nivelle], II., i, 87-100. Extract
in [Cadry], IV., 693-9.
244 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
a certain professor of theology — a note carefully gives his
name — has taught this and that, for which reason his Arch-
bishop— the Archbishop of Rheims — defends him ; when
French Bishops condemn false doctrines they are opposed
by the Inquisition. ^ Moreover Soanen invariably represents
the opponents whom he combats as wicked men ; according
to him there exists a conspiracy for the purpose of robbing
the Church of its most sacred and venerable possession ^ :
for several years efforts have been made to infect France,
and though the first attempts did not lead to the desired end,
evil men pursue their purpose with greater zeal than ever
and cherish the hope to see its speedy fulfilment.^
After this introduction Soanen casts a retrospective glance
at the history of the Bull Unigenitus and the subscription
to the formula and endeavours to justify every one of his
own acts.'* He then proceeds to defend at great length the
twelve articles.^ He declares himself expressly in favour
of Quesnel's book and the 101 condemned propositions
extracted from it and condemns the Bull Unigenitus.^ In like
manner, in his opinion, subscription to Alexander VII. 's
formula was enforced for the sole purpose of provoking fresh
troubles.' In this concluding part of his farewell letter
1 [NivELLE], II., I. 88, n. III.
2 Ibid., n. II. 3 Ibid., 89. n. IV.
* Ibid., 90 seqq., 93 seqq. * Ibid., 96-108.
* " Nous [Soanen in 1714] fumes persuades aprfes de serieuscs
reflexions, que le livre [Quesnel's] ne meritoit pas plus d'etre
proscrit que les loi propositions qui en ont ete extraites. Aussi
lorsque nous fumes de retour dans ce diocese, bien loin de faire
ancune demarche pour le condamner, nous en fimes I'eloge en
mille occasion..." {ibid., 90, n. II.). He was convinced, " qu'avec
quclque corrcctif que la constitution put nous etre proposcc,
nous ne pouvions jamais Taccepter " [ibid., 91).
' " Les ennemis de la paix... imaginerent en 1722 un autre
expedient pour exciter de nouveaux troubles " {ibid., 93, II.*
Partic). By demanding the formula they had " cherche de
dessein premedite a aigrir et a multiplier les maux de I'liglise.
Tel est en effct I'usage qu'on fait des nouveaux ordres du Roi...
dans la seule vue de vexer les appellants " {ibid., 94).
THE COUNCIL OF EMBRUN 245
Soanen also attacks a number of opponents : Cardinals
Sfondrati and De Bissy, the Bishops of Soissons and Saintes
and half a dozen Jesuits, " the scandalous teaching of one
Antoine Sirmond and the infamous Amadeus Guimenius," ^
and the casuists in general, whose teaching was worse than
that of the pagan philosophers.^ Apart from his pastoral
Soanen had also given scandal by illegally ordaining twelve
clerics for the schismatical church of Utrecht.^ In these
circumstances it was impossible to wait for the death of the
octogenarian yet it was necessary to tie his hands as soon
as possible. The occasion seemed propitious. In mid- June,
1726, the Duke of Bourbon was sent into banishment ;
sixteen-year-old Louis XV. now announced his intention of
taking the reins of government into his own hands. However,
this did not happen : in the place of the youthful, indolent
prince, the destinies of France were guided by his tutor,
seventy-three-year-old Hercule Andre de Fleury, at one time
Bishop of Frejus and a Cardinal since 1926. Fleury was not
only a gifted statesman but also a man of a truly ecclesiastical
character. Were it only to restore peace to the distracted
realm, he sought to put an end to the religious disputes,
and that on the basis of the Bull Unigenitus.
The favourable occasion of obtaining a Provincial Council
against Soanen ^ was taken advantage of by his Metropolitan,
Pierre Guerin de Tencin, recently appointed to the archi-
episcopal see of Embrun. Guerin had gone to Rome with
Cardinal de Biss}^ in 1721 ; after the conclave he remained
in Rome as French charge d'affaires and at the beginning
of July, 1724, Benedict XIII. himself gave him episcopal
consecration on his appointment to the archiepiscopal see
1 Ihid., I02, n. IX.
2 Ibin., 107, n. XIX.
' Fleury, LXXI., 172 seq.
* The acts of the Council in Coll. Lacensis, I., 615-742. Cf.
ScHiLL, 224-233. The documents also in [Nivelle], I., Appendix,
I seqq., and II., i, 87 seqq. Cf. P. A. Kirsch, in Archiv fiiv
Kath. Kirchenrecht, LXXXVII. (1907), 3-24, and especially
J. Carreyre in Rev. des quest, hist., 1929, 47 seqq., 318 seqq.
246 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
of the little Alpine town of Embriin.^ In the letter by which
he convened the Bishops for August 16th, 1727, the Archbishop
was able to appeal to the roj^al permission. ^ The real object
of the Council, the trial of Soanen, is only lightly hinted at
in that letter, and even more lightly in another letter inviting
Deans, Chapters, Abbots, etc. The Pope had been informed
of the intention of holding the Council ; he approv^ed it in
a letter to Cardinal Lercari.^ It goes without saying that
Soanen nevertheless reahzed what was toward. He accordingly
asked the advocates of the Paris Parliament what he should
do if he himself or his instruction were denounced to the
Council. No less than twenty advocates signed a memorial ^
stating that Soanen could not be interfered with by the
synod seeing that he had appealed to a General Council ;
this recourse to a higher tribunal bound the hand of the
lesser authority ; now, according to the Gallican right the
Council was above the Pope. The Government's declaration
of 1720 had indeed pronounced the appeals null and void
and forbidden them for the future, but for a number of
reasons the appeal could still be considered valid. If he were
summoned to appear before the Council, Soanen should
renew his appeal to the General Council as well as to the
Parliament of Paris on account of abuse of power.
If further proof were needed that the Gallican liberties
meant the abolition of all ecclesiastical discipline, this Paris
decision furnished it. Every step of every ecclesiastical
authority could be stultified in France by a simple appeal
* Jean, 1S8 ; Ch. de Coynart, Les Guerin de Tencin, 1520-
1758, Paris, 1910 ; M. Boutry, Intrigues et mission du card.
de Tencin, Paris, 1902, 62-122.
" Tencin's letter of June 15, 1727, in Coll. Lacensis, I., 617,
his petition to the King for a Council, April 5, 1727, tlfe royal
permission to Tencin and the letter to the Suffragan Bishops,
May 24, ibid., 732. Tencin had obtained the permission personally
in Paris ; on his return journey he issued the convocation in
Grenoble. [Cadry], IV., Six.
^ July 23, 1727, Coll. Lacensis, I., 734.
* July I, 1727, in [Nivelle], I., 2, 2-6 ; [Cadry], IV., 858 seq.
SOANEN AT THE COUNCIL 247
to a General Council, and that by an appeal which could
scarcely be meant seriously, for Soanen was fully aware that
at a General Council the Church would pronounce for the
Bull Unigenitus in the same way as she had done without
a Council. For all that several Doctors of the Sorbonne
issued a memorial ^ on the same lines as that of the advocates
and a number of priests subscribed to various memorials
and protests in favour of the Bishop of Senez and against the
forthcoming meeting of the Bishops.^
Soanen decided to attend the Council in person though
his great age would have been sufficient excuse, but whilst
on the way thither he stated, in the small town of Savine,
before a notary and witnesses, that in view of his appeal to
the General Council he did not acknowledge the assembly
of Bishops as competent to judge his person or his writings. ^
The Bishops of the province who appeared at Embrun were,
besides Soanen, the Bishops of Vence, Glandeve and
Grasse ; the ailing Bishop of Digne sent a deputy ^ whilst
the Bishop of Nice was only consecrated during the Council.^
In its second plenary assembly the Council took up the
affair of the Bishop of Senez. A proposal was made ^ that
Soanen should be asked whether he stood by his pastoral
letter ; that document should be condemned because of its
outbursts against Alexander VII. 's formula and because it
commended the condemned book of Quesnel.' The quite
1 July 20, 1727 [Nivelle], I., 2, 6 seq. 2 /^^^^ 10-24.
3 August II, 1727, Coll. Lacensis, I., 646 seqq. ; [Nivelle],
I., 2, 7-9 ; II., I, 111-13. On August 23 he informed the King
of the steps he had taken. [Nivelle], II., i, 114.
* Coll. Lacensis, I., 637.
* September 21, 1727, ibid., 695. He was a subject of the
King of Sardinia, who on July 9 had given him permission to
attend the council. . Ibid., 732.
* Ibid., 643.
^ " Eo scripto continentur monstruosa, ut ita dicam, errorum
semina, principia seditionem concitantia, errores ipsi capitales,
non semel damnati nee uno Ecclesiae anathemate pcrculsi."
Ibid., 644 d.
248 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
unknown theologians whom Soanen had brought along with
him, were not allowed to defend him. Thereupon Soanen,
who had unhesitatingly declared that he stood by his pastoral
letter, acted on the advice of the Paris advocates : he
demanded judgment on the notary's deed in which he had
denied the competence of the synod. His request was acceded
to, but his objections against the competence of the synod
were rejected as without foundation.^ The accused then
sought to decline his judges — the Archbishop, on the plea
that in the course of a trial he had been accused, at one
time, of simony, of which he had never been declared innocent,
the other Bishops, because they had spoken of him in a manner
which betrayed their partiality. Tencin thereupon submitted
documentary evidence in his defence and as a proof that he
had not been accused of simony ; the Council also refused
to acknowledge the objections to the other Bishops as vaHd
in law.2
Thereupon the accusation was repeated ; it was also
decided to summon the Bishops of the neighbouring provinces
of Aix, Aries, Vienne, Lyons and Besangon.^ In this measure
some allowance for the Galhcan opinion that a Bishop could
only be judged by twelve episcopal colleagues is unmistakable.^
Whilst awaiting their arrival, the Council discussed the
questions which were to constitute the substance of its
decisions on dogma or Canon Law ^ and which were made
generally known in the five public sessions of the Council.
Meanwhile Soanen renewed his protest against the competence
of the Council, but the assembled Bishops merely put the
document among the acts." In a circular letter he also
» Ibid., 645-9.
2 Ibid.. 650-8.
» Ibid., 659.
* Cf. the present work, XXX., 292 ; XXXI., 243 seqq.
^ Printed in Coll. Lacensis, I., 621-634.
« Ibid., 661, 664. Text of the protests in [Nivelle], II., i, 118.
Ibid., 120. Soanen's complaint that he had been excluded from
the " Te Deum " for the delivery of the queen. The reply of the
Bishops in Coll. Lacensis. I., 672.
SOANEN CONDEMNED 249
protested to his fellow Bishops ^ and a little later even to
the King.2 The following Bishops from outside the province
were present at the third session,^ viz. those of Gap, Marseilles,
Belley, Frdjus, Sisteron, Autun, Viviers, Apt, Valence and
Grenoble. Proceedings against Soanen were now resumed.
Three times he was cited and three times he refused to appear
in person.* But not long after the last citation he attended
the concihar assembly, but only to read the fresh appeal to
the Pope and the General Council which he and Colbert of
Montpellier had already interposed in June and July.'' In the
evening of the same day he brought forward objections
against seven out of the ten newly arrived Bishops and
refused each of them individually as his judge. ^ The Assembly
declared these objections to be groundless ; moreover they
came too late for as soon as the outsiders had arrived, Soanen
had been asked whether he was content to have them for
his judges and he had kept silence.'' After the Bishops of
Grasse and Glandeve had given a detailed report on Soanen's
pastoral instruction and other matters concerning him,^ the
accused was thrice admonished to condemn his pastoral
instruction ; after that there followed the Council's sentence
on him.^ That document condemned the pastoral instruction
as rash, scandalous and seditious, offensive towards the
Church, the Bishops and the royal authority, filled with
a heretical spirit and teeming with errors and favouring
heresy. The author was forbidden to exercise the episcopal
^ August 27, 1727 [Nivelle], I., Appendix, 29 seqq. ; letter to
the Bishop of Riez, August 18, ibid., 27 seq.
2 September 10, 1727, ibid., 26 seq.
^ September 8, Coll. Lacensis, I., 667. Of those that were invited
five did not appear [ibid., 660).
* Ibid., 674 seq.
* [Nivelle], II., i, 125-131.
* Ibid., 122, incomplete in Coll. Lacensis, I., 680 seq.
' Coll. Lacensis, I., 678-682.
* Ibid., 707-711, 711-15 ; of. 673 seq., 683 seq.
* September 20, 1727, ibid., 690-4. On 15th and igth Soanen.
had again protested. [Nivelle], II., i, 132-5, 136 seq.
250 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
office and jurisdiction and every episcopal and priestly
function, until he should have withdrawn his instruction.
In \aew of the fact of his being particularly odious to the
condemned prelate, Bishop Belsunce of Marseilles had asked
to be allowed to abstain from the sentence of condemnation ;
after some hesitation his request was granted.^ Soanen did
not fail to protest against the judgment. ^
In the last general session,^ on the report of the Bishop of
Marseilles,* the Council condemned two dissertations by
Le Courayer, a Canon Regular of the Congregation of St.
Genovefa. With a view to paving the way for reunion with
the Anglicans, Le Courayer had defended the validity of
Anglican Orders, and in so doing had denied a whole series
of dogmas of the Catholic Church, especially such as bore
on the Eucharist. His writings created a sensation and met
with both approval and reprobation. Belsunce published
a pastoral letter against him ^ and shortly before the Council
of Embrun he had also been condemned by an assembly of
Bishops presided over by De Bissy.^ During three whole
years Noailles had allowed Le Courayer to say Mass publicly,
day after day, in spite of his views on the Eucharist. So as
not to lag behind De Bissy, he too now published a sentence
of condemnation, bearing an earlier date than De Bissy's
sentence, thus saving at least the appearance of zeal.' Benedict
XIII. likewise condemned Le Courayer's writings.^
At the request of the Assembly of Embrun,^ Benedict XIII.
confirmed the decrees.^" Previously to this ^^ he had given
1 Coll. Lacensis, I., 687 ; cf. 695.
2 [Nivelle], II., I, 150-3.
' September 26, 1727, Coll. Lacensis, I., 698 seq.
* Ibid., 715-724. * [Cadry], IV., 790 seqq.
* PicoT, II., 208-215 ; Freib. Kirchenlexikon, IIP., 1162 seq. ;
Fleury, LXXII., 518.
' Fleury, LXXII, 516 seqq.
« June 25, 1728, Bull, XXII., 665.
' September 27, 1727, Coll. Lacensis, I., 702 seq.
*•> December 17, 1727, ibid., 727.
'1 July 31, ibid., 684 seq.
COMMENTS ON SOANEN S CONDUCT 251
permission for the consecration of the Bishop of Nice at the
Council and both on this occasion, as well as at a later date,^
he had praised the holding of the episcopal meeting.
Soanen's behaviour at the Council was not calculated to
create an impression favourable to himself. His position was
exactly similar to that of the Bishop of Montpellier. In the
latter's case he had recognized, and that in his pastoral
instruction, the competence of a Provincial Council ^ ; how
then could he refuse to acknowledge its judicial power in his
own ? But once he had taken up such an attitude, it was
necessary for him to maintain it and not to reject the tribunal,
on the ground of the unworthiness of individual judges, for
by so doing he acknowledged its competence in general.
Moreover, though he had solemnly proclaimed the
unworthiness of his first judges, when challenged to
substantiate his assertions, he had remained silent, thereby
confessing his inability to do so, and he only objected to
seven of the Bishops of other Provinces after the expiration
of the legal time limit. With regard to Tencin, he admitted
that most of the documents published under his name were
not from his pen.^ In a word, throughout the proceedings
he does not give the impression of outstanding capacity but
rather of self-opinionatedness and obstinacy.
Throughout the proceedings the Council had carefully
refrained from pronouncing upon, or setting itself at variance
with, the Galilean views on the superiority of a General Council
over the Pope and the lawfulness of an appeal to a General
Council. The papal approval of the Council does not refer
^ August 26 and October 25, 1727, ibid., 735.
* " II faudroit done an moins qu'en ce cas le proces fut fait a
un eveque par le concile de la province, qui seul a droit de le
juger en premiere instance lorsqu'il s'agit de la doctrine."
[NiVELLE], II., I, 95.
' Coll. Lacensis., I., 728 c. : " Je sfai par votre propre aveu,
que la plupart des actes qui ont paru sous votre nom, Monseigneur,
n'etoient pas de vous, et que le plus souvent vous n'y aviez
d'autre part que la complaisance de les avoir signes ou de les
avoir adoptes."
252 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
to this attitude ^ ; it only refers to its decrees and the decision
concerning Soanen. The Bishops likewise carefully avoided
pronouncing an explicit sentence of deposition against Soanen,
for according to the decrees of Trent this was the prerogative
of the Pope ; they merely spoke of the suspension of the
Bishop of Senez.2
The King confirmed the sentence of the Council and confined
the obstinate Bishop within the Benedictine Abbe}^ of La Chaise-
Dieu, in the diocese of Clermont. He was eighty-three years
old but lived to be ninety-three, an object of constant anxiety
for the Bishop of the diocese, the celebrated Massillon.^
It was to be expected that the synod would meet with
opposition. Even before its conclusion Colbert of Montpellier
sought to induce the episcopate to intervene with the King
and Fleury in favour of Soanen.* The Bishop of Castres took
similar steps and in so doing described Soanen as the
Chrysostom of the age.^ A little later ^ twelve Bishops, headed
by Noailles,' presented to the King a memorial in favour
^ To the King, on April 15, T728, Epist. ad princ, IV. -V.,
327, Papal Secret Archives. Cf. Coll. Lacensis, I., 635.
* According to [Cadry], IV., 865, the Pope gave his consent
for the holding of the Council of Embrun on condition that no
attempt was made to depose Soanen : " Nous avons vu qu'en
I'annee 1726 lorsqu'on parloit beaucoup du concile de Narbonne
contre M. de Montpellier les lettres de Rome portoient que cette
cour y consentiroit, pourvu que le concile ne procedat point
jusqu'a la deposition ou privation : Ce fut sur le meme pied
qu'elle consentit a la tenue du concile d'Embrun... C'est la vraie
raison pour laquelle nous verrons que le concile d'Embrun s'est
borne a interdire M. de Senez et a le priver de sa jurisdiction,
sans I'excommunier, ni le deposer, ni le priver de son titre."
Cf. Coll. Lacensis, I., 635 seq.
3 Jean, 108, 201 ; Hardy, 85. " Chaise-Dieu " is the transla-
tion of " Casa Dei " (Jean, 109).
* September 7, 1727 [Nivelle], I., 2, 35.
^ October 9, 1727, ibid., 38. * October 28, 1727, ibid., 39-41-
' Besides him, the Bishops of Macon, Angouleme, Montpellier,
Montauban, Auxerrc, Castres, Blois, Rodez, Troycs, Bayeux
and the retired Bishop of Tournai. Ibid., 42.
OPPOSITIONS TO THE ACTS OF THE COUNCIL 253
of the condemned prelate. The Government returned their
letter with the remark ^ that His Majesty could only disapprove
of the attitude of the twelve which caused them to prefer the
protests of- a single prelate to the unanimous sentence of
fourteen or fifteen Bishops, and to rise, " even before the}'
had seen the acts of the Council," against a legitimate
assembly whose decisions had the approval of the authorities
of the Church and State. Ten out of the twelve replied with
fresh representations to the King,^ but this time the Bishop
of Castres refrained as he had already previously appealed
to the King ^ and the Bishop of Macon soon broke altogether
with the Appellants. The Government replied by forbidding
the ten to leave their dioceses. In addition to the Appellant
Bishops a great number of priests of the diocese took the
part of Soanen,^ but once more the advocates of the Parliament
of Paris distinguished themselves above all others by their
keenness in opposing the Council. A memorial drawn up by
them ^ declared the sentence of the Council against Soanen as
null and void, on the ground of the non-observance of legal
formalities, the incompetence of the Council to act as judge,
and the complete innocence of the accused. Once more they
base their arguments chiefly on Soanen's appeal to the General
Council which withdrew him from the competence of all
^ [Patouillet], II., 411 ; Hardy, 94.
^ May 14, 1728 [Nivelle], I., 2, 42-6.
* December 8, 1727, extract, ibid., 47-50. Three letters of
Soanen to Noailles as head of the twelve and the two replies
of the latter, ibid., 50 seqq.
* [Nivelle], I., 2, 54-71, and II., i, 174 seqq.
^ October 30, 1727, extract, ibid., i. Appendix, 73-88. Cf.
[Patouillet], I., 321 seqq. According to the date the letter
of the twelve Bishops is two days older than the consultation
of the advocates ; there is, however, a suspicion that both
documents are by the same hand and that the advocates were
first. Their consultation paved the way for the passing of
Jansenism into the hands of the jurists (Hardy, 94 seq.). Not
all the advocates approved of the memorial of the fifty. Crousaz-
Cretet, 37.
254 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
other judges. In their dogmatic explanations the lawyers
start from the principle that ecclesiastical power was only
bestowed on the totality of the Church ^ ; according to them
the Pope is not the visible head of the Church but only in
the Church. To condemn this arrogant document the Govern-
ment called together thirty-one Cardinals, Archbishops and
Bishops who happened to be in Paris, with Rohan, De Bissy
and Fleury at their head. The Bishops' final judgment ^ was
to the effect that the lawyers had made statements about
the Church, on the Councils, on the Pope, and so forth,
which deserved the severest censure. Accordingly a decree
of the State Council ^ condemned the memorial and ordered
its suppression. A Brief of condemnation had come before
this from the Pope ^ and there followed condemnations by
the Bishops of Soissons, Marseilles, Carcassonne, the Arch-
bishop of Cambrai, the Bishops of Evreux, Valence, Saint-
Brieuc, Chalons, La Rochelle and Cardinal De Bissy. Guerin
de Tencin of Embrun condemned an apology of the memorial
and commended to his flock the instruction of the Bishop of
Evreux.^
The twelve Bishops — subsequently reduced to ten — had
meanwhile sunk to nine in consequence of the resignation
of the Bishop of Montauban. They drew attention to them-
selves once again by their opposition to Benedict XIII. 's
confirmation of the Council of Embrun. Soanen had appealed
to the Procurator General and the first President of the
Parliament of Paris,^ with a view to preventing the registration
of any document or Brief which might lend support to the
Council. The nine Bishops joined in this appeal,' with the
result that they too were hit by the sentence of the thirty-one.
After the Council of Embrun the diocese of Senez was lost
^ " Non uni, sed unitati." [Nivkllk], I., 2, 78.
* May 4, 1728, [Patouillet], I., 324.
* July 3, 1728, ibid., 324 seq.
* June 9. 1728, Bull, XXII., 659.
^ [Patouillet], I., 327-9.
« February 25 and April 7, 1728, [Nivelle], I., 92, 93.
' May 7, 1728, ibid., 94.
SOANEN S DEATH 255
to the Quesnellists. Soanen indeed provided for its administra-
tion by naming a Vicar-General who claimed to be the sole
holder of ecclesiastical authority and who, from his hiding-
place, fought the Vicar-General appointed by the Council
up to the time when he was arrested ^ ; but Soanen's following
shrank from day to day. In a letter to the King,^ in the
year 1729, in which he made yet another attempt to defend
himself, he mentions only a small number of priests who
were still suffering for his sake.^ Some nuns of Senez stuck
to him longer than anyone else ^ ; for the rest Alexander VII. 's
formula was being subscribed to throughout the diocese.^
Soanen lived up till 1740, strengthened in his resistance by
the applause of the party and by the pilgrims who came to
visit him.^ Before his death he ordered to be read once more
the testament ' drawn up in 1735, in which he had restated
his opposition.
The last years of the prisoner of La Chaise-Dieu had been
lonely ones. Of the twenty Bishops who had at one time
jointly appealed to a General Council, only two remained
in office at the time of his death, viz. Bossuet of Troyes and
Caylus of Auxerre who died, the one in 1742, the other in
1754.^ During the last decade of his life, almost every year
saw the disappearance of one of the Appellant Bishops ^ ;
^ His ordinances in [Nivelle], II., I, 214-250. Soanen confirmed
these ordinances [ibid., 250-5). From the Parliament of Aix
he got a decision in his favour for the portion of the revenues
of the bishopric which had been assigned to his opponent ; the
Government, however, annulled the decision. Fleury, LXXII.,
513-
2 March i, 1729 [Nivelle], II., i, 166-173 (extract).
^ In the notes, ibid., 171, six are enumerated.
* Ibid., 185-212.
5 Fleury, LXXII. , 514.
* [Nivelle], II., i, 257. .
' Ibid., 256. Cf. on Soanen in exile E. Jaloustre in Bullet,
hist, et scientif. de I' Auvergyie June-July, 1902.
* Segur of Saint-Papoul, ob. 1748, had resigned already in
1735-
" Cf. the statements in Jean and Gams.
256 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
1731 saw the death of Tilladet of Macon, 1732 that of Arbocave
of Dax. 1734 that of Milon of Condom, 1735 that of Berthamon
of Pamiers, 1736 that of Beaujeu of Castres, 1737 that of
Resay of Angoiileme, 1738 that of Colbert, Soanen's old
friend, 1739 that of Desmaretz of Saint-Malo. Not a few
of the above-named had been lost to Jansenism even before
their death, a result to which the Council of Embnm had
greatly contributed. Desmaretz informed the Pope of his
submission at the end of 1727, a step which secured him
recognition on the part of the Pontiff.^ The following year
was particularly disastrous for the Appellants. Lorraine of
Bayeux and Hebert of Agen died in 1728 ; the latter had
previously withdrawn his appeal. ^ Tilladet of Macon and
Resay of Angouleme withdrew their appeals in the same
year ; for both the Council of Embrun proved the occasion
for making their peace with the Church.^ As for Arbocave
of Dax, he was moved to make his submission by an event
which proved to be the heaviest blow of all for the
Appellants ^ ; this was the final submission of their spiritual
leader. Cardinal Noailles.
(5.)
The constant hesitations, negotiations and delays of the
aged Archbishop show clearly enough that he was aware
that his position was untenable. Serious bouts of illness in
March and April, 1727, convinced him that he could not
long put off a definitive step. Among his friends and the
persons of his immediate entourage, his niece, the Marquise
de Grammont, the General of the Oratorians, De la Tour,
Chancellor Vivant, the Abbe Couet and the celebrated jurist
D'Aguesseau, who from an opponent of the Bull Unigenitus
had become an ardent advocate, pressed him to make his
* Jean, 447 ; Fleury, LXXIL, 711.
* Jean, 127, 348 ; [Cadry], IV., 775.
3 Jean, 133, 232.
* Ibid.. 68.
NOAILLES SUBMITS 257
submission, but more than anyone else Fleury threw into the
scales the whole weight of his influence with his fellow
Cardinal and with prudent moderation and gentleness kept
urging him to do all that lay in his power to repair the harm
which he had done to the Church in France.^
However, prolonged discussions were required between
December, 1726, and May of the following year, to establish
the text of a pastoral letter which safeguarded as much
as possible the honour of the susceptible prelate whilst it was
considered adequate by Cardinals Rohan, De Bissy, Gesvres,
and by Noailles' eventual successor, Vintimille du Luc,
Archbishop of Aix. It had been agreed that the three Cardinals
and Noailles should separately write to Rome and forward
the draft of the pastoral, when a stop was put to further
action by Noailles' grave illness, May 21st. ^
A year went by before another step was taken. When nine
Bishops lodged a protest with the Procurator-General against
the registration by Parliament of any Brief or any other
document favouring the Council of Embrun, Noailles' name
was added to the protest, without the latter's knowledge,
though in virtue of an earlier authorization.^ Thereupon,
on May 19th, 1728, Noailles withdrew his signature. Of all
the things mentioned in the protest, he declared, he would
^ Fleury, LXXIL, 309 seqq., 419 seqq. ; [Cadry], IV., 677 seqq.,
723 seqq., 777 seqq. A detailed exposition of the part taken by
Noailles in the • discussions from 1721 onwards in *MSS. :
" (i) Considerazioni sopra il trattato . . . per la riconciUazione del
sig. card, de Noailles ; (2) Relazione [sul Noailles] ; (3) Osserva-
zioni sopra il libello . . . ' Relazione ' ; (4) Relazione di lettere e
brevi scritti di congregazioni deputate sotto Benedetto XIII. . . .
dal sig. card, de Noailles " all in Cod., 14, I., 13, Archives of the
Frascati Seminary. Cf. also Barthelemy, Le cardinal de Noailles,
Paris, 1 888.
* See above, p. 234. [Cadry], IV., 777.
' " Attendu que cette signification a ete faite a I'ins^u et
sans la participation dudit Seigneur card, de Noailles, sur le
fondement d'une procuration sous seing prive du 8 avril dernier,
dans laquelle il ne juge pas a propos de persister," etc. [Nivelle],
I., Appendix, 97.
VOL. XXXIV. s
25^ HISTORY OF THE POPES.
only do one, that is, he would pray the Pope, for whose
person he cherished so great and so deserved a veneration,
to take the means that he deemed most suitable for the
removal of the divisions and disturbances in the Church of
France.^ Encouraged by the example of the Bishop of
Saint- Malo, who withdrew his appeal about this time, Noailles
wrote to Benedict XIII. on July 19th, 1728,2 that he was
resolved to obey the commands of His Holiness in all things,
and that with perfect and sincere submission ; that he
wished to blot out entirely the memory of those things by
which he may have displeased His Holiness and to leave to
posterity an attestation that his own teaching differed neither
now nor in future from that of the Pope, the Cardinals and
the Bishops. In presence of Christ, his Lord and Judge, he
attested that he received the Bull Unigenitus with a sincere
heart, that he rejected the book of " Moral Considera-
tions " and the 101 propositions, in the same sense in which
the Constitution rejected them ; that he withdrew his pastoral
instruction of 1719 ; that he wouW issue another mandement
and publish it throughout his diocese in order to ensure the
observance of the Bull. Twice he states that, since he had
decided to submit, he felt such joy and peace as he had not
experienced for a long time.
In Rome the Cardinal's protestations were at first received
somewhat coldly. The authorities there had had too painful
experiences with the Clementine Peace and with Noailles
himself to trust him at once. Beiiedict XIII. charged seven
Cardinals with the examination of the affair. These began
by drawing up a document urging caution which was to be
signed by all the Cardinals and which, in fact, had already
gathered twenty-two signatures. After that, they stated
their misgivings to the Pope in writing.^
1 Ibid.
" Fleury, LXXIL, 712.
3 " *Aviendo tenido el cardenal de Polignac ordcn de su corte
para tratar con el Papa e la S. Sede la reconciliacion del card,
de Noailles, quien prometio la aceptacion de la bula Unigenitus,
destine S. S<^ una congrcgacion particolar (fuera de la general
MISGIVINGS IN ROME. 259
Their first difficulty was Noailles' assurance ^ that he
accepted the Bull in the same sense in which the Holy See
accepted it. Now in his pastoral Noailles had endeavoured
to prove that the Bull Unigenitus was not a dogmatic definition
but a simple administrative or disciplinary measure and that
as such, it was revocable. In what sense then does he accept
it now ? The Cardinals take it as certain that he considers
it merely as a disciplinary measure. He goes on to say that
he " condemned the 101 propositions of the Bull with the
same censures with which the Holy See condemned them ".
Now in his pastoral letter Noailles had precisely endeavoured
to prove the non-dogmatic character of the Bull by the fact
that the Constitution did not state with which of the many
censures there enumerated each of the 101 propositions was
struck. It is in " this same sense " that Noailles now intends
to condemn these propositions, that is, he condemns them
in a manner which, in his opinion, is not that of a dogmatic
Bull.
Of his pastoral instruction the Archbishop says that " he
withdrew it ", but not that he declared it to be false. Between
" withdrawing " and " recanting " there is a vast difference :
the latter implies a change of opinion, but not the former.
With a withdrawal of the instruction the Archbishop does
not alter the judgment therein passed on the Bull and
que estava establecida antes de ahora sobre esta materia) que se
compone de siete cardenales y se junto ahier, pero no se save el
resultado per tratarse este negocio con el secrete del S. Oficio ;
y teniendo el s. colegio que [no] pudiese admitirse la referida
reconciliacion del card, de Noailles en terminos perjudiciales
a la Iglesia catolica, formo un memorial representando todos
los motives para que este negocio se tratase cen teda la debida
atencion, el qual se havia de firmar de todos los cardenales y de
heche la avian ya firmade 22, pere despues crehieren mas cen-
veniente pener por escrite en ferma de censulta las censidera-
cienes que ocurrian en esta impertancia y presentarlas a S. B.,
come se ha executade." Bentivoglie to De la Paz, August 21,
1728, Corresp., 1728, p. 1031, Simancas Archives.
^ Memorial in the appendix of the letter quoted.
260 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
proclaimed to the whole world : the withdrawal would in the
end amount to a mere ceremony and in time to come it
might be said that the Holy See had attached no great weight
to the whole affair. Noailles has always objected to the
expression " to recant ", but much less to the word
" withdraw ".
Moreover it was impossible to ascertain why Noailes accepted
the Bull and rejected Quesnel's propositions, whether it was
because the Holy See rejected them, or because he himself
recognized them as false. In this way the Jansenists might
claim that Noailles had confirmed the papal sentence by his
own, but not that he had submitted to it. For that reason
alone the retractation of the Cardinal must be considered
as inadequate and ambiguous, " for it was well known what
subterfuges the heretics have had recourse to in writings of
this kind : they had at all times sought to deceive the Holy
See, the Jansenists more than all the others, as we have
learned by an all too frequent experience." ^ Nor was
Noailles' appeal to the General Council mentioned with as
much as one word, though that had been so enormous a scandal
as to demand an explicit withdrawal, and besides his pastoral
instruction Noailles had pubhshed, both before and since,
other writings no less scandalous yet not mentioned by him
in his withdrawal.
The best thing was not to approve Noailles' letter as in
that case the Jansenists would appeal to the Roman confirma-
tion and fresh troubles would ensue, to the great spiritual
injury of many who would become more obstinate in their
errors. At no time had the Church re-admitted a repentant
heretic on the basis of a retractation that was manifestly
ambiguous : if this were done now Church history would
speak of it as a repetition of the case of Liberius.
On the other hand it would have been exceedingly imprudent
1 " Essendo ben note quanti siano li raggiri degli eretici in
somigHanti progctti, con li quali hanno sempre procurato d'in-
gannare la Santa Scde, e principalmente i Giansenisti, de' quali
abbiamo tutti pur troppo tanta sperienza."
NOAILLES' MANDEMENT. 261
to repel Noailles abruptly. Accordingly the Pope's reply ^
recognizes all that was good in Noailles' letter but points out
with sufficient clearness that everything was not as yet in
order. All those who had seen his letter, the Pope wrote, had
found in it tokens of true obedience and complete acceptance
of the Constitution Unigenitus ; the Pope eagerly looked
forward to the rich fruits which he promised himself from
Noailles' submission ; all the more willingly and gladly would
he grant him a full pardon for everything.
On October 11th, 1728, the Archbishop published his
mandement with his retractation. ^ He accepts the Bull with
sincerest respect and submission, rejects Quesnel's book and
the 101 propositions extracted from it, " in the same way
and with the same censures with which the Pope had rejected
them." And " in order to give still further proof of the
sincerity of our submission to the Holy See, we withdraw
our instruction of January 14th, 1719, together with all that
has been published in our name and which is at variance with
this our acceptance ". The Bull and the mandement, it says
in conclusion, were to be registered in the archiepiscopal
chancellery, proclaimed and publicly posted up. Thus the
Constitution — the long opposed and prescribed Constitution
Unigenitns — was at last published in the archdiocese, and it
was no gain for the Jansenists that isolated copies were torn
down on the day of the publication and all of them in the
course of the night. The latter action had been foreseen by
the police : when the Parisians woke up the next morning,
fresh copies had been put up. It is true that when the first
copies were posted up the protection of armed men had been
necessary.^ The mandement was not to be read in the churches,
as it was impossible to rely on the parish priests of Paris.
^ *August 21, 1728, Epist. ad princ, IV. -V., 476, Papal Secret
Archives ; Fleury, LXXII., 715-18.
^ Printed in [Nivelle], I., Appendix, 100 seq. ; translation
in Fleury, LXXII , 726-730.
8 Hardy, 116 scqq. ; Fleury, LXXII., 731. The ordinance
seems to have been drawn up by D'Aguesseau ; Fleury writes
262 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Far worse for Noailles than these isolated outbreaks against
the mandement was the fact that even before the publication
of the retractation a document, dated August 22nd, was
being broadcast, which stated that Noailles would go back
on his subscription to the nine Bishops' memorial of May 7th,
1728,^ and protest against the misunderstandings that might
arise from his withdrawal of his signature : this withdrawal
was to be explained as the result of a momentary weakness
and surprise. A postscript stated that this declaration of his
should serve against any contrary pronouncement which he
might be made to subscribe to, either whilst still in full health
or on his death-bed. An attestation by twenty parish priests
of Paris ^ certified the authenticity of this document and
Noailles had to protest continually against being faced with it.
In the introduction to his mandement of October 11th he
complains that the sincerity of his profound respect for the
Holy See was being called in question ^ ; in a circular ^ in
which he brings his mandement to the notice of the Bishops,
he says that he had begged both Pope and King to attach
no credence to a document which, he was told, was being
broadcast and which was calculated to give rise to suspicions
about the sincerity with which he spoke in his mandement.
On October 23rd the Archbishop informed the Pope that the
publication of the Bull Unigenitiis was at last an accomphshed
fact ; at the same time he forwarded his mandement. He
concluded by praying the Pope to give no credence to a
to him : " Gloire en suit rcndue a Dieu premierement, a vous
et a madame la marquise de Grammont " (Gazier, I., 274).
Of the posted-up sheet Gasier says {ihid., 237) : " Je I'ai sous les
yeux, on dirait qu'elle a ete imprimee de maniere a ne pouvoir
pas etre lue." But the posting up was a mere matter of form ;
an edition in the form of a pamphlet followed and the Parisians
knew very well what the printed poster meant (Hardy, loc. cit.).
On the ordinance, cf. Picot, II., 243.
1 [Nivelle], I., Appendix, 98 seq.
* March 27, 1-729, ibid., 99.
^ Ibid., 100.
* October 30, 1728, ibid., 102 ; Fleury, LXXII., 733.
INTERVENTION ON BEHALF OF NOAILLES 263
secretly printed document which was being thrown to the
pubhc as signed by himself on August 22nd ; he asked, on
the contrary, that his conduct should be judged by his letter
to His Holiness and by the mandement which he was
forwarding.^
Seeing that in his mandement Noailles had stated with
sufficient clearness that he accepted the Bull out of submission
to the Holy See, and that out of obedience to the Pope he also
withdrew his pastoral instruction of 1719, as well as all other
writings of his which had given offence, there seemed to
remain no further justification of the misgivings hitherto
felt as to the sincerity of the Archbishop of Paris. Benedict
XIII. accordingly a,nnounced a public consistory for
November 8th, 1728, for the purpose of communicating the
great news to the Cardinals. ^ The intervention of Cardinals
De Bissy, Rohan and Fleury on behalf of Noailles had greatly
helped to dissipate the last misgivings.^ In their letter they
said that the Cardinal had properly and dutifully rendered
the obedience due to the Constitution according to Canon
Law * ; hence the three Cardinals had received him with all
charity, for once truth had had its due and the cause of the
division had been removed, no good purpose could be served
by insisting on trifles.^ They therefore prayed the Pope to
give some unmistakable token of reconciliation at a solemn
consistory ; this would be of immense help to the Archbishop
in restoring concord among the faithful ; it would likewise
strengthen him in the struggles and difficulties he was bound
^ " Finiens has literas percipio, infaustum qiioddam scriptum
ceu a me die 22 Augusti hoc anno signatum ac furtive impressuni
in vulgus spargi. Rogo autem Sanctitatem V., ut . . . nullam
ci fidem adhibeat." Fleury, LXXIL, 741 ; Picox, II., 245.
2 Ibid., 735 seqq.
' October 26, 1728, ibid., 743-8. CJ. Voyages de Montesquieu,
I., 197 seqq.
*■ " Rite ac debite obedientiam iuxta canones constitutioni
Unigenitus debitam exsolvit." Fleury, LXXIL, 743 seq.
* Inutile est ... ad singula descendere, omnes rimas investigare
at turbas inde concitatas discutere." Ibid., 745.
264 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
to encounter with the Jansenists. In their conclusion they
repeat that Noailles had acted in accordance with the demands
of Canon Law, his letter of July 19th to the Pope was a token
of submission, with his mandement he had rendered to the
Constitution the obedience due to it and had striven to tear
out by the roots all that by which he had at one time caused
scandal. This was their view of Noailles and his cause — the-
words are a clear hint that not a few people in Rome may
have been of a different opinion. With regard to the secretly
distributed document of August 22nd, the three Cardinals
refer to Noailles' own statements. Whether there was question
here of a forgery under his name, or that the retractation was
based on an intrigue, it showed at any rate that the enemies
of the Church left nothing untried in order to represent the
Cardinal, whose prestige had been their strongest support,
as a partisan of theirs.
In addition to the three Cardinals, congratulations reached
Noailles from other quarters also : the King sent him a
special letter,^ and he received expressions of satisfaction
from Tournely and Syndic Romigny in the name of the
Sorbonne, from the Canons of Notre-Dame, the Generals of
the Oratorians, Doctrinarians, Benedictines, the Superiors of
various religious houses, including even the Jesuits : to the
latter Noailles restored the faculties of which he had deprived
the Fathers in 1716.2 The Archbishop was particularly
gratified by the visits of his colleagues in the episcopate who
until then had kept away from rehgious functions whenever
Noailles took part in them.^ The faculty whereby the Jubilee
Indulgence of 1725 was granted to the archdiocese of Paris
for the year 1725 could also be considered as a proof of
reconcihation. Crowded processions, in which even the ladies
^ October 22, 1728, in [Nivelle], I., Appendix, 102.
* March 6, 1729, Hardy, 132.
' Fleury, LXXIL, 734. A *lettcr of congratulation of the
Roman Cardinals, November 17, 1728, in Bibl. Sessoriana,
Rome, Cod., CCLXIX., Miscell. hist, eccl, f. 165 ; *another
of the Pope to the King, November 13, 1728, in Epist. ad princ.
IV. -V., 542, Papal Secret Archives.
JANSENIST INTRIGUES IN PARIS 265
of the aristocracy joined, marched through the streets, and
the King made the prescribed visits on foot.^
When the Spanish ambassador in Rome, Cardinal
BentivogHo, informed Madrid of the solemn consistory in
which Benedict XIII. announced the recantation of the
Archbishop of Paris, he felt he might write : " Thus, then,
the dispute is ended, let us thank God for it !" ^ In reality,
however, the troubles were far from ended. Noailles himself
was indeed preserved from further struggles and difficulties by
death which overtook him on May 4th, 1720, though even he
was not spared a foretaste of what was to come. At the time
when his retractation was drafted but not yet published, six
or seven parish priests called on him to inform him that
they would never accept or publish the Bull.^ A little later
twenty parish priests of Paris handed in a declaration on the
subject at the Archbishop's palace * which, however, did not
come to Noailles' knowledge. When on October 23rd the
Archbishop's retractation was affixed on the churches and
the walls, his alleged protest of August 22nd was posted up
by the side of it.^ The Archbishop's state of mind, it was
rumoured, was such that he no longer knew what it was
that he was made to sign, only his alleged statements of a
Jansenist character were taken at their full value. ^ Five
months after his death he was shown in the worst possible
light. On September 25th, 1729, Soanen published a paper '
in which he alleged that Noailles had declared for all time to
come that it had never been his intention to accept the Bull
against Ouesnel without additions and declarations, to
withdraw his appeal to a General Council and the teaching
contained in his instruction of 1719, or to approve the Council
^ Brief of November 23, 1728 ; ordinance of the Archbishop,
April I, 1729, Hardy, 133 seqq.
* To De la Paz, November 10, 1728, Simancas Archives.
3 [Nivelle], I., Appendix, loi.
* October 16, 1729, ^bid., loi seq.
s Ibid., I., XXVI., note.
* Ibid., XXVI. seqq., 100 seqq.
' Dated February 26, 1729, ibid., 103.
266 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
of Embrun. It is difficult to believe that Soanen had this
document from Noailles, otherwise he would not have spoken
in such vague terms of its origin. ^ After the Archbishop's
death, his Vicars-General declared it to be spurious. ^ Had it
been genuine, the Jansenists would have had Noailles with
them once more, but assuredly not as an ornament and
support of the party. For the rest his contemporaries bear
witness to the strict and blameless conduct of the unhappy
Cardinal Archbishop ; they speak in high terms of his piety
and liberality, his sohcitude for his clergy and his Cathedral
church of Notre-Dame ; thus, for instance, he restored at his
own expense the large rose window over the doors of the
south transept and the whole of the lead roof.^ It was his
misfortune to have been raised to a position to which he
was not equal. On the day on which he died the Queen
wrote * that his demise would grieve but few people on
either side ; may God forgive him the evil he has done to
the Church. His insubordination, Lafitau writes,^ did much
harm, his submission came too late to do much good.
However, if Noailles resipiscence in the days of his strength
would have had very different consequences, even his belated
recantation did not fail to make some impression. After the
Cardinal's submission Caumartin of Blois, who had not been
personally an Appellant, at least ceased to speak against the
Council of Embrun.^ De la Chatre of Agde never broke
^ " Sa declaration du 26 Fevrier qui m'est confiee comme
un depot de sa piete et un gage de sa bienveillance " {ibid., 104).
" En meme temps qu'il a quitte la terre, je suis devenu le deposi-
taire de ses deux declarations " {ibid., 105).
^ Letire de Messieurs les Vicaires Generaux de l'Arche-
VECHE DE Paris, le siege vacant, d S. E. monseigncur le card, de
Fleury, extract in Mem. pour I'hist. des sciences, Trevoux, 1730,
355-362.
' Gazier, I., 275 ; Marcel Fosseyeux, Le card, de Noailles
et I' administration du diocese de Paris, 1695-1729, in Rev. hist.,
CXIV. (1913), 261 seqq., CXV. (1914), 34 seqq.
* Hardy, 140.
* Ibid., 141. • Jean, 294.
NOAILLES' SUCCESSOR 267
completely with the Jansenists but in 1729, for some reason
or other, he promulgated the Bull.^ Tourouvre of Rodez
acted in like manner on September 25th, 1729, sought to
help Soanen and became reconciled with the Jesuits from
whom he had withdrawn all faculties at his entry into the
diocese. 2 Tilladet of Macon, who withdrew his appeal
immediately after the Council of Embrun, also published
the Bull in May, 1729.^ The only remaining Jansenist Bishops
were Coislin of Metz {ob. 1732), Kerlivio of Treguier {ob. 1731),
Beaujeu of Castres {ob. 1736), who, however, kept quiet,
and in addition to them the three spokesmen of the party,
viz. the Bishops of Troyes, Montpelher and Auxerre. Thus
the extinction of the Jansenist Bishops was only a question
of time. Moreover, after Noailles' death the party remained
without a head. Though he had been made a leader against
his will, and had been pushed rather than himself led, he
nevertheless provided guidance and pace. After his
disappearance the Ouesnellists lacked both head and
centre.
As was to be expected Fleury saw to it that a friend and
defender of the Constitution succeeded Noailles. Charles de
Vintimille du Luc, at first Bishop of Marseilles and then for
thirty years Archbishop of Aix, had drawn the attention of
the Government to himself by his moderation, his zeal against
the Jansenist superior of his seminary and his self-sacrifice
during the plague.* In spite of his seventy-four years he
accepted the archiepiscopal see of Paris ^ and retained it for
1 Ibid., 255. 2 Ibid., 13. Cf. Hardy, 148.
' Jean, 232.
* Ibid., 19, 41 ; Fleury to the Dean of the Cathedral Chapter,
in Fleury, LXXIII., 39 ; Hardy, 146. The judgment on
Vintimille in M. Martin, Hist, de France, XV., 164, 207, is one-
sided and too unfavourable.
* The Pope *congratulated him on October 8, 1729 (" opus
ab antecessore card, de Noailles demum per sincerum resipiscente
inchoatum tibi reservatum perficiendum "), Epist. ad princ.,
VI., 165, Papal Secret Archives. Ibid., 253, papal *recognition
of his activities for peace and unity, January 5, 1730.
268 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
a period of seventeen years, viz. up to 1746. From the first
he was fully aware of the difficulties he would have to
deal with in the utterly distracted diocese. In his first pastoral
letter,^ in which he exhorts the faithful to submit to the
Bull, he draws a gloomy picture of existing conditions. Many
Appellants, he writes, had, indeed, come back : some Bishops,
the simple faithful without number, several communities.
Chapters and theological Faculties ; but the sad consequences
of the appeals could be seen on every side : religion shaken
in the hearts of men, the spirit of docility, which was the
hall-mark of the children of the Church, destroyed or
weakened, reverence for the Vicar of Christ forgotten or
trodden under foot, the honour of the Bishops attacked by
calumny, their authority slighted or attacked from every
quarter, their censures scorned and the subordination due
to them set aside. ^
Among the corporations of whose return Vintimille speaks,
the Chapter of Paris came first. On the very first occasion
of the new Archbishop presenting himself before his Chapter —
even before he had taken possession of the archiepiscopal
See — for the purpose of guaranteeing to it its privileges on
oath, he demanded the immediate acceptance of the Bull
and the Canons obeyed.^ Fleury, working in secret, had
been instrumental in bringing about this change.^ Even more
important was the submission of the Sorbonne. 'A royal
letter ^ informed them that the Government's patience was
at an end and that all those who had renewed their appeal
after 1720, all adherents of Bishop Soanen, all those who had
withdrawn their submission to the formula, had forfeited
their privileges as Doctors. Accordingly many who attended
the next assembly of the Faculty,^ found themselves deprived
1 September 29, 1729, extract in Memoires of Trevoux, 1730,
320-330. ^ Ibid., 329.
' [NiVELLE], I., Appendix, 109 seq. ; Fleury, LXXIII., 40.
* Hardy, 173 seq.
s October 22, 1729, in Feret, llpoqtil moderne, VI., 95 seq.
« November 4, 1729, Feret , VI., 96; Fleury, LXXIII., 48 5e^. ;
HiLD, 170 seq.
SUBMISSION OF THE SORBONNE 269
of their right to vote, hence, after the reading of the royal
letter, on the proposal of Syndic Romigny, the decision was
put off until the next session which was not attended by
those who had been excluded. Romigny had suggested this
course in his speech and exhorted them by letter to peace. ^
He renewed his exhortations at the next assembly of the
Faculty,^ in which he referred to Noailles and the Metropolitan
Chapter, to the example of the simple faithful and the
religious bodies which, especially since the pastoral letter
of the new Archbishop, were coming back day by day.^
On the proposal of the Syndic twelve delegates were then
elected "* for the purpose of examining ways and means of
restoring peace. Acceptance of the Bull Unigeniius by the
Faculty was considered as an accomplished fact. Forty-nine
Doctors made a last attempt to create difficulties by appealing
to Parliament which, however, refused to receive it.- The
next session of the Faculty ^ approved the decisions of the
previous meeting by 94 votes against 13. In the discussion
of the twelve deputies, Tournely, as chairman, advocated
the view that the best means of persuading the recalcitrants
would be an account of what had taken place at the time
of the acceptance of the Constitution in 1714 and its rejection
at a later date. Tournely's clearly drawn up account ^ was
read between December 15th and 17th, and achieved its
object : by 95 out of 101 votes, five decisions were arrived
at : the Faculty's decree of 1714 on the acceptance of the
Constitution was stated to be authentic and was re-affirmed ;
the Constitution itself was described as a dogmatic judgment
of the universal Church ; the Faculty's appeal of 1717 against
that judgment was revoked ; a delay of two to four months
1 Ihid.
" November 8, 1729, Fleury, LXXIII., 50 seqq. ; Hild, 171.
3 Fleury, LXXIIL, 53.
* The names in Feret, VI., 96 ; Hild, 172, n. i.
^ December i, 1729, Hild, 172.
« Fleury, LXXIIL, 59-88 ; [Nivelle], L, LXII.-LXHL,
Appendix, 154-173 ; Hild, 170 seqq.
270 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
was granted to those living at a distance for their recantation ;
in future no one was to be allowed to take part in the
discussions of the Faculty who refused to submit to the Bull.^
Thus, on the whole, the Faculty had abandoned its
opposition to the Bull. Those Doctors who still remained
recalcitrant were repeatedly granted a delay for reflection
in the course of the ensuing months ^ and a great many of
them gave up their opposition. ^ The provincial Doctors
made known their agreement ; in the end some 707 had
accepted the Bull, including thirty-nine Bishops.^ The efforts
of a few obstinate men to delay the march of events by
protests to Parliament,^ proved unsuccessful. Tournely,
the most distinguished theologian of the period, who
at one time had been excluded from the Faculty on
account of his submission to the Bull, became, now that he
was dead [oh. 1729), the object of the highest eulogies at the
sitting of the Faculty of January 2nd, 1730.^ The King,
the Queen, Cardinal Fleury and Chancellor D'Aguesseau
gave a most gracious reception to a deputation sent by the
Faculty for the purpose of presenting the decisions.' The
Pope sent a Brief expressing his gratification ^ and the
Universities of Cologne and Prague, in lengthy communica-
tions, congratulated the Sorbonne on its submission.^ The
Faculties of Angers, Nantes, Rheims, Caen, Toulouse and
Poitiers followed the example of their sister Faculty of Paris. ^"
^ Fleury, LXXIIL, 88-92 ; Laemmkr, Melet., 405 seq.
- Feret, VI., 102.
' Ibid., 102 seq. ; Fleury, LXXIIL, 212
* Hardy, 180.
* Fleury, LXXIIL, 187 seq., 193 seq.
* HiLD, 175.
' Feret, VL, ioo seqq.
* January 27, 1730, *Epist. ad princ, VL, 266, Papal Sccr.
Arch., also *February 8, 1730 [ibid., 281), to the King, thanking
him because " aditus novitatibus obstruatur et unitas coalescat ".
* Fleury, LXXIIL, 221 seqq., 226. Chronologically the letters
belong to the pontificate of Clement XII.
1" Feret, 104.
OPPOSITION TO VINTIMILLE 27I
The joy of the loyal sons of the Church was countered by
the rage of the Ouesnelhsts which vented itself in furious
attacks.^
The clergy of Paris was less tractable than the Sorbonne.
From Vintimille's action with his Chapter the parish priests
were able to gather what treatment awaited them. Even
before the publication of the Archbishop's first pastoral
letter some twenty-five of their number requested their new
ruler, in writing, ^ not to carry out an intention with which
rumour credited him, namely that of depriving a number of
priests of their faculties to preach and to hear confessions.
This was undoubtedly meant as a threat, for it was to be
expected that Vintimille would summon the priests, as he
had done at Marseilles and at Aix, in order to satisfy himself
as to their fitness to hear confessions. However, up till
February, 1730, only 30 out of 1,110 priests had their faculties
refused to them as a result of this examination, but even this
small number was enough for the revolutionary party among
the clergy to raise a storm against their Archbishop.^ Besides
scattering a number of loose sheets, they addressed a second
letter to Vintimille,* together with a detailed memorial,
in which they meant to refute the Archbishop's first pastoral,
paragraph by paragraph. In this the country priests had
made common cause with their colleagues of the capital.^
As these writings were intended for the public, Vintimille
also appealed to the public by addressing a printed letter to
the King, giving an account of the state of affairs and invoking
the protection of the Government.^ In this communication
he was able to point out that, as a result of his pastoral
instruction, several religious bodies had made their submission,
viz. the Dominicans, the Carmelites, the Premonstratensians
and the Doctrinarians, and even a number of parish priests,
1 Hardy, 181.
" September 23, 1729, [Nivelle], I., Appendix, 11 1 seq.
' Vintimille, ibid., 128.
* December 28, 1729, ibid., 112 seq.
' October 16, 1729, ibid., 124-6.
* February 8, 1730, ibid., 126-9.
272 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
who had signed the first memorial addressed to him, were
now withdrawing their subscription.^
In the memorial of the parish priests of Paris to Vintimille,^
they had attacked another papal ordinance which gave the
enemies of the Constitution fresh occasion for polemical
writings. On September 25th, 1728, Benedict XIII. had
prescribed for the whole Church the annual observance of
the feast of the great Pope Gregory VII. in Mass and Breviary.^
The Paris police prevented the impression of the Breviary
Office and Fleury would gladly have contented himself with
this assertion of the Gallican liberties.* The Parliament of
Paris was of another opinion ; all that Fleury could do to
counteract its zeal was to examine the manuscript of the
speech of the Advocate-General, in order to deprive it of
its sharpest points and to refuse to allow the prohibition of
the Breviary lessons ^ to be publicly hawked by street vendors.^
The Parliaments of Rennes, Metz and Bordeaux '^ followed
the example of Paris ; when the others made mien to enter
on the same path they were prevented by the Government.^
Among the Bishops the first to speak out was the keen
Appellant Caylus of Auxerre.^ "In order to fulfil all justice
and to give to the King fresh proofs of our loyalty and our
zeal for the safety of his sacred person and the tranquillity
^ Ibid., 128 ; Hardy, 176 seq. On the submission of the
Dominicans of Saint- Jacques, on October 13, 1729, cf. Coulon
in Rev. des sciences phil. et thiol., \l. (1912), 312 seq.
2 [Nivelle], I., Appendix, 115.
* Cf. above, p. 155.
* Hardy, 163.
* July 20, 1729 ([Nivelle], III., 961), printed in Paris in 1729.
Archives of the Spanish Embassy in Rome.
« Hardy, 164 seq.
' August 17, 1729, September i and 12, 1729, in [Nivelle],
III., 962-4.
8 Ibid., 965. In a *Brief of August 18, 1729, Benedict asks
for the assistance of the King in the matter. Epist. ad princ,
VI., 78, Papal Secret Archives.
» July 24, 1729, [Nivelle], I., 657-660.
GREGORY VII. IN THE BREVIARY 273
of his realm", he forbade the feast prescribed by the Pope.
He was followed by the no less zealous Bishop Colbert of
Montpellier ^ and after him by the Bishops of Castres,^ Metz,
Troyes and by the Bishop of Verdun from among the supporters
of the Constitution.^
Rome did not suffer these fresh encroachments in silence :
special Briefs ** condemned the pastoral letter of the Bishops
of Auxerre, Metz and Montpellier. Thereupon Caylus of
Auxerre protested to Parliament against the papal Brief ^
and a lengthy memorial by a hundred lawyers ^ was meant
to add weight to the episcopal request. Not content with
this, Caylus followed with letters to the King, the Assembly
of the Clergy and to Vintimille.'' Colbert of Montpellier
also appealed to the King ^ and the Assembly of the Clergy,^
but the efforts of the two Bishops yielded no result. The
King would not even open Caylus' letter, ordered the
suppression of his pastoral letter and forbade Parliament to
have anything to do with the matter. ^*^ The result of Colbert's
letter to the Assembly of the Clergy was that that body
prayed the King for a Provincial Council, for the purpose of
deposing the Bishop, ^^ but it proved impossible to get the
Government to participate in measures of this kind against
a gentleman of such noble lineage. Rome had issued a
condemnation of all the measures of the secular power against
the Breviary Office of St. Gregory VII. ^^ Parliament did
1 July 30, ibid., 363-5.
' November 11, ibid., 732-6.
* August 12, 1729, Hardy, 167.
* September 17, October 8, December 6, 1729, Bull., XXII.,
841, 858 seq. Cf. [Nivelle], III., 966.
* Fleury, LXXIIL, no seqq. ; [Nivelle], II., i, 660.
* February 14, 1730, [Nivelle], II., i, 661-6.
' February 11, August 18, 1730, March 3, 1733, ibid., 666 seqq.,
669 seqq., 673-5.
* December 31, 1729, ibid., 365 seqq. » Ibid., 371.
" Fleury, LXXIIL, 120. ^ [Nivelle], II., i, 371.
^^ December 19, 1729, ibid.. III., 967 ; Fleury, LXXIIL,
114 seq. Cf. Reusch, Index, II., 788 seqq.
VOL. XXXIV. T
274 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
not fail to prohibit this decree also, together with the Office
of St. Gregory VII. and the three papal Briefs concerning
it.^ By his conciliatory representations Cardinal Fleury
obtained at least that the motives of the prohibition were
not made public. ^
As a matter of fact it was due to Fleury that no more
serious complications arose. Rome was anxious about the
subject as anything might be expected from French irritation.
The Viceroy of Naples had also written on the subject to
Charles VI. ^ For Belgium the new Breviary lessons were
actually prohibited in 1730. ^ On May 12th, 1730, the
Jansenist Bishop of Utrecht also forbade the Office of St.
Gregory VII. The Dutch Government made it known that
the public recitation of the forbidden Office would be punished
by a six months' closure of the churches in which this was
done, whilst its impression and sale would entail a fine of
1,000 florins and the forfeiture for Catholics of the right to
trade. ^
Though Caylus' and Colbert's letter did not achieve their
immediate purpose, they are none the less characteristic of
Jansenism at that time. In his letter to the King, Colbert
1 February 23, 1730, [Nivelle], III., 968 seq. ; Fleury,
LXXIIL, 120.
2 Hardy, 169.
' *On the prohibition of the feast of St. Gregory by four
French Bishops : " *se discurrio largamente en la congregacion
del S. Oficio del miercoles passado, dudando fuertemente que
este ncgocio quiera tomar gran cuerpo en Francia, y corricndo
aqui copia de un despacho del vicerey de Napoleos al S. Emperador
en el mismo asumpto, incluyo a V. S." (Bentivoglio to De la Paz,
September 3, 1729, Simancas Archives, 1729, f. 724.) " *Yo temo
mucho que esta novedad pueda magnamente irritar los animos
ya destemplados de los Franceses en perjuicio de la verdadera
observacion de la nucstra s. religion y debida obediencia a la
S. Sede " [ibid., f. 826).
* Van Espen, Opera, Suppl., Venetiis, 1769, XXIX. ; Reusch,
II., 790.
" Fleury, LXXIIL, 122 seqq. ; Schill, 252, n.
FLATTERY FOR THE KING 275
did not neglect to represent the Appellants as the staunch
supporters of the throne.^ " What a comfort it is for us," he
writes, " that we cannot be attacked without undermining
the foundations of the monarchy. Yes ! Sire, we assume
the defence of Your Majesty, whereas all the friends of the
Constitution, with only one exception, do not open their
mouths when Your Majesty's rights are attacked." In his
view the Popes are the enemies of the throne ; with cold
calculation they proceed step by step in order to subjugate
Kings, and they miss no opportunity in the pursuit of that
end.^ The Bull Unigenitus was but a mesh in the net knitted
in Rome. In it, according to Colbert, the rights of Bishops
are trodden under foot, " nor are your rights. Sire, respected.
Up till then Rome had not dared to attack the sovereignty
and independence of the crown. But when the Bull condemned
proposition 91, which states that fear of an unjust excommuni-
cation must not stop us from doing our duty, all those who
still retained some zeal for the cause of the sovereign, under-
stood that the Roman court aimed at nothing less than the
extension of its domination over the sacred person of the
King." ^
Caylus of Auxerre writes to the King in exactly the same
strain. He too has knowledge of the wicked arriere-pensees
of the Roman See and urges that the return of the days of
Gregory and his pretensions be made impossible ■* ; in other
words, according to him Rome is the enemy. The two Bishops
had no inkling that the death blow to the monarchy was
already being prepared in a very different quarter and that
the ideas which they and their partisans advocated, would
bring about the subversion of the State even though for the
time being, they aimed at no more than the dissolution of all
1 N. IV., [NivELLE], II., r, 366.
- N. IX., seq., ibid., 368.
» N. XL. ibid., 369.
' N. II. and IX., ibid., 666, 669. He also speaks of Qucsnel's
proposition 91 [ibid., 670), as did many others at that time ;
see PicoT, II., 250, 282, 292.
276 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
ecclesiastical bonds. A pamphlet against Vintimille's first
pastoral ^ already expounds the subversive notion that there
may be circumstances in which it is the shepherd's duty to
obey his flock ; that if a Bishop crushed truth, it was the
duty of the faithful to defend it in opposition to him. If the
whole body of Bishops fell into error, they must be taught,
corrected and even judged by the people. But once the
people was proclaimed to be the supreme judge in ecclesiastical
matters, it was the natural sequel that it would not be long
before it would also refuse any higher authority than its own
in the political sphere.
For the Jansenist party itself, the fact that it had arrived
at such conclusions, was a sign of internal dissolution. Its
external decay also became apparent for it was easy to foresee
that soon it would be unable to rely on a single Bishop. The
Appellants sought to remedy this deficiency, a deadly one
according to Catholic principles, by appeahng to miracles
which, it was claimed, had been wrought in favour of the sect.
In the Faubourg Saint-Antoine in Paris there Hved a woman
who, as a result of twenty years' loss of blood, had become so
weak that she could scarcely move even with the help of
crutches. On May 31st, 1725, as the Corpus Christi procession
was passing her house, she was seen endeavouring to drag
herself on hands and knees after the Blessed Sacrament,
whilst crying aloud : " Lord, if thou wilt thou canst make me
whole ! " All of a sudden she rose and followed the procession
to the church. In a pastoral letter Noailles declared the
incident to be a real miracle. ^ Now the priest who had carried
the Blessed Sacrament was an Appellant. This circumstance
Colbert sought to exploit ; in a pastoral letter ^ he explained
1 Remonirances cles fideles du diocese de Paris d Msgr. leur
archeveque, an sujet de son ordonnance du 29 Sept., 1729 (Rocquain,
54 ; [Patouillet], III , 444). The document was condemned
to the flames on February 23, 1730.
2 [Caury], IV., 374 seqq. The cured person was presented
to the King {ibid., 485). Cf. Picox, II., 150 seqq.
« October 20, 1725, appeared 1726, [Cadry], IV., 470 seqq. ;
[NiVELLE], II., I, 355.
JANSENIST MIRACLES 277
that the miracle impHed the approval of the principles of the
Appellants.
Further " miracles " followed in July, 1725, in the church of
St. Genevieve which was in the hands of Appellant Canons.
For that very reason the Bishops of the Assembly of the
Clergy, on the occasion of a visit to the shrine of the Saint,
had deprecated the customary ceremonial reception on the
part of the Canons.^ The truth is that even if there had been
question of true miracles, they could not have been construed
into an evident approval of the righteousness of the Appellants'
cause. Bishops Languet of Soissons and Belsunce of Marseilles
disproved Colbert's assertions to that effect, ^ but the latter
continued to uphold his pastoral letter.^ But about this
time miracles were beginning to be wrought by Quesnel's
relics in Paris ^ as well as by several Appellants in the provinces
as, for instance, by a live Oratorian of the name of Celoron at
Lyons ^ and by a dead Canon of the name of Rousse at Avenai ^;
one miracle was also ascribed to the Jansenist Archbishop of
Utrecht.' The body of an Appellant parish priest of Rheims
was found incorrupt five years after his death and a sick
woman thought she felt better after placing Colbert's pastoral
letter on her breast,^ nay even a Jesuit, said to be dead,^
was extolled as an Appellant and a wonder Worker until, by
means of an open letter.^" he furnished proof that he was still
alive. None of the above named Jansenists attained any
celebrity though twenty-two parish priests wrote to the Vicar-
General of Paris and three others to the Archbishop in support
of Rousse, after the authorities of the Church had forbidden
^ Ibid., 368 scq.
* Ibid., 598 seq.
' Ibid., 795.
* Ibid., 757.
5 Ibid. 6 jfjid^ 849.
' Ibid., 672 seq. s /^^^^ 851.
" Pierre Chamillart {ob. 1733). Cf. Sommervogel, Biblio-
theqne, II., 1052 ; Schill, 260, n. 7.
^'^ February 15, 1732, in La clef du Cabinet, May, 1732s 345--
350-
278 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
pilgrimages to his grave. On the other hand a great stir was
created by the alleged miracles at the grave of the Jansenist
deacon Paris, in the cemetery of Saint-Medard, in Paris.
Paris had died on May 1st, 1727, at the age of thirty-seven.
He had led a strict life in a Jansenist sense, so much so, that
on one occasion, in keeping with the spirit of the sect, he
omitted his Easter Communion and, on the plea of humility,
he steadily refused to allow himself to be raised to the priest-
hood.^ His funeral was said to have been marked by a
miraculous cure and a second one was reported to have taken
place not long after at his grave.
However, the miracles of the Jansenist deacon only played
an important role during the pontificate of Clement XH.
The opponents of the Jansenists complained that " the sect's
furious desire " to have as many miracles as possible, and
the zeal of its adherents in circulating so many false reports
about them, was doing religion incalcuable harm. Unbelievers
took occasion of this conduct to call in question and to pour
ridicule on the miracles of bygone times, especially when one
saw the newspaper writers of the sect drawing a comparison
between the alleged miracles of Frangois de Paris and the
miracles of Christ. ^
■ (6.)
The rebellion against the Constitution had found its main-
stay in the religious communities. However, with the support
of the Pope and the Government, Superiors took energetic
steps to bring about a change, and an improvement did actually
take place even under Benedict XIII., though the efforts for
a reform were still meeting with powerful opposition on all
sides.
1 [C.a-dry], IV., 751 seqq. On. the writings of Paris : [Patouil-
let), II., 116; on his manuscript extracts from the theology
of Juenin. Cf. D'Ales in Recherches de science relig., XI. (19^0).
373-387-
2 [Patouillet], III., 375.
RELIGIOUS ORDERS AND THE BULL 279
The General of the Oratorians had undertaken to get his
subjects to subscribe to the formula, yet in 1724 Cardinal
Fleury had to complain that all those who refused to submit
found a refuge in Paris. Roused by the writings of Bishop
Colbert of Montpellier, the students of the Congregation
declared they would rather leave the Oratory than subscribe
to the formula. At Condom every one of the Oratorians
refused to sign.^ Only one member of the Congregation of
the Lazarists joined the Appellants,^ though there too the
Bull met with not a few opponents, even Bonnet, the General,
being among them at first. The Bishop of Castres withdrew
all faculties from his house because Bonnet tolerated some
Jansenists among his subjects.^ However, from 1722 onwards,
when he had realized that the Constitution had been universally
accepted in the Church, Bonnet began to give it his decided
support. Together with some theses on grace, which he had
had defended since 1723, he forwarded to Rohan and De Bissy
a promise to get the Society to accept the Bull at its next
general assembly.* From Rome he received information
that, if he failed in his efforts, the Pope would withdraw the
Italian and Polish Lazarists from his authority and suppress
the Society.^ Besides the Pope, the French Government
also took up the cause of the Bull ; it issued an order ^ that
only those were to be admitted to the forthcoming general
congregation who had submitted to the formula and to the
Bull against Quesnel.
So it was to be expected that the decree on the acceptance
of the Constitution "^ would be subscribed to by the members
of the Assembly, but it was no less clear, as De Bissy and
Fleury told the General,^ that all would be in vain unless
1 [Cadry], IV., 190.
2 [Nivelle], II., 2, 278 scq.
^ [Cadry], IV., 34.
* Ibid., 28.
^ Ibid., 44.
* February, 1724, ibid., 29.
' Ibid., 45.
* August 14, 1724, ibid., 46,
28o HISTORY OF THE POPES.
every individual subscribed and such a subscription was
demanded before the profession and ordination of members.
By carrying into effect these demands the Congregation
was purged from Jansenism, but their execution required
great sacrifices. Even before the assembly of 1724 Bonnet
had been obliged to dismiss his first Assistant and the repre-
sentative of the Society in Rome for many years, because
they worked against him and against the acceptance of the
Constitution. 1 Thereupon thirty-five of his subjects declared ^
that one half of the Congregation was against the Constitution,
that to accept it would mean the ruin of the Society and that
they would never agree to it. Even before the conclusion
of the Assembly a memorial appeared urging resistance to its
decrees ^ and Bonnet was obliged to dismiss a number of his
subjects to break the opposition.* But he remained firm ;
better a few good members, he said, than many bad ones.^
Thanks to this ruthless principle the famous Seminary
of Foreign Missions in Paris was also purged of Jansenism
which had penetrated it deeply and thus this important
institution was saved for the Church.^ With this object in
view the two Directors Brisacier and Tiberge were prepared
for any sacrifice. In October, 1720, Tiberge wrote that for
some time already he had admitted no one into the Seminary ;
that out of every four candidates three were " on the wrong
side "J The two Directors even thought of handing over the
institution to the Lazarists or the Sulpicians in order to save it ;
there were so many dismissals that by November, 1725, the
Seminary had shrunk to four members.^ The Pope approved
^ Ibid., 28 seqq., 32 seqq.
* June, 1724, in [Nivelle], II., 2, 277 seq.
' [Cadry], IV., 95 ; cf. 190.
* Ibid., 384 seqq.
* Ibid., 36 seq. Cf. Picox, II., 258.
« Ibid., 290-313, 876-883 ; A. Launay, Hist, gener. de la
SocidU des Missions ^.trangeres, I., Pari.s, 1894, 491 seqq. ;
J. Brucker in Etudes, LXVII. (1S96) 510 seqq.
' Brucker, loc. cit., 511.
8 Ibid., 512 ; [Cadry], IV., 427.
THE REBEL CARTHUSIANS. 281
their conduct ^ ; that it was the right one is proved by the
magnificent expansion of the institution after its seeming
self-destruction. 2 Nowhere, perhaps, was the unsuspected
bearing of the contemporary controversy on grace more
plainly revealed than in the history of that seminary. In the
opinion of the Jansenist Superior Jobard, Molinism was
very unfavourable to the conversion of the pagans ^ whereas
Tiberge considered that the rigid and stern Thomism, with
which Jansenism masked its countenance, was but little
suited to the seminar}^ and the missions.^ In 1729 Jobard
entertained a plan for a mission in Indo-China which was to
be independent of the Pope, under missionaries who would
have nothing to do with the Constitution against Quesnel.^
In May, 1725, the General Chapter of the Carthusian Order
adopted stern measures against the rebels in its bosom.®
An earlier ordinance against them was renewed "^ and fresh
penalties were added. Thus the twenty-five members who
had not submitted to the earlier decree and to the Constitution,
were forbidden to exercise their priestty functions ; the
fourteen Appellants were excommunicated together with ten
others who had withdrawn their subscription to the formula ;
their cell was to be their prison and on three days a week they
were to fast on bread and water. ^ One must take it as a
proof of ignorance of the world, perhaps only possible in a
Carthusian, that eleven of their members now appealed to
the Pope ^ in the hope of putting a stop to the action of the
General Chapter ! It is easier to understand the action of
some thirty of the rebels, who carried insubordination to such
length that they fled to Holland. There they settled in two
1 Brief of August 18, 1727, [Cadry], IV., 882.
2 Cf. the figures in Brucker, loc cit., 498 seq.
^ [Cadry], IV., 297.
* Brucker, loc. cit., 511.
* Ihid., 512.
« [Cadry], IV., 50-62, 151-164, 268-290, 398-403, 459-466.
' Cf. above, p. 57.
« [Cadry], IV., 288.
» April 10, 1725, ibid., 358-360.
282 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
houses near Utrecht, under the authority of the Jansenist
Archbishop, and pubhshed protests as well as an apology ^
which was suppressed by Parliament.^ The example of the
Carthusians was followed by fifteen Cistercians of the Abbey
of Orval in Luxemburg, after the Premonstratensian Abbot
of Grimberghe had opened a visitation there on September 14th,
1725, by command of the Pope.^ On the other hand, at a
General Chapter held towards the end of April, 1725, the
Cistercian Congregation of the Feuillants threatened to
punish rebellion against the formula and the Bull with the
loss of the active and passive voice in the Chapters of the
Order. Protests against this decree were raised in about a
third of the monasteries.^
The Bull continued to meet with strong opposition in the
Benedictine Congregation of St. Maurus. True, in 1724 the
General, Denis de Sainte-Marthe, sent his submission to Rome,
but he applied himself with but little success to the task of
inducing his subjects to take the same step. Nevertheless
forty of the Monks withdrew their appeal ^ ; on the other
hand 130 of them protested in writing to the Chapter assembled
for the election of a new General, against any step that it
might take in favour of the Bull Unigenitus.^ To the next
General Chapter ' a great number of Maurists presented a
memorial,^ requesting it to refrain from any decision concerning
the Constitution, as otherwise 600 members of the Order would
raise a protest. In spite of everything the new General,
Thibault (1725-1720), proposed that the Bull be accepted,
but he was unsuccessful though by the King's command all
1 Ibid., 398-403, 459-466.
2 April 15, 1726, ibid., 565 ; [Patouillet], I., 95. Letter of
April 13, 1726, to the General Chapter, in [Cadrv], IV., 593 5f^(?..
PicoT, II., 162.
» [Cadrv], IV., 456-9, 592 scq., 597 ^e'Z-
■^ Ibid., 316.
5 Ibid., 135 seqq. ; Fleury, LXXIL, 134 scq., 228.
« Ibid., 319.
' Begun on May 2, 1726, ibid., 588.
* May 23, 1726, in [Nivelle], II., 2, 657-9.
THE MAURISTS. 283
those who had renewed their appeal to the General Council
after 1720, were to be excluded from the Chapter as well as
from the preliminary meetings.^ Thibault nevertheless
continued during the whole of his three years of office as
General to press for submission to the Holy See. To this end
Fleury. counselled him gradually and quietly to remove the
Appellants from their offices. ^ Meanwhile the situation of
the Maurists grew steadily worse. Already in March, 1726,
De Bissy had let it be known that the Congregation must
either submit or perish.^ In December Cardinal Lercari sent
for Dom Maloet, their procurator in Rome, and informed him
that the Pope gave them a time limit of three months within
which they must submit.* Every letter from Italy spoke of
the imminent peril of dissolution.^ Thibault, as a matter of
fact, did his best to satisfy the Pope, his efforts being supported
by Dom Maloet who, as Prior of Saint-Medard at Soissons,
had secured the submission of that house to the Constitution.^
Cardinal De Bissy repeatedly called together the higher
Superiors of the Congregation, v/ith a view to persuading
them to obey, but, for the time being, these efforts yielded
no result. A letter appeared in print ' which represented
suppression on account of the Bull Unigenitus as an honour
for the Congregation and as suffering endured for the truth.
After all, the Congregation could not endure for ever ; so
glorious an end would outweigh anything that it might yet have
accomplished. Thibault, thereupon, pubhshed an appropriate
circular ^ in which he explains that the Bull did not combat
St. Augustine and St. Thomas and that in the sphere of
1 Ihid., 659 ; [Cadry], IV., 587.
2 [Cadry], IV., 588.
» Ibid., 587.
* Ibid., 676, 685.
5 Ibid., 687.
* See Maurice Lecomte, Les deux derniers procureurs des
Bdnidictins a Rome, Dom Conrade et Dome Maloet, d'apres leur
correspondance, in Rev. Mabillon, IV. (1908), 366-379.
' March 18, 1727, [Cadry], IV., 689.
* April 5, 1727, ibid., 690. Cf. [Nivelle], II., 2, 660.
284 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Moral Theology Benedict XIII. had re-enacted, at the Roman
Council, St. Charles Borromeo's principles for the administra-
tion of the Sacrament of Penance. Nearly all the Bishops
of the world had agreed with three Popes who had, with one
voice, ordered that the Bull should be accepted. " If we do
not listen to them, where is the Church, which must be at
all times visible, to whose views we owe submission ? Let us
give up our feeble understanding and cling to the pillar of
truth." However, the General's circular achieved very
little ^ ; in two-thirds of the houses of the Congregation it
was not even publicly read, at Corbie the Prior left the room
as soon as the reading began and the other Monks followed
him ; from Dijon the answer to the circular was a declaration
that the house would not submit.^
For all that the way for the acceptance of the Constitution
was being gradually prepared. In spite of isolated signs to
the contrary, the number of the Appellants does not seem to
have been so very great ; the General, Sainte-Marthe, wrote
to Cardinal Polignac ^ that it did not amount to one-fourth of
all the Monks and at none of the General Chapters had a decree
against the Bull been passed. The final settlement of the
dispute was greatly helped by a letter of the Maurist Vincent
Thuillier,^ himself a former Appellant. From his letter
we gather that many Maurists went so far as to seek support
in the Jansenist miracles ; one of their number, they alleged,
had several times spent the whole of Lent without food.^
" All your miracles," Thuillier wrote," " even if they were
* [Cadry], IV., 764-775.
2 Ibid., 768, 769.
' In ScHiLL, 239, n. I.
* Lettre d'un ancien pvofesseur en theologie de la Congreg. de
Saint-Maur, qui a revoque son appel, a tin autre professeur de la
mime Congreg., qui persiste dans le sien, Paris, 1727. There
followed a " seconde " and " troisieme lettre ". Ch. de Lama, Biblio-
theque des ecrivains de la Congreg. de Saint-Maur, Monaco, 1882,
n. 419 seqq.
* [Cadry], IV., 691, 767.
* Ibid., 691.
SUBMISSION OF THE MONKS. 285
more numerous, better attested and more brilliant, could
not do away with the plain fact that the Jansenists are a
party separated from the Church." He himself would reject
an Angel from heaven if he taught a doctrine other than that
of the official teachers of the Church. It was beside the
point to object that many of the condemned propositions
were echoes of sayings of the Fathers of the Church. Criticism
was in place even in regard to the Fathers of the Church.
It was possible to adduce expressions of writers of the first
three centuries against the consubstantiality of the Word or
text against the doctrine of original sin from Chrysostom and
against Christ's real presence in the Eucharist from
St. Augustine. These arguments did not prove generally
acceptable in the Congregation. At the General Chapter of
1729 a proposal was made that action should be taken against
Thuillier. The Chapter's partiality for the Jansenists also
betrayed itself in the elections ; in not a few instances these
were quashed by the Government. The new General, Alaidon,
was not allowed to present himself at court. ^
Benedict XIII's. reign came to an end before the submission
of the celebrated Congregation had made any considerable
progress. Whilst fully recognizing the great achievements
of the Maurists, the Pope was at times profoundly dissatisfied
with them and not sparing of threats.^ In the end a waiting
policy seemed advisable and this attitude was rewarded by
the Monks' eventual submission.
(7.)
In the course of the last year of his life Innocent XIII.
had received information of the election of Cornelius Steenoven
as Jansenist Archbishop of Utrecht, and he had ordered a
Brief to be drawn up on this illegal step. Further information
^ Phil, le Cerf, Hist, de la Constitution Unigenitus en ce qui
regarde la Congr. de Saint-Maur, Utrecht, 1736 ; P. Denis in
Rev. Bened., 1909, 350 seq. ; [Nivelle], II., 2, 663 seqq.
2 [Cadry], IV., 852-6 ; Fleury, LXXII., 531 seqq.
286 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
was received after the Pope's death by the Cardinals assembled
in conclave. It was, of course, known in Holland that the
Pope would not confirm Steenoven's election ; hence it was
a burning problem to know what to do in the circumstances.
A publication appeared in Amsterdam which sought to prove
that the elect might have himself consecrated by any Bishop,
in spite of the Pope.^ Accordingly the assembled Cardinals
charged the internuncio of Brussels, Giuseppe Spinelli,^ to
instruct those under his care that the Utrecht electors had
no right to style themselves a Chapter and that the}^ had no
power to institute parish priests and that the faithful could
not receive the Sacraments at the latter's hands. Neighbouring
Bishops must be warned against the pretensions of the so-
called Chapter which presumed to issue dimissorial letters,
appointed parish priests and had ended by electing as
Archbishop an excommunicated priest for whose consecra-
tion it looked to Varlet, a Bishop who was himself suspended,
irregular and excommunicated. Thereupon Spinelli enjoined
the Dutch Catholics b}^ letter ^ to have nothing to do with
the schismatics. Spinelli begins by declaring that the Holy See
had charged him with the government of the Dutch missions ^ ;
he received episcopal consecration in the following year in
order that Holland might have once more a legitimate pastor.^
The men of Utrecht foresaw that the Cardinals in conclave
and the internuncio would speak out and that their warnings
would make an impression, hence they took their own measures
to counter them.*^ On Ma}' 2nd, 1724, they addressed a letter
to the Cardinals together with various documents ' and on
June 1st they addressed themselves to the Chapters of
Germany.^ Varlet appealed to the whole Catholic Church ^
J Mozzi, II., 144 ; [Cadry], IV., 142.
2 April 8, 1724, in Mozzi, III., 85-90.
' May 4, 1724, ibid., 91-5.
•• " Ad regimen missionum Hollandicarum a S. Sede specialiter
deputatus." Ibid.,gi.
'" Ibid., 171 ; GuARNAcci, II., 689.
« Mozzi, II., 147 seqq. ' [Cadry], IV., 142
« Mozzi, II., 150. * June 6, 1724, [Cadry], IV., 143.
THE SEE OF UTRECHT. 287
and, after the Pope's election, to Benedict XIII. ^ who was
also requested by Utrecht to confirm Steenoven.^ No reply
was made and they now felt justified to go forward without
the Pope. For form's sake they requested five neighbouring
Bishops to consecrate their chosen candidate ; when they
received no reply from that quarter, Varlet remained their only
refuge^; on October 15th, 1724 he performed the rite in a
private house, thus infringing yet another law of the Church.^
The. matter was kept secret, as the consent of the States had
not been sought, but by the evening all Amsterdam knew
about it. The burgomaster summoned three of those who
had engineered the affair to give an account of their conduct,
but they were easily satisfied.^ After that Steenoven informed
the Pope of his consecration and prayed for the archiepiscopal
palHum. But as he expected excommunication rather than
such a distinction, he sought to insure against it by appeahng,
together with his electors, to the next General Council.^ In a
Brief to the Cathohcs of Holland ' Benedict XIII. laid no
censure either on the electors or the elect ; he, however, declared
the election of Steenoven invalid, his consecration illicit and
himself suspended. Steenoven was forbidden, under pain of
immediate excommunication, either to appoint parish priests
or to administer the Sacraments ; no one was to communicate
with him or receive a Sacrament at his hands. The Brief
reached Steenoven on March 1725 ; by April 3rd he was a
corpse. As recently as March 30th he had repeated his appeal
to a General Council ^ and on December 6th, 1724, he had
published, in Latin and French, a lengthy manifesto on the
rights of the Church of Utrecht.''
^ August 6, 1724, ibid.
^ August, 1724 ; Mozzi, II., 153.
' [Cadry], IV., 145. * Mozzi, II., i64 5£'^.
^ Ibid., 167 ; [Cadry], IV., 147.
* November 23, 1724 ; [Cadry], IV., 148.
' February' 21, 1725, *Epist. ad princ, I., 438, Papal Secret
Archives ; INIozzi, II., 175 seq. ; III., 96-9 ; Bull, XXII., 125 ;
Fleury, LXXL, 760.
* [Cadry], IV., 237. * Ibid., 2^,6 seq.
288 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
After Steenoven's death the Pope strove, through the
intervention of the Cathohc Powers with the Dutch
Government ^ and through that of a friend with Varlet,^ to
prevent the election of another Archbishop, but on May 15th
Barchman Vuytiers was chosen to succeed Steenoven and
on September 30th Varlet consecrated him. He informed the
Pope of his nomination and consecration — as all subsequent
Jansenist Bishops have done up to our own times. The Pope,
as was to be expected, protested.-^ Barchman and his Chapter
replied with a fresh appeal to a General Council ^ and Varlet
with another apologia.^ The French Carthusians and the
Cistercians of the Abbey of Orval in Luxemburg, who had
fled to Holland on account of their Jansenism, joined in the
appeal.^ The French Jansenists recognized Barchman as
Archbishop ' whilst the latter, after the French model,
^ Briefs of February 27, 1725, to the Emperor, the Kings of
France, Spain, Portugal, Poland, to Venice, to the German
Electors, etc., Epist. ad princ, I., 450, Papal Secret Archives ;
cf. [Cadry], IV., 392 seq. Ibid., 393, and in [Dupac], 519 seqq.,
the letter of the Doge Mocenigo and the reply of the States.
2 [Cadry], IV., 395 ; Mozzi, II., 207 ; [Dupac], 531.
^ To the Dutch Catholics, August 23, 1723 {Epist. ad princ,
I., 79, loc. cit.), in Mozzi, III., 100-3 ; Bull, XXII., 241 ;
December 6 {Epist. ad princ, I., 153, loc cit.), in Mozzi, II., 104-7.
Barchmann had received his education from the Oratorians and
at Louvain under Hennebel ([Dupac], 525) ; he and Brodersen
were expelled from the College of Louvain ([Cadry], III., Sec. 8,
P-23)-
* [Cadry], IV., 503. ^ Ibid., 504.
^ August 21, 1726, ibid., 596. CJ. H. J. Allard, De Orvalisten
te Rijnwijck, in Studien, 1878 and 1886.
' Namely, the Bishops of Montpellier (July 29, 1725),
Auxerre (October, 1725), Bayeux (November 22, 1725), Sencz
(December 7, 1725) ; 41 and later 36 ecclesiastics of various
dioceses (June 20 and December 10, 1726), 11 ecclesiastics
of Arras and Tournai (March 5, 1727), 30, and then 17,
ecclesiastics of Nantes (July 31 and August 17, 1727) besides
some isolated approvals. [Dupac], 539 seq. Recueil des temoig-
nages, 217-231, 247-276.
barchman's intrigues. 289
appealed to a miracle as a proof of the righteousness of his
cause. 1 It happened, however, that on one occasion when he
attempted to induct a Jansenist parish priest, the indignant
countryfolk forced him to flee in disguise ; as for the parish
priest, to avoid ill-treatment he had to seek shelter in the
house of a Protestant, whilst the community swore it would
accept no parish priest from Barchman.^
Thereafter the Chapter of Haarlem remained separated from
that of Utrecht and subject to the Holy See. Steenoven had
assumed the title of Vicar-General of Haarlem. After his
death the Chapter of Utrecht bestowed the same dignity on
Barchman which he then retained even as Archbishop. When
the Canons of Haarlem protested, Barchman replied with
another protest.^ The papal Brief against Barchman, dated
December 6th, 1725, was respectfully received by the Canons
of Haarlem, but a pastoral letter which the new Archbishop
sent to them was returned by them.* In spite of this Barchman
urged them to elect a Bishop for their own city, but his letter
remained unanswered.^ Some parish priests of Haarlem now
claimed that, after the Archbishop's three warnings to the
Canons, the right of election had passed to them and that
they transferred it to the Archbishop who now appointed
a certain Doncquer who, however, was never consecrated.^
For his own person Barchman endeavoured to secure a
declaration of the States — independently of the nuncio —
subjecting all the Cathohcs of Holland to himself. But he
encountered strong opposition. One Catholic travelled all over
the country for the purpose of collecting signatures to a petition
to the States. After that a Catholic deputation presented
itself before the States declaring that they could not accept
^ [Cadry], IV., 672 seq.
* Ibid., 671.
' Mozzi, II., 184 seq.j 198 seqq. The Haarlem protest, May 19,
1725, ibid., 201 seq. ; renewed protest, October 2, 1725, ibid.,
223-227. ITP'
* Ibid., 239-241.
* Ibid., 256,
« [Cadry], IV., 787.
VOL. XXJCIV. U
\
290 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Barchman as their Archbishop. The Government were
surprised that there were so many Cathohcs opponents of
Jansenism but gave the petitioners a favourable answer.
From that time onwards Barchman was simply described,
even by the Protestants, as the Jansenists' Bishop.^
Some compensation for this disappointment seemed to
await Barchman in the East. Irina Petrowna Gallitzin,
wife of Sergius Petrowich Dolgoruki, having accompanied
her husband on a journey to western Europe, remained for
some time in Holland after the latter's return. Whilst there
she became a Catholic, thanks to the influence of a keen
Jansenist, the Princess d'Auvergne. On June 11th, 1727, at
Leiden, Barchman received her into the Church with great
solemnity. Now it so happened that just then the Dolgorukofs
were all-powerful under youthful Tsar Peter II. ; Catherine
Dolgoruki was his fiancee and Alexis Gregorowich Dolgoruki
was the real leader of the State. If a priest with knowledge
of the world could be sent to Moscow in the capacity of tutor
to Irina's children, there might be a prospect of founding
a Jansenist patriarchate there. For this difficult post choice
was made of Jube de la Cour, the same who had introduced a
liturgy after his own taste at Asnieres. Barchman invested
him on his own authority and without reference to the Pope,
with all the faculties he might require, that is power to absolve,
to dispense, to bless and to consecrate, to approve priests,
to send them forth and to recall them. At Moscow, Jube had
a serious discussion with the Spanish ambassador on the
means for bringing about the reunion of the Churches, for
which he himself sought to prepare the way by circulating
printed works. Peter IPs premature death and the accession
of the Empress Anne, an enemy of Catholicism, put an end
to these prospects.^ Under her rule Irena Dolgoruki had
occasion to experience what was meant by Russian freedom
^ Mozzi, II., 241 seqq.
* P. PiERLiNG, La Sorbonne et la Riissie, 1717-1747 Paris,
1882 ; Ibid., La Riissie et le St-Siege, IV. (1907), 30S seq., 329 seqq.,
332 seqq., 354 seqq. ; H. J. Allard, Utrecht en Moskou, in Studien,
XL. (1893) ; [DuPAc], 546se^^.
JANSENIST PLANS FOR RUSSIA. 29I
of conscience. Through a common soldier Anne sent to her, an
aristocratic lady, an order to go to confession and Communion.
Irena preferred exile. When, at her farewell audience, she
stooped in order to kiss the Empress' hand, the latter gave
her a heavy box on the ear and inveighed against her in the
best fishwife's style. Eventually under pressure of the
Empress Elizabeth, Irena apostatized from the Catholic
religion. 1
Besides union with Russia, Barchman also busied himself
with a mission among the pagan Laos in Farther India. When
on May 17th, 1710, Propaganda demanded acceptance of the
Bull Unigenitus from all the missionaries in the foreign
mission field, Barchman conceived the idea of founding, for
a mission among the Laos, a seminary which would be
independent of Propaganda. Some missionaries, under the
Oratorian Terrasson, were actually preparing to set out,
armed with faculties from Barchman, but after the latter's
death nothing came of the plan.^
Barchman 's episcopal consecration proved disastrous for
the widely known Louvain professor of Canon Law, Zeger
van Espen. He was known to sympathize with the Jansenists,
hence when the question of Barchman's consecration arose, he
was asked for his opinion as to whether the consecration would
be valid if, contrary to the provisions of Canon Law, it was
conferred without special papal dispensation and not by three
Bishops but by only one. Van Espen not only replied in the
affirmative but even spoke unreservedly in the sense of the
men of Utrecht. Thereupon the internuncio protested to the
Emperor. Charles VI. ordered the document in question to
be pubHcly torn up at Brussels and proceedings to be taken
against Van Espen if it was proved that he really was its
* PiERLiNG, Russie, IV., 366 seq., 386.
^ [DuPAc], 552 seq. In the Jansenist Colony of the island of
Nordstrand, to the West of Slesvig, founded in 1652 (A. Malet
in Etudes, CX. [1907], 268), and placed under the Dutch mission
by Clement IX., dissensions arose among the parish priests under
Benedict XIV. Fleury, LXXVI., 731-760 ; cf. LXXIV., 514 seq.
292 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
author.^ The upshot of the affair was that Van Espen was
condemned. He escaped to Holland and died there at the
Jansenist seminary of Amersfoort.^
(8.)
Thanks to ceaseless work, extreme moderation in food and
drink, and regular exercise, Benedict XHI. had preserved an
enviable robustness up to the threshold of his eightieth year.
During the whole of his pontificate we only hear of one really
serious illness, namely in the summer of 1729.^ Passing
indispositions were for the most part due to excessive fasting
and overwork. At no time would he hear of husbanding his
strength : in the hottest as well as in the coldest seasons
he carried out long religious functions. When people drew
his attention to his advanced years and urged moderation,
he was wont to reply that a Pope should die with a
cope on.^
Even during the severe winter of 1729-1730 the Pontiff
refused to spare himself in the shghtest degree, though in
view of his fluctuating state of health — one day he was full
^ Mozzi, II., 193, 217 seqq. Copy of the imperial edict of
September 12, 1725, ibid., 218-221.
* Ibid., 261-269. Text of the sentence of February i, 1728,
ibid., 266 seq. Cf. Fleury, LXXI., 765-769. An earlier consulta-
tion of Van Espen on the appeal of 1718 in [Nivelle], II., Suite,
Appendix, 29.
« Reports from Rome, July 14 and August 26, 1729. The latter
says : "II sig. card. Coscia sta molto agitato, va mattina e sera
a veder la S. S'^ e con persone di sua confidenza so aver detto,
che il Papa cala alia giornata." Coscia has already dispatched
" robbe e pitture " to Beneventum. But on September 2 an
improvement is *reportcd and on December 16 : " La .salute di
S. St^ va a meraviglia bene." Archives of the Austrian Embassy
at the Vatican.
* " *Conclave doppo la morte del P. Benedetto XIII.," Ms. in
my possession [now in Baron v. Pastor Library].
THE POPE S DEATH. 293
of energy, the next day he felt exhausted ^ — some care
would have been advisable. He seemed to be quite well
when on February 2nd, 1730, he kept his eighty-second
birthday. On the 11th, in spite of his feehng very weak,
he held a consistory. ^ An epidemic, which was raging in Rome
at the time,^ attacked him suddenly on the 18th and hastened
his end. On the 19th he was unable to rise to say his Mass as
was his habit. On the following day he asked for holy Viaticum.
Owing to inability to take any food, his weakness grew
rapidly. For all that he was anxious to hear Mass on the
morning of the 21st in his oratory, but was prevailed upon
to desist. He then heard Mass in his own room, remaining
on his knees the whole time and with head uncovered. He
continued his prayers for another quarter of an hour, at the
end of which his weakness was such that he had to take to
his bed. Towards four o'clock in the afternoon he expired
peacefully.^
The news of the Pope's death was not at once made public
as it was the last day of the carnival and there was some fear
of disorder if a stop were put to the amusements. The streets
were filled with masked people, onlookers and carriages, and
everybody was anxious to watch the races of the Barberi in
the Corso. The races were held and in the evening the theatres
opened their doors but during the performance news of the
Pope's death began to circulate. Thereupon the performance
^ Cardinal Cienfuegos' *reports to the imperial Chancellery,
•January 7, 14, and 28, 1730, Archives of the Austrian Embassy
at the Vatican.
"^ *Report of the same, February 11, 1730, ibid.
' *Report of the same, February 21, iy^o,ibid.
* Ibid., and Bentivoglio's *rcport to De la Paz, dat. Rome,
February 21, 1730, Simancas Archives. Cf. " *Conclave doppo la
morte ", etc., loc. cit. According to the report on the post-mortem
here quoted, the cause of death was complete exhaustion. At a
later d.ate [1780], Cardinal Zelada, the celebrated librarian,
occupied the room in which Benedict XIII. died. Gregory XVI.
turned it into the Museo Etrusco ; see Puhblicazioni della Specola
Vaiicana,!., Roma, 1891, 17.
294 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
was stopped and the people went home, but many refused
to give credence to the report. However, the display of armed
forces in the streets and the ringing of the big bell of the
Capitol soon convinced them of the truth of the report.^
Mention must be made of the fact that Benedict XIII.,
himself a theological writer, encouraged every scholarly
endeavour. 2 He published a very useful Constitution about
^ " *ConcIave doppo la morte," etc., loc. cit. Cf. also the *letter
of Fra G. B. Gagliardi to his father, Giulio, dat. Rome, February
25, 1730, in Cod. II., VI., 9, Bibl. Queriniana, Brescia.
^ On the furtherance of the theological Faculty in Rome, see
Borgia, Vita, 84 seqq. ; on B. Perfetti's poems, cf. above, p. 162.
On the honours bestowed on Crescimbini, see Baumgartner,
VI., 492, on the theological studies at the Sapienza : Bull, XXII.,
349. On the foundation of the University of Camerino, see ibid.,
579 ; NovAES, 141 ; Nardone, 25. How greatly Benedict XIII.
valued serious scholarship appears from his *Briefs to E. Martene,
May I, 1725, and B. Montfaucon, October 3, 1725. Cf. also the
*Briefs to Ferd. di Sanfelice, May 4, 1726 (thanking him for the
dedication of the book De situ Canipaniae) , to the Academy of
the Crusca in Florence, June 12, 1727 (thanking it for its Vocahiila-
riuni). Papal Secret Archives. In 1724 G. Vignoli dedicated to the
Pope his edition of the Liber Pontificalis. Cf. also Componimenti
poetici dedicati a . . . Benedetto XIII. dalla ragunanza degli
Arcadi nel gettarsi la prima pietra ne' fondamenti del nuovo teatro
per li Congressi Letterari della medesima I'anno MDCCXXV.,
Roma, 1725. (Benedict XIII. was a member of the Arcadia under
the name of Teofilo Sancio, which name he retained as Pope ;
see Nardone, 27.) To tjiis place also belongs the *Brief to Cardinal
B. Pamfili, March i, 1729 (Papal Secret Archives) : " In order to
reward Laur. Phil, de Rubeis for his efforts ' ad publicam studiorum
utilitatem in antiquis Urbis et sacris monumentis acre excudendis '
and to encourage him to continue, we thought it befitting,
' tuis suffragiis accedentibus, ut eum Vaticanae Bibliothecae
ministerii dignaremur. Ipsum de conservanda antiquitatis
memoria et propagatione insignium opcrum et sacrarum aedium
celebritate egregie meritum Chalcographum Vatic, constitviinius ;
privilegium quod ei Clem. XI. per Breve, 24 aug. 1720 conces-
serat, perpetuum volumus pro heredibus et successoribus, ut
nemini praeter ipsos liceat opera a lo. lac. seu a Dominifco de
THE pope's charity. 295
ecclesiastical archives.^ He was keen on lowering taxation,
to assure the provisioning of the city and to promote
agriculture. 2 He made generous provision for mentally
afflicted persons at the Hospital of S. Maria della Pieta, in
the Via Lungara,^ and for the destitute victims of skin
diseases in the new Hospital of S. Gallicano.^ Innumerable
destitute persons were in receipt of assistance from him.^ He
carried out restorations at St. Paul's outside the Walls,
St. Mary Major, S. Maria in Domnica and S. Sisto.^ S. Niccolo
dei Prefetti and S. Filippo in via Giulia were completely
Rubeis incisa vel excusa vel ab ipso Laurentio vel heredibus
excudere vel excusa vendere sub poenis expressis. Volumus, ut
omnium imaginum typon seu exemplar unum Bibliothecae gratis
inferre debeant. Pro singular! studio, quo artes et apostolicam
Bibliothecam prosequeris, cum tuearis.' Cf. *Brief to Card.
Borgia, March 22, 1727 {ibid.) : ' Quas Annibal card. Albanus
impendit curas ad selectos pios libros a Typographia Urbinate
sub patrocinio Nostro instituta magnifice edendos, cupimus,
etc' "
^ Loewinson, Un Papa archivista, in the periodical Gli archivi
italiani, III., 159 seqq.
* Benigni, 76 seq. ; De Cupis, 298 seqq.
^ FoRCELLA, XII., 385 seqq., 394 seq. The building was
demolished in 1910 [cf. Tonetti, Ipazzi a Roma, in Giorn. d' Italia,
1910, February 6) ; it was the first real lunatic asylum in Rome,
founded in 1725.
* Bull, XXII., 440 ; FoRCELLA, XL, 409 seqq. ; Breve raggu-
aglio dello spedale eretto in Roma dalla S. di N. S. Benedetto XIII .
sotto il iitolo di S. Maria e di S. Gallicano e delle opere di caritd
che vi si praticano, Roma, 1929. Cf. Valesio, in Rassegna bibl.
d'arte ital., XVI. (1913), 115 seq., 156. By Brief of July 14, 1728,
Benedict XIII. recommended the new hospital to the Emperor
and to the Kings of France, Spain and Sardinia.
* Borgia, Vita, 112, 126 seqq.
* Forcella, VIII., 177 ; X., 535 ; XL, 290; XII., 3 ; Jozzi,
S. Maria Maggiore, Roma, 1904, 15 seqq. ; Rassegna bibl. d. arte
ital., XVI. (1913), 116 ; Cracas, October 28, 1725 ; ibid., July 20,
1726, on the new bell presented to St. Peter's. Cf. Rassegna bibl.,
loc. cit., 115. On the paintings for S. Clemente, see Nolan,
S. Clemente, 57 ; restoration of the chapels in the Vatican :
296 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
rebuilt. 1 All these undertakings were as unsuccessful as was
the new facade of S. Maria sopra Minerva which is wholly
devoid of taste, as a result of the Pope's trust in his beloved
Beneventans. The.se also restored, after their fashion, the
chapel of St. Dominic in the church of the Minerva. 2 In this
chapel Benedict XIII. was buried on February 22nd, 1739,3
in a sepulchre erected by Cardinals Alessandro Albani, Ouirini,
Moroni, IX., 154. Paving of the Piazza of St. Peter's, ibid.,
XII., 267. During the renovation of the pavement of S. Agnese
fuori le Mura, carried out by order of Benedict XIII., the
inscription which Pope Damasus had put on the tomb of the
Saint, was discovered. The Dominican Bremond wrote an essay
on it at the request of the Pope ; see Bull. ord. Pvaed., VII., 521
seq. ; Roniana Tellus, I. (191 2), 92 seqq. The excavations on the
Palatine which had been begun in 1720 by order of Francesco,
Duke of Parma, were continued ; Bianchini gave a description of
them ; see Hijlsen, in Rom. Mitteilungen, 1895, 252 seq. ; Egger,
Verzeichnis der Sammlung architektonischcr Handzeichmiyigen der
K. K. Hofbibliothek, I., Wien, 1903, 36 seq. On the buildings
put up by Benedict XIII. in Civitavecchia, see Calisse, 543.
1 FoRCELLA, X., 233 ; Rassegna bibl. d. arte ital., XVII. (1914),
138. The most important travel book about Italy, in the German
language, and of the finst half of the eighteenth century, viz.
Joh. Georg Keyslers Reisen, 1729/1731, bears witness to an
increased general interest in art ; see Friedlander in Deutsche
Rundschau, 1876, 243.
* Cf. the extracts from Valesio's Diario in Rassegna bibl. d.
arte ital., XVI. (1923), 113 seqq., XVII. (1914), 138 seqq.;
Berthier, Minerve, 296 seqq. Berthier (214 seq.) describes also
the new high altar presented by Benedict XIII., which, on account
of its bad taste, was removed during the last restoration. On the
renovation of the Baptistry and of the pavement of the side aisles,
see Spinelli, S. Maria sopra Minerva, 20 seq.
^ " *Documenta varia de morte et funeralibus PP. Benedict!
XIII.," fasc. X., 529, General Archives of the Dominicans, Rome,
and " *Documenta varia de translatione corporis Bencdicti XIII.,
in ecclesiam Minervitanam de Urbe ", ibid., fasc. X., 530. Ibid..
fasc. X., 528, also " *Documenta varia de pontificatu Bencdicti
XIII. " ; cf. also Ghezzi, " *Diarium Bencdicti XTIL." Cod. XX.,
III., 23, Bibl. Casanatense, Rome.
MONUMENT OF BENEDICT XIII. 297
Lercari, Fini, Duke Domenico of Gravina and Tommaso
Ripoll, General of the Dominicans, with the magnificence
of which the deceased would assuredly have found fault.
The plan was furnished by Carlo Marchioni, who also executed
the relief on the sepulchral urn representing the Provincial
Council of Rome and the angels supporting the coat of arms.
The white marble statue of the Pope, which is very effective
against a dark background, is the work of Pietro Bracci.
The figures on either side of the urn symbolize Religion and
Innocence.^
The representation of the dead Pontiff on this monument
differs from the traditional one in that the aged Pope is
shown engaged in fervent prayer, half kneeling and facing
towards the altar. As a matter of fact he was one of the most
devout and humble Popes. Of this there can be no doubt,
but neither can there be any doubt that, in consequence of
his lack of knowledge of the world and of men, he relied with
an almost childish trustfulness on favourites who deceived
him shamefully. He possessed the evangelical simplicity
of the dove, says Cardinal Pacca, but not the guileless prudence
which is required for escaping the snares of human malice.^
1 Graduca, p. Bracci, plate 8 ; Borgia, Vita, 136 seqq. ;
Berthier, Minerve, 298 seqq. ; Domarus, Bracci, 19 seq. ;
Nardone, 29 seq. ; Spinelli, 5. Maria sopra Minerva, 83.
A bust of Benedict XIII. is in the Bibl. Ambrosiana, Milan,
another by Fr. Giardoni in the Museo Piersanti, Matelica,
and yet another in marble, very expressive, in the Baptistery of
S. Maria Maggiore.
^ B. Pacca, Notizie istor. intorno alia vita di Msgr. Fr. Pacca,
3a ediz., Orvieto, 1839, 15. Cf. B. Morosini, Relazione di Roma
(see above, p. 127, n. 5), who says : " Egli era di santissimi costumi
e di ottima volonta, ma la stravaganza del pensare, I'inesperienza
del principato, I'avversione che aveva a Roma, I'abbandono a
favoriti di pcssimi talenti hanno prodotto le irregolarita che a V.
Serenita sono note." See also Cordara, ed. Dollinger, III., 4.
An *account in the Archives of the Austrian Embassy at the
Vatican says : " Di Papa Benedetto diceva il card. Boncompagni
che era il s. sepolcro tra le mani de' Turchi." *Satires against him
after his death in Cod. 3, 11, 7, Bertoliana Library, Vicenza.
298 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
This simplicity rendered him most credulous towards his
confidants, more especially Coscia, to a degree almost be3'ond
belief.^ Nor was he free from great obstinacy, in spite of all
his piety ^ and there was a tinge of pettiness and narrowness
in his character. 3 Apart from his credulity, his greatest
misfortune was the fact that he was unprepared for the
management of the affairs of State and too old to learn the
difficult art of government for which he lacked all natural
aptitude.* If even as Pope he treated the General of the
Dominicans as his Superior and kissed his hand,^ the thing
may have been a mere formality, but a formality that showed
that nature had prepared him for obeying rather than for
commanding.
1 CORDARA, ed. DOLLINGER, III., 4.
2 Acts of a process of canonization which was not carried
through are in the General Archives of the Dominicans, Rome :
" *Processus auctoritate ordinaria compilatus in civitate Dertho-
nensi in causa beatificationis et canonizationis Benedicti pp.
XIII. (fasc. X., 531) ; *Testimonia varia de sancta vita Benedicti
XIII. (fasc. X., 532) ; *Documenta de miraculis per interces-
sionem ven. servi Dei Benedicti P. P. XIII. obtentis sive in eius
vita sive post mortem (fasc. X., 533) ; *Manuscripta Ri^i P.
Bremond magistri generaUs studio exarata de vita et miraculis
ven. servi Dei Benedicti XIII. (fasc. X., 534) " ; *Notes and
accounts from the correspondence of the Generals of the Order
(up to 1750) on miracles wrought through the invocation of
Benedict XIII. (IV., several vols.).
3 That the Pope frequently lost himself in. small matters
has been observed already by Kaunitz in an entry in his * Diary,
June 10 1724, Wrbna-Kaunitz Archives, HoUeschau.
* " Benoit XIII. n'avait pas la premiere idee du gouverne-
nient," says Benedict XIV. (Lettres a Tencin, II., 282). " Tout
son mal," writes Polignac, July 17, 1727, "est de prendre des
partis brusquement et sand consulter. On ne saurait les prcvenir
et il en coute pour y remedier. Mais avec un peu de temps et de
peine, on en vient a bout, car il a toutes les intentions pures et
assez d'humilite pour avouer qu'il aurait pu aller plus douccment
et pour revenir sur ses pas," Rev. de I'hist. de I'llglise de France,
II. (1911), 411. * MuRATORi, XII., 114.
CHARACTER OF BENEDICT XIII. 299
Coscia and his associates exploited his weakness of character,
his creduhty and good nature with unheard of impudence.
The ensuing grave abuses injured not only the financial
position of the Holy See, but its interests and its prestige
also — one need only think of the agreement with the Emperor
and the court of Turin on the Monarchia Sicula. They cast
a deep shadow over the pontificate of five and a half years
of high-minded Benedict XIII. and strengthened the wide-
spread dislike of the choice of a Frate : to be an able Pope
it is not enough to be an excellent religious.
CLEMENT XII. 1730-1740.
CHAPTER I.
Election and Character of Clement XII. — His Action
AS A Reformer.
(!•)
Benedict XIII. 's death was the signal for the overthrow
of the domination of the Beneventan favourites at the Curia. ^
However, the irritation of the pubhc had for its object not
so much the unhappy Pontiff, whom the people rather pitied
and to whom, with rare affection and fervour, it gave a
supreme proof of gratitude, ^ but chiefly Cardinal Coscia and
his followers.^
^ The general demoralization, the maladministration of the
Beneventans and the indifference of the Pope {cf. Zanelli,
II seqq.) are vividly described by Ruele, *Storia del conclave,
Cod., 5746, State Library, Vienna (" Si puo dire al non plus
ultra " ; even the locks on the doors were stolen). Cf. *Conclave
nel quale e stato eletto . . . Clemente XII. (1730), A. I, Archives
of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican, and various *papers
on Coscia in Cod. Barb., 4686, Vatican Library; also *Pasquino
poet, che descrive I'ottavo sacco di Roma sotto il pontif. di
Benedetto XIII., Cod., XV., D 35, National Library, Naples.
Other *.satires are in Codd. Vat., 9372, 9390, 9728, Vatican
Library ; in Cod., i, 8, 5, National Library, Florence ; in L.
Benveduti Library, Gubbio. The *Vita, dottrina e miracoli di
P. Benedetto XIII., Cod., 39, D 2, Corsini Library, Rome, is
also satirical.
^ Thus at the last kissing of the feet of the corpse, *" poiche
da gran tempo non si ricordava la gran calca di persone affolate
per toccargli o bacciargli i piedi." As the people even cut off
pieces from the garments, the guard of honour had to be
300
STERN MEASURES AT THE VATICAN. 30I
By order of the "Camerlengo, Cardinal Annibale Albani,
the Maggiordomo began with a purge of the Apostolic Palace ;
he proceeded with unpitying severity against Cardinal Coscia,
Monsignore Santamaria and Cardinal Fini.^ The day after
the Pope's death — it happened to be Ash Wednesday — they
had to clear out of the palace. Coscia had his clothes taken
to the house of a friend on the Corso, the Marchese Abbati,
where he found a refuge for the next few days.^ He was
ill at the time. An angry crowd was waiting in the square
of St. Peter's, ready to vent its fury against any Beneventan.
After a sudden downpour of rain and the prudent dispositions
of the Swiss Guard had prevented a dangerous outbreak,^
strengthened (*Conclave doppo la morte del P. Benedetto XIII.,
.see above, p. 292, n. 4). A slipper of Benedict XIII. was taken
to Innsbruck, where it is preserved in the Museum Fernandinum.
' The reason was : " aver veduto che il Papa era daUi loro
cosi miseramente sedotto, a non riguardarli con quell'affetto.
che dalla sua santita di vita e affetto paterno si ripromettevano
maggiore " ; details proofs {loc. cit.). Cf. *Storia del conclave
1730, Cod. 9240, State Library, Vienna : " Nel governo passato
s'erano indegnamente abusati della dolcezza del principe."
^ " *Quali furono li piu sleali et odiati ministri e famigliari
nella corte " (" Conclave nel quale ..." [1730], A. I, Archives
of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican). Ibid., details of the
measures taken against Coscia, etc. ; Fini could hardly get
lodgings. On the measures taken for re-establishing order,
cf. *Cod. Barb., 4686-7, Vat. Library, also Wahrmund in Archiv.
fiir Kaili. Kirchenrecht, LXVIII. (1892), 105 seqq.
"■ His servants were recognized and molested. Santamaria
likewise had his effects taken to the brothers Vine, and Fil.
Oreste. " *Conclave nel quale ..." {1730), loc. cit.
3 " *Conclave doppo la morte del P. Benedetto XIII., loc. cit.
Ibid, also an account of the disturbances. See also Cardinal
Cienfuegos *report of February 23, 1730, Archives of the Austrian
Embassy at the Vatican ; Cardinal Bentivoglio's *report to La Paz
of February 25, 1730, Simancas Archives ; * Autobiography of
Cardinal C. Cibo in Fondo Gesuit., 120, pp. 30 seqq., Vittorio
Emanuele Librarj^, Rome ; Gagliardi's *letter (see above,
p. 294, n. 4), an extract of which is printed in Arch. Rom., XIII., 17.
Cf. Brosch, II., 73.
302 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Coscia had himself carried out of the Vatican on a stretcher,
in the dead of night, without being recognized.
However, his whereabouts soon became known when the
excitement of the masses broke out in a regular mutiny. On
the third day of the vacancy of the See, February 23rd,
Abbati's house was made to undergo a regular siege ; a hail
of stones broke every window ; the populace, uttering terrible
threats, threw itself on anyone suspected of being a Bene-
ventan ^ and demanded the death of the " assassins ".^ It
became necessary, for their own protection, to take Coscia's
friends Ramone and Negroni ^ to prison in a carriage guarded
by mounted troops and a posse of police. At night the bridge
of S. Angelo was closed by soldiers in order to prevent some
of the mutinous elements of the Trastevere from penetrating
into the interior of the city. The Bolognese ambassador
Cipro Aldobrandini and the Camerlengo helped Coscia to
escape that same night from Rome to Cisterna.^ Soldiers
continued to march through the streets day and night until,
as a result of further stern measures by the Camerlengo and
the Capi d'ordini, tranquillity was at last restored.
At the first cardinalitial congregation, which also took place
on February 28th, the Sacred College provisionally replaced
the treasurer Negroni by Carlo Sagripanti and the Com-
missario dell'armi Sardini, by Francesco Ricci.^ On the
^ " *Tiratelli, tiratelli, amazatelo, che e Beneventano ! "
(" Conclave nel quale . . ." [1730], loc. cit. Only Fini was spared
because he was less discredited ; Santamaria, whom they wanted
to get hold of particularly, fled to the Monastery of the Minerva
[ibid.).
^ " *Grid6 rinfuriato popolo che voleva in mano gl'assassini
per trucidarli, tento di sforzar la guardia, sinche sopraggiungendo
la soldatesca fu dissipate." Storia del concl., 1730, Cod. 9240,
State Library, Vienna.
' He was' " *tesoriere, notorio concubinario di Bettuccia del
medesimo Ramone sorella carnale." Ibid.
* Ibid. Cf. *Conclave nel quale . . . (1730), loc. cit. In Cisterna
Duke Gaetani took him into his house.
^ *Conclave nel quale . . . {1730), loc. cit.
OPENING OF THE CONCLAVE. 303
occasion of the customary presentation of condolences by the
Powers ^ the diplomatic representatives of Venice and Malta
alone spoke. In the absence of the imperial, French and
Spanish ambassadors, Cienfuegos, Polignac and Bentivoglio
spoke in their place. Ormea and Grasso were not admitted
as legitimate representatives of Savoy and Sardinia. ^
At the conclusion of the solemn obsequies Cardinal Barberini
said the Mass of the Holy Ghost on March 5th, in the place of
the Dean of the Sacred College, Pignatelli, who was still
absent. Amadori Lanfredini delivered the opening discourse
after which the Cardinals present ^ entered the conclave.*
^ The letters of condolence of the Emperor and of the Kings
of France and Spain in Eisler, 320 seq.
2 Cf. *Conclave doppo la morte del P. Benedetto XIII., loc. cit.,
and *Conclave nel quale . . . (1730), loc. cit.
^ The figures given vary : ^Conclave nel quale . . . 1730 {loc.
cit.), says 39, but enumerates only 38 by name. Zanelli (17)
says (according to letters of March 8 and 11, 1730), 30, whilst
(66 seq.) only 27 are enumerated. Cracas (LIIL, 1906, March 11)
gives only 25 Cardinals who on March 5 entered the conclave.
NovAES (XIII. , 164) mentions 26.
* The following sources were used here : (i) " *La storia del
conclave . . . 1730 composta dall'abb. Ruele di Roveredo nel
Tirolo stato conclavista del sig. card, di Colloniz." Grig, with
autographed dedication to the Emperor, Cod. 5746, State Library,
Vienna ; Copies : Cod. 6310, ibid. ; *n. 138, Archives of the
Austrian Embassy at the Vatican ; also two copies in *Cod.
white, 366 (BoHM, 719), State Archives, Vienna. (2) " *Storia
del conclave . . . con le note dell'autore ", evidently by a conclavist
of Cardinal Cienfuegos (at the end : " dentro il conclave fu dal
suo primario ministro molto adoperato il mio zelo, la mia esperienza
e la mia fedelta "), only about external matters. Cod. 9240,
State Lib., Vienna. (3) *Conclave doppo la morte del P. Bene-
detto XIII., loc. cit. (4) *Conclave nel quale e stato eletto . . .
Clemente XII., evidently by a friend of Corradini, Archives of
the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican A. I, in *Cod. white, 706
(BoHM, 383), 392-443, State Archives, Vienna, in *Cod. ital., 55,
pp. 124-265, 184, pp. 697-803, and Cod. 319 (with annotations
by Cardinal Lamberg), State Library, Munich. (5) *Relazione del
conclave di Clemente XII., in Cod. Barb. 4686, Vatican Library,
304 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
At the death of Benedict XIII. the Sacred College counted
67 members, of whom onl}^ 55 intervened in the election. On
the day of the election their number had been reduced to
53 1 as Schonborn had been obliged to leave the conclave
through sickness, whilst Conti was carried off by death. 2
utilized and edited in part in Archiv fiir Kath. Kirchenrecht,
LXVIII. (1892), 105 seqq. (6) *Conclave per la morte di Bene-
detto XIII., Cod. 2970-9, Consistorial Archives of the Vatican,
with protocols of the Congregations, scrutinies, mandates,
petitions and reports of the nuncios, etc. [cj. Wahrmund in
Wiener Sitzungsher., 170, n. 5, pp. 45 seqq. (7) *Reports of
BentivogHo and of his agent " al Marchese de la Paz ", Simancas
Archives, fasc. 82. (8) Cardinal Cienfuegos' *reports to the imperial
Chancellery, Archives of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican, •
n. 138 ; ibid. *Letters from Vienna to Passi and others.
(9) *Relazioni di . . . Rambaldo di Collalto amb. straord. to the
imperial Chancellery, ihid. (10) Reports to the courts of Turin
and Florence, utilized and edited in part by Zanelh. (11) Cracas,
t. LIII.-LIV. (12) Some documents of a history of the Conclave
by Pietro Polidoro (auditor of Annibale Albani) which has
been lost, in Bellini, 2 seqq. CJ. also Petrucelli, IV., 56 seqq. ;
NovAES, XIII., 158 seqq. ; Wahrmund, Ausschliessungsrecht,
226 seq. On Zanelli's account see especially the review in Hist.
Jahrbuch, XII., 125. Other manuscript *reports in Cod. Borg.
lat., 28, Vatican Library, in MiscelL, XV., cod. 130 f., 165 seqq.,
Papal Secret Archives, and in Eisler, 144.
^ A list of the fifty-three who were present and of the eleven
absentees in *Storia del Conclave, Cod. 9240, State Library,
Vienna ; the former also in Cracas, LIV., 2020, July 15, 1730,
and in Zanelli, 98 seq.
2 On Conti's death in the conclave, see below, pp. 314 seq.
Pamfili did not enter the conclave ; he died, aged 76, onMarch 20,
after having been a Cardinal for forty-eight years (see *Conclave
nel quale . . . Archives of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican,
and Cracas, LIIL, 1972, March 25). The following were absent
on account of ill health : Porzia from April 24 to 30 and from
June 21 to July 11, Cibo from June 4 to July 11, Ruffo from
June 9 to July 11 ; see Cracas, LIIL, 1897 (April 29), 2005
(June 10), and 2020 (July 15). Schonborn left the conclave on
July I ; see tbid., LIV., 2017, July 8 ; on the state of his health
PARTIES. 305
Cardinal Pamfili died during the interregnum. The eleven
absentees were the Roman Cusani, the Germans Schratten-
bach and Czacki, the Frenchmen Gesvres and Fleury, the
Fleming Boussu, the Spaniards Borgia and Astorga, and the
Portuguese Motta, Cunha, and Pereyra. Of those present,
twenty-five owed the red hat to Clement XI. and twenty-two
to Benedict XIII. Of the Cardinals of 'Innocent XII. and
those of Innocent XIII. only one survived from each pontifi-
cate, but of those created by Alexander VIII. there remained
four survivors.^
On this occasion the number of the parties was extra-
ordinarily great, but it is not easy to differentiate them. The
prolonged uncertainty of the negotiations, the absence of any
one determining and prevailing party by reason of its numbers,
and the undecided attitude of many Cardinals and factions
render a general survey difficult.
The numerous Cardinals of the previous Pope might have
provided a basis for a powerful party of exclusion or inclusion, ^
but their lack of concord was too great, with the result that
many passed over to the " Zelanti " or to the political factions.^
Somewhat more important was the group of the Clementine
Cardinals led by Annibale Albani, though it by no means
included all the Cardinals of thaf pontificate. On the other
hand the " Zelanti " soon reached an agreement : Benedict
during the election, cf. the letter to his brother, the imperial
vice-chancellor, July 11, 1730, in Zeitschrift fur die Gesch. des
Oberrheins, LXXII. (1918), 194 seqq. See also Novaks, XIII., 164
1 Zanelli, 98 seqq.
* At the beginning Bentivoglio was afraid of the existence of
such an exclusion party of about twenty votes ; see his *letter
to La Paz, February 23, 1730, Simancas Archives. In the course
of the conclave the number shrunk to sixteen, some of whom
continued uncertain (Quirini and Banchieri rather favoured
France, Colhcola and Marefoschi were for Albani). The question
of leadersliip also remained unsolved : at first it was G. B.
Altieri ; when he went over to the Zelanti, Colhcola, and after
him Gotti ; see Ruble, *Storia del conclave, Cod. 5746, State
Library, Vienna. » Pktrucelli, 58.
VOL. xxxiv. X
306 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
XIII. 's accommodating policy was sufficient encouragement
for determined action ^ the election.^
Greater still was the excitement of the political Powers ^ ;
extraordinary envoys came to Rome, as, for instance, the
German Collalto, the Spaniard Monteleone, the Savo5^ard
Ormea. The relative attitude of the crown parties was
determined by various points of view. The Savoyard
privileges formed the main theme of the discussions ^ and
the Powers were fundamentally divided in their attitude for
or against them. Conscious of its recently acquired strength,
the Kingdom of Savoy was, naturally enough, unwilling to
give up any of its acquisitions and for that reason intervened
with particular energy in the discussions.^ For the first time,
under pressure of King Vittorio Amadeo II., a Savoyard
party arose in the Sacred College ^ ; it consisted of Cardinals
^ Already before the conclave they made propaganda both
for their programme of reform and for their candidate (Zanelli,
13). " *Erano tanti giusti inotivi ai card, piu zelanti di far la
scielta d'un Papa di senno, d'esperienza e di capacita tale che
fosse bastante a rimediare a tanti mali, a rimettere in credito
la Camera Apost., solevare agli sudditi e per fine al far rifiorire
I'onore del pontificato, che si vedeva quasi totalmente abbattuto "
(Ruele, Storia del conclave, loc. cit.). Also Cod. Barb. 4686-7,
Vatican Library ; see Archiv fiir Kath. Kirchenrecht, LXVIIL,
112. The number of the Zelanti grew to about fifteen in the course
of the conclave ; see *Ruele, loc. cit.
' On the political situation and its influence on the conclave
see Zanelli, 5 seqq., 9 seq.
^ " *Se I'uno scrisse omclie, I'altro stampo sermoni Mariani
di consultar in casi gravi il s. Collegio d'abolire le pregiudizievoli
concession! fatte alia Savoya e di rivocare I'accomodamento
di Sicilia, benche I'utimo articolo si giudico meglio d'omettere."
Storia del conclave, Cod. 9240, National Library, Vienna.
* Cf. Zanelli, 7, but especially G. M. Bellini, // Marchese
d'Ormea ed il conclave dell' anno 1 730. Documenti inediti, Teramo,
1892 ; Id., V . Amedeo II. e il M. d'Ormea nel conclave dell'anno
1730, Lanciano, 1907.
* Bellini, Documenti 2. An attempt was made to strengthen
the party by promises of pensions, but this was turned down by
PARTY MANCEUVRES. 307
Coscia, Lambertini, Fini, and Lercari, captained by Ales-
sandro Albani. The latter was an irreconcilable opponent of
his brother Annibale whose party, Clement XL's Cardinals/ to-
gether with the " Zelanti ", disputed all the privileges of Savoy.
This party was reinforced by another opposition, that
between France and Austria, which was due to the decisions
of the Congress of Seville in connection with the succession
of Parma and Tuscany. ^ France, represented by Polignac
as leader, desired a Tuscan Pope ; on the other hand Cien-
fuegos, even before the opening of the conclave, declared in
the most unmistakable terms, which interpreted the senti-
ments of the Emperor, that he was opposed to any Tuscan
candidate.^ Now the Tuscans were either Clementines or
" Zelanti ", hence opponents of the Savoyards ; this necessi-
tated a tactical association between Austria and Savoy. In
view of this tense political situation war on Italian territory
was generally expected,^ an event for which each of the
Petra. " *Ormea ha tentato quasi tutto il s. Collegio non meno
con offerte di pensioni che con pronti donativi." It is believed
that a number of Cardinals were won over. CoUalto to the imperial
Chancellery, April 11, 1730. Archives of the Austrian Embassy
at the Vatican.
^ Only a few could be completely relied upon, as Corradini,
Origo, Olivieri ; Albani won over some by promises of offices
or by threats ; see Ruele, *Storia del conclave, loc. cit. Already
on account of the last conclave and for other reasons also Albani
stood in very strained relations with the Emperor, so that in
1728 a union of the crowns against him was being considered
on the Austrian side ; see " *Copia di trascritta a S. M. quando
si mando il giudicio de' cardinali ", Archives of the Austrian
Embassy at the Vatican A. I.
" Zanelli, 6, 14 ; Petrucelli, 57.
' Thereby he alarmed all the Tuscans ; see Bentivoglio to
La Paz, February 23, 1730, Simancas Archives. Cf. Zanelli, 16.
■• Ruele, *Storia del conclave, loc. cit. ; *Cardinal Cienfuegos
to the imperial Chancellery, June 3, 1730, Archives of the Austrian
Embassy at the Vatican A. L Cf. *Relazione della guerra im-
minente sotto il pontif. di Clemente XII. (1730), Cod. 33, G 7,
PP- 305-396. Corsini Library, Rome.
308 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
interested parties was anxious to secure the goodwill of
the next Pope.
As regards numbers, the imperialist party had the
advantage : it included four nationals, seven Neapolitans,
two Milanese, four other subjects, five Savo3'ards and
Bentivoglio,^ who on this occasion was in permanent opposition
to his Spanish colleague Belluga. France v/as in a weaker
position, with five votes ; these only gained some importance
after a closer junction with the Cardinals of Clement XL
and Alexander VIII.
Thus the discussions could only lead to a result if both
parties came to an agreement — which seemed almost
impossible — or if the " Zelanti " joined the imperiaHsts, as
they eventually did.-
Political considerations also played a large part in the
choice of candidates. A year before the death of Benedict
the Emperor had had drawn up a character sketch of all the
Cardinals,^ and yet another in which, after excluding the
" young ones, of whom there could scarcely be question ", and
the " senile ones ", the Cardinals were divided into " suspects ",
" well-disposed " and " indifferent " ones, according to their
^ Thus in all 21-2 votes could be confidently expected, to
which perhaps a few " Benedettini " would be added ; see
RuELE, *Storia del conclave, loc. cit. In the event of all the
subjects arriving and conforming with instructions, twenty-eight
adherents could be counted upon in 1728 ; see *Copia di trascritta
. . ., Archives of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican. Althan
made the strongest opposition to the imperialists and was very
obstinate ; see *Collalto to the imperial Chancellery, June 3, 1730,
ibid. On the importance of the imperialists in the Conclave see
♦Bentivoglio to La Paz, February 21, 1730, Simancas Archives.
' Thus RuELE, *Storia del conclave, loc. cit. This decisive
role of the Zelanti was foreseen ; see *Rclazione del conclave,
1730, e delli due partiti opposti. Archives of the Austrian
Embassy at the Vatican A. I.
3 " *Giudicio chc si fa di quel cardinali die al presente com-
pongono il s. Collegio " [on the back page : Memorie per il
conclave], drawn up for the Emperor, 1 728/1 730, ibid.
MANY PAPABILI. 309
attitude towards the court of Vienna.^ However, it was not
intended to exclude the younger ones on principle ; for
many reasons their inclusion seemed advisable. ^ On the
other hand the imperial party would have to proceed very
carefully with the open exclusion, as that weapon was most
effective when it remained in the scabbard.^
A certain agitation began even before the conclave ; thus
the " Zelanti " opened a campaign in favour of Imperiali,
Cienfuegos for Ruffo and Colonna and the Clementines for
Zondadari and Marefoschi ^ ; there was talk of close on
thirty papahiU.^
Coscia was one of the many absentee Cardinals at the
^ The *Copia di trascritta a S. M., ibid., enumerates : 17
" nazionali ", 5 " protettori delle corone ", 15 " giovani e di
difficile riuscita ", 5 " decrepiti et inabili per la cattiva salute ",
6 " sospetti ", 8 "ben affetti ", 12 " indifferenti " (5 of these
" ma non desiderabili "), 18 " cardinal! nati sudditi ", 4 " dipen-
denti ", 6 friendly.
^ The reasons are : A lack of suitable old Cardinals, too great
a power of resistance on the part of a younger one against excessive
pretensions, perhaps also greater moderation and more prudent
dealing with existing disorders. Ibid.
^ " *In somma Tesclusiva de' principi e una spada che sfoderata
non pu6 servire che due o tre volte al piu, ma ritenuta nel fodero
fa quanti omicidi si vogliono." Ibid.
■• Savoy also made a selection, a very large one, of papabili.
Ormea's letter to the King, February 25, 1730, in Zanelli,
18. n. I.
^ Three Neapolitans (Pignatelli, Ruffo, Petra), two Milanese
(Borromeo, Odescalchi), two Venetians (Ottoboni, Porzia),
two Genoese (Imperiali, Nic. Spinola), four Tuscans (Corsini,
Zondadari, Banchieri, Salviati), one from Mantua (Pico), one
from Piacenza (Alberoni), and twelve papal subjects (Barberini,
Boncompagni, Davia, Corradini, Conti, G. B. Altieri, Marefoschi,
Gotti, Altieri, Colonna, Olivieri, Falconieri). Detailed apprecia-
tion of these twenty-seven in Ruele, *Storia del conclave. Cod.
5746, State Librar\^ Vienna ; eighteen specially important
papabili are also discussed in " *ReIazione del conclave 1730 e
delli due partiti opposti ", Archives of the Austrian Embassy
at the Vatican.
310 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
moment of the closure of the conclave on the evening of
March 5th. The day before he had sent a letter from Cisterna
to the Sacred College in which he expressed his willingness
to attend the conclave and begged that the most necessary
clothes and other articles of his confiscated property might
be restored to him.^ On March 11th the Capi d'ordini granted
his request as well as a free entry into the city.^ He presented
himself on April 4th but only a few of the members of the
conclave greeted him.^
The position of the parties was very ill defined when the
negotiations opened : many of the national Cardinals had
not yet arrived. Only the compact group of the " Zelanti "
could risk an immediate advance and this it did in favour
^ *Copy of the letter and the reply (signed by Ottoboni,
Zondadari, Colonna) in Cod. Hal., 54S, f. 140, State Library,
Munich. Coscia calls special attention to the fact that in virtue
of the Bulls of Clement V. and Paul V. he could not be subjected
to any proceedings during the Sede vacante.
2 " Accompagnato per strada dalle insolenti maldicenze et
imprecazioni del popolo " ; see Collalto to Borromeo in Milan,
in Calvi, 5. He arrived in Rome secretly during the night and
found shelter with the Carmelites alia Traspontina ; see Bassi
to Borromeo in Milan, April i, 1730, ibid., 4. He had to enter
the Vatican by the door of the Belvedere.
3 Among them Ruffo, Ottoboni and Giudice who embraced
him, whilst most of the Cardinals were against him ; see Collalto
to the imperial Chancellery, April 11, 1730, Archives of the
Austrian Embassy at the Vatican. The *satires on the Cardinals
in conclave {Cod. ital., 548, f. 93 seqq., State Library, Munich)
are particularly bitter against Coscia and Lambertini ; for the
Carmelites who sheltered Coscia " contra ius gentium " the
wish is expressed that they may have " nee pax nee requies ",
for the Cardinals who admitted " flagitiosissimum cardinalem ",
" confusio sempiterna " ; Ormea is called " Romae catholicae
Catilina " ; angry words are also hurled against the Roman
populace, " a maiorum strenua virtute degeneri ac latrocinia
et cornua libenter exoptanti," they ought to have stoned and
banished him. Other *satires on the conclave in Ottob., 2825-8,
Vatican Library, in Ms. Diez., 51, State Library, BerUn, and
in Cod. 10807 and 10834, British Museum, London.
IMPERIALI S CANDIDATURE. 3II
of Imperiali. The latter had great experience in the affairs
of the Curia and even more in those of the Camera, but his
eighty years and his infirmities ^ seemed to render him
unequal to the difficult tasks of the near future. France had
excluded him at the last conclave ; it was not known if she
would maintain her exclusion. At the very first scrutiny
on the morning of March 6th, eighteen votes were cast in his
favour.2 Strangely enough even the Camerlengo warmly
supported this action, though his sincerity was questioned,
all the more so as common experience proved that the first
candidatures were, for the most part, those least seriously
meant ; perhaps Albani merely wished to rob one or other
political power of its veto.^ In this he was successful. Imperiali
met with opposition from the Spaniards because of his
friendliness towards the Emperor and his attitude in the
question of Tuscany, from Portugal because he had prevented
Bichi's elevation, and from Savoy because he opposed the
privileges granted by Benedict XIII.'* ; even the imperialists
were unable to rise to any great enthusiasm for him.^ In view
1 " *Prattico della corte e specialmente degli interessi della
Camera [but] al governo parato [and] quasi debile di mente."
Relazione del conclave 1730 e delli due partiti opposti. Archives
of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican.
^ The results of particular ballots in *Scrutinii del conclave . . .
1730, Cod. Barb., 4449, Vatican Library ; also in Cod. Vat. 10454
(March 7 to July 12), ibid., and in Cardinal Sinzendorf s *reports
(May 28 to July i, 1730), Sinzendorf Archives, Jaidhof Castle.
3 " *Con giusta ragione dunque gli piu sensati cardinal!
rivocavano in dubio la fede del card. S. Clemente [Ann. Albani]
per queste pratiche e lo riguardano per un inganno." Ruele,
Storia del conclave, loc. cit.
* All these reasons are stated in *Conclave nel quale . . .,
Archives of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican.
^ On April 21 Albani sent from the conclave a *report to the
Emperor with a warm recommendation for Imperiali (S. Clemente
al March, di Rialphi, copy in Archives of the Austrian Embassy
at the Vatican), the Emperor, however, refused to intervene
on behalf of any particular person (*Rialpi to Annib. Albani,
May 17, 1730, ibid.).
312 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
of the elimination, for similar motives, of other candidates,^
the ground seemed ready for a successful party of exclusion ;
however, events moved more rapidly.
On March 12th Bentivoglio, the Spanish Cardinal Minister,
entered the conclave, in spite of the fact that he felt very
unwell ; he was forced to do so because his countryman
Belluga refused to carry out his Government's definite
instructions, which were hostile to Imperiali.^ It became
increasingly clear that France would not pronounce a declara-
tion of exclusion.^ The situation became particularly serious
on March 20th when another twenty votes were cast for
Imperiah, whilst it was known that ten other faithful
supporters of the action in his favour had only voted
" nemini " for appearance' sake. There followed a night
of strenuous electorial activity, yet to the disappointment
of many, the next scrutiny only yielded twenty-two votes
in Irnperiali's favour. Nevertheless in the morning BentivogHo
informed the leaders of the parties that Imperiali was excluded
by the King of Spain. ^
^ RuELE, *Storia del conclave, loc. cit.
2 *Bentivoglio to La Paz, March 4, 1730, Simancas Archives ;
♦Conclave nel quale . . ., Archives of the Austrian Embassy
at the Vatican. In his final *report to La Paz, July 14, 1730
{loc. cit.), Bentivoglio complained of Belluga's lack of solidarity,
he was only a hindrance and had let himself be guided by selfish
motives.
' It was becoming more and more evident that this time France
would leave Spain in the lurch ; however, there was still a hope
of overthrowing Imperiali, " *sin venir al golpe fatal de la
esclusiva " (Bentivoglio to La Paz, March 16, 1730, Simancas
Archives). Only " *en el ultimo inevitable caso " did he wish
to make use of the exclusion (*Bentivoglio to La Paz, March i6
and 18, 1730, ibid.). Polignac even sought to persuade Benti-
voglio to favour Imperiali (*to La Paz, March 16, 1730, ibid. ;
♦Cienfuegos to the imperial Chancellery by Passi, April 22,
Archives of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican.
* RuELE, *Storia del conclave, loc. cit., printed in part in
Wahrmund, Ausschliessungsrecht, 323 ; Barberini's diary.
FAILURE OF IMPERIALI. 313
Thereupon Imperiali's friends, mainly at Belluga's instiga-
tion,^ began an attack on the authenticity of the letter
submitted ; they argued that it was signed by the Secretary
of State, not by the King, and that the date was too remote
(August 28th, 1720). A messenger was dispatched to Madrid,
to inquire into the validity of the veto ; another messenger
went to Cardinal Fleury to obtain the intervention of the
Paris Government with the Spanish court in favour of
Imperiali. The answer was long in coming. Meanwhile the
Camerlengo endeavoured to induce the imperialists to change
their mind — first Cienfuegos, then Kollonitsch — but all in
vain. An imperial instruction, which arrived at the beginning
of April, was against Imperiali ^ ; finally both the French
and the Spanish courier also brought an answer unfavourable
to him.^
The opposition party, now visibly stronger, put forward
new candidates in the persons of Ruffo, Falconieri, Petra,
Gotti, but none with decisive results. Meanwhile several
minor incidents distracted the attention of the electors for
a short time. April 8th witnessed the arrival of the imperial
envoy Count Collalto ; on the 10th the ambassador addressed
March 21, 1730, in Archiv fiir Kath. Kirchenrecht, LXVIII., 106 ;
report to La Paz, March 27, 1730, Simancas Archives. Cf.
Wahrmund, Ausschliessungsrecht, 226 ; Id., in Archiv fiir Kath.
Kirchenrecht, LXVIIL, 103 ; Zanelli, 24 ; Petrucelli, 68 ;
EisLER, 184 ; Gaugusch, 161 ; Lector, 565 seq. ; Vidal, 65.
^ " *Dicendogli che questo era uno sfogo di sua passione
privata, un sue capricioso et indiscrete sentimento." Ruele,
Storia del conclave, loc. cit.
2 Petrucelli, 69.
' On April 24 the Spanish courier arrived with the expHcit
confirmation of the exclusion ; see *report to La Paz, May 2,
1730, Simancas Archives ; Collalto to the imperial Chancellery,
April 29, 1730, in Wahrmund, Ausschliessungsrecht, 322 {cf. 226).
At the beginning of May the French courier also arrived with
the same disappointing answer ; see *report to La Paz, May 15,
1730, loc. cit. ; Ruele, *Storia del conclave, loc. cit. Cf. Vidal,
65 ; Petrucelli, 75.
314 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
the Sacred College ; Barberini replied with an address in
Italian.^
In the scrutiny of the evening of April 17th one vote was
cast for Coscia. The Sacred College was indignant, ^ many
Cardinals, such as Annibale Albani and Barberini, demanded
the annulment of the vote, but others, and they prevailed
in the end, insisted that Coscia should enjoy an unqualified
active and passive vote.^ Now it so happened that a few
days later the Grand Penitentiary, Cardinal Conti, succumbed
to a stroke of apoplexy ^ ; evil tongues connected this sudden
death with the vote for Coscia.^ Conti's body lay in state
^ Ruble, *Storia del conclave, loc. cit. The Emperor's letter
to the Sacred College of March 8, 1730, sent by Collalto, forms
Appendix A in *Conclave nel quale . . . (1730), Archives of the
Austrian Embassy at the Vatican. Ibid., also, CoUalto's discourse
forms Appendix B and is printed as supplement to his *report
to the imperial Chancellery, April 11, 1730.
2 " *Con universale scandalo : altri volea aprir la scheda, altri
sebarla al futuro pontefice, altri chiamava spergiuro il vocale,
che non puo crederlo degno, quando giura d'eleggerne il piii
degno " (Storia del conclave. Cod. 9240, State Library Vienna).
See also *report to La Paz, April 19, 1730, Simancas Archives,
and CoUalto's *report to the imperial Chancellery, April 23,
Archives of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican. In the conclave
leaflets were distributed in the form of a decree from the auditor
of the Apostolic camera, which said : " Comburatur schedula
una cum electo et electore ! " Ruele, *Storia del conclave,
loc. cit.
' Ruele, * Storia del conclave, ibid.
^ Cracas, LIIL, 1987, April 29, 1730.
^ Ruele [loc. cit.) has preserved the following sonnet which
was circulated at that time in the conclave :
Un voto a Coscia ? E chi fu mai quel Rio
Profanator del sacro giuramento
Che I'infame ladron di Benevcnto
Scrisse con negra man per vice Dio ?
Un voto a Coscia ? Oh Santo Spirito, oh Dio !
Punite il diabolico ardimento,
HESITATION. 315
in the Cappella Paolina on the following day, after which,
in the presence of the entire Sacred College, it was consigned
to the parish priest and the clergy of St. Peter's at the door
of the conclave.^ Cardinal Petra was chosen to succeed him
as Grand Penitentiary. ^
The number of Cardinals present now exceeded fifty and
the discussions became again more serious. Cienfuegos,
leagued with Spain, Savoy and others,^ agitated in favour
of Ruffo, but the latter was too imperialist for the French
and the Clementines and too Savoyard for the " Zelanti ".
Fiamma dal ciel suH'empio cada, e al vento
II cener sparga, e cosi paghi 11 fio.
Un vote a Coscia ? Altro briccon che Finy
Far non potea cosi malvaggia impresa,
Seguace degrinfami, ed assassini.
lo non rassolvero, troppo e roffesa.
Cosi disse, e lascio vita, e scrutini
II gran penitenzier di santa Chiesa.
^ This ceremony took place at i o'clock in the morning ;
the body was then taken to S. Bernardo, the titular church
of the Cardinal. Ruele, *Storia del conclave, loc. cit.
* As the office brought in 2,000 scudi per annum, there were
several candidates' (Petra, Corradini, Marefoschi, Pico) and many
differences of opinion, so that it was only at a second meeting
that Petra was elected with forty-five votes ; Ruele, loc. cit.,
and *Conclave nel quale . . . (1730), Archives of the Austrian
Embassy at the Vatican.
' Even with some of the Zelanti, as also with his relative
Boncompagni and Ottoboni, a relative of the latter ; the votes
amounted already to over thirty (Ruele, loc. cit.). Against him
were the Albani, Benedettini and some of the Zelanti (Collalto's
* report to the imperial Chancellery, April 23, 1730, Archives of
the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican). Ruffo had the reputation
of being " ambiziosissimo di esaltazione " ; see Conclave nel
quale . . . (1730), ibid. A pamphlet against the candidature of
Ruffo was circulated in the conclave, the contents of which are
refuted in detail in *Storia del conclave (1730), Cod. 9240,
State Archives, Vienna ; in the end, Ruffo withdrew sponta-
neously ; see *report to La Paz, May 20, 1730, Simancas Archives.
3l6 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Fresh compromises were suggested only to be dropped as
quickly, as for instance in favour of Davia,^ Colonna and
Pico. The latter was greatly favoured by the Camerlengo ^ ;
attempts were also made in favour of Zondadari ^ and, for
a moment, of Falconieri also.^
^ As *pensionario doU'imperadore (Relazione del conclave
1730 e delli due partiti apposti, Archives of the Austrian Embassy
at the Vatican). He was opposed by France and Spain ; cf.
Petrucelli, 71.
* On INIay 21 Albani circulated in the conclave a letter of
recommendation in which he praised Pico as the most worthy
and refuted all objections. Collalto sent a copy of it to the imperial
Chancellery with his *report of May 23, 1730 (Archives of the
Austrian Embassy at the Vatican). In the meantime Albani's
letter remained without effect (*ColIalto to the imperial
Chancellery, May 23, 1730, ibid.). Althan asserted that he knew
the dispositions of the Emperor better, that he was in favour of
Pico. However, during the night of May 18 Cienfuegos showed
an explicit order of exclusion against Pico from the Emperor,
written in Spanish, of which Ruele had to inform Cardinals
Kollonitsch and Schonborn. They succeeded in collecting over
twenty-five votes for the exclusion ; the attempt to extort
an open exclusion miscarried. Thereupon Pico " *la sera degli
19 di maggio si porto alia cella del card. Camerlengo, ove alia
presenza del card. S. Agnese avanti d'un crocefisso protesto
che lui si giudicava incapace del pontificato, tanto piu quanto
che sapeva essergli contraria Sua M. Imp., che percio lo supplicava
di voler desistere dal fare ulteriori pratiche in suo favore "
(Ruele, Storia del conclave, loc. cit.). Cf. *reports to La Paz of
May 22 and 31, 1730, Simancas Archives. Moreover Pico was
a French pensioner (*Relazione del concl. 1730 e delli due partiti
opposti. Archives of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican).
3 The Zelanti, Savoyards and Benedettini united in his
support, the latter on condition that he made certain promises
(♦Conclave nel quale . . . [1730], ibid). But Spain was against
him (*Cienfuegos to the imperial Chancellery, May 28, 1730,
ibid.) ; the imperialists did not want a Tuscan and a rumour
was spread [cf. * letter to the Emperor, probably by Ruele
immediately after the election, ibid.), that France would exclude
him on account of his activities as nuncio, in justification of
CORSINl'S CANDIDATURE. 317
Corsini's candidature called forth a more lively interest.
He was known to be a conscientious administrator and his
unselfish liberality had won him popularity. His house was
a distinguished social centre. After the definitive failure of
the action in favour of Imperiali, the French proposed
Corsini ^ ; they were joined by Bentivoglio,^ some " Zelanti "
and a few of Benedict XHI.'s Cardinals. But the main
opposition came from Cienfuegos who was dead against all
Tuscans ^ and who became all the more unyielding as the
opposite side increased its efforts in favour of Corsini.*
In the city the latter's election was already looked upon as
which Zondadari himself drew up a report which he handed
over to Rohan (Bentivoglio sent a *copy of it to La Paz on
June 3, Simancas Archi\'cs), evidently without the desired
effect (RuELE, *Storia del Conclave, loc. cit. ; cf. *report to La
Paz, May 27, 1730, loc. cit.).
* He met with opposition as head of the Benedettini, as a
friend of Coscia and the Savoyards, and perhaps also on account
of his violent character ; see Ruele, *Storia del conclave, loc.
cit. ; *Conclave nel quale . . . (1730), loc. cit. ; *report to La Paz,
May 31, 1730, loc. cit. ; *reports of Collalto [who praises him
very much] to the imperial Chancellery, May 27 and June 3,
1730, loc. cit.
^ Ruele, *Storia del conclave, loc. cit.
* *Report to La Paz, May 15, 1730, Simancas Archives.
3 The numerous objections on the part of Austria in *Relazione
del conclave 1730 e delli due partiti opposti (Archives of the
Austrian Embassy at the Vatican) : "Si conoscera chiaramente
che il card. Corsini e totalmente escluso dal pretendere e dal
papato." Hence Cienfuegos was unwilling to give his consent
without " *espresse e precise istruzioni dalla sua corte di Vienna "
(Conclave nel quale . . . [1730], ibid.). Cf. CoUalto's *roport to
the imperial Chancellery, May 8, 1730, ibid. The Austro-Savoyard
league against Corsini was especially consolidated by the assemblies
of May II and 12 ; see Ruele, *Storia del conclave, loc. cit.
Cf. also the *reports to La Paz, May 2 and 6, 1730, Simancas
Archives ; Petrucelli, 77 ; Zanelli, 3G.
* At first Rohan, then the Camerlengo himself, but both in
vain. *Report to La Paz, May 15, 1730, loc. cit. Cf. Zanelli, 37.
3l8 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
a certainty. On May 15th the people and the nobility
assembled in front of St. Peter's, full of expectation, but
they were obliged to go home disappointed for at the morning
ballot Corsini's party had only succeeded in collecting twenty-
six votes instead of the thirty-four they had hoped for.^
Thereupon the Cardinal begged his supporters to desist from
pushing his candidature. ^ The alliance between the Savoyards
and the imperialists seemed, at least for the moment, to have
stood this trial of strength, even without an open exclusion.
In the first days of June Davia's prospects seemed so
certain that masons and other workmen in the city were
engaged for the dismantling of the conclave and many
Cardinals were making preparations for their departure. ^
Once again there occurred a great deception : instead of the
anticipated thirty-eight to forty votes, only twenty-nine were
cast for Davia at the decisive scrutiny of June 7th.* The
^ Twenty-three votes in the scrutiny and three accessi ; see
RuELE, *Storia del conclave, loc. cit. ; *Collalto to the imperial
Chancellery, May 13, 1730, Archives of the Austrian Embassy
at the Vatican.
2 The votes diminished rapidly : in the evening only twenty-
five, on May 16 only five. *Cienfuegos to the imperial Chancellery,
May 18, 1730, ibid. Cf. Ruele, loc. cit.
3 " *Conclave nel quale . . . (1730), loc. cit. " *Per rendere la
canzonatura piii fiera [!] egli [Annib. Albani] fece venire 50
muratori per abbattere i muri, fece applicare le scale alle mura
della scala grande ed altre dimostrazioni usate quando riesce
Telezione ; li cardinal! fecero venire le coppe, e molti trafugarono
gl'argenti, tutta Roma era in confusione et in bisbiglio." Report
of Cardinal Sinzendorf, June 7, 1730, Sinzendorf Archives,
Jaidhot Castle.
■» On June 4 there were already forty adherents. An assembly
of the " Zelanti " on the morning of June 7 described the intrigues
against Davia under the mask of the Zelanti as " *un
arrabiatissimo maneggio di Polignac e di S. Clemente ", and they
maintained that the election should no longer be deferred (Ruble,
*Storia del conclave, loc. cit.). Some considered Davia " *avidioso
et irresoluto " (Conclave doppo la morte del P. Benedetto XIII.,
loc. cit.). Personally Cienfucgos agreed, but he pointed out the
DAVIA S CANDIDATURE 319
result was a great strengthening of Davia's opponents ; these
now strove for the elevation of Corradini.^ In reality the
only purpose of the French when they put forward this
candidature was to extort an imperial declaration of exclusion
against him, so as to facihtate the promotion by them of
Olivieri or Banchieri.- By their joint efforts the Clementines,
the French and the " Zelanti " ^ succeeded in winning over
very distressing condition of the Cardinal's health who was deaf
and nearly blind ; France was opposed on account of his former
nunciature ; see *report to La Paz, June 7, 1730, Simancas
Archives. All objections are refuted in Ruele *Storia del conclave,
loc. cit., and in *Conclave nel quale . . . (1730), loc. cit.
1 *Cienfuegos to the imperial Chancellery, June 10, 1730,
Archives of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican, and *report
of Cardinal Sinzendorf, June 8, 1730, Sinzendorf Archives, Jaidhof
Castle.
^ *Collalto to the imperial Chancellery, June 10, 17, and 20,
1730, Archives of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican, the
last letter also in Wahrmund, AusscJiliessitngsrecht, 322. The
Zelanti, however, were sincere in their intentions ; see Ruele,
*Storia del conclave, loc. cit. Here also arises the question of a
multiple exclusion by the same sovereign ; Collalto proposes
that the crowns, especially the Emperor, should show that they
had the right to exclude several, as Estrees, in the conclave of
Innocent XL {cf. the present work, XXXIL, 38), had excluded
" tutte le creature di Clcmente X." (*to the imperial Chancellery,
June 17 and 20, loc. cit.). A malicious *satire {Cod. ital., 548,
State Library, Munich), says of Corradini : " qui singular! eximia-
que virtute inter cuncta semper praeclarissime gesta ad pontifi-
catus Romani dignitatem tuendam incredibili constantia nedum
alios, sed se ipsum superavit atque in praesenti summo rerum
discrimine omni studio incubuit, ut claves apostolici imperii
teneret et gubernacula christianae reipublicae tractaret."
^ *Cienfuegos to the imperial Chancellery, June 20, 1730,
loc. cit. Thus Althan dissuaded Cardinal Borromeo, " *per la
qual via a sviato molt'altri sudditi dellTmperatore mettendoli
il sospetto che cio era privato capriccio del card. Cienfuegos."
*Report of Cardinal Sinzendorf, June 20, 1730, Sinzendorf
Archives, Jaidhof Castle. Ibid., also on the very active propaganda
320 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
a number of Cardinals to their side, but Cienfuegos and
Bentivoglio, whose action was decisive,^ would neither change
their minds nor suffer themselves to be persuaded to precipitate
anything, 2 however anxious Althan in particular may have
been to compromise the leader of the imperiahsts.^ Alessandro
Albani^ also worked steadily in their sense. Cienfuegos
answered definitely that even if all the Cardinals voted for
for Corradini and a *Enumerazione probabile delli 30 voti dati
al card. Corradini.
^ Bentivoglio told the advocate Mauri, Rohan's conclavist,
" *che egli rendeva le dovute grazie a sua Em. per le compite
esibizioni e che le faceva sapere che I'obligo di buon servitore
e ministro del Re Cattolico suo signore non gli permetteva d'arbi-
trare in questa materia ; onde gli conveniva d'essere precisa-
mente contrario all'esaltazione del card. Corradini " (Ruele,
Storia del conclave. Cod. 5746, State Library, Vienna). C/. 'the
*report to La Paz, June 3, 1730, Simancas Archives ; Collalto
to the imperial Chancellery, June 27, 1730, Archives of the
Austrian Embassy at the Vatican, and to Borromeo in Milan,
June 24, 1730, in Calvi, 20 seq.
^ Bentivoglio worked hard against Corradini (*to La Paz,
June 10, 12, and 19, 1720, loc. cit.), and reported daily from
June 15 to 30 to La Paz on the results of the ballots [cf. the
♦reports, ibid.). The maximum number of votes was thirty on
June 17, in the evening only twenty-seven, on June iS, 29
and 30 respectively. During the following night a strong exclusion
party was formed with twenty-two votes, later increased to
twenty-six (the names of the members are enumerated in the
report to La Paz, June 19, ibid. ; later they sank to twenty-six).
In spite of this Corradini continued to receive 24-8 votes up till
the beginning of July ; sec Ruele, *Storia del conclave, loc. cit.
8 On June 19 the rumour was spread, probably by Althan, that
Collalto had said that the Emperor had no objection to Corra-
dini. However, the ambassador immediately denied this statement
in a letter to Cienfuegos and in the evening he confirmed the
denial by oath, before Kollonitsch's window. Ruele, loc. cit.
* " *Si morseroallora come furie d'Averno iministri Savoyard! "
(Conclave nel quale . . . [1730], Archives of the Austrian Embassy
at the Vatican ; added to this, as appendices, the text of the
agreement among the Savoyards on the impossibility of Corradini :
FURTHER CANDIDATES 321
Corradini, two votes would never be secured, viz. his own
and Bentivoglio's, because the courts they represented had
grave misgivings, as had those of Portugal and Savoy. ^
Accordingly it soon became necessary to drop all efforts for
Corradini's elevation ^ ; on July 1st a formal veto was no
longer deemed necessary.^
The French now made a direct attempt in favour of
Banchieri, but in the opinion of the " Zelanti " this candidate
lacked experience and was engaged in a policy of self-interest.*
The Spaniards and the imperialists also received the proposal
coldly.^ For a moment the imperialists considered Barberini
and the opposite side Pignatelli.
Appendix C : Ormea to Al. Albani and Lambertini ; Appendix
D : Lambertini to Ormea ; both documents are also printed in
Bellini, 2-6).
^ RuELE, loc. cit., describes, no doubt with some exaggeration,
the effect on Albani : " Ad una cosi risoluta risposta S. Clemente
tutto confuso ritorno alia sua cella, conoscendo che tutte le sue
arti per indurre Cienfuegos o a concorrere in Corradini o a dar
fuori la sua esclusiva, erano frustranee." In the same way
♦Bentivoglio " respondio francamente al de Rohan que se acordase
da la palabra, que le avia dado, que no se hablaria mas de
Corradini " (report to La Paz, June 7, 1730, Simancas Archives).
Cf. *Cienfuegos to the imperial Chancellery, June 20, 1730,
Archives of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican.
* Fearing this, Collalto writes already on June 17, 1730, to
the imperial Chancellery: " In sostanza il conclave e in una tale
dissensione, che per via di trattati si e totalmente da capo "
(Archives of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican) ; and on
June 10 to Borromeo in Milan (in Calvi, 19) : "In somma il
conclave e come un teatro, ove or Tuna, or I'altra scena si mira
de' personaggi, la cui azione poi finisce in tragedia."
* Collalto to Borromeo, July i, 1730 (in Calvi, 22) : " avendo
sicura I'esclusiva co' voti."
^ " * Circa Corradini comminciano a vedere I'impossibilita,
non disperano pero di riuscire con Banchieri, che doppo Olivieri
sarebbe il loro Benjamino." *Report of Cardinal Sinzendorf,
June i8, 1730, Sinzendorf Arch., Jaidhof Castle.
^ Collalto to the imperial Chancellery, July i, 1730, Archives
of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican.
VOL. XXXIV. Y
322 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
The length of the conclave and the beginning of the hot
season made life in the confined space exceedingly disagree-
able.^ This makes it all the more surprising that at this very
moment the electors took up once more the earlier candidature
of Corsini and that it led in a comparatively short time to
a positive result. What was the cause of this change ?
The first attempt in favour of Corsini had been wrecked
against the resistance of the imperial and Savoyard party.
But all the means for overcoming their opposition had not
been exhausted. Work on his behalf went on in secret and
with the imperial Government itself. Corsini's nephew,
Neri Corsini, and with him Grand-Duke Giovanni Gasto of
Tuscany,^ the Electress of Bavaria, Anne of Bavaria,^ and
Princess Violante of Tuscany,^ exerted their influence on his
behalf at the court of Vienna. Several weeks of incessant
effort were at length crowned with the longed for success.
On the evening of July 7th Cienfuegos received an imperial
messenger who was the bearer of a letter in which the Govern-
ment expressed its thanks for the poHcy he had hitherto
pursued in the conclave and instructed him that, in the event
of Corsini's candidature coming up once more, the opposition
^ On the eve of SS. Peter and Paul the fiscal of the Apostolic
Camera made his appearance and pressed for a speedy conclusion
in the interests of economy. Ruele, *Storia del conclave, loc. cit.
" *Rispettuosissimi e caldissimi uffici da parte del Granduca :
Collalto to the Emperor, July 19, 1730, Archives of the Austrian
Embassy at the Vatican. Cf. the same, June 10, 1730, in Calvi, 19.
On Neri Corsini, cf. Brosch, II., 74.
' Zanelli, 55.
* Conclave nel quale . . . {1730), Archives of the Austrian
Embassy at the Vatican. On the part played by Violante,
cf. *Conclave doppo la morte del P. Benedetto XIII. {loc. cit.) :
" La gran princessa D. Violante di Toscana aveva sempre con-
servato un affetto distinto per la casa Corsini ed e certo che non
ebbe di parti di aver le prime mane nella di lui esaltazione, a
siccome alia corte di Vienna godeva questa distinta dama un
straordinario concetto appresso I'imperatore," she spoke to
him strongly on behalf of Corsini.
CORSINI S CANDIDATURE ONCE MORE 323
hitherto offered should be dropped. The French felt grievously
hurt when Albani suddenly ceased to support Banchieri and
began to advocate once more the elevation of Corsini. They
suspected the existence of a private understanding between
Albani, Corsini and the Emperor which might prove dangerous
for France.^ The impetuous Rohan demanded a French
exclusion ^ but the more prudent Polignac was of a contrary
opinion. It was resolved to form an exclusion party for the
formation of which conferences were held nightly in Ottoboni's
cell from July 7th to 9th. In this uncertain situation Annibale
Albani formally questioned Cienfuegos on July 10th on his
own attitude and that of his party to Corsini's candidature :
he then received the hoped for consent. This infuriated the
French, all the more so as the " Zelanti " went over in a body
to Corsini and even the natural objections of Benedict XIII. 's
Cardinals ^ and the Savoyards to this opponent of their
privileges was overcome by Cienfuegos and CoUalto.*
France's desperate efforts for the formation of an effective
1 * Reports to La Paz, July 8 and 14, 1730, Simancas Archives ;
*Conclave nel quale . . . (1730), Archives of the Austrian Embassy
at the Vatican.
- Albani excused himself by saying that he had to propose
one of these, namely Corsini, out of regard for the Cardinals
created by his uncle, whereupon Rohan " *tutto furioso all'uso
della sua nazione, poco pratico della fiemma romana, disse subito,
che questo era il Papa che voleva I'imperatore, onde non poter
egli soffrire, che si dicesse, che fosse venuto da Parigi a Roma per
fargli un Papa a suo piacere a che piu dovesse subito darsegli
I'esclusiva " (Ruele, *Storia del conclave. Cod. 5746, State
Library, Vienna). Likewise a * letter to the Emperor immediately
after the election, most probably by Ruele, in Archives of the
Austrian Embassy at the Vatican.
* Cienfuegos first personally won over Falconieri for Corsini,
and Falconieri his party friends, on the plea that an even stronger
opponent of Benedict XIIL could easily be elected. *Conclave
nel quale . . . (1730), loc. cit.
■* CoUalto negotiated first with Grossi, and Cienfuegos with
Alessandro Albani ; see *report to La Paz, July 8, 1730, Simancas
Archives.
324 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
party in favour of exclusion failed ; it was found impossible
to get together more than thirteen or fourteen adherents ;
consequently, on the morning of July 11th, Polignac and
Ottoboni announced the formal adhesion of the French
Cardinals amid exaggerated apologies for their hesitation.^
In return they were given an assurance that Banchieri would
become Secretary of State. ^
On the forenoon of July 11th the various parties with their
leaders repaired to Corsini's cell for the purpose of offering
preliminary congratulations. In the evening the entire
Sacred College escorted him to the Sistine chapel and back
again. The final election was put off until the next day, the
feast of St. John Gualbert, for whom Corsini cherished the
greatest veneration.^ Already at daybreak there was great
excitement in the cells. A triple signal with a beU summoned
the electors one hour earlier than was customary. All the
fifty-two Cardinals present cast their vote for Corsini who
shed tears of emotion during the whole of the proceedings.
When asked whether he accepted, he fell on his knees, turned
towards the altar and after a short prayer uttered his Accepto.
After four months and seven days it was at last possible to
re-open the conclave. Out of veneration for the Pope to
whom he owed his promotion, the newly-elected took the
name of Clement. Everybody saw the hand of Providence
1 " *Finalmente si rendettero consentiendo alia elezione di
Corsini con incredibile ripugnanza " because they did not wish
to have a Pope by the favour of the Emperor (Cienfuegos to the
imperial Chancellery, July 12, 1730, Archives of the Austrian
Embassy at the Vatican). Salviati, a friend and compatriot
of Corsini, probably had a hand in the affair ; see *Conclave nel
quale . . . (1730), ibid. CJ. also Ruele, *Storia del conclave,
loc. cit.. and *report to La Paz, July 14, 1730 (Simancas Archives) :
" En esta precision juzgaron conveniente los Franceses hacer
virtud de la necesidad."
^ *Secondo il concordato con i Francesi (Conclave nel quale . . .
[1730], loc. cit.). Cf. Petrucelli, 97.
» *" Di lui concittadino e di lui ne vive parzialmente divoto "
(Conclave nel quale . . . [1730], loc. cit.).
CORSINI ELECTED. 325
in the elevation of this Tuscan, against whom the powers
of this world had worked so violently and yet so vainly.^
When the election was made public, the people displayed
but little satisfaction, for the Romans had continued to hope
for the elevation of Corradini ^ who enjoyed far greater
popularity. It was said that out of the 4,000 assembled in
the Piazza of St. Peter's, only four or six shouts of acclamation
were heard. Only when the new Pope entered St. Peter's,
escorted by the Cardinals and the Swiss Guards, were loud
acclamations raised, and even more so at the coronation and
the possesso on the following Sunday.^ Each of the political
parties claimed to have been instrumental in creating the
^ " *Recarebbe gran meraviglia I'intendere esaltato alia
sovranita della chiesa Romana un soggetto, che nello stesso
conclave fu contrariato dalla prima potenza deU'Europa e che
da questa contro il fine d'ogni umana politica poi commendato
avesse a superare felicemente i sospetti compiti dalla nazione
francese " (thus begins Conclave nel quale . . . [1730], loc. cit.).
A * letter to the Emperor, immediately after the election, most
probably by Ruele, describes the whole development of Corsini's
candidature ; it describes his election as " prodigioso " (Archives
of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican). On this change of
Austria in favour of Corsini Cardinal Schonborn writes to his
brother, the imperial Vice-Chancellor, on July 11, 1730 : " Mithin
wird diesmal wohl in den sauren Apffel miissen gebiessen werden " ;
" dass mann diesen so verachtlich hinweggeworffenen stein
wieder hervorgesuchet hat . . . " ; " ich sehe es zwar fiir eine
besondere hand gottes ahn, die hier hat zeugen wollen, das
umbsonst seye, das der mensch gegen seine gottliche Verhengnus
und wahl was erzwingen wolle " ; his one consolation is, "das
ich ihn von der hand gottes gemacht finde, die ihn dann ahnfehlbar
auch fiihren wird " [Zeitschr. fiir die Gesch. des Oberrheins,
LXXII. [1918], 199, 203).
* *Conclave nel quale . . . (1730), Archives of the Austrian
Embassy . . . Details on the subsequent conduct of the people
are also given there. Cf. Petrucelli, 99.
* *Conclave doppo la morte del P. Benedetto XIII., loc. cit.
Cf. *Collalto to the Emperor, July 19, 1730, Archives of the
Austrian Embassy . . . Novaes (XIII., 165), gives a number
of contemporary sources.
326 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
new Pope, with the sole exception of the French who left
in a somewhat disgruntled mood.^ Even the ambassador
of Savoy, in his final dispatch, pays tribute to the excellent
character of the new Head of the Church. ^
(2.)
Lorenzo Corsini was sprung from an ancient, noble and
wealthy Florentine family which, like the Fuggers and the
Welsers, had risen from the merchant class. Already in the
fourteenth century the Corsini had played a role in the party
struggles of the Florentine Republic. Charles IV. bestowed
on them the dignit}^ of Counts Palatine. In the era of the
Medici they rose to even greater importance.^ To the Church
the family gave several Cardinals * and a Saint in the person
of Andrew Corsini who died in 1373 as Bishop of Fiesole.^
^ They had opposed him already in earlier conclaves, had
announced Banchieri's election in Paris, and now had to give
way to the Emperor's initiative ; see the *letter to the Emperor
immediately after the election, most probably by Ruele, Archives
of the Austrian Embassy . . ., also *Storia del Conclave, 1730,
Cod. 9240, State Library, Vienna. Polignac complained also of
Bentivoglio's conduct, whose solidarity with France was not
what had been expected ; see *report to La Paz, July 15, 1730,
Simancas Archives. On the other hand, the Emperor, by an
autograph letter, thanked Cardinals Giudice, Accoramboni,
Falconieri, Odescalchi and Coscia for their loyal support of
Cienfuegos at the election ; see *Charles VI. to Cienfuegos,
dat. Vienna, August 10, 1730, with copies of the letters to the
above five Cardinals, dat. Vienna, August 2, 1730 (Archives of
the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican). 2 Zanelli, 64.
' L. Passerini, Genealogia e storia dcUa faiuiglia Corsini,
Firenze, 1858. On the coat of arms see Pasini Frassoni, Armorial
des Papes, Rome, 1906, 47.
* On Cardinal Pietro (ob. 1405), see the present work, I.,
37. n- 2.
* Acta Sand., 30 Ian., III.^ 676 seqq. ; Bibl. hagiogr. lat. Boll.,
Brux., 1898, 74.
CORSINI S ANTECEDENTS. 327
The Pope's father, Bartolomeo, one of the first personages
at the court of Florence, was married to Isabella Strozzi.
Of this marriage issued Lorenzo, born on April 7th, 1652,
at Florence.^ At the age of fifteen Lorenzo went to Rome
to study at the Roman College of the Jesuits. On completing
his studies he went to the University of Pisa for five years'
further study. There he took a doctorate in both Laws, after
which he returned to Rome,^ in the hope that his career
would be furthered by his influential uncle. Cardinal Neri
Corsini.^ When the latter died soon after (1678), he returned
to the paternal house in Florence. On his father's death in
1685, he resolved, at the age of thirty-three, to embrace the
ecclesiastical state. A third time he journeyed to the Eternal
City to enter the prelature. He so distinguished himself
that in 1691 there was question of him as nuncio to Vienna ;
however, the tension between Alexander VIIL and the
imperial Government wrecked the plan.^
After that incident Lorenzo spent the rest of his career
in Rome. In 1696 Innocent XII. assigned to him the important
office of Treasurer-General which had been held by his uncle,
the Cardinal.^ Lorenzo was no less esteemed by Clement XI.
When the imperialists accused the papal Government of
partiality towards France, the Pope entrusted him with the
delicate mission of investigating these charges in the capacity
of a Commissary at Ferrara.^ Lorenzo performed his task
with so much skill that the Pope raised him to the purple
on May 17th, 1706.''
^ According to the author of the *Conclave di Benedetto XIV.,
in Cod. 38, G 20, p. 249, Corsini Library, Rome, Lorenzo Corsini
was a seven months' child.
2 Fabronius, Vita dementis, XII., 4 seqq. ; Novaes, XIIL,
175 seqq.
' Cf. the present work, XXX., 66, 133, n. i.
* BiscHOFFSHAUSEN, Alexander VI 1 1., 106 seq. Cf. the present
work, XXXIL, 548.
^ [Vitale], Mem. stor. dei tesorieri generah poniif., Napoli,
1782, LXIII.
* Fabronius, ii seqq. ' Cf. XXXIII., 378.
328 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
In spite of his many occupations as a member of several
Congregations, Lorenzo Corsini nevertheless found time to
extend a munificent patronage to art and learning. At his
residence in the Palazzo Pamfili, in the Piazza Navona, he
collected a splendid hbrary over which he placed the learned
D'Inquembert.i Scholars, artists and members of the nobility
met almost nightly at the house of the Cardinal whose
intellectual distinction was of outstanding quahty.^ In this
way he became extremely well informed on everj^ event that
stirred Rome and the world, whilst he also became accurately
acquainted with the whole of the prelature and Roman
Society. =^ People particularly appreciated the circumstance
that at these brilliant meetings everyone could freely express
his opinion, for no one thought that the Cardinal would one
day obtain the tiara.^
^ DTnquembert's testimony on the value of the Library in
♦Atlante geografico (dedicated to Clement XII. in 1731) in
Cod. 36, G I, Corsini Library, Rome. The *Catalogo della biblio-
teca del card. Gualtieri acquistata dal card. Corsini (pro CIcmente
XII.) in Cod. 602, Carpcntras Library.
2 De Brosses, Letters, II., 117.
» Petrucelli, IV., lor. Cf. Fabronius, 15 ; Novaes, XIII. ,
177. " *Da cardinale si e mostrato amante della conversazione
di uomini virtuosi, onde nel suo palazzo la teneva ogni sera e vi
comparivano in gran copia prelati, cavalieri e letterati, ai quali
sempre ha fatto dispensare con animo signorile copiosi rinfreschi
e dimostrato altri atti di generosita manifestando gradimento
di tale concorso di gente, della quale veniva informato di quanto
accadeva in Roma e nel mondo. Per ben che questo Papa si
puo dire I'uomo piu ben inteso delle cose che qualunque altro
nel s. CoUegio " (Cardinal Cienfuegos to the imperial Chancellery,
July 19, 1730, Archives of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican).
Portrait of Cardinal Corsini, by L. Ghezzi, in Ottoh., 31 14, p. 20,
Vatican Library.
* "* Ha ben egli gran conoscenza dei soggetti che compongono
la prelatura, perche li ha tutti trattati nella magnifica conversa-
zione che avea in casa sua, dove pure .sopra ogni cosa ed ogni
persona cadeva il disconso. Tutti in quclla liberamcnte parlavano,
perche il cardinale per I'eta sua tanto avanzata c per I'opposizione
CORSINI S ANTECEDENTS. 329
However, after the death of Clement XL, Corsini was
reckoned among the papahili. He sided with the party of
the Albani and at the conclaves of 1721 and 1724 he was
excluded by the Powers.^ The main obstacle to his prospects
was the fact of his being a Florentine, which created a suspicion
that he would not be impartial when, as was to be expected,
the house of Medici would become extinct. ^ To this was
added the fear that he might unduly favour his countrymen
who were by no means popular in Rome.^ No one, however,
denied that he was uncommonly well acquainted with the
situation in Rome, was held in high esteem by the prelates
and was most liberal with his wealth.* As a priest his conduct
was blameless and he gave proof of his truly ecclesiastical
sentiments by the firmness with which he declined every kind
of transaction with the Albani at the conclave of 1724.
He would enter by the door, not by the window, he declared.^
The ambassadors were unanimous in acknowledging that
the new Pope was most just, prudent, active, affable, straight-
forward and dispassionate, a gentleman in every way, a lover
of splendour and fame, an enemy of flattery, though sensible
to certain attentions, the insincerity of which his upright
che ad esse nei decorsi conclavi aveano fatta le corone, non
appariva che mai avesse ad essere Papa " (Relazione di Morosini,
1731 [cf. above, p. 127], State Archives, Venice) . Cf. also Giordano
DE Vic.\Ri 's work dedicated to M. Passeri (which is, however,
very panegyrical) : La perfezione neW esercizio degli Apost.
ministeri etc. di Clementc XII., Salerno, 1732.
1 Cf. above, p. 20, note 5.
2 *Conclave doppo la morte del P. Innocenzo XIII. {cf. above,
p. 292, n. 4), and *Parere ed informazione del barone de Malanotte
1724 [cf. above, p. loi, n. 2). Archives of the Austrian Embassy
at the Vatican.
' *Giudicio . . . di cardinali and *Relazione del conclave del
1730, both in Archives of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican ;
*Osservazioni intorno al prescnte conclave. Archives Wrbna-
Kaunitz, Holleschau.
* Cf. besides the sources indicated in the previous note also
Gentilotti's report of March 25, 1724, Reuss Archives, Ernstbrunn.
* Cf. the report in Petrucelli, IV., 32.
330 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
character prevented him from perceiving. He was no scholar,
though a friend of learning. He loved to display his skill
at chess, a game at which he excelled. Whilst he had no
special experience of ecclesiastical affairs, he had a thorough
knowledge of the financial system ; his acquaintance with
foreign affairs was adequate.^ Unfortunately he was seventy-
nine years of age and his sight was so weak that in 1732 he
became totally blind. ^ He was much tormented by gout
in his hands and feet but his mental alertness left nothing
' Besides Cardinal Bentivoglio's *report of July 14, 1730
(Simancas Archives) and D'Ormea's *report of July 17, 1730
(Turin Archives ; cf. Petrucelli, IV., 100), see B. Morosini's
*Relazione of 1731 where we read (p. 164) : " Soggetto che alia
cospicua e ricca famiglia dalla quale e nato unisce le qualita
piu ragguardevoli di animo nobilissimo, lontano dall'interesse,
di perfetto ecclesiastico e di ottimo cavaliere. Egli ama infinita-
mente la gloria, e vorrebbc che le sue buone intenzioni gli con-
ciliassero applause ; e tutto umanita e dolcezza, qualita che da
cardinale in lui non si distinguevano, poiche parea alquanto
sostenuto. E di capacita mediocre, ne ha grande esperienza
degli affari, perche non fu molto impiegato nelle congregazioni
dai pontifici precessori. Tutta la sua cognizione e nelle materie
camerali, sendo statb tesoriere." Cardinal Cienfuegos empha-
sizes Clement XII. 's sense of honour in his report to the
imperial Chancellery, December 22, 1733 : " II carattere e I'indole
di S. S*^ non la portano a fingere " (Archives of the Austrian
Embassy at the Vatican) . The author of *Memorie del pontificate
di Clemente XII. describes his character thus : " Per dire qualche
cosa del sue carattere, era ornato di molte virtu, specialmcntc
della liberalita, della candidezza e della giustizia, amante degli
uomini dabbene, senza bacchettoneria. Per desiderie di difender
gl'oppressi, s'impegnava troppe per chi poco meritava. Tenace
nella propria opinione ; indefe.sso nelle udienze ; nemico dcl-
I'adulazione, ma suscettibilc delle carezze di certc arti, di cui la
sua sincerita non gli lasciava scueprire la finzione. Era di ottima
comprensione e discernimento, ma non molte versato nelle
scienze. Amava il gieco per divertimento, specialmente quelle
degli scacchi, in cui avcva pochi eguali c mcne supcriori." Cod.
38, G 20, Cersini Library, Rome.
2 Moroni, VIII., 277, 287 ; IX., 37.
CHARACTER OF CLEMENT XII. 33I
to be desired. 1 His fresh complexion testified to considerable
robustness though his one-time blond hair had taken on the
grey hue of age. He had blue eyes, a long, aquiline nose,
a prominent upper lip, and was of middle height. ^
1 Cardinal Cicnfiiegos *report, July 19, 1724, Archives of the
Austrian Embassy at the Vatican.
2 Fabronius, 156, and in Guarnacci, II., 575, the portrait
of Agostino Masuccio engraved by Rocco Pozzi. Ant. David also
made a portrait of Clement XII. ; see Thieme, VIII., 449.
A very beautiful portrait was made in Germany with the in-
scription : " Clemens XII. Corsinus Florentinus Pont. Max.
Creatus die 12 Julii MDCCXXX Elias Baeck a[lias] H[eldenmuth]
sculp, et excud., Aug. Vind. 1730 " (28, 2 X 18, 7 cm.). Marble
busts of the Pope in S. Giovanni de' Florentini (see Forcella,
VII., 41), in the Baptistry of St. Mary Major, in the museum
on the Capitol and in the Corsini Library, Rome ; Bronze bust
in the sacristy of the Lateran {cf. Forcella, VIII. , 79). Magnificent
medallions of Clement XII. were made by the Llameran firm
where Hermengild and his younger brother Othmar were
employed ; both had a sort of monopoly of the Roman coin and
medal trade which secured official recognition in 1734 ; see
NoACK in Archiv fiir Medaillen und Plahcttenkunde, III. (1921-2),
23 seqq. On the statues outside Rome see below. Chapter IV.
There is a good portrait in S. Niccolo, Bari. The richest collection
of portraits and other souvenirs of Clement XII. are in the
Palazzo Corsini, Florence. On the first landing of the magnificent
staircase there is a large marble statue of the Pope giving his
blessing, with the inscription : " Clementi XII | Corsinio |
Pontifici I Maximo | Anno | 1737." In the rich picture gallery :
No. 279 (Roman school) : portrait of the Pope as Cardinal ;
No. 429 : portrait of the Pope as Cardinal by Giuseppe Passeri ;
No. 422 (Roman school) : portrait of Clement XII. ; No. 421 :
portrait of Cardinal Neri Corsini the younger ; No. 191 (Roman
school) : portrait of Clement XII. ; No. 434 : marble bust of
Clement XII. by Ed. Bouchardon ; No. 435 ; marble bust of
Cardinal Neri Corsini the elder ; No. 430 : portrait of Filippo
Corsini (the Pope's brother) by Maratta ; No. 99 : magnificent
portrait of Cardinal Neri Corsini the elder by Susterman ;
No. 204 : portrait of Isabella Strozzi (the Pope's mother). Ibid.,
the rochet of Clement XII. in fine Venetian lace, reproduced in
Vita d'arte, IV. (1909), 347 seqq.
332 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Whereas in his native city of Florence Clement XII. 's
election was celebrated with splendid festivities,^ the first
impression in Rome, where the sons of the city of the Arno
were not popular, was an unfavourable one. However, a
revulsion of feelings occurred before long, as was shown by
the enthusiasm which marked the magnificent festivities
of the coronation on July 16th, 1730.2
The Pope's popularity rose still higher by reason of the
readiness with which he granted audiences, appeared in
public, with a pomp which had not been witnessed since
Innocent III., relieved the poor and did not unduly favour
the Florentines, in fact because he gave proof of his sense
of justice and began to remove the abuses which had crept
in under his predecessors.^
Clement XII. thought at first of appointing Cardinal
Giorgio Spinola as his Secretary of State, but the objections
of the French caused him to desist from this plan ^ and to
entrust that important post to Cardinal Banchieri who was
as prudent as he was well informed.^ For the Dataria,
Cienfuegos proposed Accoramboni whereas the Spaniards
favoured Lambertini, the French Origo, whilst the Camerlengo,
Annibale Albani, was for Corradini. In these circumstances
the Pope chose a middle course by appointing as Datarius
a simple prelate instead of a Cardinal, as had been the uniform
^ G. CoNTi, Firenze dai Medici ai Lorenesi, Firenze, 1909,
838 seqq.
^ Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report, July 19, 1724, Archives of the
Austrian Embassy at the Vatican. On the coronation see the
♦reports quoted in Novaes, XIII., 183, and Cardinal Bentivoglio's
♦letter, July 20, 1730, Simancas Archives. On the magnificent
ceremony of the enthronement see Cancellieri, 370 seqq.
^ Cardinal Cienfuegos' *reports of July 29 and August 5,
1730. Archives of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican.
* B. Morosini's *ReIazione (see above, p. 127, n. 5) *Memorie
del pontificato di Clemente XII., Corsini Library, Rome, loc. cit.
' Cardinal Cienfuegos' *rcport of July 19, 1730 [loc. cit.) ;
the Pope consulted him before the election. Cf. also B. Morosini's
*Relazione, loc. cit.
APPOINTMENTS. 333
practice up to the time of Alexander VIII. The Pope's choice
fell on Antonio Francesco Valenti, an Auditor of the Rota.^
and as that learned and able man died already on May 9tb,
1731, his place was taken by Antonio Saverio Gentili,
Secretary of the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars. ^
The Maggiordomo Trajano Acquaviva, the Treasurer, Carlo
Sagripanti, and the Secretary of Briefs to Princes, Carlo
Majella, Keeper of the Vatican Library, were confirmed in
their posts. Giuseppe Livizzani became' Secretary of the
Cifra, Domenico Rivera Secretary of the Consulta, and
Marcello Passeri became Uditore Santissimo. The latter had
been for years in the service of Clement XII. who put the
utmost rehance on his capacity and integrity, though the
Romans found fault with the bestowal of such a post on a
Calabrian of humble origin.^
Cardinal Banchieri was eighty years of age and a victim
to gout.^ He died on September 16th, 1733, whereupon the
^ The above details are taken from Cienfuegos' *report of
July 19, 1730, loc. cit. 2 Fabronius, 53.
* Ibid., 24 seqq. ; Novaes, 184 ; B. Morosini's *Relazione,
loc. cit. On Carlo Majella, titular Bishop of Emesa, cf. Moroni,
Indice, IV., 230. The Epistolae ad principes by Majella and his
successor Giov. Vincenzo Luchesini have not been preserved
in their entirety. Until 1898' they were entirely wanting in
the Papal Secret Archives ; in that year, through Msgr. Volpino,
three vols, got into the Papal Secret Archives : Epist., A. I. and II.
(" Archiep. Emisseno secret."), A. VI. and VIII., IX. and X.
(lo. Vine. Luchesinio secret.), from the Archivio dei hrevi ad
principes et delle letter e latine (which must not be mistaken for
the " Brief Archives " which were formerly in the Palazzo
Altemps and later in the Cancelleria and are now on the third
floor of the Vatican). The years III., IV., and V. are also missing
in the copies of the Epist. which are preserved in the Corsini
Library, Rome. Wirz is mistaken when he says in Bullen mid
Breven in ital. Archiven, Basel, 1902 [Quellen zur Schweiz. Gesch.,
XXI., XXV.) that the first two years of Clement XII. are
missing.
* Cardinal Bentivoglio's *report to La Paz, March 17, 1731,
Simancas Archives. •
334 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Pope entrusted the Secretariate of State to Giuseppe Firrao,
Bishop of Aversa, who had been raised to the cardinalate
in 1731.^ Clement XII. honoured his nephews by naming
Bartolomeo Corsini commander of the hght cavalry and Neri
Corsini Secretary of Memorials. Born in 1685 at Florence,
Neri Corsini, as envoy of Cosimo III., had energetically and
ably represented the interests of the Medici in London, Paris
and Cambrai. On August 14th, 1730, the Pope named him
a Cardinal in petlo and proclaimed him on December 11th,
1730.2
In view of the Corsini's wealth there was no reason to fear
a recrudescence of nepotism.^ Quite apart from that, the
Pope was not willing to allow his nephews undue influence.
In 1731 the Venetian ambassador, Barbon Morosini, reported
that Clement XII. loved his nephews, of whose abihty he was
fully aware, but refused to be dominated by them. Although
the infirmities of age and his blindness made it difficult for
the Pope to attend to everything, he nevertheless insisted
on being kept fully informed, and for that reason he gave
audience to all sorts of people. Cardinals Pico, Imperiah,
Corradini and Passeri stood in high esteem. Bartolomeo
Corsini was not allowed to meddle with affairs and even
Cardinal Neri enjoyed but httle influence, in spite of his
great experience of State affairs.*
1 Cardinal Cienfuegos ^reports on September 19, 1733, that
he is taking great pains for the nomination of a Secretary of
State who will be well disposed towards the Emperor ; probably
the Pope will nominate a man who is impeirtial, in all probability
Spinola, who will be made a Cardinal on September 28. Archives
of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican.
2 GuARNACCi, II., 601 seqq. (with portrait : " Ant. David
pinx., Hier. Rossi sculp.") ; Reumont, Toskana, II., 473, 477,
479, 485-
3 "* Ama [il Papa] i nipoti, ma si crede con amore regolato,
e siccome la sua casa e la piii ricca di Firenze ed e positivamente
ricca, cosi pare che non vi aggiungera altro che splendore esterno,"
Cienfuegos wrote already on July 19, 1730, loc. cit.
* "* Onora i suoi parenti con dignita, ma non vi h pericolo
ch'egli voglia che dal pontificato ricavino profitto. Li ama,
THE POPE S HEALTH. 335
In the sequel the Pope's state of health nevertheless
compelled him to alter his poHcy. In December, 1730, he
had a violent attack of gout accompanied b}^ a high fever
and since, in view of his seventy-nine years, there was every-
thing to fear, discussions in connection with the conclave
were opened already then.^ Though the Pope made a
comparatively quick recovery,^ he continued, from that time
onwards, to suffer from the infirmities of old age and he was
frequently conlined to bed by gout. Moreover, in 1732 he
ma non a lasciarsi governare da essi ; e, benche conosca la capacita
che hanno i nepoti suoi, non li adopera negli affari, in tal guisa
che siano in situazione d'ottenere I'lntento di cio che potrebbero
volere. Ouantunque per rindisposizione e per la cecita sia a lui
difficile il badare a tutto, tuttavia vuole d'ogni cosa essere infor-
mato ; e per questo motivo e per rozio ancora non potendo
leggere ne scrivere, amette all'udienza qualsiasi persona che
voglia presentarsegli : dal che ne deriva che relazioni e discorsi
non i piu giusti egli senta e riceva cattive impressioni. Ha gran
credito per li cardinali Pico, Imperiali e Corradini. ... II cardinale
Corsini h uomo d'onore, di cuore perfetto e di buona coscienza,
ha esperienza delle cose del mondo, per il lungo ministero da lui
per il Granduca sostenuto in Inghilterra ed in Francia, ma le
sue maniere non sono le piu suavi, ed essendo ancora collo stesso
Papa di carattere contenzioso, non ottiene da Sua Santita quello
negli affari ch'egli vorrebbe. II principe Bartolomeo e illumina-
tissimo, ha ottime ed amabili maniere, il Papa lo stima, ma in
niente di esso si vale, ed egli neppure degli affari interni della
corte s'informa." (B. Morosini's Relazione, State Archives,
Venice; cf. above, p. 127, n. 5.) On December 16, 1730, Cienfuegos
*wrote of N. Corsini : " Uomo disinvolto che ha veduto le corti
di Francia e d'Inghilterra oltre quella della M. V. Amante delle
lettere, prudente e desideroso di contribuire alia gloria del zio
che per lui mostra della tenerezza, ma regolata dalla ragione."
Archives of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican.
^ Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report to the imperial Chancellery,
December 3, 1730 (" Domenica passata si sono trovati i domestici
del Papa nel timore di perderlo "), tbid. ; Cardinal Bentivoglio's
*report to La Paz, December 7, 1730, Simancas Archives.
'^ Cardinal Cienfuegos *reports, December 23 and 30, 1730,
loc. cit.
336 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
became totally blind. A French traveller, President De Brosses,
relates that every morning the Secretaries came to the Pope's
bedside with the courier of the preceding day, made their
report and received instructions and the most indispensable
signatures. This was done by their placing the Pontiff's
hand, which held the pen, on that spot on the paper where
the signature had to be appended.^ Clement XII. still retained
all his mental alertness, but after 1735 his bodily strength
diminished more and more. Throughout July of that year
there was much talk of a conclave ; however, the Pope's rapid
recovery gave the lie to the physicians' fears.^ In July, 1736,
we read that the Pope had a fainting fit when, one Sunday
after a somewhat prolonged illness, he desired to assist at Mass
and to receive Holy Communion. " He has recovered," the
imperial ambassador. Count Harrach, wrote, " but he has
almost completely lost the wonderful memory he once
possessed and his colour is so pale that there is reason to fear
his demise at the turn of the season. ^ However, this time too
these fears were not fulfilled. Clement XII. was confined
to bed by gout during almost the whole of the first months
of 1737 and so weak as to be unable to hold a consistory,
though his life was not in danger. Great care was taken
to prevent his catching cold,^ but a further loss of strength
was evident. His wonted mental alertness also diminished :
" the smallest thing suffices to depress him," we read in
May, 1737.^ However, with the return of the better season
he recovered once more.
1 De Brosses, Lettres, II., 59, 118. Cf. Bezard, Comment le
president De Brosse a ecrit ses Lettres d'ltalie, in Stiidi ital., IV.
(1922).
* Cardinal Cienfuegos' *reports, July 16 and 23, 1735, Reuss
Arch., Ernstbrunn, and *report of Cardinal Bentivoglio, July 10,
1735 (the draft of new instructions for a Conclave is being
thoroughly examined), Simancas Archives.
3 *Report of July 7, 1736, Reuss Archives, Ernstbrunn.
*» Count Harrach's *reports of February 2 and 9 and April 27,
1737. ibid.
* Count Harrach, May 25, 1737, ibid.
THE POPE S HEALTH. 337
How great the Pope's power of resistance still was, appeared
at the canonization of June 16th, 1737. He intoned the
Te Dettni with a strong voice, but the end of the function
found him exhausted. He returned at once to the Quirinal,
retired to bed and took his lunch, after which he slept.
On waking he felt so invigorated as to give a public audience
at once.^ At a consistory in July he seemed to be in perfect
health ; in August it was remarked that his colour and
good humour had returned. However, fainting fits were not
lacking and they increased with the return of the bad season.
At the same time he showed an unwonted sensitiveness to
cold. For all that Harrach thought that Clement XH. might
live one or two years longer. ^
In these circumstances it was inevitable that a vast number
of affairs had to be dealt with almost exclusively by the
ministers and the Pope's nephew. For that reason it was
particularly regrettable that Cardinal Neri Corsini was far
more interested in learning and the arts than in the affairs
of State. By his order, Fuga carried out a complete
reconstruction of the old palace of the Riarios which had
been occupied at one time by Queen Christine ; only a small
part of the original building was preserved. The new palace,
with its broad fagade, its monumental staircase, its bright
arcades and courts opening on the evergreen gardens of the
Janiculus, became a magnificent* residence, one without its
like in the Eternal City.^ Like Christine of Sweden, Cardinal
Corsini, acting on the advice of the learned Bottari, started
a collection of pictures, engravings, drawings and books. ^
* Count Harrach's *report, June 22, 1737, ibid.
- Count Harrach's *reports of July 13, August 24 and 31,
November 2 and 23, 1737, ibid.
' Letarouilly, Texte, 405 seqq., Planches, II., iqi seq. ;
Brinckmann, Baulmnst, I., 134 seq. ; Gurlitt, 528 seqq. ;
cj. also GoTHEiN, I., 327 seqq.
* When, in 1889, Tommaso Corsini sold the palace to the State
he presented it also with the library and the gallery ; the latter
formed the nucleus of the " Galleria nazionale d'arte antica ",
opened there in 1895. Cf. Massarette, Rom seit 1870 (1919), 108.
VOL. XXXIV. z
338 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
All this interested him far more than the affairs of State for
which he was further unfitted by reason of his timorousness.^
On the other hand, on occasion the diplomatists, who
frequently underestimated him, had to feel that he was not
lacking in clear-sightedness. ^
Fear of the Pope's early demise caused Corsini carefully
to avoid taking any measures of importance, so as not to
jeopardize his future career ; hence he did his best to
temporize.^ This explains many failures of the papal policy
in the disputes with the Catholic Powers. If Corsini neverthe-
less maintained himself in his position, he owed his success
to his agreeable manner and to his universally recognized
disinterestedness in money matters. Even severe critics
agreed that his faults were not due to ill-will but to a lack
of statesmansHke qualities ; but that which the clear-sighted
could not forgive him was the jealousy with which he prevented
the rise of any possible pohtical rival. Thus after Banchieri's
death, he prevented the very able Cardinal Rivera from
obtaining the Secretariate of State and secured it for Firrao.*
Corsini's jealousy was skilfully taken advantage of by Cardinals
Passeri and Gentili who in the last years of Clement XII.
enjoyed far greater influence than Firrao, the Secretary of
State. Cardinal Passeri, who had always stood high in the
Pope's esteem, did his best to hide that fact so as not to
rouse Corsini's jealousy, " who," H^rrach wrote on July 6th,
1 " Pauroso dell' ombra sua mcdcsima," saj's Foscarini ;
see Gandino, 4.
* Cf. RoTTMANNER, Dev KardUial von Baycni, 29 seqq. Da
Brosses underestimates N. Corsini when he describes him as
a man below the average (II., 59), or as a good-natured simpleton
(IT.. 117)-
* M. Foscarini, loc. cit.
* Relazione del Cavalier Alvise Mocenigo, IV., Icita in
Senato il 28 novembre 1737 reduce daW Ambasciaia di Roma,
Venezia, 1864. Ranke (III., 220* seqq.) has already given an
extract. According to Foscarini, Rivera subsequently gained
great influence over Corsini ; see Gandino, 3.
CARDINAL NERI CORSINI. 339
1737, " is exceedingly anxious to play the first role in directing
the Pope's decisions." ^
The Prodatarius Gentili, who had been raised to the Sacred
College in 1733, was even more successful, by pliancy and
subservience, in winning the confidence, nay, the friendship
of Corsini, to such an extent that the latter initiated him into
his most secret plans and made much use of him with the
Pope for the furtherance of his schemes. But as Gentili was
no great personality and was but little acquainted with
foreign affairs, Corsini was repeatedly compelled to consult
other counsellors, as, for instance, experienced Giorgio Spinola
and shrewd Rivera. However, their influence was impeded
by the circumstance that Spinola was regarded as an enemy
of the Corsini whilst Rivera had forfeited the confidence
which the nephew had at one time placed in hirq.^
^ *Reuss Archives, Ernstbrunn. Harrach remarks that as
proadiutor of the Pope, Passeri is omnipotent.
2 Count Harrach's *reports of March 23 and July 6, 1737,
ibid. ; in the latter he says witli regard to Corsini's jealousy that
he would tolerate no one by his side and that everywhere he
wished to play the principal part : "A queste idee si boriose e
si alte nissuno meglio sa addattarsi che il card. Gentili Prodatario,
il quale pieghevole c fertile in progetti, lontano in apparenza
dall'ambizione, lusinghiero senza affettazione e bastevolmente
accorto, ha saputo talmente guadagnarsi I'amicizia del detto
card. Corsini, ch'e diventato il depositario dei di lui piii reconditi
pensieri ed istromento anche presso il Papa per cavarne le risolu-
zioni favorevoli in quelle materie, in cui il card. Corsini per suoi
fini particolari non truova a proposito di comparire, siccome
pero Gentili non e mente da per se grande e vasta ne versato
nelle cose di state e negl'interessi dellc corti estere, delle di cui
cognizioni e afiatto digiuno, cosi negli affari piu importanti non
e capace di dar consiglio giovevole, e pero malgrado suo Corsini
talvolta e obbligato di sentire il parere degli altri. II card. Giorgio
Spinola per la sua lunga esperienza, e Rivera per la riputazione
ch'cgh ha acquistata di uomo prudente, entrano dunque spesse
volte nelle congregazioni che si tengono sulli negozi piii gravi
e di maggior interesse, e sebbene il'loro parere sia comunemente
libero e diretto al bene del pontificato, pure non se ne fa nella
340 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
(3.)
All these circumstances account for the fact that many
of the hopes that had been set on Clement XII. 's pontificate,
were not fulfilled, though he achieved more than one success,
especially at the beginning of his reign, such as, for instance,
a partial removal of the abuses and innovations which had
crept in under his predecessor. Under Benedict XIII. he had
belonged to the opposition, hence his first step was to aboHsh
the soap monopoly and the innovations introduced in the
ceremonial. The Guard of the Lancie spezzate and the honorary
Chamberlains di cap pa e spada were at once restored.^ Far
more important were some other steps which met with general
approval. In August, 1730, four Congregations were set up.
The first, called De nonmillis, was for the purpose of calling
to account those who, amid the universal indignation of the
public, had abused the late Pope's confidence in order to
enrich themselves, viz. Cardinal Coscia and his Beneventan
accomplices. The task of the second was to examine the
many favours which Benedict XIII. had been induced to
grant ; the third was commissioned to look into the excessive
concessions made in the ecclesiastical sphere, whilst the
fourth had mission to remedy the disordered iinances of the
Camera Apostolica.^
The Congregation De nonmillis was established by a
pratica gran cento, perche 11 prime si suppone assolutamente
nemico de' Corsini ed il secondo ha pcrso quella confidenza, che
prima Corsini in lui aveva, oltre di che i lore sentimenti trovandosi
spesse volte in opposizione alle brame e mire personali di chi
governa era questo paese, ne nasce, che non vengono messi in
esecuzione."
^ Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report, July 19, 1730, Archives of the
Austrian Embassy at the Vatican ; *Memorie del pontificate
di Clemente XII., Corsini Library, Rome, loc. cit. Cf. Novaes,
XIII., 185 seqq.
* Cardinal Bentivoglie's *repert, July 27, 1730, Simancas
Archives ; Cardinal Cienfuegos' *reports, July 29 and August 5,
1730, Archives of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican.
PROCEEDINGS AGAINST COSCIA. 34I
Motu proprio of August 8th, 1730/ and provided with all
necessary powers. It consisted of Cardinals Pico, Imperiah,
Corradini, Porzia and Banchieri ; these were soon reinforced
by Cardinal Corsini and at a later date by Cardinals Barberini,
Zondadari, Origo and Altieri. The Congregation met at
once,2 but as the secret of the Holy Office was enjoined on
its members, nothing definite about their activities transpired
at first. ^ Coscia, a chronic victim to gout, as well as Fini,
in prevision of the things that were to come, had put up the
imperial arms on their residences.* Both had been of service
at the time of the negotiations in connection with the
Monarchia Sicula,^ hence they hoped that Charles VI. would
extend his protection to them.
Though this expectation was actually realized, the march
of events could not be stopped thereby. A Motu proprio of
December 1st, 1730, decreed the initiation of a formal process
against Coscia and his Beneventans. Accordingly a special
commissary was dispatched to Benevento in the person of
^ The *original copy with the autograph signature of
Clement XII. is in Papal Secret Archives, X., 168.
* The *acts of the " Congregatio De nonnullis " also called
" S. Congregatio Beneventana " which up to now have not
been made use of by anybody, are for the most part in the Papal
Secret Archives. X., 148-154, 160-181, 198 ; they contain no
less than 30 vols, practically all original documents. In addition
there are 3 vols. "* Causa Coscii " in Altieri Archives, Rome,
XX., 3. G. I., II., III. from the remains of Cardinal Altieri.
A rich *collection of acts and writings is also to be found in
Cod. Barb., 4687, Vat. 8336, pp. 193 seqq., and Vat. 8631, Vatican
Library. Cf. also *Cod. 2021, State Library, Trent. Ludovicus
de Valentibus was " Avvocato fiscale ". The Secretary of the
Congregations, Domenico Cesare Fiorelli, who had conducted
the process against Alberoni, was " Giudice criminale ", Niccolo
lacovacci " Fiscale ", Antonio Broggi " Procuratore fiscale
generale ".
' Cardinal Bentivoglio's *report, July 27, 1730, Simancas
Archives.
« Ibid.
'" Cf. above, p. 135 seq.
342 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Monsignore Buondelmonte, for the purpose of gathering
material for conviction and for examining witnesses.^
Whilst in Rome the people's hatred for Coscia and the
Beneventans was on the increase, popular demonstrations
in his favour were taking place at Benevento ^ ; but the
Congregation did not allow itself to be influenced b}' them.
On December 20th it resolved to summon Coscia to resign
the see of Benevento. ^ By a letter to the Pope, dated
December 23rd, Coscia comphed with this demand,* though
he continued to hope that he would be able to refute the
accusations against him.^ His request to be allowed to repair
to Naples had been rejected by the Pope, but in spite of this
refusal, and in opposition to a decree of Innocent X., he
resoRed to put himself under the Emperor's protection.
On March 31st, 1731, he fled in disguise to Naples where
Charles VI. permitted him to take up residence. The Pope
1 *Processus contra card. Coscia, Papal Secret Archives,
Ann. X. Cod. 148 (c/. ibid., Cod. 150) ; Amato, // processo e la
deposizione del card. N. Coscia, in Aiti d. Soc. Stor. del Sannio,
IV. (1926).
2 Cardinal Cienfuegos' *reports, August 12 and 22, 1730,
Archives of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican and *that of
Cardinal Bentivoglio, September 2 and 12, 1730, Simancas
Archives.
3 Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report, December 23, 1730, loc. cit.,
and *that of Cardinal BentivogUo, September 30, 1730, loc. cit.
Banchieri's *letter to Coscia in which he demands his renunciation
of Benevento, dat. December 20, 1730, in Cod. Vat., 8631,
p. 75, Vatican Library.
^ *Original, dat. Di casa, December 23, 1730, with seal, in
Papal Secret Archives, X., 168.
6 In Cod. ital., 548, State Library, Munich, there is the following
printed document : " Alia St* di N. S. P. Clemente per il card.
N. Coscia " with a preface by Coscia to the Secretary of State
Banchieri, dat. Di casa, December 29, 1730, asking him to hand
this letter to the Pope for his justification, but not "per recedcre
dalla rassegnazione " of Benevento which the Pope had
commanded.
COSCIA S DEFENCE. 343
was indignant ^ ; he had Coscia's palace searched at once,
but without result, for everything of a compromising nature
had been removed. ^ A Motu proprio of April 23rd, 1731,
deprived Coscia of all his privileges and sequestrated his
revenues, but in consequence of the imperial protection he
was able to enjoy at least those which came to him from
Neapolitan territory. May 12th saw the publication of a
monitory threatening Coscia with forfeiture of all his benefices
should he fail to return within six months, and with deposition
from the cardinalate should he continue to be obdurate in
his disobedience.^ In consequence of the fact that, in imitation
of Alberoni, Coscia sought to influence public opinion in his
favour by means of writings in which he represented himself
as the victim of unjust persecution, he was threatened, on
May 28th, with excommunication and interdict.*
Coscia had no intention to yield ; on the contrary, in a
letter to the Secretary of State he protested against the
violence done to him by his deprivation of the See of
Benevento.^ At the same he caused to be broadcast, through
Giuseppe Forziati, an open letter to the Pope.^ On September
16th he wrote a letter to Clement XII. himself, to justify his
flight ; this letter was also immediately printed. To excuse
his contumacy he produced medical attestations that he was
suffering from gout.'
Coscia's publications and their diffusion in Naples and
Rome obliged the Pope to inform the Catholic Princes,
^ Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report, April 5, 1731, Archives of the
Austrian Embassy at the Vatican ; Muratori, XII., 134.
Cf. also the *Avvisi di Roma, April 7 and 21, 1731, in Cod. 716 RR,
Monte Cassino Library.
* Cardinal Cienfuegos' *reports, April 7 and 14, 1731, loc. cit.
3 Muratori, loc. cit.
* Ibid.
^ Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report, June 16, 1731, loc. cit.
" A *copy with the remark that Banchieri had received it on
June 14, 1731, in Cod. Barb., 4687, pp. 106 seqq., Vatican Library.
' *Copy of this letter also in Cod. Barb., 4687, pp. 244 seqq.,
loc. cit.
344 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
through the nuncios, of the state of proceedings which had
also brought to Hght certain moral transgressions of Coscia.^
The proceedings were even further extended : besides Coscia's
brother, some other accomphces of his were likewise arrested. ^
On October 2nd it became necessary to issue a declaration
of forfeiture, by Coscia, of all his benefices, on the ground
that he had allowed six months to elapse since his flight
without presenting himself before his judges in Rome.^
Coscia was so little intimidated by this step that on November
3rd, 1731, he wrote to the Pope to protest against the nomina-
tion of a new Archbishop of Benevento ; he had only resigned
under pressure and demanded justice.* Justice was indeed
meted out to him ; but the investigation against him was
further drawn out on account of the thoroughness with
which it was conducted. Coscia ended by realizing that
he must obey the summons if he did not wish to ruin his
career altogether. After a stay at Naples of nearly a year
he went to Terracina on April 1st, 1732 : from there he
journeyed to Rome where he was interned and questioned
at the convent adjoining S. Prassede.^ He was allowed to
choose two lawyers for his defence. With the concurrence
of these he succeeded in masterly fashion in drawing out
the process month after month until the Pope was compelled
to intervene. April 27th and 28th, 1733, witnessed the final
* MuRATORi, XII., 135. Cf. *Informazione per il Nuncio di
Vienna, Papal Secret Archives, X., 166.
- Cardinal Cienfuegos' *reports, April 5 and August 11, 1731,
Archives of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican ; *Litterae
monit. to Filippo Coscia, Bishop of Targa, commanding him
to present himself, dat. November 27, 1730, in Cod. Barb., 4687,
P- 307. Vatican Library.
» Ibid., p. 80.
■• Ibid., pp. 250 seqq. Also a *letter of the Dominican Orsi
according to which the Pope could compel him to resign.
^ Cardinal Bentivoglio's *reports, July 10 and 12, 1732,
Simancas Archives. A *letter of the Neapolitan Viceroy, Harrach,
dat. Naples, March 8, 1732, recommends Coscia to Cardinal
Barberini. Cod. Barb., 4687, p. 288, lac. cit.
COSCIA CONDEMNED. 345
and decisive discussion by the Congregation De nonnullis,
in which all the ten Cardinals took part.
Coscia was unanimously found guilty. In order to gratify
his insatiable covetousness, the Cardinals declared, Coscia
had acquired illicit gains both before and after his elevation
to the cardinalate, had committed effective extortions, had
shamefully abused the confidence of his benefactor, Benedict
XIII., had bought the post of Treasurer-General for Niccolo
Negroni, had sold monopolies and falsified rescripts, an action
which enabled him to acquire within a few years, possessions
worth 400,000 scudi in Neapolitan territory. All this was
proved, as was his disobedience to papal commands and his
public reviling of the judicial proceedings. Final sentence
was given on May 9th, 1733. Major excommunication, from
which the Pope alone could absolve him — except in peril of
death — was pronounced against Coscia. He was condemned
to ten years' imprisonment in the Castle of S. Angelo, to
restore his illicit possessions (for the benefit of the poor),
to pay a fine of 100,000 scudi to be spent on charity, to forfeit
his active and passive voice in the conclave for the duration
of his imprisonment together with all his ecclesiastical
benefices.^ When he was notified of the judgment, Coscia
behaved as if it did not concern him at all. He was at once
removed to Castel S. Angelo where three rooms were allotted
to him ; he was likewise permitted to provide for his own
maintenance. 2 When the Pope proclaimed the sentence in
^ Several printed copies of the " Sententia S. D. N. dementis
P. XII. lata et publicata die 9 m. Mali anni 1733 in causa card.
Nicolai Cosciae " are in the acts of the process, Papal Secret
Archives. Cf. Lunig, Cod. ital. dipt., IV., 383 seqq. See also
Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report. May 9, 1733, Archives of the
Austrian Embassy at the Vatican.
- "* II porporato non si turb6 all'avviso della sentenza e si e
portato con grande disinvoltura e quasi come se non si trattasse
di cose a lui appartenenti. In castello egli ha due camere ed una
sala fatte accomodare coi propri mobili ed al suo servizio si
truovano un capellano, un aiutante di camera ed un scrvitore,
sentendosi ch'egli stia di buon animo a che mangia con buon
346 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
the consistory, the Cardinals were unable to hide their dismay
at measures of such severity against a member of the Sacred
College, but no one dared speak a word in favour of the
culprit.^
Coscia's condemnation met with general approval on the
part of the Romans, but the whole episode was soon forgotten,
so much so that by the end of May it had ceased to be a topic
of conversation. 2
Meanwhile the other new Congregations had likewise been
bus3\ That which had to look into the favours and autographs
which Benedict XIII. had been enticed to issue, progressed
rapidly with its task. By the end of December, 1730, it had
drafted a Bull which, contrary to a permission given by
Benedict XIII., forbade the raising of pensions from parishes.^
appettito." So far he has not yet been absolved from the greater
excommunication, a petition on his part is expected, reports
Cardinal Cienfuegos on May 16, 1733, Archives of the Austrian
Embassy at the Vatican. On October i, 1735, the same *\vrites :
" Cardinal Acquaviva obtained from the Pope permission for
Coscia to leave Castel S. Angelo for the baths of San Cassiano in
Tuscany, on condition that he returns again and pays a fine of
15,000 scudi, a proof that his imprisonment will be commuted
into banishment." On *October 8 the same : " On Wednesday
Coscia left Castel S. Angelo for San Cassiano ; the Pope may
deprive him of the purple if, on being commanded to do so,
he does not return." Both letters in Reuss Archives, Ernstbrunn
(where the reports of Cardinal Cienfuegos from December 4, 1734,
onwards are to be found).
1 Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report. May 16, 1733, Archives of the
Austrian Embassy at the Vatican. According to the *report of
Cardinal Cienfuegos of August 27, 1735, the Congregation " De
nonnullis " which had reassembled after a long interval, decided
with regard to Coscia's brother, that his long imprisonment
could be considered as sufficient punishment ; Reuss Archives,
Ernstbrunn.
■ Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report. May 30, 1733, Archives of the
Austrian Embassy at the Vatican.
3 Cardinal Bentivoglio's *report, December 30, 1 730, Simancas
Arch.
THE SARDINIAN CONCORDAT. 347
In the sequel a number of oral concessions, secret autograph
letters, favours and decrees of the late Pope were either
altered or qualified ^ : among these was Benedict XIII. 's
Constitution in favour of the Dominicans. In view of the fact
that the passage of the Bull dealing with the teaching on
grace was being exploited against the Jesuits, Clement XII.
on October 2nd, 1733, whilst reinculcating the Bull UnigeniUis,
expressly declared that the praise bestowed upon the Thomist
school by his predecessors — praise with which he was glad
to associate himself — by no means implied a belittling of
the opposite view.^ At the same time he renewed Paul V.'s
prohibition of all v/ritten or oral censures or condemnations
of either school, so long as the Church's supreme magisterium
had not issued its judgment. On the other hand, Clement XII.
rebuked ^ those who, because of the mitigations granted
by himself, called in question some earlier privileges of the
Dominicans (in connection with processions).
Extraordinary difficulties were encountered by the
Congregation whose task it was to revise the concordat
with Sardinia. In that treaty concessions had been made,
in consequence of the papal plenipotentiaries having been
bribed, which had seemed so unusual even in Benedict XIII. 's
lifetime, that it was generally felt that they could not be
upheld.'* Clement XII. also judged them to be unlawful ^
and Cardinal Fini was called upon to account for his conduct
^ *Memorie del pontificate di Clemente XII., Biblioteca Corsini,
Rome, loc. cit. Cf. Bull, XXIII. , 323 ; Novaes, XIII., 209.
* " Nolumus . . . quidquam esse detractum ceteris catholicis
scholis, quarum etiam erga hanc S. Sedem praeclara sunt merita,
quominus sententias ea de re tueri pergant, quas hactenus palam
at libere, etiam in huius almae Urbis luce docuerunt " [Bull.,
XXIII. , 541 seqq. Cf. above, p. 215.
^ April ID, 1733, Bull, XXIII., 491.
■• Voyages de Montesquieu, I., 107, 214.
^ Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report, September 16, 1730, Archives
of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican. Cf. Defense du Sikge
A post, contve les concordats stir les matieres de Savoye et de
Pidrnont etc., 1733.
348 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
in the affair.^ The Pope according^ informed Charles
Emmanuel, the successor of Vittorio Amadeo II., who had
abdicated,^ through the King's ambassador, that previous
to his elevation to the pontificate he had not been informed
of the Sardinian concordat, that before issuing the Bull
which had been asked for the Abbey of S. Stefano d'lvrea,
he had wished to examine it, and that whilst doing so he had
regretfully come to the conclusion that both in form and in
substance these conventions were contrary to equity ; that
his conscience did not allow him to have them carried into
effect. In particular it was not stated in the concordats
whether before concluding them the Pope had consulted the
Cardinals and such persons as had a right to be heard, more
especially in the matter of the Spolia. The ministers who had
signed the concordats had not been empowered to do so by
their sovereigns ; there were clauses in them which were
most prejudical to the Holy See and which the Pope could
^ Cod. Barb., 4687, pp. 312 seqq., 322 seqq., Vatican Library.
Fini accepted the penalty of not appearing at court and in the
Congregations with such resignation that it was relaxed in the
autumn of 1732 when he was merely commanded to abstain from
meddling with affairs appertaining to the Turin Government
(Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report, October 4, 1732, Archives of the
Austrian Embassy at the Vatican). * Relazione orig. degli
attentati contro I'immunita e giurisdizione eccl. nel dominio di
Savoya esibita a Benedetto XIII. e dalla S. S. conservata in un
libro ' Savoya. Immunita ' ed ordinata a forma di sommario,
consegnata dal card. Fini al card. Banchicri segret. di Stato,
1 73 1, Altieri Archives, Rome. Against Msgr. Giacomo Sardini
also a process was instituted on account of his relations with
D'Ormea which were considered harmful to the Holy See (Papal
Secret Archives, X., 167, 168). It ended with his condemnation
to ten years' imprisonment inthe Castle of S. Angelo. Clement XII.,
however, commuted it into banishment to Albano ; see Cardinal
Cienfuegos' *report, July 30, 1735, Reuss Archives, Ernstbrunn.
^ For Amadeo 's dispensation for a new marriage with a widow
— he required such a dispensation as he was a Knight of
St. Mauritius — and his abdication, see Reumont, Kleine hist.
Schriften, 184 seqq.
THE SARDINIAN CONCORDAT. 349
neither grant nor his Majesty accept. Hence it was necessary
to formulate them better, otherwise His HoHness would feel
constrained to forbid their execution and even to revoke at
least those sections which were blameworthy. The Pope
communicated these observations directly to the King of
Sardinia.^
The Government of Turin was all the more unwilling to
recognize the Pope's standpoint as the Marchese d'Ormea
had meanwhile become Prime Minister. It is easy to under-
stand that d'Ormea would not on any account see his work
destroyed. In its defence he was, from the first, not content
with mere representations, however skilful,- on the contrary,
as early as December, 1730, he threatened to break off
diplomatic relations.^ On the other hand, the Pope, convinced
as he was that it was his duty to recover those rights of the
Church which Coscia's and Fini's venality had caused them
to give up, insisted on the necessity of a revision of the
concordat ; in this attitude he had the unanimous support
of the Congregation. On January 8th, 1731, in an address
to the Cardinals assembled in consistory, he explained that
the concordat injured papal authority and episcopal
jurisdiction and set a bad example to the other princes ;
moreover it had been concluded in secret and by ministers
who were not empowered to do so. He demanded that the
Cardinals should hand in an expression of opinion on the
matter, in writing, and within a fortnight.'*
Whilst the documents relative to the matter were being
distributed to the Cardinals, the Pope, through Bishop
1 Carutti, Vittorio Amadeo, II., 480 ; Hergenrother,
Pienionts Unterhandlungen, 60. Reumont, loc. cit., 197.
' Hergenrother, loc. cit., 60 seqq. ; Reumont, loc. cit., 198.
* Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report, December 16, 1730, Archives
of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican.
* Through an indiscretion the Pope's discourse (in *Acta
consist.. Barb., 2922, Vatican Library, and in Epist., I., Papal
Secret Arch.) was immediately published ; the event caused
a great sensation ; see Cardinal Bentivoglio's *report, January 18,
1 73 1, Simancas Arch.
350 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Guglielmi, sought to initiate negotiations for a compromise
at Turin. However, the King refused to receive Gughelmi,
recalled his Roman envoy, Count de Gros, and took violent
action against two Bishops for not obtaining the exequatur
for a Jubilee Bull.^ At the same time it was learnt that
pernicious ideas on the Church were being taught at the
University of Turin. Thus the dispute became increasingly
acute. ^
As meanwhile the Cardinals had sent in their opinions,
Clement XII. resolved to take energetic measures. On August
6th, 1731, he declared the concordat of 1727 null and void
and suspended ^ Benedict XIII. 's Brief on the appointment
of Vicars by strange Bishops.'* Clement informed Charles
Emmanuel of these steps. ^ The only reply of the Government
of Turin was a decree against the Pope's action and stern
proceedings against the clergy so as to render the execution
of the papal decision impossible.*^ In Rome discussions took
place on the steps to be taken in this ominous situation.
Opinions in the Sacred College diverged widely. The Zelanli,
Barberini, Imperiali, Annibale Albani, Pico, Corradini,
Giorgio Spinola and Polignac advocated the strongest
measures, whereas Bentivoglio, Belluga, Zondadari, Cienfuegos,
Falconieri and Petra counselled moderation.' In the Congrega-
1 Hergenrother, 63 seqq.
2 " *Sono comparse in questa corte moltc proposizioni ereticali
che dicono insegnarsi publicamente nella universita di Torino.
Onde sempre piii si aiimcntano le cause dcUe diffcrcnze," reports
Cardinal Cienfuegos on June 30, 1731, Archives of the Austrian
Embassy at the Vatican.
' *Acta consist., loc. cit. ; Hergenrother, 64.
* CJ. above, p. 150 seq.
^ The Pope's *letter to Carlo Emanuelc, August 6, 1731,
Papal Secret Archives. Cf. Reumont, loc. cit., 202.
* Hergenrother, 64 seq.
' Cardinal Bentivoglio's *report, February 9, 1732, Simancas
Arch. Cf. "* Voti della Congreg. di 5 Febraio 1732 sopra le
pendenze di Savoia ", Cod. 41, B 13, pp. 94 5^?^-. Bibl. Corsini.
Rome.
THE SARDINIAN CONCORDAT. 35I
tion of Immunity the stern view ended by prevailing/ with
the result that no attempts at conciliation, such as Cardinal
Bentivoglio would have liked to initiate,^ were rriade. A letter
of the King, dated October 4th, 1732,^ only served to pour
oil on the flame.^ In 1731 an official account of the dispute
with the Holy See had been published at Turin. ^ A very
detailed reply by Giusto Fontanini appeared in Rome,
though without the name of either author or pubhsher.^
In June of the following year the Turin Government replied
with yet another publication,' whilst Cardinal Alessandro
Albani, the Protector of Sardinia, was all the time doing his
^ Cardinal Cienfuegos' *reports, August 16 and 23, 1732,
Archives of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican.
" Cardinal Bentivoglio's *reports, March 8 and July 19, 1732,
Simancas Archives. Cf. *Viglietto e memoria (1732) by
Bentivoglio, Cod. 41, B 13, pp. 88 seqq., Bibl. Corsini, Rome ;
also ibid., 115, 124, 224, *Piani di aggiustamento proposti, and
154-222 *Fogli diversi informativi per la Congreg. di 6 Maggio
1732.
* *Text in Cod. 1198, II., pp. 50 seqq., Bibl. Corsini, Rome,
where there are numerous manuscript documents relating to
the dispute, especially proposals for a compromise.
* Cardinal Cienfuegos' *reports, November 8 and 15, 1732,
Archives of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican.
^ Relazione istorica delle vertenze, che si trovavano pendenti
tra la corte di Roma e quella del Re di Sardegna, allorche fic assimto
al pontificaio Benedetto XIII., dei trattati su di esse seguiii, etc.,
come anche di tutto aid ch'e succeduto nel pontif. di Clemente XII.,
Torino, 1731. Also another work ; see Moroni, LXI., 161, and
G. Della Porta (see next note).
' Ragioiii della Sede Apost. nelle presenti coniroversie colla corte
di Torino. Cf. Moroni, LXL, 161 seqq. According to Cardinal
Cienfuegos' *report of November 22, 1732, the proofs were
stolen, which made the Pope very angry. Peace, adds Cienfuegos,
is very remote (Archives of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican).
On the polemical writings of that time between Rome and Turin
see G. Della Porta in Miscell. di stiidi storici in onore di A.
Manna, Torino, 1912.
' Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report, June 6, 1733, loc. cit.
352 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
best to bring about a compromise. However, every effort
of this kind failed ^ as both the Turin Government and the
Pope firmly maintained their respective points of view.^
The sequel showed that the Holy See could afford to wait
longer than the court of Turin. Through Cardinal Albani,
Marchese d'Ormea, the leading personality in Turin, had
learnt of the Pope's keen desire that the Neapolitan writer
Pietro Giannone, one of the bitterest enemies of the Holy
See, should not find refuge in Piedmontese territory. D'Ormea
accordingly ordered Giannone to leave at once ; in March,
1736, he lured him from Geneva, where the wretched man had
found shelter, into Savoyard territory where he had him
arrested and securely guarded ^ ; he would even have
extradited him to Rome if the King had not opposed the
1 Hergenrother, 66.
2 On November 14, 1733, Cardinal Cienfuegos had *reported
that Clement XII., when asked about the prospects of a com-
promise, " disse francamente che non voleva sentirne parlare
se prima il Re di Sardegna non metteva le cose nello stato in cui
erano nel pontificate di Clemente XI." Archives of the Austrian
Embassy at the Vatican.
=" Giannone was not, as Brosch (II. , 5) affirms, lured to the
Savoyard shore of the lake of Geneva by an " emissary of the
Jesuits, but by Giuseppe Castaldi, a Piedmontese customs
official, and at the suggestion of D'Ormea (see Occella in Ciiriositd
e ricerche di storia siihalp., III. [1879], 511 seqq). Clement XII.
tried in vain to get Giannone extradited to Rome ; Giannone,
*Harrach writes on November 9, 1737, Reuss Archives, Ernst-
brunn, was regarded by Rome as a heresiarch on account of his
attacks against the Church. On the orders for the arrest of
Giannone by the Roman Inquisition in case he should come to
Bologna, see Battistella, S. Officio, 146. At the request of
Clement XII., G. A. Bianchi took up his pen against Giannone
[Delia potestd e poHzia della Chiesa, 6 vols., Roma, 1 745-1 751) ;
see Renazzi, IV., 340 ; Buchberger's Kirchl. Handlexikon, I.,
618 ; HuRTER, II., 1530 seq. ; Diet, de theol. caih., II., 812 seq.
Giannone's *Abiuralio of March 24, 1738, in Ottob., 3187, p. 27,
Vatican Library.
DISORDER OF THE FINANCES. 353
plan.^ In his letter of thanks for the arrest of Giannone,
dated May 4th, 1736, the Pope gave utterance to a hvely
desire for the settlement of the disputes with the Govern-
ment of Turin. This led to fresh negotiations, but in
spite of the efforts of Cardinals Alessandro, Albani and
Rivera, these were so protracted that they were not yet con-
cluded at the time of Clement XII. 's death, February 6th,
1740.2
The fourth Congregation had met at the same time as the
others.^ Its task, viz. that of putting order into the financial
chaos caused by the previous pontificate, proved all the
more arduous as several inveterate abuses were still at work
in this department. Clement XII. nevertheless applied at
least a partial remedy by the abolition of the contracts for
the collection of taxes, a relic of Coscia's days, and by
concluding new ones under more favourable conditions.
But this measure did not remedy the constant deficit which
had reached an alarming point. On the other hand it was
impossible to hmit expenditure as Clement XII. was unwilling
to give up the traditional patronage of learning and art.
In his dilemma he had recourse to an economically very risky
expedient. On December 9th, 1731, lotteries, which Benedict
XIII. had condemned, were once more permitted in Rome,
though foreign lotteries continued to be prohibited.^ The
^ Carutti, Sior. d. dipl., IV., 171. Cf. *Fogli diversi suU'arresto
del P. Giannone, Cod. 41, B 13, pp. 238 seqq., Bibl. Corsini,
Rome.
^ Hergenrother, 67 scqq. See also Gandino, Foscarini,
37 ^eqq-
^ *Moiu propio on its institution, August 12, 1730, in Cod.
Barb., 4687, p. 350, Vatican Library.
•» Brosch, II., 75. At first nine draws were held on the Capitol
every year. *Cod. Barb., 4687, p. 2007, loc. cit. ; Cardinal
Cienfuegos' *report, December 15, 1731, Archives of the Austrian
Embassy at the Vatican ; Muratori, XII., 189. On other
restrictions see Hergenrother, Kirchengesch., IV. ^ 15. Cf. also
Cancellieri, Mercato, 244 seqq. ; Novaes, XIII., 198.
Katholick, 1861, II., 650.
VOL. XXXIV. A a
354 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Zelanii remonstrated at once/ but the Pope refused to
change his mind.^ Though these lotteries yielded veiy
considerable sums, they fell far short of what was needed.
In the further course of Clement XII. 's pontificate, the
financial straits became so acute, more especially as the
result of the political and ecclesiastical complications, that
his successor was forced to take immediate counter measures.'
" The higher I rose," Clement XII. is reported to have said,
" the lower I descended. I was a wealthy ahhate, a comfortably
off Bishop, a poor Cardinal, but I am a ruined Pope." * We
can understand these words when we learn that at the end
of the previous pontificate the annual deficit amounted to
120,000 scudi, and the debt of the Holy See to sixty million
scudi.^
1 " *Continuano le mormorazioni de' cardinal! zelanti contro
il Papa e il cardinale nipote " (on account of the lotto), Cardinal
Cienfuegos reports on December 29, 1731, loc. cit.
2 A new permission is *reported by Count Harrach on
February 16, 1737, Reuss Archives, Ernstbrunn. The Lotto
was considered " una specie di voluntaria imposizione " ; see
*Memorie in Cod. 38, G 20, Corsini Library, Rome.
3 Brosch, II. , 82 seqq., 92 seqq.
* De Brosses, Lettres, II. , 117 seqq.
* See the *Osservazioni della presente situazione dello stato
ecclesiastico (intended for Clement XII.) in Cod. 34, B 4,
pp. 66 seqq. Corsini Library, Rome.
CHAPTER II.
Loss OF THE Suzerainty over Parma and Piacenza —
The Struggle for the Polish Succession and the
Outbreak of War against the Emperor in Italy —
Conquest of Naples and Sicily by the Spaniards-
Provocation OF THE Pope by the Bourbons at
Madrid and Naples — The Spanish Concordat of
1737.
When Clement XII. out of veneration for Clement XI.
took that Pontiff's name, he could hardly foresee that the
Catholic Powers would treat him even worse than the Albani
Pope.
Clement XII. 's very first step as a ruler was for the preserva-
tion of peace. There was danger of a new war on account of
the treaty of Seville of November 9th, 1729, which was as
advantageous to France as it was prejudicial to Austria.
In order to secure for the son of Philip V. and Elizabeth
Farnese, the Infante Don Carlos, his hereditary claims to
Parma and Piacenza, it had been laid down in that treaty
that 6,000 Spaniards should garrison Portoferraio, Leghorn,
Parma and Piacenza, places occupied until then by troops of the
Quadruple Alliance. The Emperor Charles VI. was indignant
at the treaty and he posted an army between Milan and
Mantua. Thereupon Queen Elizabeth of Spain, who continued
to be the moving spirit at Madrid,^ urged the allies to compel
the Emperor by force of arms to accept the treaty of Seville.
In view of so dangerous a situation Clement XII., on July
28th, 1730, addressed exhortations to preserve peace to the
Emperor, the Kings of Spain and France and to Cardinal
* De Pi.modan, Louise Elisabeth d'Orleans, reine d'Espagne
1709-1743, Paris, 1923 ; E. Armstrong, Elisabeth Farnese,
London, 1892.
355
356 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Fleury.^ Instructions to the same effect were also sent to
the nuncios at Vienna, Madrid and Paris.-
Meanwhile the situation continued tense and Grand Duke
Giovanni Gasto of Tuscany prepared to resist Austria's
demand that he should admit her troops at Leghorn and
Portoferrio.3 In the end the outbreak of hostihties was
nevertheless avoided ; the disunion of the allies prevented
an attack for which Spain pressed whilst Vienna had plenty
of reasons for temporizing. These circumstances all worked
in favour of the Pope's efforts for peace.*
Soon, however, a fresh crisis arose. The death of Antonio
Farnese, Duke of Parma and Piacenza, on January 20th,
1731, rendered acute the question of the succession in these
territories.^ The Spanish Government had begun negotiations
with the Pope through its representative. Cardinal Bentivoglio,
already in July, 1730. Spain was anxious that the Pope
should declare his readiness to bestow the investiture of
Parma and Piacenza on the Infante Carlos. The Cardinal
assured the Pope that a request would be made to that effect,
but only if there was a guarantee of its being granted. The
Pope replied that he must first consult the Cardinals ; in the
abstract, he would not be at all displeased if, through Don
^ *Epist., I., 5, Papal Secret Archives. Cf. also Baudrillart,
IV. : Philippe V., Louis XIV. et le card. De Fleury 1729-1740.
* *Memorie del pontif. di Clemente XII., Corsini Library,
Rome, loc. cit. Cf. *Cifre al Nunzio di Spagna, Nunziat. di Spagna,
429, Papal Secret Archives ; *Cifre al Nunzio di Francia, Nunziat.
di Francia, 441, ihid.
=» Reumont, Toskana, I., 485.
'' Leo, v., 752 ; Reumont, Toskana, I., 486.
* The " infausta nova " came to Rome on January 24, 1731 ;
see *Cifra al Nunzio di Spagna of the same day, Ntinziat. di
Spagna, 429, loc. cit. Cf. Cardinal Cienfuegos' *Ietter of January
27, 1731, according to which the Secretary of State, Corsini,
and A. Albani immediately held counsel with the avvocato fiscale
as to how the rights of the Church over Parma and Piacenza
might best be safeguarded. Archives of the Austrian Embassy
at the Vatican.
PARMA AND PIACENZA. 357
Carlos, a Power were to arise in Italy which would counter-
balance that of the King of Sardinia as well as that of the
Emperor who was almost lord of Italy.^ The Pope stuck to
this point of view. He explained the delay of the investiture
on the ground that a premature concession would lead to
Italy being swept by imperial troops and to the forcible
occupation of the Duchies. A declaration in favour of Spain
would likewise render suspect his position as mediator. ^
But now that the Duke was dead a decision becarfle
imperative.
There remained indeed a faint hope of delaying a decision
of the question in dispute as the Duke's widow was reported
to be pregnant. In the event of the expectation of a
posthumous Farnese remaining unfulfilled, Don Carlos was
to receive the Farnese inheritance by the terms of the treaty
of London of 1718 and the peace of 1720. As was to be expected,
Clement XII. at once asserted his sovereign rights over
Parma. Briefs to that effect were addressed to the authorities
of Parma on January 25th, 1731,^ and on January 31st the
Pope wrote to the Emperor and to the Kings of France and
Spain. ^ The Pope likewise charged the Cardinal Legate of
Bologna, Spinola, and the Protonotary, Giuseppe Oddi, to
assert the claims of the Holy See at Parma. However, as
early as January 23rd the imperial General, Count Carlo
Stampa, had announced that he was taking possession of
the Duchies in the name of the Emperor, for the benefit of
Don Carlos.
This action roused the Pope to the utmost, so much so
^ Cardinal Bentivoglio's *report to La Paz, July 29, 1730,
Simancas Archives.
" Cardinal Bentivoglio's *reports, August 16, October 2,
December 7 and 11, 1730, ibid. ; also *letter " dalla segretaria
di state " to Bentivoglio, December 11, 1730 (Supplement to
his letter of December 12, 1730), ibid.
' *Brief " Magistratui et populo civitatis Nostrae Parmae",
January 25, 1731, Epist., I., 313, Papal Secret Archives. Ibid.,
a similar *Brief to the Bishop of Parma.
* *Epist., I., 335, ibid. Also to numerous other princes.
358 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
that he talked of using spiritual weapons against the Emperor,^
and to the representatives of Charles VI. and Philip he
complained most bitterly. ^ In the consistory of February 12th,
1731, he gave the Cardinals an account of what had happened
and protested against the penetration of the imperial troops
into the Duchies " ; the indignation of the Pope and his
ministers continued in the sequel also. At the beginning of
March prayers were prescribed in order to invoke the divine
assistance in the dilhcult questions which pre-occupied the
Pope : these also included, besides the affairs of Sardinia,
France and Spain, the future of the two Duchies.^
On his part Philip V.'s representative. Cardinal Bentivoglio,
protested against the Brief addressed to the King on March
13th on the ground that that document took it for granted
that Philip's troops would participate in the invasion by the
imperial troops ; the Brief, he declared, could not be received.
Clement listened to him quietly, sought to pacify him and
pleaded the curial style as an excuse for the form of the
Brief ; any intention of hurting the King had been far from
him.^
Almost at the same time — on March 16th, 1731 — the
Emperor concluded at Vienna an agreement with England
which paved the way for an entente between Charles VI.
and Philip V. In exchange for a guarantee of his Pragmatic
Sanction the Emperor accepted, on July 22nd, 1731, the
dispositions arrived at in Seville concerning Parma and
Tuscany and consented to admit 6,000 Spanish troops in
the fortresses of the two countries. Three days later an
agreement was likewise reached between Tuscany and Spain."
' Banchieri said so to Cardinal Bentivoglio ; sec his *report,
February 7, 1731, Simancas Archives.
2 Cardinal Cienfucgos' *reports, January 31, February 3, 7,
and 10, 1731, Archives of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican.
8 *Acta consist., Vatican Library, loc. cit. ; *Epist., I., 356,
Papal Secret Archives.
* Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report, March 3, 1731, loc. cit.
' Cardinal Bentivoglio's *report, March 17, 1731, loc. cit.
* Reumont, Toskana, I., 487.
PARMA AND PIACENZA. 359
Previous to this, on May 21st, Clement had protested
against the infringement of his suzerainty by the treaty of
Vienna.^ A Constitution of June 20th, based on the investiture
granted in 1545 by Paul III. to Pier Luigi Farnese, declared
that Parma had reverted to the Holy See, except in the
event of Antonio Farnese's widow giving birth to male issue. ^
When this hope was frustrated in September, the Protonotary
Oddi had the Constitution affixed at Parma and he himself
declared in the palace of the Government that he was taking
possession of the Duchy. All this was solemnly confirmed
by the Pope at a consistory of September 24th, 1731.^ By way
of reply General Count Stampa once more took formal
possession of the two Duchies in the name of the Infante
Carlos, ordered the oath of fealty to the imperial suzerain
to be taken on December 29th and handed over the keys
of the city to Dorotea of Parma, the guardian of Don Carlos,
then still a minor, steps against which Oddi lodged an
immediate protest.^
Clement XII. and the entire papal court were extremely
hurt by the way in which the Church's claims to Parma
and Piacenza had been ignored ^ ; the Pope regarded the
loss of the two Duchies, which had been fiefs of the Church
for centuries, as a humiliation. He spoke of it so openly
to all who attended his audiences that in January, 1732,
Cardinal Cienfuegos began to fear that he would not be
content with protects, but would have recourse to censures.^
The Pope had some prehminary consultations with individual
Cardinals as to what steps he should take.' As these yielded
^ *Acta consist., loc. cit. ; *Epist., I., 430, Papal Secret Archives.
Cf. Cardinal Bcntivoglio's *report, May 31, 1731, Simancas
Archives. 2 Bull, XXIII., 265 seqq.
' *Acta consist., loc. cit. ; *Epist., II., 34, loc. cit.
* jNIuratori, XII., 136 seqq., 141.
^ Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report, December i, 1731, Archives of
the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican.
* Cardinal Cienfuegos' *reports, January 19 and 26, 1732, ibid.
' Cardinal Bentivoglio's *report, February 12, 1732, Simancas
Archives.
360 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
no result Clement XII., at a consistory of March 31st, called
upon all the members of the Sacred College to make known
to him their opinion on the subject.^
The Spanish Government sought to intimidate the Pope
by threats. 2 But when, on the eVe of St. Peter's da}^ the
Government set up at Parma in the name of Don Carlos
omitted to pay to the Apostolic Camera the feudal tribute
for the ensuing year, Clement had a formal protest registered
by the fiscal of the Holy See.^ This step effected no result
of any kind. On September 9th the youthful ruler Carlos
made his entry into Parma with great pomp. He took over
the Government and paid no further heed to the suzerainty
of the Holy See.*
Clement XII. had to put up with some other sensible defeats.
In 1731 the Senate of Genoa rejected in an offensive manner
his offer of mediation with the insurgents in Corsica.^ The
politico-ecclesiastical disputes with Savoy and Portugal
became increasingly acute. ^ As late as 1730 the Pope had
authorized Venice to impose a tax of 100,000 gold scudi on
Church property,' but in 1732 friction between the Roman
pohce and the Venetian ambassador led to disputes with
the Signoria and the expulsion of the papal nuncio.^ To this
^ *Acta consist., Vatican Library, loc. cit. Cf. Cardinal Cicn-
fuegos' *report, April 5, 1732 {loc. cit.), and that of Cardinal
Bentivoglio of ^he same day {loc. cit.).
2 *Letter of a Spanish agent, dat. Rome, June 12, 1732,
Simancas Archives. Bentivoglio himself was absent from Rome
since May ; he was in Parma.
3 Cardinal Bentivoglio's *report, July 5, 1732, ibid. ; Cardinal
Cienfuegos' *report of the same day. Archives of the Austrian
Embassy at the Vatican. * Muratori, XII., 141.
5 NovAES, XIII., 201. * Cf. above, p. 347 seq.
' B. Morosini acknowledges with gratitude the greatness of
this concession in his *Relazione of 1731, State Archives, Venice.
* Cardinal Cienfuegos' reports, September 27, October 15,
November i and 8, 1732, loc. cit. ; also *Memorie del pontif. di
Clemente XII., Corsini Library, Rome, loc. cit. Cf. Fabronius,
65 seqq. ; NovAES, XIII., 211.
POLAND 361
came to be added, at the beginning of 1733, the blockade of
Avignon decreed by the French Government for trivial
motives.^ Further grave anxiety was caused to the Pontiff
by the reHgious situation in France ^ and the interference
of the imperiahsts with ecclesiastical affairs at Naples.^
The Duke of Parma renewed his pretensions to the territory
of Castro and Ronciglione of which Innocent X. had deprived
the Farnese when he declared it to be a possession of the
Camera Apostolica. In 1664, by the treaty of Pisa, Louis XIV.
had forced Alexander VII. to revoke this incorporation,
allowing the Duke of Parma eight years in which to redeem it.
However, the Camera had remained in possession. Don
Carlos now revived the old pretensions of the Farnese, a step
for which he received support from France and Spain.^
Clement XII. 's dispute with Venice was settled in November
1733,^ but the beginning of that year saw the birth of a
complication which was destined to disturb the peace of
Europe anew and to involve the Pope also.
On February 1st, 1732, the death took place at Warsaw
of Augustus of Saxony, King of Poland.^ The succession of
^ Cardinal Cienfuegos' reports, January 17 and 31, March 7
and 21, and April 25, 1733, loc. cit. Cf. Fabronius, 75 ; Muratori,
XII., 146 ; *Memorie del pontif. di Clemente XII., loc. cit.
2 Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report, April 4, 1733, Archives of the
Austrian Embassy at the Vatican.
3 Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report, February 28, 1733, ibid.
* Cardinal Cienfuegos' reports, March 28, April 18, June 13,
1733, ibid. ; Muratori, XII., 146.
* Cardinal Cienfuegos' report, November 28, 1733, loc. cit. ;
NovAEs, XIII., 211.
^ The Monarch, who had to atone for so many moral trans-
gressions, died after having received the sacraments ; see the
report of the Polish nuncio in Theiner, Mon. Pol., IV., i, 121.
Cf. also Spaccato per il lungo d. Basil, di S. Clemente ornata
con apparato funebre in occasione d. solenni esequie per la gloriosa
memoria di Augusto II. Re di Polonia (by Fil. Bargione), Andr.
Rossi sculp., Roma, 1733. See also R. Reyrich, Kursachsen
lend die polnische Thronfolge, 1733-6 [Leipziger Hist. Abhandl.,
Heft 36), Leipzig, 1913 ; Riv. star., 1917, 196.
362 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
his son Frederick Augustus was not yet assured, though it
had been the chief reason for which, sixteen j-ears earher,
steps had been taken for his reception into the CathoHc
Church. Both the Emperor and Russia supported Frederick
Augustus' candidature, whilst the French Government did
everything in its power in favour of the election of Stanislaus
Leszczynski, Louis XIV. 's father-in-law, who continued to
st3'le himself King of Poland. The Primate of Poland, Arch-
bishop Potocki of Gnesen, whose duty it was to summon
the Diet, favoured Leszczynski, who had also the support
of the majority of the nobility. Leszczynski, who had crossed
Germany to go to Poland, disguised as a merchant, was
elected King by an overwhelming majority on September 12th,
1733, but the approach, at the beginning of October, of a
Russian army, obliged him to flee to Danzig, there to await
the arrival of the promised French assistance. On October 5th
a small number of Polish nobles proclaimed Frederick Augustus
of Saxony king. Danzig was encircled by Russian and
Saxon troops whilst Frederick Augustus was crowned at
Cracow on January 17th, 1734. Which of the two competitors
would eventually secure power depended on the issue of the
siege of Danzig.
As soon as he heard of the death of King Augustus, Clement
XIL recommended the election of his son to the Primate,
the Bishops and the Estates of Poland.^ Though the French
pressed him to declare himself in favour of Leszczynski, ^
he nevertheless rebuked the Primate for his action against
Frederick Augustus and approved the attitude of the Polish
nuncio.^ After Leszczynski's election the French demanded
that the Pope should recognize him at once, whilst at the
same time they taxed the Warsaw nuncio with partiality.
Cardinal Cienfuegos worked against the French and
represented to the Pope that he should hold back recognition
1 Theiner, Loc. cit., 119.
* Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report, July 18, 1733, Archives of the
Austrian Embassy at the Vatican. *
' Cardinal Cicofuegos' *report, August 15, 1733, ibid.
ELECTION OF A KING OF POLAND. 363
as within twenty days Frederick Augustus' election would
be an accomplished fact.^ Clement was determined to recognize
the man who was actually in possession of the realm. ^
Cienfuegos was mistaken when he imagined he had won
over the Pope for Frederick Augustus.^ With the assistance
of the English Pretender and Cardinal Ottoboni the French
prevailed : at the beginning of October the Pope yielded
to their insistence and ordered the nuncio to recognize
Leszczynski. The fact that news of Frederick Augustus'
election reached Rome on October 23rd did not at first
induce the Pope to change his mind.^
The Polish complications had provided the French war
party, which saw the salvation of the country in a return
to the traditions of Louis XIV., with a welcome pretext for
the realization of their aims. It was a decisive factor for their
policy that they had won over Spain and Sardinia, both of
which hoped for an increase of power on Italian soil by driving
the imperiaHsts out of the Peninsula. On September 7th, 1733,
a treaty was signed, amid the greatest secrecy, between
France, Spain and Turin, by the terms of which the imperialists
were to be driven out of Italy whilst Don Carlos, after
surrendering the Duchies of Parma, Piacenza and Tuscany
in favour of his younger brother, Don Felipo, would become
King of Naples and Sicily. The King of Sardinia was promised
three and a half million livres together with Milan.
The situation of the Emperor who in the autumn of 1733
found himself simultaneously attacked in Italy and in
Germany, was all the more critical as a few years earlier,
and against Prince Eugene's advice, the army had been
reduced by 40,000 men. As there were scarcely any imperial
troops left in Italy, the united French and Sardinians had
an easy task. Within a short time Charles VI. lost the whole
^ Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report, September 26, 1733, ibidi
" Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report, October 17, 1733, ibid.
^ Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report, October 3, 1733, ibid.
* Cardinal Cienfuegos' *reports, October 24 and November 7,
1733, ibid. Cf. Fabronius, 70 seq.
364 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
of Lombardy. On November 4th Charles Emmanuel entered
Milan in triumph.
As father of Christendom and as an ItaHan ruler, Clement
XII. bitterly lamented the outbreak of a war in which three
Catholic Powers were arrayed against the Emperor. In his
efforts for the preservation of his own strict neutrality ^
he issued once more, though in vain, exhortations to peace.*
At Rome, where Clement XII. was bent on furthering learning
and art, the end of peaceful days was particularly resented.^
Soon a great many deserters flocked thither so that it became
necessary to prevent the city from being overrun by vagabonds
and thieves.'* The Emperor's cause was damaged in Rome
when news arrived in March, 1734, that, in order to obtain
the help of the Protestants in the war against France, the
Government of Vienna had dropped the clause of Rijswijk.**
^ "* Mi assicuro il Papa di voler osservare una perfetta neutra-
lita," Cardinal Cienfuegos reports on November 7, 1733, loc. cit.
Cf. ibid., *Report of November 28, 1733.
2 Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report, January 2, 1734, loc. cit.
* " Deliciosa pace," says Muratori (XII., 153).
* Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report, January 2, 1734, loc. cit.
^ Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report, March 20, 1734, ibid. Cf.
HiLTEBRANDT in Quellen u. Forsch., XIII., 195. At the end of
the war Clement XII. sent * Briefs to the Catholic Electors
{cj. RoussET, I., 475) on April 14, 1736, and to Charles VI.
on April 28, in order to bring about " ut quartus articulus [of
the peace of Rijswijk] reviviscat et nova lege confirmetur ",
as had been done by the Peace of Baden (Epist., Papal Seer.
Arch.). The Pope also approached the French Government on
this matter. Paris agreed because it " die konfessionelle
Frage im Reiche wach halten woUte ; der Kaiser aber besass
wieder das Objekt, das er beim nachsten Konflikt mit Frankreich
den Protestanten von neuem bieten konnte." " Die Kurie diente
in Wirklichkeit den franzosischen und kaiserlichen Politikern
nur dazu, um ihr diplomatisches Spiel zu untcrstiitzen. Sie
erreichte dafiir zwar die formelle Durchbrechung des ihr so
verhassten Westfalischcn Friedens ; als sie aber wiinschte, dass
das schwerste Hindcrnis einer tatsachlichen Rekatholisierung
der Pfalz durch Beseitigung des Rezesses von 1709 aus dem
SPANISH TROOPS IN ITALY. 365
However, the Spaniards also showed but scant consideration
for the Pope.
At the same time as the French crossed the Alps, Spanish
infantry landed at Genoa, whilst a Spanish fleet cruised
along the Italian coast. The real director of the military
operations was Count Montemar, but the honour of the
supreme command was reserved for seventeen-year-old Don
Carlos. He arrived in Florence in the first days of February
and at once moved his troops in a southward direction.
He was allowed to march through the Papal States, on
condition that he did not touch Rome. The progress of the
Spanish army, 20,000 strong, was not unaccompanied by
disorders and the oppression of the population, to the Pope's
great grief. However, " Clement XH. cannot raise his head,"
Cardinal Cienfuegos wrote on March 13th, 1734, " for the
Spaniards behave as if they had already conquered Naples." ^
As a matter of fact they met with no resistance. On April 9th
Don Carlos, whose suite included Bartolomeo Corsini, arrived
unopposed at Maddaloni, where the delegates of Naples
Wege geraumt werden soUte, versagten sich — angesichts der
Machtstellung der Protestanten — ihr alle, der Pfalzgraf sowohl
wie Frankreich als auch der Kaiser " (Hiltebrandt, loc. cit.). On
the abolition of the clause at the preHminary peace of May 8,
1736, see Menzel, X., 332 seq.
^ *S. Bne non puo alzare il capo vedendo gli Spagnoli che vanno
alia conquista del regno di Napoli, come se gia I'avessero in mano,
affidati nelle poche forze che ci sono e nelle secrete intelligenze
di avervi (Archives of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican).
The memorandum on political economy by the imperial president
of the Regia Camera of Naples, Federigo Valignani, Marchese di
Cepagatti : " Riflessioni sopra il commercio del regno di Napoli "
was sent to Vienna in June, 1732, but it was seized on the way
and confiscated by the Spaniards ; see copy in a manuscript of
the Library of the Episcopal Gymnasium, Trent, and in Cod.
ttal., 58, State Library, Munich, where there is also an interesting
*Relazione dello stato politico, economico e civile del regno di
Napoli, nel tempo che e stato govemato dai Spagnuoli prima
dell'entrata dell'armi tedesche in detto regno ". Cf. Wiener
Sitzunger., V. (1850), 382 seq.
366 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
offered him the keys of their city. On the very next day
Spanish troops entered the capital. A few forts still held out,
but only for a short time. On May 10th, Don Carlos was
able to make his solemn entry into Naples. ^ The Spanish
ambassador in Rome now demanded that he should be
granted at once the investiture of Naples and Sicily. Clement
XII. 's reply was that the Kingdom of Naples was not as yet
conquered in its entirety and Sicily not at all, hence the
investiture would be premature ; at the same time he protested
against the disregard of his own suzerainty over Parma and
Piacenza, whereupon the ambassador declared himself
prepared to enter into negotiations on the subject.'^ The Pope
set up a special cardinahtial Congregation for the purpose
of examining the line of action to be adopted on the question
of Naples, for if he gave way there was danger of a rupture
with the Emperor. The Pope's excitement over this affair
was such as to give rise to fears of serious injury to his health. ^
The ambassadors of France and Spain now sought to
dissuade the Pope from accepting the Emperor's feudal
tribute for Naples for the current year. However, notwith-
standing the threat of the recall of the Spanish ambassador,
Clement XII., after taking counsel with the Cardinals,
decided to receive the Chinea from the Emperor as in previous
years, until the successor in Naples should have obtained
general recognition.^ Accordingly the Emperor's repre-
sentative, Scipio Publicola, Prince of Santa Croce, was able
to offer the Chinea in the customary manner on the eve of
the feast of St. Peter,^ an act against which Don Carlos
lodged a protest.® . At this time the Spaniards also sought
^ Leo, v., i6o ; Reumont, Carafa, 316 seq. On the war see
Arch. Napolet., VII. (1882), no, 293, 555, 685 ; on the subsequent
government of the incompetent Don Carlos see M. Schipa,
// regno di Napoli al tempo di Carlo di Borbone, Napoli, 1904.
* Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report, May 13, 1734, loc. cit.
' Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report. May 22, 1734, ibid.
* Schipa, 210.
' Cardinal Cienfuegos' *reports, June 12 and 24 and July 3,
1734, loc. cit. Cf. Schipa, 213. * Ibid., 212.
THE SPANIARDS AT NAPLES. 367
to obtain, by means of threats, the revenues of the arch-
bishopric of Toledo for the Infante Luis, a minor,^ whilst
the Pope was simultaneously grieved by reports of the
oppression of the population of Ferrara by the imperial
troops.^ In consequence of his resistance in the affair of
Toledo, which the. ambitious Queen of Spain urged with the
utmost obstinacy, the Pope was himself exposed to strong
threats by the Spanish ambassador.^
- Meanwhile the Emperor had also lost the greater part of
Sicily.* Much notice was taken of the fact that Don Carlos,
who now styled himself Charles III. King of Naples and
Sicily, had appointed the Pope's nephew, Bartolomeo Corsini,
his lieutenant in Sicily. " It is easy to see," Cardinal Cienfuegos
wrote on December 11th, 1734, " how Spain seeks to win
over the court of Rome both by love and by fear." ^
The fact that the Habsburg rule at Naples and in Sicily
was replaced so easily and almost without effort by the
Bourbons, acted as a powerful fillip to Spanish pride. ^ They
now felt that they were able and even entitled to make the
Pope feel the power of the strong over the weak.'' Without
a shadow of a right to do so they began to enrol soldiers even
in the Pope's capital. They took no notice whatever of the
prohibitions issued by the papal Government.^ The Pope
^ Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report, August 7, 1734, loc. cit.
- Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report, August 14, 1734, ibid.
' Cardinal Cienfuegos' *reports, September 18, October 23,
and November 13, 1734, ibid.
* Marino, La cacciata degli Austriaci dalla Sicilia {1734-5)
da documenti inediti, Palermo, 1920. Cf. Arch. Napolet., 1902.
^ " *E ben si vede che le mire della Spagna sono dirette a
guadagnare questa corte a forza di amore e di timore." Cardinal
Cienfuegos on December 11, 1734, Archives of the Austrian
Embassy at the Vatican.
« Ibid.
' Already on June 19, 1734, Cardinal Cienfuegos had *reported
that in spite of all prohibitions the Spaniards were levying
soldiers in the States of the Church. Ibid.
* Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report, January i, 1735, Reuss Arch.,
Ernstbrunn.
368 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
was helpless.^ At the beginning of 1735 he even had to suffer
the passage through the Papal States of 5,000 men destined
for Tuscany. If in the foregoing year the Spaniards had
been far from maintaining perfect disciphne, now their
arrogance knew no bounds. Complaints from the various
communities "of the violence of the soldiery which conducted
itself as if on hostile territory, reached Rome almost daily.
When leaving they refused to give a receipt for the provisions
commandeered by them and they carried off by force as many
inhabitants as there were deserters from their army. The
embitterment of the countryfolk knew no bounds.^
It was with some alarm that the papal Government awaited
the arrival of the new Spanish ambassador. Cardinal
Acquaviva.3 After the latter had presented his credentials
on March 21st,^ discussions began at once in the utmost
secrecy. It was easy to guess that the invasion of Naples
was their main topic. When the death occurred of the Madrid
nuncio, Vincenzo Alamani, difficulties arose in connection
with the appointment of a successor to this important post.
Cardinal Cienfuegos was of opinion that Spain intended to
enforce her demands by threatening to close the nunciature.
Acquaviva, who did all he could to obtain a candidate
agreeable to the Spanish Government, observed that he was
ignorant of any intention to close the nunciature, though
things might come to that as Spain had many grievances
against Rome.^ Besides the nunciature, other topics of
discussion during those days were the dispensation for the
nomination of the Infante Luis, then nine years of age, to
the archiepiscopal see of Toledo, the grant of the Exequatur
^ According to Cardinal Cienfuegos' *rcport of October 8,
1735 {ibid.), Clement XII. himself said so to the Cardinal.
" Cardinal Cienfuegos' *reports, January 15, 22, and 29,
1735, ibid. Cf. Riv. stor., 1915, 33, 52.
* Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report, March 19, 1735, loc. cit.
* Cardinal Acquaviva's *report, March 22, 1735, Simancas
Archives.
^ Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report, April 16, 1735, loc. cit., and
Cardinal Acquaviva's *report, April 19, 1735, loc. cit.
NEGOTIATIONS WITH SPAIN. 369
to the Neapolitan Bishops named by the Pope and the
extension of the Sitbsidio and the Excusado} These financial
concessions were granted on May 10th, ^ whereupon Spain
yielded on the question of the episcopal nominations.^
Meanwhile the time for paying the feudal tribute for
Naples was once more at hand. The result of protracted
deliberations by a special Congregation of Cardinals was the
expedient of not demanding payment for the current year.*
Cardinal Cienfuegos, as representing the Emperor, strongly
protested against this decision. The fiscal of the Apostolic
Camera at the same time renewed the protest already raised
in 1732 against Don Carlos' refusal to pay for the investiture
of the Duchies of Parma and Piacenza.^ With regard to the
archbishopric of Toledo, the Pope proposed the expedient
of naming the Infante Luis simply commendatory and
administrator of the temporalities of the See, putting off his
appointment as Archbishop until he should have reached the
canonical age. The Brief relative to the affair was only to
be expedited after the re-opening of the nunciature. After
the King had given a promise to that effect, the various
questions were at length settled in September. But then
came * demand for the elevation of the Infante to the
cardinalate ^ and differences also arose immediately about
the person who was to have the ecclesiastical administration
1 Cardinal Acquaviva's *reports, March 29, April 7 and 25,
and IVIay 3, 1735, loc. cit.
2 Cardinal Acquaviva's *report. May 10, 1735, ibid.
^ Cardinal Cienfuegos' *reports. May 5 and 14, 1735, loc. cit.
* Cardinal Cienfuegos' *reports, May 21, June 4, 7, and 25,
1735, ibid., and Cardinal Acquaviva's *reports, June 5 and 11
and July 3, 1735, loc. cit.
^ Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report, July 2, 1735, loc. cit.
^ Cardinal Acquaviva's *reports, July 21 and 28, August 18,
September i, 8, 9 and 12, 1735, according to which Carlo Gentili
especially took much trouble, through his auditor, the Abbate
Riganti, to obtain the dispensation for the Infante (Simancas
Archives). Cf. Cardinal Cienfuegos' *reports, August 6, Septem-
ber 10, 17 and 24, 1735, Reuss Archives, Ernstbrunn.
VOL. XXXIV. Bb
370 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
of Toledo. 1 The occasion brought to hght the extreme
difficulty of satisfying the domineering nature of Queen
EHzabeth who had all the strings in her hands at Madrid.
On the subject of the grant of the investiture for Naples
the Pope remained firm. Cardinal Acquaviva made an
attempt to bribe the learned Fontanini who had been
instructed to draw up a memorial on the question, but that
excellent man returned the rich present he had received and
informed the Cardinal that his name was Giusto Fontanini. ^
The peace negotiations between France and the Emperor,
which had been in progress for some time, were concluded
on October 3rd, 1735, at Vienna. The Emperor and France
agreed that Leszczynski should renounce the Polish crown
in favour of Frederick Augustus ; by way of compensation
he was to have the Duchies of Bar and Lorraine for his
hfetime, that of Bar at once and Lorraine as soon as the
Grand Duchy of Tuscany devolved to Francis of Lorraine
at the death of Gasto ; but at the death of Leszczynski both
Duchies were to go to France. To indemnify Don Carlos
for Tuscany and the dominions of the Farnese, the latter
was to have the Kingdom of Sicily, of which, as a matter of
fa'ct, he already was in possession, together with thcSpanish
maritime places and Elba. France restored to the Emperor
the territories conquered by her and recognized his
Pragmatic Sanction. He retained Lombardy, with the
1 Cardinal Acquaviva's *reports, November 3, 10, 17 and 22,
December i and 6, 1735, loc. cit.
* Count Harrach's *report, October 22, 1735, Reuss Arch.,
Ernstbrunn. On October 8, 1735, Cienfuegos (see his *report of
that day, ihid., and *Brief to Charles VL, November 12, 1735,
Papal Secret Arch.) wrote to the Emperor that he desired to
retire from his post of ambassador which he had held since 1722.
The Emperor appointed as his successor the auditor of the Rota,
John Ernest, Count von Harrach, Bishop of Neutra (see Rott-
MANNER, Dey Kardinal von Bayern, 5), whose letters are partly
in the State Library, Munich, Cod. lat., 11061 {cf. Rottmanner,
7), partly in Reuss Archives, Ernstbrunn. Harrach was succeeded
by Count Joseph Thun, Bishop of Gurk.
PEACE OF VIENNA. 37I
exception of the territories of Novara and Vigevano which
were the reward of the King of Sardinia, as well as the
Duchies of Parma and Piacenza.
Once again the Pope had to endure a complete overriding
of his suzerain rights over these Duchies. His appeal to
France for help was ignored.^ The Peace of Vienna led to the
recognition by the Pope of Frederick Augustus as King of
Poland. On that occasion the strange behaviour of the
French ambassador nearly led to a rupture with France. ^
Tlie ecclesiastical disputes with Poland were settled by means
of a concordat which dealt chiefly with the bestowal of
monasteries.^
The Vienna agreements on the peace conditions were
rejected by Spain, whereas Sardinia declared itself satisfied.
After the armistice of November 16th between the Emperor,
France and Sardinia, Montemar deemed himself no longer a
match for the imperialists under Khevenhiiller ; he accordingly
raised the siege of Mantua and decided to retreat into Tuscany.
* On November 19 and December 3, 1735, Harrach ^reports
that a letter had been dispatched to Paris in which the Pope
complained about France consenting to the cession of Parma
to the tmperor ; that Fleury had been admonished by Brief
that as a Cardinal he should look after the interests of the Holy
See and work for the admission, so much desired by Clement XII.,
of a papal representative at the next peace congress (Reuss
Archives, Ernstbrunn). N. M. Lercari was sent to Paris to
make fresh representations ; see *Brief to Fleury, January 8,
1736, Papal Secret Archives. On May 3, 1736, *Briefs were
addressed to Louis XV., to Cardinal Fleury, to the German
Electors and to the Bishops to the effect that they should not
allow that, against all international law, the Church should be
deprived by her own sons of a possession which she had held
for over two centuries. Ibid.
* Cf. Cardinal Cienfuegos' *rcports, August 4 and 11, 1736
(Reuss Archives, Ernstbrunn), and *Memorie del pontificato di
Clemente XII., Corsini Library, Rome, loc. cit.
' Text of the concordat with Poland of August 6, 1736 (ratilied
by the King on July 14, 1737), in Theiner, Mon. Pol., IV., i,
123 seq., and Mercati, Concordati, 311 seqq.
372 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
This measure once again imperilled the northern section of
the Papal States. A particularly flagrant injury to the Papal
neutrahty occurred at Bologna when Spanish troops marched
through the town and when, on November 27th, imperial
Hussars entered it in their turn on the plea of capturing the
Spaniards who had remained behind. Both the Legate and
the Pope protested against this violation of the rights of
nations. As the Emperor forbade Khevenhiiller to cross the
Tuscan frontier, the imperial troops spread along the borders
of the Legations of Ferrara and Bologna and provisions and
money were being requisitioned even in the Marches and in
Umbria. The Pope's protests against the invasion by the
imperiahsts of the territory of Ferrara and the occupation of
the Duchies of Parma and Piacenza by Charles VI.} yielded
no result : on May 3rd, 1736, Prince Lobkowitz took possession
of the Duchies in the name of the Emperor.^
1 MuRATORi, XII., 173 ; Count Harrach's *reports, November 5
and 26, December 3, 10, 17, and 31, 1735, Reuss Archives,
Ernstbrunn. Cf. also *Briefs to the Emperor, November 28,
1735, and January 5, 1736, in which we read : " We have received
your letter, but no consolation." " Sive Ital. Duces, qui exercitum
traduxerunt, tibi non renuntiarunt, sive ab exsequendis mandatis
abstineant, extrema pcrnicies populo imminet." It is not as
when the Spanish troops marched through quickly and paid for
their provisions with money and certificates, but by making their
winter quarters there " ea licentia cives degravant, ut si viverent
in hostili loco. Auget molestiam annonae difficultas. Exponet
archiep. Ephes. Nuntius ". We trust that the generals will
lead them away and liberate Our people, who.se complaints daily
reach Our ears " (Papal Secret Archives). On the efforts for a
general pacification of Italy see Eisoni's *reports from Florence
to Sinzcndorf in Vienna, December, 1735, Sinzendorf Archives,
Jaidhof Castle.
2 On account of Parma and Piacenza and on account of the
" entire destruction " of the States of the Church by the imperial
troops, Clement XII., in a private letter, dated " XII. Kal.
Majas 1736 " made a personal appeal to Charles VI. (Epist.,
VIII. -X., 698 seqq., Papal Secret Archives). On the letters sent
to France on May 3, 1736, see above, p. 371, n. i). The final
DIFFICULTIES WITH SPAIN. 373
Meanwhile Cardinal Acquaviva had been very active in
Rome but had failed to obtain the investiture for Don Carlos. ^
The differences in connection with the appointment of a nuncio
for Spain and an ecclesiastical administrator of Toledo continued
for some time, but the way for a compromise was paved by
the admission of the Infante Luis into the Sacred College on
December 19th, 1735.- It was hoped that so weighty a
concession would be followed by the reopening of the tribunal
of the Madrid nunciature and the acceptance of Silvio Valenti
Gonzaga as nuncio ^ ; but this expectation proved illusory
and the auditor Guiccioli had to go on acting as charge
d'affaires.^
peace between France and the Emperor was not signed until
November i8, 1738, at Vienna ; see Flassan, Dipl. frang.,
v., 97. Charles Emmanuel III. acceded to it on February 3,
1739 (Carutti, Dipt., IV., 109). On July 25, 1739, Clement XII.
sent a Brief to Charles Emmanuel in which he expressed his joy
for the peace for which he had always worked, especially on account
of the tranquillity of Italy. God be praised who has inclined the
princes to peace ; may they be more ready now to listen to the
Supreme Pastor who will always protest against the seizure of
Parma and Piaccnza. He learnt with great sorrow that all the
injustices, especially those which had to be conceded to the
heterodox powers, had been incorporated in the peace stipula-
tions. He hoped that the piety of the princes will heal this
wound, but must proclaim what a great danger this was to their
eternal salvation. He hoped that God would inspire them " to
procure for Us this consolation in Our old age, so that We may
leave this See intact ", Epist., VIII. -X., 529, loc. cit.
1 Count Harrach's *report, October 29, 1735, Reuss Arch.,
Ernstbrunn.
- Thus was repeated, says Muratori (XII., 175), " I'uso od
ahuso de' secoli da noi chiamati barbarici."
3 Count Harrach's *report, January 21, 1736, loc. cit.
* The *reports in cipher of Guiccioli, who was in a very difficult
position, in Nunziat. di Spagyta, 244A, Papal Secret Arch. Accord-
ing to his *report of June 15, 1736, he asked Molina (" governatore
del Consiglio di Castiglia ") to see to it that Nuncio Valenti was
accepted ; Molina answered that this would be too inglorious for
374 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
The new 3'ear failed to put an end to the troubles of the
neutral Papal States : both Spanish and imperial troops
wintered on the Pope's territory.^ To the complaints of the
Secretary of State, Charles VI.'s envoy, Count Harrach, replied
that Cardinal Mosca was to blame if the papal subjects had
had so much to suffer ; the Cardinal had been unwilling to
allow the provisioning of the troops, hence officers and men
had been obliged to help themselves ; if the imperial troops
molested the Papal States, it was because they were driven
to it by the refusal of the French and the Spaniards to carry
out the peace preliminaries. ^
Even more than these acts of violence in the Legations of
Ferrara and Bologna, the Pope was bound to resent the fact
that, in spite of his readiness to satisfy the Spanish Government,
especially by the elevation of the Infante Luis, Spanish
recruiting agents exercised their activities in Rome itself, in
spite of every prohibition, and with the ruthlessness of a press-
gang. These agents were all over the city ; they made use of
the worst characters, even of the pubUc prostitutes, to
deceive young Romans in order to force them into the arm3\
Peaceful citizens were seized in the streets at night ; others,
under some pretext or other, were lured into houses where
they were detained till nightfall, when they were forcibly
put on board ship at Ripa Grande. In this way many fathers
the King. Molina's real motive, however, was his wish of being
made a Cardinal, in spite of the great harm he had done to the
liberty of the Church and to the Holy See. He said to me that,
to the King and to Patino he spoke very differently than
he had done to me, and he regretted that this had happened
during the pontificate of a Pope who was so well disposed towards
Spain !
» Cf. *Brief of complaint to Philip V., October 30, 1735,
Epist., VI., Papal Secret Archives.
2 Count Harrach's *report, January 28, 1736, Reuss Arch.,
Ernstbrunn. Cf. ibid., *report of February 4, 1736, according
to which a partial reparation by the Emperor would not be
enough, as the States of the Church would be treated less
favourably than Venice.
TUMULT IN ROME. 375
lost their sons and wives their husbands.^ The resentment
against the Spaniards in Rome and throughout the Papal
States was probably fanned by the imperialists ^ ; it was not
long before it produced a violent explosion.
On March 23rd, 1736, a crowd of people, in which the most
resolute of the Romans, the men of the Trastevere, were
particularly well represented, set at liberty some of their
fellow citizens who were being detained by Spanish recruiting
agents in a house in the Piazza Farnese. The incident was
repeated in the Borgo and in other quarters of the city.
Papal troops ended by dispersing the excited populace.
Cardinal Acquaviva declined the offer of a guard as he himself
had put his palace on the Piazza di Spagna in a state of defence.
The measures taken by the Government assured tranquillity
for the following day, which was Saturday before Palm
Sunday, but as the whole town knew that forcibly enlisted
men were being held in captivity in Acquaviva's palace, there
was reason to fear fresh disorders on the following Sunday.
The Trastevere continued to be the centre of the excitement.
The Pope had accordingly caused the bridges to be barricaded
so as to prevent the exasperated populace from invading the
centre of the city. This manoeuvre proved successful at
Ponte Sisto, but at Ponte Quattro Capi a section of the people
forced a passage. Papal troops, however, prevented them from
reaching the Palazzo di Spagna. But popular resentment
continued, in fact it increased and seized also the inhabitants
of the Monti. In the end the Pope saw no other remedy
except to open negotiations with the mutineers through
Prince Santa Croce and the Conservator Marchese Crescenzi.
The mob demanded the liberation of all those who had been
enrolled in their quarters of the city and an amnesty. When
this was granted they went their way to the cry of " Long
* Cf. V. DE Brognoli, Relazione dei tumulti accadiiti in Roma
I' a. 1736 (drawn up by Abbate Conti, according to a MS. in the
Bibl. Angelica ; see below, p. 376, n. i), Roma, 1882, 15 seq.,
and the terrible details from the *RcIazioni del Fiscale [Coa.,
1 182, Corsini Library, Rome).
* Damila, 275 ; ScHiPA, 214.
376 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
live the Pope ! " A stern decree against the recruiting agents
was issued but it did not put a stop to their activities.^
The situation was rendered still more serious by the circum-
stance that 6,000 Spanish troops, whilst on their way from
Naples to Upper Italy, happened to be in the neighbourhood
of Rome, where they looked like remaining, under the
imaginary pretext that they tarried there by the Pope's
leave in order to protect him from the excited populace ! ^
Rome, as Clement XII. lamented in a private letter to
Philip v., was practically blockaded.^ Relying on the Spanish
troops. Cardinal Acquaviva, in obedience to orders of his
Government, received on April 21st, was in a position to
demand the most exorbitant satisfaction for the King of Spain
and the Spanish nation. For the rest during the troubles
not one Spaniard lost his life. Yet Acquaviva demanded
the extradition of the instigators and their trial, with
participation of a Spanish official ; in case of a refusal the
Madrid nunciature would be closed and Spaniards would be
forbidden to have any dealings with the Holy See.* As it was
impossible to cancel the amnesty which had been conceded.
Cardinal Corsini suggested that Acquaviva should be content
with an apology by the Conservators in the name of the
^ Count Harrach's *report, INIarch 26, 1736, Reuss Arch.,
Ernstbrunn, and V. de Brognoli, Relazione, 19 seqq. (in manu-
script also in Cod. 733, Bibl. Angelica, Rome, in Cod. 11 82 and 1185,
Corsini Library, Rome, in Cod. ital., 55, State Library, Munich,
and in Cod. 5835, State Library, Vienna. In the latter report,
which represents the Pope's point of view — Acquaviva's reports
to Patino, March 24, 26 and 29, 1736 (Simancas Archives) give
the opposite view — the insult to the coat of arms at the Palazzo
Farnese (see Count Harrach's *report. May 12, 1736, lac. cit.),
is said to be unproven. On the encroachments, cf. Gli archivi
ital., IV., 4 (1919), 223, n. I.
* V. DE Brognoli, Relazione, 32, where the Pope's protest
against the circulation of this rumour is also published.
» This priv^ate *lctter dat. IV., Id., April, 1736, written in
Italian, is in Epist., VIII. -X., 693, Papal Secret Archives.
* Acquaviva's *letter, April 22, 1736, in V. de .Brognoli,
34. n. I.
RUPTURE WITH SPAIN. 377
Senate. However, Acquaviva insisted on extradition and
trial.
Meanwhile excitement grew in the Papal States in
consequence of the oppression practised by the Spanish
soldiery who conducted themselves as if they were in conquered
territory.^ The inhabitants of Velletri were particularly
incensed for already on the occasion of the Spaniards first
march through their city they had been forcibly driven from
their homes to make room for the soldiers. ^ On hearing that
a Spanish regiment was to enter their city, they prepared to
offer armed resistance. It was with great difficulty that
Cardinal Barberini, whom the Pope had dispatched to Velletri,
succeeded in persuading the citizens to content themselves
with guarding their gates in return for a promise by the
Spaniards that they would not enter the city and would spare
the fields.^ Previous to this another incident had occurred
at Ostia where salt miners had rushed a Spanish barque and
set at liberty the forcibly enrolled men who were detained
on board. This incident also was the object of a protest by
Acquaviva.*
There still seemed to be a possibility that the discussions
between him and the Secretary of State on the subject of
compensation would lead to a compromise acceptable to both
parties,^ when instructions from the Spanish Government
reached Acquaviva, ordering him to leave the Eternal City
together with all Spaniards, Neapolitans and Sicilians resident
in Rome, as well as Cardinal Belluga and the auditor. On
May 7th the Pope was informed of the order. Acquaviva also
had to inform him that the nunciatures of Madrid and Naples
had been closed and that all communications between the
^ Count Harrach's *report, April 28, 1736, Reuss Arch.,
Ernstbrunu.
2 Informazioni stragiudiziali in V. de Brognoli, 30, n. i. .
^ Count Harrach's ^reports, April 28 and May 5, 1736, loc. cit.
Cf. V. DE Brognoli, 30 seqq.
* Count Harrach's *report, April 14, 1736, loc. cit.
' Count Harrach's *report, May 5, 1736, ihid. Cf. V. de
Brognoli, 37 seq.
378 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Dataria and Spain had been broken off. A last attempt was
made to negotiate through Cardinals Barberini and Corradini
but it was learnt that the brief time limit for the departure
was unalterable.^
At the same time the Spanish troops began to exact vengeance
on their own authority, as if they were already masters of the
Papal States. On May 11th three hundred dragoons invaded
Ostia which they ravaged with fire and sword. ^ A few days
earlier Velletri had been occupied by 1,300 Spaniards who
immediately set up gallows, forced the people to surrender
their arms and obliged the fugitives to return by threatening
to set their houses on fire and to plunder their property.
Further action against those who had instigated the arming
of the citizens was threatened ^ and a fine of 8,000 scudi was
laid on the town. Palestrina also had to pay 15,000 scudi
for having shut its gates against the brutal Spanish soldiery.**
In a report of May 12th, Count Harrach wrote that the
Pope's sovereignty had been trodden under foot, that the
Papal States were on the brink of ruin and that, in the event
of Clement XII. 's death, the freedom of the conclave was
threatened.^ Spain's formal rupture with Rome took place
on May 12th with the departure of Acquaviva who, on the
13th, was followed by Belluga and on the 14th by the remaining
Spanish residents in Rome. The NeapoUtans were likewise
made to leave the city.^ At Madrid the tribunal of the
nunciature was closed and Silvio Valenti Gonzaga, who had
been appointed nuncio in succession to Alamani, was not
1 Count Harrach's *report. May 12, 1736, loc. cit. At the time
of the conflict with Clement XII., the Auditor had not been
recalled. Acquaviva left on June 26 ; see his *report to Jose
Patino of the same day, Simancas Archives.
* See the Relazione in V. de Brognoli, 41, n. i.
' Count Harrach's *report, May 12, 1736, loc. cit. ; Diario in
V. DE Brognoli, 42, n. i.
* MuRATORi, XII., 180.
* Count Harrach's *report. May 12, 1736, loc. cit.
^ Count Harrach's *report, May 14, 1736, ffcjrf.
MOLINA OF MALAGA. 379
allowed to enter Spanish territory. Raniero Simonetti, the
nuncio in Naples, was expelled from that town.^
There could be no doubt about the aim of the Cabinet of
Madrid and Naples when they adopted such a pohcy : it was
to extort by sheer violence the investiture for Don Carlos and
for Spain various concessions of an ecclesiastico-political kind,
especially in regard to the right of patronage and the Dataria.^
The instigator of these attempts was the Augustinian
Caspar Molina y Oviedo, Bishop of Malaga, though he spent
most of his time at the court of Madrid. Louis XIV. 's
Gallicanism was Molina's ideal. The auditor Guiccioli, whilst
still at the nunciature at Madrid,^ was not slow to perceive
the evil influence which this head of the Spanish regalists
exercised upon the Government, the weak King and the
passionate Queen. On June 15th, 1736, Guiccioli reported
that accurate accounts of the troubles in Rome were not
allowed to reach the King. In the event of negotiations for
a compromise, these should not be allowed to pass through
the hands of Molina who, though a religious and a Bishop,
spoke in the bitterest terms of the Holy See.^ He had instilled
1 NovAES, XIII., 239.
^ Count Harrach's *report, May 12, 1736, loc. cit. Cf. Guiccioli's
*report, dated Madrid, June 30, 1736, Nunziat. di Spagna,
244A, Papal Secret Archives.
3 The new building of the nunciature had been begun at the
beginning of 1735 ; see Guiccioli's report of January 22, 1735,
who welcomed this as in this way the revenues of the vacant
See of Toledo remained in Spain. Ibid.
* *Molina did not trouble about the conduct of the Spanish
troops at Ostia. " E non mi maraviglierei, che se egli avesse
comandato le truppe, avrebbe fatto peggio con tutta la tonaca
regolare e la croce da vescovo in petto, poiche oltre le ardenti
espressioni fatte nuovamente meco, mi ha detto Mons. Ratto,
che le parole, che escono da quella bocca in proposito di queste
torbolenze e della materia del preteso patronato sono tanti bottoni
di fuoco contro Roma." Great harm would be done to Rome if
the negotiations had to pass through his hands. " In una parola,
da lui non si puo sperare alcun bene per la S. Sede, se non k con-
ducente al servizio e vantaggio del Re, che pare sia I'oggetto
I
380 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
similiar sentiments into the Oueen who had observed that in
order to obtain a thing from the priests it was necessary to
use either bribes or threats. ^ On August 20th Guiccioli
wrote that he was afraid he would have to leave Spain, though
the stiff attitude of the Government was only adopted for
the purpose of realizing its pretensions.-
By the middle of June the Spanish troops had gradually
evacuated the Pontifical States,^ but in July the Pope was
taken seriously ill.^ The sufferings of mind which he, a blame-
less man, had had to endure through Spain's fomentation of
trouble in Rome,^ the pretensions of the imperiahsts " and
the French ambassador,' and lastly the conflict with the
principale dellc sue contemplazioni." Patino does not wish the
King to see accurate reports. Guiccioli, June 15, 1736, Nimciat. di
Spagna, loc. cit.
1 "' *Mi e state d.etto, che la Regina ultimamente disse, che per
conseguire dalli preti quel che si desidera, non vi e altra maniera
che danari e bastone." This has been suggested to her by Molina,
who would be capable of destroying religion here. Neither remon-
strances nor favours can curb his violence, they only serve to
incite him further to scoff at the Holy See. Guiccioli's *report,
August 6, 1736, loc. cit.
2 Guiccioli's *report, August 20, 1736, ibid.
« Count Harrach's *rcport, June 16, 1736, Reuss Arch., Ernst-
brunn.
* See above, p. 336.
5 Spain, says Muratori (XII., 180), was punishing the Pope,
" per eccessi non suoi e a quali non aveano mancato i suoi ministri
di apprestar quel rimedio che fu possibile." Cf. the *letters
in cipher complaining to Guiccioli, July 14, August 4 and 25,
1736, Nimciat. di Spagna, 429, Papal Sec. Arch.
6 On the moderate demands made by Harrach in connection
with the arrest by the police of an imperial sergeant, see his
♦reports, February 18 and 25, March 10, 26 and 31. 1736, Reuss
Archives, Ernstbrunn.
' The pretensions of the French ambassador on account of
the Pope's attitude to Stanislaus Leszczynski nearly led to a
rupture ; see Harrach's *reports, June 21, July 28, August 4.
II, and 25, and September i, 1736, ibid.
NEGOTIATIONS. 381
King of Sardinia, ' had proved too much for the aged Pontiff.
Muratori is right when he says that it looked as if at that
time every sovereign were determined to abuse his power in
order to injure the Pope.- Clement XII. 's grief was enhanced
by the circumstance that it was a religious and a Bishop, viz.
Molina, who persuaded weak Philip V. to adopt so harsh a
conduct.^ If the Pope endured every provocation meekly
and patiently and contented himself with a fatherly exhortation
to Philip V.,^ the explanation is to be looked for in his reliance
on the promise of Him who had made Peter Head of the
Church.
Negotiations for a compromise with Spain were first initiated
by the Archbishop of Naples, Spinelli ^ ; they also had the
support of the French Government.^ Cardinal Corsini was
willing to make peace at any price,' but the Pope and the
majority of the Cardinals insisted on the dignity and the
prerogatives of the Holy See being safeguarded.^ In August
it was reported that the Pope would not hear of a compromise
unless the Madrid nunciature was first opened and Spain
sent as ambassador a man who would promote peace better
than Acquaviva.^ The fact that in the question of the
patronage the majority of the higher prelates of Spain took
the Pope's side was particularly advantageous to Clement XII. ^^
^ Cf. abov'e, p. 347 seqq.
2 Muratori, XII., 180.
* *Cifra to Guiccioli, July 14, 1736, Nunciat. di Spagna,
429, loc. cit.
* *Cifra to Guiccioli, September 29, 1736, ibid.
^^ Count Harrach's *report, June 2, 1736, loc. cit.
* Count Harrach's *report, July 7, 1736, ibid.
^ Count Harrach's *report, July 21, 1736, ibid.
* Count Harrach's *report, August 18, 1736, ibid.
» Count Harrach's *report, August 11, 1736, ibid.
^^ On account of the pretensions of the Spanish King to a general
" Patronage ", the Brief " Inter egregias " was sent to the
whole Spanish Episcopate on September 29, 1736 ; on the
same day, Clement XII. communicated it also to Philip V.
{Epist., Papal Secret Archives). On September 29 the Pope
382 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Even now the Spanish Government refused to admit that
wisdom demanded comphance, on the contrar}', with a view
to deriving as many advantages as possible from the
negotiations, it took a further step against the Holy See by
pubHshing, on October 24th, 1736. a decree ordering all papal
Bulls, Briefs and Rescripts, with the exception of the
ordinances of the Penitenziaria, to be submitted to the council
of State. 1 This decree was declared null and void by a Brief
thanked the Archbishop of Seville for his constancy in the matter
of the patronage [tbid.). A Brief of October 6 admonished Molina
in very earnest terms to do his duty : " Horret animus " at the
rumour that you have raised up the storm and by fomenting
it are disturbing ecclesiastical discipline, " canonum censuras
negligens " ; this is intolerable on the part of a Bishop who
has sworn fidelity {ibid.). On the other hand, on October 13,
1736, *Briefs of commendation were sent to Bernard Martin,
Abbot-General of the " Congregatio Vallisolit. Hisp. ", and to the
Abbots of the Spanish Cistercians (ibid.). On November 5, 1736,
Guiccioli *reports from Madrid : The circular Brief has met with
universal approval, both with the Bishops and with the people,
and is everywhere received with public demonstrations of joy ;
people rejoice that the " inventori del patronato ", whom every-
body hates, have been reprimanded. The Briefs to His Majesty
and to the Infante have caused consternation at court. INIolina
plays the regalist because he wishes his Cardinal's hat to be one
of the conditions of the agreement. The French ambassador
said to me that the Court showed itself as reluctant to improve
conditions as Portugal. Nimciat. di Spagna, 244A, Papal Secret
Archives.
^ Guiccioli's *report, dat. Madrid, November 12, 1736,
according to which Molina boasted of the Brief of blame, as he
was considered a regalist in Rome. On November 19, 1736,
Guiccioli *reports : The Venetian ambassador, on seeing Molina
enter, said : " Ecce Episcopus contra Pontificem ! " This is the
general opinion ; many people say that unless he is compelled
to reside [in his diocese] under pain of censures, the Holy See
will have no peace. Three theologians in the " Gran Giunta "
are in favour of the Pope. The King connnandcd the Inquisitor
not to prohibit any book in favour of the patronage and the
Inquisitor obeyed ; when I reminded liini of the Brief he replied :
NEGOTIATIONS. 383
to the Spanish episcopate dated December 15th, 1736, for
the Pope could not subordinate the freedom of the Bishops
in ecclesiastical matters, and still less that of the Holy See,
to a secular authority.^ At the same time, Acquaviva was
told by the Congregation which had been set up for the
purpose of dealing with Spanish affairs, that the simplest
way to peace was the reopening of the Spanish nunciature.
By their acts of violence in the Papal States the Spaniards
had indemnified themselves so amply that there was no
need for further satisfaction by the Pope, on the contrary, it
was he who was entitled to claim compensation from Spain.
If the Spanish Government was able to furnish authentic
documentary proof of its claims to the right of patronage
and of the alleged abuses of the Dataria, the Pope would be
willing to apply a remedy. ^
When at a session of the State Council on December 23rd
the King announced that new negotiations with the Holy See
were about to begin, he described the October decree on the
placet as the best means of enforcing his demands in Rome.^
But by this time public opinion was no longer on the
Government's side. Guiccioli's reports make it clear that
a change had occurred. Molina, Guiccioli wrote on
" Espero en Dies che no he de faltar a mi dever." On November
26, 1736, Guiccioli *reports : " Molina e da tutti riconosciuto
per I'autore e promotore di queste discordie colla S. Sede, e dopo
il Breve monitoriale fa peggio in voce di emendarsi. Prima
s'incolpava ancora il S. Patigno, ma presentemente la colpa e
sua, per esser quello, che principalmente tratta col Re e Regina
di questa materia, e che e il capo delle Giunte, in una dalle quali
pure si e parlato di proibire alle reUgioni di acquistare beni
stabili." Nimziat. di Spagna, loc. cit.
1 *Epist., Papal Secret Archives.
^ Harrach's *report, December 15, 1736, Reuss Archives,
Ernstbrunn. In a *Cifra al Guiccioli of December 15, 1736,
the Secretary of State dwells on the sorrow of the Pope, and adds ;
" Non prende certamente Mons. Molina la vera strada per meritarsi
il cappello." Nunziai. di Spagna, 429, loc. cit.
* Hergenrother, in Archiv fUr Kath. Kirchenrecht, X. (1863),
192.
384 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
December 17th, 1736, had lost some of his former influence
with the Queen and he was spoken of as a heretic and another
Luther and plans for a compromise were being discussed at
court. 1 In January, 1737, Guiccioli reported that Molina was
blamed for having needlessly raised a storm against the
Holy See, and that he was even described as a Jew and an
atheist. The Duke of Gemini was reported to have said that
the devil was at the bottom of these disputes. Molina
continued to work in secret and .told his followers that they
only needed to remain firm as once the Dat aria's revenues
were stopped, Rome would be compelled to yield. ^ In
February, Guiccioli reported that Molina himself was seriously
thinking of a settlement of the disputes, though only from
selfish motives, for he aspired to the red hat.^
Cardinal Acquaviva had volunteered to conduct the
negotiations in Rome. He was accredited in Februar3\^
He too was bound to desire peace for in the event of the Duke
of Montemar, who had always disapproved of his conduct,
becoming minister, there was an end to his influence. On the
other hand Molina was wholeheartedly with him.^
The negotiations hitherto conducted in Rome by Spinelli
had for their chief object the grant of the investiture to
Don Carlos, in exchange for which the Pope demanded the
reopening of the nunciature in Madrid and the embassy in
Rome.^ The negotiations, which were conducted by Spinelli,
Gentili and Corsini, were wrapped in the greatest secrecy.'
They appeared to enter into a decisive stage with Acquaviva's
arrival in Rome on 3rd March, when the Pope appointed a
special Congregation of Cardinals to deal with all pending
questions and charged Spinelli to treat in his name with the
' Guiccioli's *rcport, December 17, 1736, loc. cit.
- Guiccioli's *reports, January 7 and 14, 1737, ibid.
' Guiccioli's *report, February i8, 1737, ibid.
* Guiccioli's *report, February 25, 1737, i6i^.
* Harrach's *report, January 19, 1737, Reuss Archives,
Ernstbrunn.
* Harrach's *reports, January 5, l'"ebruary 2 and 9, 1737, ibid.
' Harrach's *report, March 2, 1737, ibid.
NEGOTIATIONS. 385
Spanish Cardinals.^ The Congregation consisted of Cardinals
Corradini, Spinola, Porzia, Firrao, GentiH, SpinelH, Corsini,
Zondadari and Rivera ; subsequently Cardinal Aldrovandi,
who had been nuncio in Madrid in 1717 and 1718, was added
to their number. Cardinal Spinelli kept a diary of the negotia-
tions which opened on March 8th ; this document is preserved
to this day in the Papal Secret Archives. ^
Complete uncertainty prevailed at first. About the middle
of March the Secretary of State remarked to Count Harrach
that it was not possible to say that the various questions
would not be settled, but it was equally impossible to say that
they would be settled.^ The negotiations gave rise to a
tremendous tension throughout the court. Before long every-
one resigned himself to their being either long drawn out,
owing to the big demands of the Spaniards, or even to their
complete failure.* The latter alternative was certainly to be
expected if the Spanish Government persisted in its obstinate
demand of the investiture for Don Carlos and in its refusal to
discuss ecclesiastical affairs, more particularly the resumption
of relations with Rome, before this was granted. Clement
refused to agree to such a demand.^ Equally unacceptable
^ Harrach's *report, March 9, 1737, ibid.
- " Giornale della negotiatione intrapresa in Roma tra il
sig. card. Acquaviva . . . e il sig. card. Spinelli arcivescovo
di Napoli deputato dalla S*^^ di Clemente XII. a trattare con detto
Ministro sopra tutte le controversie vertenti fra la S. Sede e le due
corti di Madrid e di Napoli dal di 8 Marzo fine al di 26 Settembre,
1737." Nunziat. di Spagna, App. III., Papal Secret Archives.
Cf. PoRTiLLo, XVII., 326 seqq., where there is further information
about the other sources, the correspondence of the Spanish
nunciature and Acquaviva's and Belluga's reports in the Simancas
Archives.
' Harrach's *report, March 16, 1737, Reuss Archives, Ernstbrunn.
* Harrach's *report, March 30, 1737, ibid. Cf. *Cifra al Guiccioli,
April 13, 1737, on the " esorbitanza delle proposte del card.
Acquaviva," Numiat. di Spagna, 449, loc. cit.
* How decided the refusal of the Pope was appears from the
instruction to Guiccioli of March 23, 1737 : " L'cssersi dichiarato
sempre N. S. per lo spazio di piii mesi di non poter essere in stato
VOL. x.xxiv. c c
386 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
were the initial demands of Acquaviva (who, for the rest,
desired to negotiate solely as a Cardinal, not as an ambassador)
for there was again question, even in a more accentuated
form, of pretensions advanced in the days of Urban VIII.
but subsequently dropped by Spain herself ; they were that
all papal dispensations should be granted gratuitously, that
the Pope should forgo his right to the Spolia and that the
Madrid nunciature should be without any jurisdiction.^
Spinelli declared that the Pope could not consent to such
suggestions. Thereupon Acquaviva requested the immediate
concession, without further discussion, of all that Villalpando
had demanded of Aldrovandi in Paris in 1717, in the days
of Clement XI. ^ — a strange demand which completely failed
to take into account the concordat of 1717. In his love of
peace the Pope went so far as to allow Villalpando's demands
to be examined, though not by the general cardinalitial
Congregation but by a smaller committee.^
The fact was that the Congregation of nine members had
proved unwieldy. On Acquaviva's proposal ^ three members
of the Congregation, viz. Cardinals Corradini, Gentili and
Spinelli were charged, at the beginning of April, first to treat
with Acquaviva and Belluga and then to report to the
di accordare la richiesta investitura, se nel tempo stesso non si
riaprisse rinterrotto commercio fra la S. Sede e le due corti
di Spagna e di Napoli e non si rimettesser le cose nel piede in
cut erano prima del tumulto di Roma, facea sperare che coirarrivo
del sig. card. Acquaviva in questa corte, persuasa alia fine la
M*^ del Re Cattco dalle ragioni di Sua S*^, avesse date ordine al
sue ministro di trattar insieme della investitura e delle altre con-
troversie, almeno di quelle insorte dope il tumulto ; ma
con meraviglia si h inteso dallo stesso sig. card. Acquaviva insistere
sempre la M*^ Sua nella concepita idea di voler I'investitura prima
che si possa dar principle a trattare di verun'altro affare : al che
la S*^ Sua non ha creduto di poter aderire con sicura coscienza e
senza grave preguidicio della dignita della Sede Apost." Ibid.
^ *Cifra al Guiccioli, March 30, 1737, ibid.
2 C/. vol. XXXIII., 755^9^.
' *Cifra al Guiccioli, April 4, 1737, loc. cit.
* Acquaviva's *report, April 11, 1737, Simancas Archives.
acquaviva's efforts. 387
Congregation. With the appointment of this commission
Acquaviva felt sure of success for he thought that Corsini
and Firrao would side with him ; thus he would be able to
count on six votes in the discussions of the Congregation.^
However, even thus the negotiations proved so long drawn
that Madrid began to despair. Guiccioli reported that, seeing
that Acquaviva was making no progress, their Majesties
regretted their having sent him to Rome.^ In the sequel
even the Spanish Government was forced to realize more
and more that it was in its interest to terminate the dispute.
The people were discontented because it was no longer possible
to obtain any dispensations, especially matrimonial ones ;
there were those also who thought they perceived signs that
Molina no longer enjoyed the entire confidence of the court. ^
Meanwhile the negotiations were once more being
indefinitely drawn out for Acquaviva was determined to
extort the acceptance of Villalpando's demands as well as
a heavy financial burdening of the Spanish clergy.^ On these
^ PoRTiLLo, XVII., 336.
* Guiccioli's *report, April 22, 1737, Nunziat. di Spagna, loc. cit.
' Guiccioli's *report, June 17, 1737, ibid. On July 8, Guiccioli
reports [ibid.) : I spoke to the ministers about the concordat,
etc. " Mons. Molina benche decaduto dal concetto del Re, tiene
nondimeno mano nelle cose di Roma a dispetto di tanti che gli
fanno guerra et attendono, che la Regina si mostrera stufa di
lui per rovinarlo." The three theologians are against him. On
July 15, 1737 : Molina was very angry with me. I spoke to him
about the heavy tax on ecclesiastical property ; he said I had
better not meddle with this matter as the clergy had the biggest
possessions. Regai-ding the concordat : " che il Concordato
bensi fu quello fatto dopo in S. Lorenzo in virtu di special decreto
del Re e confermato per Breve del Papa, e non potendolo negare,
lo disprezzo, dicendo : ' Que fue una patorata y imbrogliata de
Alberoni in contentarsi di cose ridicole '." The whole ministry is
divided on this matter. Ibid.
* Corradini's illness and the long delays before Acquaviva
received any replies from Madrid and Naples delayed the negotia-
tions ; see Acquaviva's *reports, May 16, June 6 and July 25,
1737, Simancas Archives.
388 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
points the Congregation of Cardinals based its conduct on
the concordat of 1717.i Another difhculty was the circum-
stance that age had so weakened the Pope that he no longer
took any important decision alone but invariably consulted
his intimate advisers. ^
At the beginning of August most people, Acquaviva among
them, believed that a happy issue of the negotiations was
at hand. A httle later it was rumoured that scruples had
suddenly arisen in the minds of some of the Cardinals, to
the very great annoyance of Acquaviva and Corsini.^ The
Cardinals demanded that the compromise with Naples should
be upheld and that the question of the King's universal right
of patronage should remain in abeyance. Acquaviva's advice
was that this should be accepted.^ In the end the Holy See
let it be known that it was prepared to discuss once more the
concordat of 1717, but Acquaviva sought to rob this big
concession of its effect by asserting that that concordat had
been signed by Alberoni, without the royal authorization.
It was proved at once that this assertion was not in conformity
with truth.
In the sequel the struggle turned chiefly round the King's
demand of the right of patronage and the taxation of the
Spanish clergy, on which agreement proved impossible ;
on all the other points a compromise was arrived at.^ When
1 *Cifre al Guiccioli, May 25, June 8, 15, 22, and 29. and July 20,
1737, loc. cit.
* Harrach's *report, July 6, 1737, Rcuss Archives, Ernst-
brunn.
» Harrach's *report, August 3, 1737, ibid. ; Acquaviva's
♦report, August 8, 1737, loc. cit.
* PORTILLO, XVII., 336.
* " *Egli [Acquaviva] ha ben compreso la forza di quest" argo-
mento, quale non ha saputo altrimente eludcre che col supporre
essere il Concordato stato sottoscritto dal sig. card. Alberoni
senza plenipotenza del Re ; il che e falsissimo, non pure per quello
che nello stesso trattato apertamente si legge, ma per ci6 che
ne ha asserito lo stesso sig. card. Alberoni, il quale intcrpellato su
questo articolo ha risposto aver'ancora appresso di se ncUe sue
carte la controversa plenipotenza. e quando anche questo non
DIFFICULTIES. 389
on August 23rd the Holy See, reluctantly and solely in order
to prevent a greater evil, more especially the royal patronage,
consented to a taxation of the clergy of Spain for a period of
five years, ^ there seemed to be at last a serious prospect
that a settlement agreeable to both parties would be speedily
arrived at. On August 24th Harrach wrote that Cardinal
Corsini and the Secretary of State had told him that
a compromise was assured but that two or three months
might pass before its conclusion. ^
fosse, basta a persuaderne 11 solo riflettcre che in sequela del
suddetto trattato finirono allora le controversie coUa Spagna.
Non so poi come siansi costi potuti cosi facilmente lusingare di
un prossimo accomodamento, mentre, qualunque cosa abbiano
scritto alia corte i sig. cardinali Spagnuoli, e certo che, se bene di
tutti gli altri punti siasi in un certo modo convenuto, nulladimeno
in niente si e potuto ancora convenire con i tre sig. cardinali
deputati circa rarticolo delle contribuzioni degli ecclesiastici."
Cifa al Guiccioli, August 10, 1737, loc. cit.
1 *Cifra al Guiccioli, August 24, 1737, which says on the sub-
ject of the tax on the clergy that without this concession no settle-
ment would have been reached. " E stata questa Tunica remora e
Tunica diflicolta che per tre mesi " made us despair of success.
" Dopo avere assolutamente rigettate molte altre esorbitantissime
pretensioni, che in questa materia si formavano da' regii ministri,
ha [the Pope] creduto non poter dispensarsi di conceder loro
qualche cosa per evitare un male molto maggiore ; si e consjderato
inoltre, che non potendosi in altro modo metter argine al gravis-
simo inconveniente de regii patronati, da cui tanto pregiudicio
ne proveniva non meno agli ecclesiastici di cotesto regno che alia
Sede Apost., conveniva in ogni maniera andarvi al riparo anche
in qualche temporaneo aggravio degli ecclesiastici medesimi."
However, the tax must not be permanent [loc. cit.). According to
Cardinal Spinelli's *Giornale, the last decisive session of the
Congregation of Cardinals took place on August 24, 1737 ;
Acquaviva showed himself .satisfied though he still made a few
objections ; see Nimziat. di Spagna, App. III., loc. cit.
" Harrach's *report, August 24, 1737, Reuss Archives, Ernst-
brunn. A " piano e parere sulle pretensioni della corte di Spagna
per la Congregazione " of August 12 in Cod. 11 83, p. 187 seqq.,
Corsini Library, Rome. As Acquaviva was afraid the Pope
390 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
The final decision of the Madrid Government arrived on
September 16th, sooner, that is, than had been expected.^
Thereupon the five Cardinals of the committee drew up the
provisional text of the concordat. ^ However, great difficulty
was still found in determining the amount of the tax with
which the King desired to burden his clergy.^ The course
of the negotiations was smoothed for Acquaviva by the
circumstance that he had bribed some of the papal olftcials
who let him see the letters of the Secretariate of State — even
those in cypher ! * With such officials, who represented an
after-effect of the era of Coscia, it is surprising that the terms
of the concordat arrived at in the negotiations between
Acquaviva and the Secretary of State, Cardinal Firrao, were
at all supportable for the Holy See. On September 21st the
concordat was handed to Acquaviva in its definitive form.^
However, fresh difficulties arose at the last moment.** On
September 2Gth a last lively discussion of two hours' duration
took place at the palace of the Ouirinal between the Secretary
of State, Firrao, acting as the Pope's plenipotentiary, and
Cardinal Acquaviva as representing Philip V.' ; at the end
of this final exchange of views both signed the new concordat.^
would die before long he urged his Government at least to make
sure of what had been attained, according to the old Spanish
proverb : " Tornar y pedir " ; see his ^report, August 29, 1737,
Simancas Archives.
^ Cardinal Spinelli's *Giornalo, loc. cit.
- PoRTiLLO, XVII., 336.
3 Ibid., 336 seqq. ; Harrach's *reports, August 31 and Septem-
ber I, 1737, loc. cit.
* PoRTiLLO, XVII., 338 seqq.
* Cardinal Spinelli's *Gioninle, loc. cit.
* Ibid., SeptemV)er 24, 1737.
' " *He encontrado tales difficultades que ciertamente puedo
asegurar a V. S. que he tenido en que merecer para superarlas . . .
y finalmente despues de dos horas do contrasto, se ha executado
este acto." Acquaviva a Seb. de la Quadra, dat. Roma, 1737,
Septicmbrc 26, Simancas Arch.
8 The two originals of the concordat are still preserved, at
Madrid in Arch. liistorico Nacional (Estado, 3, 565), and at Rome,
THE CONCORDAT. 39I
The stipulations, with which both parties seemed at first
greatly satisfied,^ comprised twenty-six articles. The first
offered satisfaction to the Holy See for the measures that had
been taken against the nunciature : the nuncio, his tribunal
and his officials were to enjoy as previously and without the
slightest curtailment, all their rights and prerogatives ; all
decrees to the contrary were to be aboHshed and everything
was to be brought back to the conditions which obtained
previous to the latest incidents, with the sole exception of
the changes made by the present concordat ; relations with
the Holy See were to be resumed and papal Bulls and decisions
in matrimonial questions were to be given effect as before.
The other dispositions of special importance concerned the
restriction of the right of asylum, the putting in force of
several Tridentine decrees against the excessive number of
clergy and the too frequent application of ecclesiastical
censures. There followed a prohibition of temporary benefices
which were in opposition with the very notion of a benefice,
an order for the visitation of monasteries, the introduction
of the concursus for the collation of all parishes and the
limitation of the practice of the Holy See of burdening with
pensions the benefices of the assistant clergy. The prerogatives
of the nuncio were curtailed. The lowering of the fees of the
tribunal of the nunciature and the question of the King's
general patronage were to be the subject of future arrange-
ments together with other points which had formed the
subject of negotiations by Villalpando during the pontificate
of Clement XI. With regard to the share of the clergy in
the burdens of the State, further taxation was deemed
Papal Secret Archives, AA Arm., I.-X\'III., 473. Mercati
collated his reprint with the latter (Concordati, 321 seqq.). It
appeared in print at Madrid in 1738 ; copies in Simancas Archives
and in Archives of the Madrid nunciature (see Portillo, XVII.,
325). The treasures of the latter collection .have not yet been
completely exploited ; its transfer to Rome is being planned.
On this concordat, see also Roda's *report, January 21, 1761,
Archives of the Spani.sh Embassy in Rome.
^ See the evidence quoted by Portillo (XIX., 69).
392 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
necessary ; meanwhile an annual impost of 150,000 Spanish
ducats was granted for a term of five years. The concordat
was ratified by Philip V. on October 18th, 1737, and by
Clement XII. on November 12th.i
There only remained the difficult problem of a settlement
with the new King of Naples. When they broke off relations
with the Holy See, the courts of Madrid and Naples had acted
together : Philip V. refused to allow the nuncio to enter Spain,
Charles III. expelled the nuncio from Naples ; like his father
he too recalled his representative from Rome, compelled the
Neapolitans and the Sicilians to leave the Eternal City and
forbade all relations with the court of Rome. The intention
was to extort far-reaching concessions by means of these
provocative measures. Acting on the advice of anti-clerical
elements, more especially that of Tanucci and Genovesi,
Charles III. demanded the right of nomination to all episcopal
sees and the collation to ecclesiastical benefices in his realm,
the reduction of the number of monasteries, the restriction
of the acquisition of property by mortmain, the suppression
of the tribunal of the nunciature and of all judicial rights of
the nuncio, and the investiture with the Kingdom of the
Two Sicilies. 2 How greatly, then, those had deceived them-
selves who, as for instance Cardinal Lanfredini, had hoped
that better days would dawn for the Church with the expulsion
of the imperialists from Naples ! ^ The situation grew worse,
* Mercati, Concordali, 327. The royal and the papal ratiiica-
tion are in the correspondence vohime, 1737, p. 96S, according
to the report of November 14, 1737, Simancas Archives ; the
former and the text are in the corresponding vohime, p. 230,
Archives of the Spanish Embassy in Rome.
2 Brosch, II., 81.
» Lanfredini's *letter of June ,1734, Cod. 1181, p. 123, Corsini
Library, Rome. Cf. Sentis, 187. Already at the time of Benedict
XIII. the Spanish .diplomatists had sought to rouse suspicions
about the Bourbons. In a *letter to the Marquis de la Paz, of
December 10, 1729, Cardinal BentivogHo reports that he had
told the Secretary of State that he should rejoice, for the sake
of the Holy See, at the extension of the Bourbon power, " pues
NEGOTIATIONS WITH NAPLES. 393
not better, which is not surprising seeing that the youthful
King had for his advisor Tanucci, a man who was perhaps
the bitterest poHtical enemy whom the Holy See ever
encountered in a Catholic State. ^
The negotiations for an agreement with Naples, difficult
as they were in themselves on account of the heavy inroads
into the Church's freedom and immunity by the secular
power,- were rendered still more arduous as a result of the
innovations introduced by Tanucci immediately after the
seizure of the realm in 1734, to the injury of ecclesiastical
rights.^ The King adopted whatever counsel his anti-clerical
entourage gave him and tolerated the most grievous violations
bien conocc V. E. quanto importa al Papa y a la Iglesia que se
introdusca en Italia estc nuevo principado y tan grande principe
hijo de un monarca de la Espana de la real sangue de Francia
para tener a freno la potencia excesiva de la sobervia alemana y
las continuas violcncias y amenazas, con las quales los ministros
cesareos conturban esta corte." How had Clement XI. been
treated ! Simancas Archives.
1 Opinion of Brosch (II., 78). Cf. Arch. Napolet., I., 373 ;
III., 102, 211 ; IV., 365, 447 ; PicoT, III., 12.
* Count Harrach's *letter, September 7, 1737, Reuss Arch.,
Ernstbrunn.
^ On August 20, 1734, the Spanish nuncio, Vincenzo Alamani,
*reported that he had complained to Patino that by his conduct
with regard to ecclesiastical immunity and jurisdiction, Don
Carlos was acting exactly like the imperialists. On November 17,
Alamani reports : I complained to Patino about the violation of
immunity in Naples, especially by the secretarj^ Tanucci. Patino
said, " che Roma pretendeva sempre mille cose dal Re, ma che
per altro S. M. non ne poteva ottener alcuna grazia dal Papa,
non gia per il buon cuore di N. S. sempre lo stesso verso il Re,
ma per alcuhi consiglieri poco inclinati verso questo corona ed
impegnati ad opporsi a tutto quello, che il Re desidera : onde
in avvenire non avrebbe S. S. udita piii alcuna istanza da questa
corte, dopo tante prove, che aveva avutc dclla poca sorte, che
incontravano le prcmure della ]\I. S." I replied that the Pope
was still full of vigour and would not let himself be ruled by
his advisers. Nunziat. di Spagna, 224A, Papal Secret Archives.
394 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
of the Church's immunity.^ There can be no doubt that his
aim was to establish in Naples the anti-ecclesiastical principles
of Gallicanism.
After settling with Spain, the cardinalitial Congregation
began its examination of the Neapolitan affair that very
same day, August 23rd, 1737.2 In 1736 Clement XII., who
was anxious for an agreement with Naples, had laid down as
preliminary conditions for investiture, the admission of the
nuncio at Naples, the opening of the tribunal of the nunciature
and the withdrawal of several laws hostile to the Church.
The Neapolitan Government had rephed that the Holy See
would obtain neither the right of collating to benefices nor
the withdrawal of decrees contrary to ecclesiastical immunity,
unless the investiture was granted : if it was refused now, it
would never again be asked for.^ Thus Spinelli's negotiations
proved fruitless. At this time Celestino Galliani, the Neapohtan
CappellanO Maggiore, came to Rome for the purpose of lending
support to Acquaviva. Both stated that though they were
empowered to listen to suggestions, they were not authorized
to make any themselves. It soon became evident that what
the new masters of Naples aimed at was not only to uphold
the encroachments of the imperial Government, but to add
to them.*
^ ScHiPA, Regno di Napoli al tempo di Carlo Borbone, Napoli,
1904, 206, 210.
* Cardinal Spinelli's *Giornale, Nimziat. di Spagna, App. III.,
Papal Secret Archives.
^ Cf. the reports quoted by Sentis (190).
* In a *retrospect on the previous negotiations we read :
" Ma di molto e poi cresciuto il nostro rammarico quando ci
siamo accorti esser fisso nell' animo di quel nuovo ministero non
pure di niente rilassare dalle passate usurpazioni sopra i diritti
della Chiesa, ma anzi di crescerle a dismisura di maniera che si era
qui seriamente incominciato a pensare di procedere per le vie
canoniche " (Cifra al Valenti, November 23, 1737, Numiat. di
Spagna, 429, loc. cit.). Cf., ibid., the enumeration already made on
April II, 1737, of the " *Aggravii che solfre nel regno di Napoli
la giurisdittione eccles., presentati per online di Clemente XII.
al card. Acquaviva per mezzo del Card. Spinclli."
GALLIANI IN ROME. 395
Galliani had looked for energetic support by Acquaviva,
but the latter had received a different commission from his
court, one that was much more to his liking than the Neapolitan
disputes. He was charged to obtain a marriage dispensation
for Maria Amalia, fourteen-year-old daughter of Frederick
Augustus, King of Poland, Don Carlos' prospective bride, and
'to make sure that she would meet with a suitable reception
on her passage through the Papal States. Accordingly
Galliani was left to his own devices in his negotiations with
Ferroni, the Assessor of the Inquisition, who was subsequently
joined by Tria, Bishop of Larino.^
Galliani's position became still worse in the course of
the negotiations with the Cardinals which opened on
September 6th. These soon showed that Spinelli was on the
Pope's side whilst Acquaviva interested himself chiefly in
the affairs of the new Queen of Naples. On December 1st,
1737, the Cardinal obtained the necessary dispensation.
When the Queen's reception came to be discussed, the question
of the investiture cropped up once more with the result that
ecclesiastico-political discussions sank into the background.
The Tuscan envoy was of opinion that it was the intention
of the Holy See to transfer these negotiations to Madrid as
agreement with Tanucci seemed out of the question. ^ Although
Molina too wished the negotiations to be transferred to Madrid,
the opposition of the Neapolitan Government rendered such
a step impossible. The Queen of Spain urged Don Carlos to
come to terms in order that he might at last obtain investiture.
At the very first audience of the new Madrid nuncio, Silvio
Valenti Gonzaga, at the end of November, 1737, she brought
up this topic, urging that Rome also should show an
accommodating disposition for, " one hand washes the other
and both wash. the face." ^ At a second audience she reverted
1 ScHiPA, 219 se^. On Galliani, cf. C. Pascal, Vita ed opere
dell abate Galiani, Napoli, 1885.
* ScHiPA, 221.
' Valenti's *report, dated Madrid, November 26, 1737, Nunziat.
di Spagna, 244A, Papal Secret Archives.
396 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
to the subject of the investiture.^ Clement XII. was willing
to grant it but only on condition that a stop was put to anti-
ecclesiastical tendencies at Naples. This it seemed impossible
to obtain. As undisputed master of the two Sicilies, Charles III.
looked on investiture as a mere formality which could well be
dispensed with. He let it be known that it must be given
without condition ; if it was denied, he could do without it'
nor would future rulers of Naples ever ask for it.
For fear lest so dangerous a precedent should be established,
Clement XII. felt that he ought to yield. ^ In the hope that
Charles III. would make concessions in the politico-
ecclesiastical sphere,^ he resolved, on May 10th, 1738, to
sign the Bull of investiture which was issued on the 12th.*
On the same day Maria Amalia set out from Dresden for Italy.
The Pope arranged a splendid reception for her in the Pontifical
States. At the frontier of Ferrara, whither Acquaviva had
betaken himself, she was welcomed by Cardinal Mosca in the
name of the Pope ; at Pesaro she was greeted by Cardinal
Albani and at Velletri Cardinal Corsini presented her, by order
of Clement XII., with valuable presents, a diamond and two
magnificent mosaic pictures.^
Nuncio Simonetti was now able to return to Naples whilst
Acquaviva became the representative of the King of Naples
in Rome. The Cardinal showed a readiness to make concessions
of such importance in questions touching the Church that
1 Valenti's *report, dated Madrid, December i, 1737, ibid.
2 Brosch, II., 81.
3 *Brief to " Carolus utriusque Siciliae rex", May 20, 1738,
Epist., VIII. -X., 195, Papal Secret Archives.
« Bull., XXIV., 377 seqq. ; Novaes, XIII., 276 scq.
5 MuRATORi, XII., 191 ; Arch. stor. Hal., 4a, Serie XX., 167
seqq., 170 seq., 172 ; Schipa, loc. cit., 222 ; *Lettere spett. al
viaggio d'ltalia di Maria Amalia di Sassonia sposa di Carlo Borbone
Re di Napoli scritte a Gaetano Boncompagno duca di Sora e
princ. di Piomb. I'a, 1738, Boncompagni Archives, Rome,
E^ 126-7 ; review, II Muvatori, I., Roma, 1892, 42 seqq., 47 seqq.,
93 seqq. ; P. Antolini, Passaggio e diniora di Maria Amalia di
Polonia per andare sposa a Carlo III., Argcnta, 1900.
FRESH DIFFICULTIES WITH SPAIN. 397
Galliani spoke of treason.^ However, the latter need not
have felt anxious for there was no change in Tanucci's policy ;
that minister continued his policy , which was most detrimental
to the Holy See and in which he had the support of officials
who were, to a man, adherents of Giannone. Clement XH.
continued in his hope of concluding a satisfactory concordat
with Naples, so a.s to have at least one secure point which
Tanucci would not be able to circumvent,^ but all was in
vain.^ In a detailed private letter to Charles lU's confessor,
the Pope, now on the brink of the grave, commanded the
latter, in contrast to the ruler's evil counsellors, to draw the
King's attention to the grievous wrong he was doing by his
violations of the Church's freedom and jurisdiction.'*
Just as Charles HI.'s investiture did not lead to peace
with Naples, so did the concordat of 1737 fail to bring about
peace with the Government of Madrid. For this failure the
Pope was not to blame for Clement XH. carried out loyally
all the concessions embodied in that treaty. By a Brief of
November 14th, 1737, he restricted the right of asylum in
Spain whilst a circular to the Spanish hierarchy confirmed
and explained the concordat. Orders were issued for the
visitation of monasteries.^ Appropriate instructions were
likewise sent to the new Madrid nuncio, Silvio Valenti
Gonzaga," who was at last able to leave Bayonne and to
present himself at Madrid. '^ However, on December 1st, 1737,
the Infante Luis was appointed ecclesiastical administrator
1 ScHiPA, 222 seq. ^ Brosch, II., 81.
^ Cf. Gandino, Foscarini, 35, and the complaints about the
violation of eccle.sia.stical liberty in Naples in *Cifre al Valenti,
June 17 and July 2, 1739, Nunziat. di Spagna, 429, Papal Secret
Archives.
4 *Private letter to the " archiepiscopus Nisibis utriusque
Siciliae et Hierosol. regis confessarius ", dated 1739, III., Non.
Majas a.g., in Epist., VIII. -X., 721, ibid.
^ Hergenrother, in Archiv fiir Kath. Kirchenrechi., XI. (1864),
252 ; PoRTlLLO, XVIII. , 314, 316 seqq.
' *Brief of N'ovember 14, 1737, Epist. , VI., 485, loc. cit.
'' PORTILLO, XVIII., 312.
398 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
of Toledo but Bernardo Froilano de Saavedra, titular Arch-
bishop of Larissa, was assigned to him as ecclesiastical co-
administrator.^ On December 20th, at Philip V.'s request,
Molina obtained the ardently desired red hat as a crown
cardinal. 2
To all these favours the Spanish Government replied with
base ingratitude. The concordat favoured Spain more than
Rome 3 ; but as not all demands had been conceded, efforts
were made to extort them by every possible means, especially
the general right of patronage for the King and a higher
taxation of the Spanish clergy.* But in spite of these and
other difficulties,^ the treaty was duly published and many,
though not all, of its clauses were carried into effect.^
Given the ecclesiastico-political tendencies at Madrid,
the position of the papal representative at Madrid remained
a very difficult one, for Molina was bent on extorting the
universal royal patronage.' In the opinion of the nuncio's
^ Hergenrother, loc. cit., 252.
* Count Harrach's *report, December 20, 1737, Reuss Arch.,
Ernstbrunn.
^ " Piu utile per la corte di Spagna che per quella di Roma,"
says A. Mocenigo, Relazione di Roma (see above, p. 338, n. 4).
* PoRTiLLO, XVIII., 315 scqq., 319 seqq.
* Difficulties arose at once with regard to the opening of the
nunciature. Cf. *the reports of December 9 and 15, 1737, Nunziai.
di Spagna, 244A, loc. cit.
« PoRTiLLo, XVIII., 324. In his essays published in the review
Razon y Fe, XVII., 325 seqq. ; XVIII. , 311 seqq. ; XIX., 60 seqq.,
68 seq., based on a profound and extensive studj'^ of the Archives,
Portillo refutes most successfully the assertions of Blab Jover
Alcazar {Exanien del Concordato, Madrid, 1747), Gregorio Mayans
y Siscar and other Spanish regalists about the concordat of
1737 • " l^e fue nulo, que Espaiia accedio forzada, que no se
public6 como debiera, que el Papa no s61o no cumph6 lo prometid
sino que repetidas veces falto a susclausulas, que fue un Concordato
vago, diminuto e ineiicaz." Cf. also Hergenrother, loc. cit., 253.
' A *Cifra to Nuncio Valcnti of September 18, 1738, says:
" In risposta di quanto V. S. Illma . . . N. S. sente con gran dis-
piacere le difficolta che s'incontrano sul bcl principio nella materia
MOLINA S GALLICANISM. 399
auditor, Molina's suggested compromise at the close of 1738
only meant that the Holy See should simply do whatever
Madrid wanted : Molina went far beyond the stipulations
of the concordat. 1 When the auditor declared that it was
impossible to consider such proposals, Molina lost his temper,
but calmed himself with the thought that it would be possible
to find another formula for a compromise. ^ However, there
was nothing to hope for in this direction as Molina worked
for the introduction of Galilean principles, though it was
made quite clear to him that as a result of these principles
religion had become a mere name in France. Even the
remonstrances addressed to him as Bishop of Malaga, to the
effect that the application of these principles in France had
reduced the Bishops to the rank of slaves of Parhament
failed to make a lasting impression.^ To a fresh proposal,
del Patronato suddetto, e che invece di dar esecuzionc al Concor-
dato, si vuole impugnare cio ch'e stato stabilito. Questa materia h
la piu importante che sia nel Concordato ; per questa si e con-
desceso a molte altre determinazioni purtroppo pregiudiciali, a
senza questa non si sarebbe accordata alcuna cosa ; e percio
h il piu grave affare che possa occorrere a V. S. Illt^s neU'esercizio
del sue ministero, e Sua S^a I'ha volentieri confidata alia sua
destrezza e zelo." Nunziat. di Spagna, 429, Papal Secret Archives.
* " *La maniera dciraccomodamento sarebbe quella di fare
tutto quelle, che lore vogliono, senza nepure stare airultimo
Concordato. lo procurai di fargli [Card. Molina] vedere I'irra-
gionevolezza di tutto cio," says a letter of the Auditor, Cervini,
to the Cardinal Secretary of State, dat. Madrid, September 20,
1738. Cod. 1 1 84, p. 85, Corsini Library, Rome.
^ Cervini's *report, October 20, 1738, ibid., p. 87.
' On November 29, 1738, Cervini *reports : " I was with Molina
for four hours on account of the book on the patronage and
I showed him that its object was to introduce into Spain the
French legal principles, faciendo gli insieme riflettere, che da tale
introduttione potevano attendirsi li medesimi pregiuditii, che si
deplorano in Francia, dove la religione e ridotta a un puro nome,
con fargli inoltre riflettere, a qual grado di suggestione erano ridotti
i vescovi di Francia da' parlamenti." The Cardinal seemed to be
moved by iny words. Ibid., p. 89 seqq.
400 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
for a compromise made by the nuncio in July, 1739, Molina
replied in terms which the auditor described as " unseemly,
impertinent and scandalous ".^ The nuncio had given his
approval to the draft of a compromise ; during the oral
discussion of the document the auditor told Molina that if
Madrid desired to make its own Canon Law, it would be
better to break with Rome and to cease talking of a
compromise ; if things went on as at present, in fifty years
the Spanish hberties would far exceed the Galilean ones.^
The Pope was well aware of the role which material interests
played in Madrid, hence he sought to win over the Government
by concessions in this field. In 1707 Phihp V. had united the
administration of the Order of Montesa with the council of
the military Orders, thereby effecting a centrahzation of the
administration which was very advantageous to the
Government : on May 22nd, 1739, Clement XII. confirmed
the royal disposition. In the course of the same year he
allowed the King to raise two million reals from the property
of the Church within his dominions.^ At the same time, by
a Brief of January 27th, 1740, the Pope sought to remove
the obstacles which prevented an understanding on the
question of patronage^; it was Clement XII. 's last Brief to
Madrid.
^ " *Uua risposta impropria, impertiuente e scandalosa."
Cerviiii, July ii, 1739, ibid., p. 91.
" Cervini's *report of July 25, 1739, on his three hours' con-
versation with Molina, in which he says : " Alia line arrival a
dirgli, che se volevano fare li canoni a mode lore, era nieglio
separarsi intieramente da Roma e non parlare piu d'accomoda-
mento, . . . che io haverei scommcsso quanto avesse voluto,
che tra 50 anni, se le cose continuavano nella maniera cominciata,
le liberta della chiesa Spagnola sarebbero molto maggiori di
quelle della chiesa Gallicana." Ibid., p. 93.
^ Hekgenkother in Archiv fiir Kath. Kirchenrecht, XL, 253.
* ^-lipist., VIII. -XL, 658, Papal Secret Archives.
CHAPTER III.
Nominations of Cardinals — Activity within the Church —
Prohibition of Freemasonry — Religious Conditions
in France and Germany — ^The Missions.
It is in the very nature of the Primacy that the Pope should
be absolutely free in the choice of the highest dignitaries of
the Roman Church, who are to be his true and closest advisers,
so that any dispositions that may exist concerning such a
choice, can only be directive, but never binding ones. When
the Council of Trent made it an obligation for the Head of
the Church to bestow the purple on men of all nations when-
ever possible, it at once restricted this direction by adding :
" in so far as the Pope has opportunities to become adequately
acquainted with foreigners, and has solid reasons for giving
them his full confidence."
Given the hostility to the Church which was becoming
increasingly strong even in countries that had remained Catholic,
the Pope, unfortunately, could only give his confidence to
a very few national and crown Cardinals proposed to him by
the Emperor and the Kings of France and Spain. The above-
named Powers based their right of presentation on their r61e
of protectors of the Church. However, these patrons
threatened more and more to become oppressors, and they
only proposed men who had the interests of the State far
more at heart than the welfare of the Church. Hence it was
natural that the Popes should seek to restrict the Powers'
right of nomination, a right now also claimed by Portugal,
Poland and Venice, and that they occasionally ignored it,
or put off the promotions of foreigners proposed for the
cardinalate with a view to securing some advantage for the
Church by their eventual surrender.^
1 RoTTMANNER, Der Kardinal von Bayern, 33 seqq.
VOL. XXXIV. AOZ D d
402 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
It is in this light that Clement XII. 's creations of Cardinals
must be viewed. Whereas other Popes had taken into account
the nominations made by the Great Powers at the outset
of their pontificate, Clement XII. nominated for a considerable
time only Cardinals of Italian nationality, although the ranks
of the foreigners were being thinned by death. Clement's
selection was likewise influenced by the advice of Cardinal
Corsini who wished to make sure of a party at the next conclave.
But the chief consideration that guided the Pontiff was that
in view of the hostile attitude of the Catholic Powers, it was
expedient, as much as possible, to keep their representatives
out of the Sacred College.
At the first creation, on August 14th, 1730, Neri Corsini
was named in petto ^ ; at the second, on October 2nd, 1730,
the purple was bestowed on the nuncios of Madrid, Vienna
and Paris, the Florentine Alessandro Aldobrandini, the
Genoese Girolamo Grimaldi, Bartolomeo Massei of Monte-
pulciano and the Secretary of Propaganda, the Roman
Bartolomeo Ruspoli.^
* Published on December ii, 1730: *[Declaravit card, reser"
vatum] " Magistrum Nereum Corsinum Protonot. Apost. et a
secretis libellorum supplicum. Nostrum secundum carnem ex
germane fratre nepotem, cuius optimam indolem atque erga
doctrinas et bonas artes ingenuum studium vitae integritati
coniunctum rerumque gerendarum usum in publicis negotiis
apud externos etiam principes transigendis fore speramus in
huius S. Sedis obsequiis ac ministeriis utilem et opportunum,
cum praesertim plerique vestrum in congrcgationibus explora-
tum sue apud Nos testimonio comprobarint." Acta consist.,
Barb. 2922, Vatican Library.
» GuARNACCi, II., 605 seqq. ; Cardella, VIII., 246 seqq. ;
Marchesi Buonaccorsi, 503 seq. Al. Aldobrandini was nuncio
in Naples, 1708-1713, in Venice, 1713-1720, then in Spain;
G. Grimaldi in Brussels, 1706-1712 ; in Poland, 1712-1721 ;
then in Vienna ; B. Massei since 1722 in France. A favourable
appreciation of the above-named in Cardinal Bcntivoglio's
♦report, December 7, 1730 (Simancas Archives), and in *that of
Cardinal Cienfuegos, July 21, 1731 (Archives of the Austrian
Embassy at the Vatican). On B. Ruspoli, cf. Sforza-Ruspoli.
ITALIAN CARDINALS. 403
The greatest dissatisfaction with these nominations was
shown by the Portuguese Government which had broken off
diplomatic relations already under Clement XI. on account of
the Lisbon nuncio, Vincenzo Bichi, having been passed over.
This abnormal situation had continued under Innocent XIII.
and Benedict XIII., to the very great injury of the Church
in Portugal. Accordingly, in order to prevent greater evils,
Clement XII. was inclined to buy peace with Bichi's elevation,
though on condition that the latter apologized for his
disobedience. Negotiations conducted through Cardinal
Pereyra had yielded no result by the end of 1730.^ A happy
issue was hoped for in the spring of 1731,^ but this was
only secured in October, when the Pope's demand that Bichi
should leave Lisbon and justify himself at Florence was
agreed to. This justification could only take the form of
excuses, and the Pope was satisfied with these, in spite of
the opposition of the " Zelanti ".^ On September 24th, 1731,
Bichi at length obtained the purple. With him were named
Giuseppe Firrao, a Neapolitan, who had been appointed to
succeed Bichi as nuncio in Portugal, the Maestro di Camera
Sinibaldo Doria of Genoa, the Florentine Carmelite and
Bishop of Arezzo, Gian Antonio Guadagni, and the Datarins,
Antonio Saverio Gentili.^ Public opinion was unanimously
favourable to the new Cardinals.^
J. Alarescotti, Firenze, 191 4, 42. *Original of Ruspoli's nomina-
tion to the cardinalate in Ruspoli Archives, Rome.
^ Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report, December 16, 1730, Archives
of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican. Ibid., *Proposizioni che
si fanno parte del Re di Portogallo alia S. di N. S. P. Clemente XII.
mandate dal s. card. Pereira per sedare le correnti emergenze tra
quella e qucsta corte.
- Cardinal Cienfuegos' ^report, April 21, 1731, ibid.
^ Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report, September 22, 1731, ibid.
* GuARNACci, II., 624 seqq. ; Cardella, VIII., 251 seqq.
* In his *letter of September 29, 1731, Cardinal Cienfuegos
describes them thus : Doria : " uomo di ottimi costumi e di
prudenza " ; Firrao : " uomo di dolci e illibati costumi, savio,
fornito di capacita, di uno zelo regolato dalla prudenza " ;
404 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
October 1st, 1732, saw the reception into the Sacred College
of the Neapolitan Trojano Acquaviva de Aragona, Maggiordomo
to the Pope; and of Agapito Mosca of Pesaro, a relative of
Clement XI. whom the Pope held in the highest veneration.^
These new Princes of the Church also enjoyed an excellent
reputation. 2
The year 1732 witnessed two creations of Cardinals. In the
first, on March 2nd, Domenico Rivera of Urbino, Secretary
of the Consulta, received the red hat at the request of
James III.^ At the second, on September 28th, the elevation
took place of the Pope's auditor Marcello Passari, a Neapolitan
Guadagni : " religiose rigido ed ottimo vescovo " ; Gentili :
e dotto, applicato indefessamente al sue uffizio. II costume suo
e illibato, il tratto dolce e santo senza affettazione " (Archives
of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican). On Gentili, cf. above,
P- 339.
^ The Pope's *address in Acta consist., Barb. 2923 ; he creates
" Acquaviva archiep. Lariss. Praef. Pal., conspicuis huius S.
Sedis ministeriis laudabiliter functum, cui generis claritatem et
domestica virtutis exempla, Francisci praesertim card, patrui
sui, ad res pro Dei gloria et s. Ecclesiae rationibus bene gerendas
novo incitamento f utura plane confidimus, ' ' and ' ' Agapitum Mosca
cler. Camerae, in obeundis muneribus ab eadem S. Sede sibi
demandatis cum laude probitatis, integritatis prudentiaeque
versatum. propinquum f. r. Clem. XI. " (Biblioteca Vaticana).
Cf. GuARNACci, II., 64 seqq. Cardella, VIII., 257 seqq. ;
Marchesi Buonaccorsi, 515 seq. Already in the former promo-
tion Cardinal Albani had used all his influence on behalf of Mosca ;
see Cardinal Cienfuegos' *letter quoted in the preceding note.
" On October 4, 1732, Cardinal Cienfuegos *reports : [Acqua-
viva] " in ogni occupazione ha dato segni di un uomo savio ed
amante del giusto " ; [Mosca] " dotato di sufficiente capacita
e dottrina, e ritirato, fa una vita di ottimo e cscmplare ecclcsias-
tico." Archives of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican.
^ " *Creavit card. Dominicum Riveram protonot. a Secrctis
Congreg. consultat. status, optimis studiis cxcultum ac diuturnis
huius S. Sedis obscquiis summa cum fidei et consilii laude per-
functum " (Acta consist., Barb. 2923, loc. cit.). Cf. Guarnacci,
II., 654 seqq. ; Cardella, VIII., 261 seq.
ITALIAN CARDINALS. 405
subject, and that of the deserving Governor of Rome, Giambat-
tista Spinola of Genoa. ^ Spinola's successor as Governor, the
Bolognese Pompeo Aldrovandi, was hkewise raised to the
purple on March 24th, 1734, together with the Roman Serafino
Cenci, Archbishop of Benevento, the learned Servite Pier
Maria Fieri, a Sienese subject, and the Florentine Amadori
Lanfrcdini. Cardinal Cienfuegos paid homage to the excellent
qualities of the new dignitaries, but he also calculated that
Corsini's party now disposed of seventeen votes, so that it
could exercise the right of exclusion at the conclave. ^
After the deserving Archbishop of Naples, Giuseppe Spinelli,
had become a Cardinal on January 17th, 1735,^ Clement XII,
at last named the first crown Cardinal when, on December 19th,
1735, at the instant request of Philip V., he granted the red
hat to the latter's son, the Infante Luis, a minor.*
^ GuARNACci, II., 660 seqq. ; Cardella, VIII. , 262 seqq. On
Spinola, cf. Marchesi Buonaccorsi, 509 seqq. On Passari (also
spelt Passeri), Cienfuegos remarks in his *report of October 3,
1733, that he does not please the enemies of the Emperor ; of
all the papal Ministers he is the most trustworthy and he " possa
suir animo del Papa " more than anyone else ; as his conclavist
he contributed much to the election of Clement XII., for this
reason the Pope has great confidence in him and wishes to have
him constantly near him ; he is a noted canonist, " circospetto,
accorto, prudente, moderato, sincero." Spinola is described by
Cienfuegos as " ottimo ecclesiastico ", politically indifferent.
Archives of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican.
2 GuARNACCi, II., 668 seqq. ; Cardella, VIII., 265 seqq.
Cf. Vita di Giac. card. Lanfredini, Roma, 1761 ; Cardinal Cien-
fuegos' *report of March 27, 1734 {loc. cit.) says : Aldrovandi
is a good canonist, but he is selfish and favours France ; Cenci
" buon ecclesiastico ", a nominee of Corsini, is not exactly
sagacious, but full of good will ; Lanfredini : Learned, pious,
" scrupuloso " ; Fieri, nominated against Corsini's will, is " di
ottimi costumi ".
* GuARNACci, II., 686 seqq. ; Cardella, VIII. , 173 seqq.
On Spinelli's activity as internuncio, 172 1-5, and as nuncio in
Brussels, 1725-1731, see above, p. 286 seqq.
* Guarnacci, II., 693 seqq. ; Cardella, VIII., 276 seqq.
That the creation took place on December 19 (not in November.
406 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
In the course of the stormy year 1736, during which no
nomination took place, the Pope had to learn by experience
with what ingratitude Spain's ruler repaid his readiness to
meet the King's wishes. Similar ingratitude was shown by
the Portuguese Government. After the great concession
implied in Bichi's elevation, King John V. had indeed revoked
his decrees forbidding relations with the Holy See,^ but the
activity of the new nuncio, Gaetano de' Cavalieri, was at
once impeded.^ The Portuguese monarch, who at Mafia
erected the Escorial of Portugal, and in the Lisbon Jesuit
church of S. Roque built what is perhaps the most sumptuous
chapel in the whole world, and who spanned the valley of
Alcantara with a giant aqueduct, cherished the ambition
that in regard to all round splendour and magnificence, his
realm should vie with the greatest and most powerful European
countries.^ The patriarchate of Lisbon also was to be provided
with every imaginable wealth and the greatest pomp ;
consequently his aim was to obtain from Rome, either by
persuasion or by violence, that the dignity of a Cardinal and
of a Legatus natus of the Holy See should be attached to the
patriarchate.*
as Cardella says {loc. cit.), appears from the *originals in Acta
consist., Cod. 1276, Corsini Library, Rome. On the Brief directed
to Philip V. on May 2, 1736, the following remark is made in
*Epist., VI., 147 : " Hoc et sequcntia brcvia pro dilatioiie pilei
cardinalitii ob diuturnam moram mutatis quamplurimis rcscripta
fuerunt die 9 nov. 1737."
1 Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report, November 24, 1731, .\rchives
of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican.
2 " *Mem. del pontificato di Clemente XII.," Corsini Library,
Rome, loc. cit. By *Brief of December 3, 1731, Clement XII.
had announced to the King the dispatch of the nuncio and at
the same time granted him rich indulgences for the church of
Mafra. *Brief of G. de Cavalieri's nomination, dated March 29,
1732, in Epist., II., Papal Secret Archives.
' Cf. ScHAFER, v., ig6 scqq., 200 seqq., 203 seqq. ; M. B. Branco,
Portugal na epocha de Dom Jodo V., Lisboa, 1886.
* Cardinal Cienfuegos' *rcport, June 13, 1733, Archives of the
Austrian Embassy at the Vatican. In order to win the favour of
. CROWN CARDINALS. 407
Such a distinction for little Portugal met with opposition
from the representative of the Emperor, Cardinal Cienfuegos,
but in May, 1737, Corsini remarked that in order to put an end
to the troubled religious situation in Portugal the Pope would
probably be obliged to yield. ^ The procedure in the matter
was examined by a Congregation of Cardinals which was in
favour of granting the Portuguese demands. ^ In order to
speed up the negotiations the Government of Lisbon threatened
to break off diplomatic relations all through the summer and
autumn.^ Clement XII. was anxious to avoid such an
extremity. However, if he satisfied the wishes of little
Portugal, he could no longer put off the other Catholic Powers *
which demanded, under threats, the creation at long last of
crown Cardinals.^
In these circumstances the Pope resolved to proceed to
the great promotion of December 20th, 1737, which, as
Cienfuegos wrote, gratified the wishes of Europe.^ The following
nominations were made : for the Emperor, Dominic Lamberg,
Bishop of Passau ; for France, Henri Oswald de la Tour,
Count of Auvergne, a member of the ducal family of Bouillon
and Bishop of Vienne ; for Spain, Caspar Molina, Bishop of
Clement XII. Portugal intervened on his behalf in the affair of
Castro and Ronciglione in 1733 at Vienna, Madrid and London ;
cf. the Pope's *Ietter of thanks in Italian to the King of Portugal,
dat. Cal., August, 1733, in Epist., VIII. -X., 477, loc. cit.
^ Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report, May 18, 1737, Reuss Arch.,
Ernstbrunn.
" Cardinal Cienfuegos' *rcport, May 25, 1737, ibid.
3 Cardinal Cienfuegos' *reports, June 29, August 24 and
November 23, 1737, ibid. The concordat with Portugal of Decem-
ber 19, 1737, in Mercati, 328 seq. On the whole dispute with
Portugal, cf. also *Merenda, Mem., in Cod. 1613, p. 30 seq., Bibl.
Angelica, Rome.
* Already at the beginning of 1735 the imperial and the French
ambassadors brought pressure to bear upon their respective
Cardinals ; see Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report, February 26,
1735, loc. cit.
* Gandino, Foscarini, 28 seqq., 31.
* Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report, December 20, 1737, loc. cit.
408 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Malaga ; for Poland, John Alexander Lipski, Bishop of
Cracow ; for Venice, Carlo Rezzonico, Auditor of the Rota.
For Portugal, the cardinalate was bestowed on the Patriarch
of Lisbon, Thomas de Almeida, with a declaration that the
dignity would remain with his successors in the patriarchate,
but that it would be conferred after election to the
patriarchate, at the first consistory to be held, and that in
this way satisfaction had been given to the first royal nomina-
tion of a crown Cardinal.^ These dispositions were, however,
kept secret for fear lest other Powers should make similar
demands. -
In 1738 Clement XII added two new members to the
Sacred College. On June 23rd the nomination took place of
Domenico Passionei, a man as learned and able as he was
impulsive, who had acted as nuncio in Switzerland from
1721 to 1730, and at Vienna since 1731.3 Silvio Valenti
^ Cf. GuARDACCi, II., 698 seqq. ; Cardella, VIII. , 277 seqq. ;
NovAES, XIII., 267 ; Marchesi Buonaccorsi, 501 seqq., for
Rezzonico. Cardella is mistaken when he says (282) that Raniero
Dolci was also made a Cardinal at that time ; see the authentic
*Acta consist., in Cod. 1279, Corsini Library, Rome. The Bull on
the Patriarch of Lisbon in Bull, XXIII. , 338 seqq.
* Gandino, Foscarini, 32.
' Galletti, Mem. p. s. alia storia delta vita di D. Passionei,
Roma, 1762 ; Dominicus Card. Passioneus, Acta legationis
helveticae, 1723-9, Romae, 1738. In his *report on the occasion
of the proposal of Passionei as nuncio in Vienna, August 12, 1730,
Cardinal Cienfuegos speaks of him as : " uomo molto dotto,
amante delle lettere e pratico delle corti. E il piu anziano nel
servizio della S. Sede di tutti gli altri nunzi toltone I'attuale
presso V. M. che h il piu antico di tutti " (Archives of the Austrian
Embassy at the Vatican) . The nomination to the nunciature took
place in October, 1 730, but his departure was delayed ; Cienfuegos
♦reports it to Vienna on March 17, 1731. He says in that report
that Passionei has brought many books from Switzerland for
there is nothing that he loves more than books. He speaks with
the Pope and with the ministers " con grande liberta " ; he
desires concord between the Emperor and the Pope and before his
departure he made a retreat on the Soractc {ibid.). In May, 1738,
LAST CREATIONS. 409
Gonzaga, who was named on December 19th, was hkewise
a diplomatist with an excellent record. He had represented
the Holy See at Brussels from 1731 to 1736, and after that
at Madrid. 1
Three further creations of Cardinals fall into the last years
of Clement XH.'s reign. On February 23rd, 1739, he promoted
Gaetano Stampa, Archbishop of Milan, who had been nuncio
in Florence from 1718 to 1720, and from 1720 to 1735 at
Venice, together with Pierre Guerin de Tencin, Archbishop
of Embrun,2 an ardent opponent of the Jansenists. On July
15th he promoted the Governor of Rome, Marcellino Cori ^ ;
Camillo Merlino became Passionei's successor in Vienna. In
September, 1738, the nuncio of Cologne (there since 1735),
Fabrizio SerboneUi, was recalled ; his predecessor, lacopo Oddi
(1732-5), had incurred the displeasure of the Emperor ; see
Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report of December 18, 1734 : " Si e
poi destinato alia Nunziatura di Venezia Msgr. Oddi che e attual-
mente Nunzio di Colonia, ed il Papa mi ha fatto sapere che e
venuto a questa deliberazione affine di levarlo da Colonia, giacche
V. M. aveva dei motivi di lagnarsidella di lui parzialita " {loc. cit.).
On the short term of office of the Dominican, Ludwig Fliegen,
as Papal Inquisitor in the archdiocese of Cologne, see Paul, in
Annalen des Hist. Vereins fiir den Niederrhein, LXXIV., 127 seqq.
Passionei's cell at Camaldoli, near Frascati, is still shown ; also
his tombstone, which has been transferred to a kind of museum —
the inscription on it reads : " Dominicus | tit. S. Bernardi ad
Thermas | S. R. E. presb. card. Passioneus | ut intelligeret |
et novissima provideret | hunc sibi locum paravit | a.d. 1739."
* L. M. Lucini's *letter to Cardinal Lambertini, December 20,
1738, Cod. Ottob. 3052, Vatican Library; Guarnacci, II. , 736
seqq. ; Cardella, VIII. , 291 seqq. ; Giorn. stor. d. lett. ital.,
XLVIIL, 265 seq. The Cardinal's great baroque palace in Mantua
is to-day a granary.
* Guarnacci, II., 743 seqq. ; Cardella, VIII. , 295 seqq. On
Tencin, of whom we shall speak again when treating of
Benedict XIV., see Freib. Kirchenlex., XI.*, 1345 seqq. ; Masson,
Mad. de Tencin, Paris, 1909 ; De Heeckeren, Lettres de Benoit
XIV. au card. Tencin, Paris, 1912.
' Guarnacci, II., 75055^^. ; Cardella, VIII., 298.
410 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
on September 30th, the Roman Prospero Colonna, who had
held the office of an Uditore di Camera since the pontificate
of Innocent XIII., and yet another Roman, Carlo Maria
Sagripanti, who since 1730 had held the very difficult post
of Treasurer-General. 1
By his Bull of October 5th, 1732, Clement XII. made some
additions, though not of an important nature, to the legislation
on the election of a Pope. An autograph letter of December
24th of the same year dealt with financial affairs during the
vacancy of the Holy See ; for that reason it met at first with
opposition on the part of several Cardinals. ^
One canonization took place during the pontificate of
Clement XII. Vincent de Paul, the Jesuit, John Francis Regis,
Catherine Fieschi Adorno of Genoa and Juliana Falconieri
of Florence were canonized on June 16th, 1737 ^ ; whilst
Catherine Ricci and Joseph da Leonessa were beatified.*
The Pope also furthered the cultus of several other Saints.^
1 GuARNACci, II., 754se^(/. ; Cardella, VIII., 299 se^f?.
2 Bull, XXIII., 443 seqq., 456 seqq. Cf. EisLER, 151 ; Sag-
MULLER, Kirchenvecht, 364 ; Stutz, Bischofswahlrecht, 234 seqq.
Cardinal Cienfuegos' *reports on December 13, 1732 : "La bolla
per 11 regolamento del conclave e gia sottoscritta dai cardinali
presenti," only Barberini, Albani and Cibo had at first refused
to sign, later on, however, they complied ; Albani alone could
not be persuaded to append his signature. In his *letter of
January 3, 1733, Cienfuegos says that the " Regolamento " of
December 24, 1732, ought to rescue the Camera Apost. froni
distress. Archives of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican.
» Bull., XXIII., 232 seqq., 246 seqq., 261 seq., 274 seqq. The
canonization of the four Saints mentioned above was finally
decided upon in the consistory of May 6, 1737. *Acta consist..
in Cod. 1279, Corsini Library, Rome.
« Bull, XXIII., 287 seqq. ; Novaes. XIII., 253 seqq.
» Novaes, XIII., 254 seqq., 258 seqq. ; Freib. Kirchenlex.,
IX. ^ 1939. Ibid., I., no; VII., 1131, 1133. "" the promotion of
the devotion of the stations of the cross. A *Bull of Clement XII.,
May 25, 1735, grants permission to celebrate the commemoration
of St. Columban " sub ritu primae classis ", Mehrerau Archives
in the Museum at Bregenz.
FREEMASONRY. 4I I
The Pope approved the Aiigustinian Canons of Notre-Dame ^
founded by Pierre Fourier, confirmed the privileges of the
Calced Mercedarians ^ and furthered the Order of the
Bethlehemites and the Passionists.^
A proof that the Holy See never relinquished its watchfulness
when there was question of the defence of Christianity was
furnished by Clement XII. 's famous Constitution of April 28th,
1738, in which he condemned the Secret Society of Free-
masons.* The anti-Christian spirit of that Society, founded
in London in 1717, is clearly shown forth in the constitutions
published in 1723 by the Grand Lodge of London.^ The
spirit, tendency and organization of this dangerous Society
are described with classical terseness in the Bull of Clement
XII. Its purpose, the Pope declares, was to unite in a strict
and close association, with its own laws and statutes, men
of every sect or religion who were satisfied with the outward
semblance of a natural morality, and who bound themselves
by a strict oath on the Bible and under exaggerated threats
of punishment, to observe a rigorous secrecy concerning all
that took place at their meetings. Clement XII. condemned
these tendencies in the severest terms and inflicted on all
members of the craft the penalty of excommunication,
absolution from which was reserved to the Pope, and all
Bishops and Inquisitors were instructed to act accordingly.
The reason for action was the fact that English Free-
masonry spread rapidly abroad. The circumstance that
England's power had just then become established in the
Mediterranean favoured its progress in Italy also. A lodge
was founded at Florence in 1733, and another in Rome two
years later. The members of the latter lodge who, in point
1 Heimbucher, II. 2, 88.
2 Anal. 7ur. pontif., XIV. (1875), 825.
' Bull., XXIII., 246 ; Freib. Kirchenlex., II. 2, 543 ; IX., 2100 ;
Heimbucher, III. 2, 295.
* Bull., XXIII., 366 seqq. As early as 1736 the Roman Inquisi-
tors proceeded against the infiltration of Freemasonry into
Bologna ; cf. Battistella, S. Officio, Bologna, 1905, 150 seq.
* Stimmen der Zeit., ^Cll., 261.
412 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
of fact, were not numerous, were mostly partisans of the
Pretender, Charles Edward, son of James III. There is no
evidence that they engaged in any Jacobite activities, in fact
the minutes of their meetings, which exist to this day, show
that this is altogether unhkely.^ Observance of the Bull of
1738 was further enforced in an edict published in Rome,
and on January 14th, 1730, a fresh ordinance forbade member-
ship of the craft under pain of death and confiscation of
property and created a general obligation to bring its
gatherings to the notice of the authorities. -
Freemasonry seemed more dangerous in Florence where
it was beheved that after the extinction of the Medici, it had
found an adherent even on the throne in the person of the
new Grand Duke, Francis Stephen of Lorraine, the husband
of Maria Teresa. ^ Freemasonry was brought to Florence
by the Enghsh Resident, and before long it found adherents
not only among the nobles and the burghers, but even among
the clergy.^ One of its chief promoters was the celebrated
antiquarian Baron Phihp von Stosch of Kiistrin, who had
settled at Florence in 1731. ^ Great activity on its behalf
was also displayed by the poetaster Tommaso Crudeh, a native
of Poppi, who as a teacher of languages had become friendly
with the EngHsh Resident, and who had drawn attention
to himself by his biting verses against the clergy. At the
time when the papal Bull put an end to the lodge, Crudeli
was its secretary. After that, no more meetings were held ;
* B. Marcolongo {La Massoneria nel sec, XVIII., in Studi
stor., X., 413) complains of the lack of reliable information about
the first Masonic Lodge in Rome. Such information, however,
does exist in the work of William James Hugh an, The Jacobite
Lodge at Rome, 1735-7, Leicester, 191 o.
2 Cracas, January 24, 1739- Cf. also Reusch, II., 801 ;
Rev. d'hist. eccles., XIX., 291 seq.
» This was reported by a Utrecht newspaper on August 3,
1737. Acta hist. eccL, II., 1058.
* F. Sbigoli, Tommaso Crudeli e i primi frammassoni in Fircnze,
Milano, 1884, 68, 70 seqq.
* On Stosch, cf. JusTi, Winkelmann, II., 218.
FLEURY AGAINST JANSENISM. 413
the members were in fear of the Inquisition, which ordered
the trial of Crudeh as the person most compromised. His
.arrest was obtained from Francis II. through an energetic
letter of Cardinal Corsini, dated April 16th, 1739. Crudeli
endured a painful confinement in the prison of the Florentine
Inquisition until the new nuncio, Archinto, obtained his
liberation by getting him transferred into the fortress of
San Giovanni Battista. When final sentence was passed in
1740, it was to the effect that he should recant, after which
he was to be banished to Poppi.^
Noailles' submission seemingly eliminated the last obstacle
to religious peace in France, and there was reason to hope
that his successor would, by resolute action, finally heal the
discord. Whilst the Cardinals were still assembled in the
conclave which elected Clement XII., Fleury decided to come
to the Archbishop's assistance with a comprehensive law
against the Jansenists,^ which would make a Jansenist clergy
impossible. No one, it was decreed, should obtain or retain
either ordination or benefice without previously subscribing
to the formula, and that unconditionally. Moreover, the
Constitution JJnigenitus was declared a law of the State, and
^ A full account in Sbigoli's monograph quoted above, p. 412,
n. 4. On the punishment of some Jews who had uttered heretical
blasphemies (1736, 1738), see Rev.juive, II., 257. On the Inquisi-
tion in Sicily, see Hist. Jahrbiich, VIII., 345.
* March 24, 1730, text in Picox, II., 276 seqq. ; [Nivelle],
III., 339-341. Extract in Schill, 251 ; Cahen, 40. Cf. Lafitau,
II., 289-295. A. Mocenigo {Relazione, 18) says : " II sempre
mai lode vole card. Fleury, grand 'esemplare nel ministero politico,
ha saputo tenor sempre soggetta la politica alia religione, senza
mai confondcre I'autorita spirituale con la temporale." Some
letters of Dom Louvard, who had been incarcerated in the
Bastille, 1 728-1 734, and one of the most violent opponents of
the Bull Unigeniius, have been published by Denis in Archives
de la France monastique, IV. (1908-9), 498 seqq.
414 HISTORY OF' THE POPES.
the clergy were empowered to instruct the faithful on their
obligations in regard to it without thereby offending against
the law of silence of the year 1720. Bishops were authorized.
to debar from ordination and benefices persons who had
appealed, or written against the Constitutions ; appeals on
account of abuse of authority were to have no power of
suspension in all cases mentioned in the law, nor could there
be question of abuse of authority in them. Writings against
the Bull or against the Bishops were forbidden.
The introductory part of the law proclaims that the King
would see to the preservation of the principles of the realm
and the .Galilean liberties. He was convinced that the
Parliaments would know how to differentiate between the
enlightened zeal which defends these principles intelligently,
and the suspicious intentions of those who merely look for
a pretext to hinder the desired peace. However, the Parliament
of Paris was not slow in perceiving that all this was aimed
at its encroachments in the ecclesiastical sphere. The stormy
scenes which marked the sitting of March 28th, 1730, made
it clear that it would be impossible to obtain the registration
of the royal declaration,^ and when the King came in person
in order to enforce it,^ he had to witness the most emphatic
manifestations of disapproval. President De Lesseville left
his place in order to throw himself at the feet of the King, but
was stopped by the Chancellor ; however, when his turn
came to state his opinion, he said that the man who had
suggested a declaration of this kind was a traitor to his
country and his sovereign ; he begged His Majesty to have
the matter discussed ; he felt convinced that such a subject
would be sent to the scaffold by a majority of votes. The
Abb6 Dalbert gave it as his opinion that the present disputes
had no other aim than to rob the King of crown and sceptre ;
the declaration was the most unjust law that ever was
proposed to a Prince. Finally, without having counted the
votes, Chancellor D'Aguesseau proclaimed the order for
^ [Nivelle], III., 342 ; Hardy, 197.
^ April 3, 1730, in Cahen, 41 ; Glasson, II., 84 seqq.
FLEURY AND ABBE PUCELLE. 415
registration ; whereupon, one of the Presidents sent word to
him that he should call for water to wash his hands with.^
Long before March 24th, 1730, Fleury, who foresaw these
conflicts, had endeavoured, by means of a strictly private
letter, to bring pressure to bear on the most dangerous
of all the parliamentary orators, the Abbe Pucelle.^ The
Jansenists, he wrote, w£re anything but martyrs ; they
disguised their political aims and underground activities
under the cloak of religion, and described as persecution
what was no more than reaction against political and
ecclesiastical rebellion.^ In existing circumstances nothing
would be more perilous than a break with Rome, for all
Europe was in danger of going up in flames. The Emperor
would exploit such a rupture in his own interest and rouse
the Pope still more against France. The country could not
hope to gain anything by a quarrel with Rome, as experience
had taught them only too often.* If he himself was so keen
on the Bull Unigenitiis, it was because that document was
now invested with everything that gave it force of law, and
because it was not possible to take one's stand against it
without overthrowing all the principles and foundations of
ecclesiastical authority.^
Custom had it that after an order of registration from the
throne. Parliament continued to sit in order to discuss the
command. After the sitting of April 3rd, the first President,
Portail, by royal command, ordered the House to rise.
Parliament, however, was not in the habit of acquiescing
in such orders in silence. On the other hand, Portail was
determined not to tolerate a general meeting of the members
of Parliament, all the more so as some fresh royal ordinances
forbade any kind of discussion of the last session. On April 4th
1 Cahen, loc. cit. ; Hardy, 198 seqq.
* December 21, 1729, Hardy, 187-192.
^ Ibid., 189 seqq.
* " II n'y a jamais rien a gagner pour nous dans les affaires
avec Rome, et nous ne I'avons eprouve que trop souvent."
Ibid., 190.
0 Ibid.
4l6 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
and again after Easter, viz. on 19th and 24th of the month,
tumultuous scenes occurred, to which Portail put an end
each time by suspending the sitting.^ Two of the four sections
of Parhament made a pubhc protest, ^ whereupon the
King summoned a deputation of the court of justice to
Fontainebleau.^ He expressed his displeasure to the members
and ordered them to insert in the minutes a report drawn
up by it>yal authority. This put an end to the affair.
At a sitting on May 3rd a few speakers tried to make
objections but the first President refused to let them speak,
a step which caused general perplexity. At length octogenarian
Lesseville rose to speak : *' When the Emperor Theodosius,
at the head of his army," he began. This opening sentence
portended a lengthy oration. The alarmed assembly rose and
fled. Theodosius and his army had decided the conflict over
the declaration.^
The Parliaments of Rouen and Dijon also protested against
the King's declaration of March 24th, but royal ordinances
suppressed all further objections.^
The concluding paragraphs of the royal declaration were
aimed at the Jansenist press. It was by no means the first
law against the use of a weapon of which the sect had taken
advantage from the first in masterly fashion, and to which
it probably owed most of its successes.
On May 10th, 1728, Fleury had pubhshed a declaration
against the printers of memorials, letters, ecclesiastical news
or any other works deahng with ecclesiastical disputes,
especially when these publications offended against Bulls
received in the realm, the respect due to the Pope and the
^ Ibid., 200 ; [Nivelle], III., 342-4.
2 The " Chambres des enquetes et requetes ", on April 22,
1730, [Nivelle], III., 344.
' May I, 1730, ibid., 345 seq. The Pope encouraged the King in
his resi-stance : " Laicis magistratibus inhibeas, ut cognitionem
arripiant," regarding the Apostolic Constitutions. *Brief to the
King, September 11, 1730, Epist., I. -II., Papal Secret Archives.
* Glasson, II., 92.
^ [Nivelle], III., 351-9.
THE JANSENIST PRESS. 417
Bishops and the prestige of the King. Anyone convicted
of having printed such writings was to be condemned to the
stocks for the first offence and to the galleys in the event
of a second offence. Vendors of such literature fell under the
same penalties whilst the authors were threatened with
temporary or even perpetual banishment.^ The law produced
no effect. " At Rouen the populace gathered round a vendor
in the stocks, looking on him as a martyr. Perquisitions in
printing houses yielded no results. In spite of the law a
number of secret printing presses were at work. Printing was
being done in back rooms, in barns, in cellars. If there was
reason to fear the vigilance of Paris, printing was done in the
provinces : if there was reason for fear in the provinces,
printing was carried on abroad and the book was smuggled
back to France. Both ecclesiastical communities and secular
bodies had their secret presses ; private persons, both in
town and in the country, made use of hand presses." ^
Among the various products of the press aimed at by
Fleury's declaration of May 10th, 1728, its author must
have had especially in view a weekly news sheet which had
started publication in February, 1728, under the title of :
" Ecclesiastical News or Documents for the Story of the
Bull Unigenitus." ^ Any opponent of Quesnel, whether
a minister or an Archbishop, was fiercely attacked and
ill-treated in those sheets.^ Even Parliament, on February 9th,
^ ROCQUAIN, 49.
* " All these facts are gathered from the reglement of February,
1723, from the decisions of the Conseil of February 8, 1727,
from the declaration of May 10, 1728, and from the decisions
of the Conseil of May 29 and December 22, 1729, which are
directed against printers and hawkers." Rocquain, 50.
* Nouvelles ecclesiastiques, ou Memoives pour servir a I'histoire
de la hiille " Unigenitus ", 1728-1803 ; index for the years
1728-1760 by Bonnemare, 1767. Cf. Gasier, I., 310 seqq. ;
Seche, II., 70 seqq. First printed by Philippe Boucher ; see
Biographic iiniverselle ancienne et moderne, Paris, 181 1 seqq.,
v.. 275.
* Lafitau, II., 275.
VOL. XXXIV. EC
4l8 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
1731, ordered the sheet to be burnt ^ and in the following
year royal decrees were issued against the journal. ^ The
Archbishop of Paris and the Bishops of Laon, Marseilles and
Chartres forbade it by special ordinances and on April 15th,
1740, Rome ordered it to be burnt at the stake. ^ The police
did their best to discover the editor, but the cunning of the
party enabled the latter — the appellant priest Jacques
Fontaine de la Roche * — to escape their search for the space
of thirty 3^ears. The fact was that each of the itinerant
vendors and booksellers only knew his own immediate
employer so that an arrest could yield no far-reaching results.^
One day a lieutenant of police was searching a house for
a secret printing press : he found nothing, but when he
returned to his carriage he found on the seat a copy of the
paper fresh from the press and not yet dr^^ Another time
he was informed that at midday copy for the press would
be smuggled through a specified gate. Every incoming and
outgoing person was subjected to a rigorous search, yet the
bearer of the manuscript managed to slip through — it was
a dog with a false coat.^ The immense financial resources
of the Jansenists made possible a most extensive diffusion
of the paper ; in this way the party was brought to the
notice of a very wide public ; even the above-mentioned
condemnation by the Archbishop of Paris, which had to be
read in the churches, contributed to this result.
^ /fefc?., 315 ; Fleury, LXXIIL, 4665^^^.
' May 10 and 14, 1732, Lafitau, II., 337.
' [Patouillet], III., 175. Not only Patouillet (III., 155-
176) condemns the paper in the strongest terms, but even moder-
ate Jansenists and D'Alembcrt, in F^eller, Biogr. universelle,
v., Besan9on-Paris, 1839, 298 seqq. Ibid., 299, the Archbishop
of Auch on January 24, 1764.
* Cf. Biogr. universelle, XV., 183 seqq., on the men who con-
tinued the work, viz. Guenin (Saint-Marc) and Jean B. Mouton,
ibid., XIX., 15 seqq. ; XXX., 346 seqq.
' Cf. the illustration of the organization in Cahen, 55.
• Gazier, I., 312.
REVOLUTIONARY PRINCIPLES. 419
As a matter of fact the spirit of opposition to the Govern-
ment which the Jansenist weekly displayed, became ever
more and more the spirit of the age, in which signs of the
approaching revolution manifested themselves with increasing
clearness. The chief organ of this tendency was the Parliament
of Paris. As the royal laws were without authority unless
they were registered by Parhament, its members, though
originally they constituted no more than a judicial
magistrature, became increasingly conscious of being a
political corporation and the representatives of the people,
hence that body began to consider itself as the real depositary
of sovereign authority. Gallicanism, too, had prepared the
ground for the doctrine of the sovereignty of the people,
since according to the Galileans, authority to govern is really
vested in the universal Church, the Pope and the Bishops
only exercising power in its name, so that a General Council
may call the Pope to account and even depose him. To transfer
this conception to the political sphere was only one step.
The real supreme ruler, it was said, is the people, the King
exercises authority solely by commission of the people, hence
the people may call the King to account and send him to the
scaffold.^ Louis XV. 's Government showed great weakness
in dealing with Parliament. Though it issued various decrees
against the encroachments of the judicature in the political
and ecclesiastical sphere, it lacked the courage to carry them
into effect. It repeatedly banished the rebellious Parliament,
but invariably entered into negotiations with it and ended
by giving way.
Of the declaration of March 24th, 1730,2 Lafitau says ^ that
it might have restored tranquillity in Church and State.
But though it was registered in the solemn sitting of April 3rd,
^ " Au sein des Parlements, comme parmi les Jansenistes,
c'etait desormais un principe admis que la nation etait au-dessus
des rois comme I'figlise au-dessus du Pape." D'Argenson,
VIII., 153, in RocQUAiN, 174.
* See above, p. 413 seqq.
» II., 296.
420 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
the declaration, of which some of the Bishops took advantage,
was dropped by the Government. At a later date the ParUa-
ment of Rouen said that it was not carried through on account
of the opposition of the officials/ and it was even stated that
Fleury went so far as to promise the iirst President of Parlia-
ment ^ that the Government would take no further steps
in regard to the declaration.
Outwardly the Government seemed bent on energetic
action when in the first period of Clement XII. 's reign, the
question arose once more of the Breviary lessons of St.
Gregory VII., which had aroused so much resentment among
the Galileans. One month after Clement XII. 's election.
Bishop Caylus of Auxerre, who had already written to the
King during the last days of Benedict XIII., appealed to
the Assembly of the Clergy then sitting,^ to defend the rights
of the Crown. The Bishops replied that they needed no such
exhortations, least of all from a prelate who was at variance
with ecclesiastical authority. They charged the Archbishop
of Paris to make himself the interpreter of their annoyance
with the Jansenist prelates.^ Caylus' answer came two years
later in a letter to the Archbishop of Paris. ^
Colbert of Montpelher, who on December 31st, 1729, had
represented to the King the danger which these Breviary
lessons constituted for the State, fared no better.^ Louis XV.
passed on Colbert's letter unread to the Assembly of the
Clergy.' A committee appointed by the Assembly suggested
on September 9th that they should protest to the King against
Colbert's accusation that the clergy lacked zeal in the defence
of the King's rights and that his letter contained schismatical,
1 [NlVELLE], III., XV.
- April 1 6, 1730, ibid. ; Hardy, 202.
' August 18, 1730, ibid., 66g seqq. (extract).
. * Fleury, LXXIIL, 288.
* March 3, 1733, [Nivelle], HI., 673 seq.
« Ibid., 365 seqq. Cf. Fleury, LXXIIL, 292 seqq. ; Hardy,
217.
' Fleury himself presided and opened it with a speech. Hardy,
209 seqq.
THE CLERGY AND BISHOP COLBERT 42I
not to say heretical, doctrines. A memorial to the King,^
signed by five Archbishops, nine Bishops and nineteen
Abbots, passes a severe condemnation on Colbert and the
Janseni^ts and describes the Bull Unigenitus as a dogmatic
statement accepted by the whole Church. The memorial
renews the request for Provincial Councils, in the first instance
against Colbert. This request was renewed in the speech
of the Bishop of Nimes, delivered in the presence of the
King, at the close of the Assembly.^ The Bishops, the speaker
declared, could not possibly make concessions in matters
in which the episcopal jurisdiction, which was itself based
on the faith, was at stake. But at this time laymen rose up
against Christ's teaching, simple priests against the Bishops
and against a judgment of the Church, as when the parish
priests of Paris pubhcly protested against the pastoral letter
of their Archbishop. In order to escape ecclesiastical censures
it was asserted that the condemnation of the 91st proposition
of the Bull Unigenitus was contrary to the liberties of the
realm and that excommunication tended to render the subjects
disloyal to their sovereign ; by means of false statements
about ecclesiastical censures things had come to such a pass
that every individual took it on himself to judge of the
validity and justice of an excommunication.^
Great was Parliament's anger. At the end of some heated
discussions it was decided ^ to denounce the Breviary lessons
of St. Gregory VII., but with regard to the memorial of the
clergy and the speech of the Bishop, the assembly only
requested the King to have those passages deleted which
were damaging to the secular power.^ On this point they
contented themselves with verbal representations to Louis
^ September 11, 1730, Fleury, LXXIII., 294-8; Hardy,
214 seqq.
2 September 17, 1730, Fleury, LXXIII., 299-305. Cardinal
de Bissy presented a memorial, dated December 15, 1730, for a
council to be held at Narbonne. Hardy, 219 note.
' Fleury, LXXIII., 303 seq.
* December 16, 1730, [Nivelle], III., 346.
^ Fleury LXXIII., 305 seq.
422 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
XV./ but a written complaint touched on two other topics :
one concerned the prohibition to remonstrate against the
declaration of March 24th, but this complaint could only be
lightly touched upon on account of the obligation of silence ;
on the other hand many arguments were put forward to
substantiate the complaint ^ about the King's too frequent
intervention in the administration of justice by reserving
a number of decisions to himself.
The Government's answer was a sharp rebuke. Parliament,
the King pointed out,^ existed for the purpose of giving
judgment, but in so doing it was bound by the laws and was
obliged to give an example of submission. If it complained
of the frequency with which the King reserved particular
cases to his own decision, Parliament had only itself to
blame, for the reason was its setting aside of the law ; whatever
was done in opposition to the royal ordinances was ipso facto
invalid. After that Parliament assured the King of its
obedience,^ though it had no intention to fulfil such a promise.
The royal rebuke did not refer exclusively to the magistrates'
conduct in regard to the Breviary lessons. A much greater
sensation had been caused by a dispute, the beginnings of
which dated from the last month of Benedict XIII. 's life.
Three Jansenist priests had been suspended from their
ecclesiastical functions and deprived of their benefices by the
Bishop of Orleans, for having refused to read a pastoral letter
on the Council of Embrun. Relying on an ordinance which
they had obtained from Parliament, the three priests took
no notice of the Bishop's sentence, and when the latter called
them to account, they again appealed to Parliament and
sought to cover themselves with a memorial drawn up by
forty advocates.^
^ [Nivelle], lir., 340 n.
2 Letter of complaint, January 0, 1731, ibid., 346-9.
' Ibid., 349. There is a grave error in Fleury's translation
(LXXIII., 307), when Parliament is made to complain " de
evocationibus ' ad Romanam [!] curiam ' ".
* Flkury, LXXIII., 3495^(7.
* Lafitau, II., 2C)9seqq. ; Mardy, 151 seq.
A MEMORIAL OF FORTY LAWYERS. 423
This memorial caused no small stir. In it principles were
developed which were bound to lead to a complete overthrow
of established conditions. In the view of the advocates,
Parliament receives its power from the people and no man
is above the decrees of Parliament. The King is described
merely as the head of the nation, Parliament as the nation's
senate and its members as assessors of the throne.^ The
Bishops are accused of making a tyrannical use of their
authority. Parhamentary decrees, because of abuse of spiritual
power, are effective in the face of ecclesiastical censures.
Thereupon the Assembly represented to the King that if
immediate steps were not taken against such things, faith
would be in danger, deism and atheism would benefit by the
spirit of independence which was daily gaining ground.
The memorial of the advocates was suppressed by a decree
of the royal council, whereupon the forty begged leave to
expound their opinions more fully ; this they did to the
complete satisfaction of the representatives of the secular
power, but they withdrew none of their attacks on ecclesiastical
authority.^
The Bishops decided that they would not remain silent.
The first to speak were the Archbishop of Embrun and the
Bishop of Apt, but their manifestos were promptly suppressed
^ [Patouillet], I., 336 seqq. ; Fleury, LXXIIL, 471 seqq. ;
Lafitau, IL, 307 seq. The advocates affirm : " L'figlise est dans
rempire et fait partie de I'fitat . . . I'autorite souveraine ne
s'etend pas sculcmcnt au gouvernemcnt temporel, la discipline
ecclesiastique fait une partie intcgrante de la police generale de
chaque nation chretienne," etc. (Hardy, 224). The suspended
parish priests can " reprendre I'exercice de leurs fonctions sans
etre obhges de recourir a Tautorite ecclesiastique ni pouvoir en
etre empeches que par un jugement definitif qui prononce qu'il
y a abus " [ibid., 225 seq.).
* Fleury, LXXIIL, 473 seq. The Pope expressed his dis-
pleasure ; see Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report to the imperial
Chancellery, December 30, 1730, Archives of the Austrian Embassy
at the Vatican.
424 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
by Parliament.^ A few days later a protest was handed in
against a letter of the Bishop of Laon. The protest contested
the principle that spiritual authority could be regarded as
jurisdiction, whereupon the Bishop forbade all his subjects
to teach any view but his own. The Archbishop of Embrun
had described the advocates as men '* swollen with
presumption and the heralds of heresy ".^ An instruction
against them by the Archbishop of Paris also contained some
vigorous expressions ^ ; he even went so far as to qualify
many of their assertions as heretical or favouring heresy.
Those who felt hit by these accusations now appealed to
Parliament, but the Bishops were determined to ignore any
decisions by that body in matters of faith. ^ Thereupon the
Government stepped in ; in a decree of March 10th, 1731,
it sought to lay down the respective limits of the prerogatives
of the spiritual and the secular power ; at the same time
a general silence was enjoined.^ However, the Bishops were
of opinion that they could not be forbidden to speak on
a dogma of the faith and that the declaration of March 24th,
1730, excepted them from the obligation of silence. Meanwhile
they at least obtained the further explanations, viz. that
in the recent decree of March 10th by " ecclesiastical "
authority " episcopal " authority must be understood and
that the authority of the Bishops was a real " jurisdiction " ;
further frontier disputes between Church and State would
be examined by Cardinals Fleury, Rohan and Bissy, with
the assistance of several high officials ; however, these
" spiritual surveyors " failed to arrive at a decision.^
The order of silence proved inadequate to restore peace.
In a memorial to the King, Vintimille complained that
Parliament had accepted an appeal because of abuse of
* January 29, 1731, Fleury, LXXIII., 476 ; Lafitau, II. ^
316 se^.; Hardy, 232.
2 Cahen, 42.
3 January 10, 1731, Fleury, LXXIII., 476 seq.
* Ibid., ^'j'j.
* Ibid., 477 seq. ; Hardy, 234.
* Fleury, LXXIH., 4S3-5 ; Crousaz-Cretet, 44 seq.
PARLIAMENT YIELDS, 425
authority against his pastoral letter ; he maintained every
one of his accusations against the forty advocates, even that
of heresy. Thereupon the Government reserved judgment on
the appeal to itself, forbade all further controversy and
withdrew the prohibition of the pastoral letter.^
This roused the advocates. " If we are heretics," they
said, " we are no longer fit to discharge our office." As a
matter of fact they stopped work on August 25th. Two days
previously 300 of their number, amid a huge concourse of the
populace, had vainly presented themselves at the house of
the first President and that of the Attorney-General to
demand the suppression of the Archbishop's pastoral. ^
So provocative a conduct could not fail to produce its effect
upon the opposition. If the King took no steps against the
lawyers, Clement XII. threatened to intervene. Cardinal
Rohan announced that he would no longer attend at court
whilst Marshal Villars gave it as his opinion that one score
of the lawyers should be hanged, another score should be
sent to the Bastille and the rest into exile. Fleury contented
himself with banishing ten of them, whereupon their associates
announced their readiness for martyrdom. However, their
eagerness for martyrdom was not so very great. As the weeks
went by without the .Government troubling about them, they
decided to give in ; on November 26th they took up their
duties once more and a royal ordinance succeeded in satisfying
the Archbishop also.^ By itself, therefore, the revolt of the
advocates was of no importance, but it was so by reason of
its consequences. Parliament eagerly seized the opportunity
to measure itself with the Government and to give it a proof
of its power. The years 1731 and 1732 abound in friction
between the crown and that influential body. Stormy scenes
occurred even within Parliament itself. The first President,
who was thought to be too favourably disposed towards the
1 July 30, 1731, Hardy, 238.
* Ibid., 239 seq.
' Ibid., 240 seqq. On the satisfaction of Clement XII., see
Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report, December 29, 1731, Archives of
the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican.
I
426 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Government, was the object of downright insults whereas
the leaders of the opposition party were extolled as heroes,
as " Romans " and " Spartans ". As usual the most fiery
of them all was the Abbe Pucelle. On July 30th he plainly
stated that the source of all the mischief lay in the training
given to the King by Fleury ; that the barricades round the
throne must be removed, for the King was surrounded by
a handful of Bishops and 'Cardinals who only sowed dissension
and roused the King against Parliament. ^
What the magistrates thought of the relations between
Church and State appears from a resolution of September 7th,
1731, which reasserts the Galilean theses of 1682 with the
following additional paragraph : " The secular power alone
possesses jurisdiction, including the right to use visible,
external coercive force in regard to the King's subjects.
The ministers of the Church are accountable to the secular
power, that is, for the exercise of the jurisdiction which they
have from the King, to the King himself and in case of abuse
of official authority to the courts of justice ; as for the power
which they have from God immediately, they are accountable
to the King at least as regards whatever might upset public
tranquillity and the laws and statutes of the State." - It is
true that during the Parliamentary recess, the Government
had this resolution expunged from the Parliamentary registers
even before it was printed, but the action gave rise to stormy
scenes when the Assembly resumed its .sittings. The first
President was called to account for what had happened » ;
his answer was that the King had imposed silence on the
matter. A letter came from court, obviously with a similar
order of silence. So as not to seem rebellious, a majority
expressed the wish to remonstrate with the King before
opening the letter, but the President, who was opposed
to any representations, insisted on the letter being read.
1 Cahen, 42 seq.
« Ibid., 43 ; Fleury, LXXIII., 493 ; Hardy, 247. Cf.
Lacretelle, Hist, de France pendant le XVIII'. sieclc, II.,
Paris, 1808, 85.
3 November 28, 1731, Hardy, 249.
FLEURY AND A DEPUTATION 427
A long dispute ensued. As neither party was willing to make
itself responsible for a suspension of the sitting, the members
remained in their seats for three whole hours, with folded
arms, until at length a parliamentary councillor asked whether
they expected a superior illumination from the lighting of
the lamps in the evening ; everybody laughed and the house
rose.^ The following day, August 29th, brought another royal
letter which had perforce to be opened, together with the
letter of the previous day. When this had been done, the
Abbe Pucclle broke out and began to thunder against Fleury
and the fence that had been drawn round the throne. In order
to open the King's eyes they must needs proceed to Marly
where the monarch was staying at the time. " To Marly,"
they shouted on all sides and fourteen coaches with fifty
Parliamentarians set out for the royal residence. However,
even swifter messengers had already warned Fleury of the
approach of the fourteen vehicles. He disappeared from
Marly and when the Parliamentarians reached the castle they
found no one qualified to introduce them to the King. In their
embarrassment they wandered through the corridors of the
castle until the King sent word that he was annoyed with
them and that they had better go home. On the return
journey they met Cardinal Fleury who smilingly expressed
his regret at having missed them. After that Parliament
sent its first President to the King with a threat to suspend
its labours, but the King turned his back on the messenger
and there was no further question of suspension of work.^
Thus, for the time being, the Government was victorious ;
however, apart perhaps from Fleury's time, the monarchy
played a pitiable role in the fifty years' conflict with Parliament
which now opened. In order to break the opposition to the
royal declaration of March 21 th, 1730, Louis XV., on May 9th,
1732, sent for three of the Presidents of Parliament.
Parliament, Fleury told them, had shown too much zeal
against the Constitution Unigenitus, thereby upsetting the
peaceful intentions of the Government ; in future the
^ Glasson, TI., 105.
2 Hardy, 249 seqq.
428 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
magistrates must not meddle with such matters without
royal leave. The King personally repeated the same injunction
and forbade all representations and discussions to the
contrary. For all that a discussion took place on May 12th
and was about to be resumed on the 13th when a fresh order
summoned an even larger deputation into the royal presence
at Compiegne.' Once again the parliamentarians had to listen
to an expression of the royal displeasure, and when the
President was about to open his mouth in order to remonstrate
he was stopped by a curt " Hold your tongue ! ".^ Thereupon
the Abbe Pucelle made some written representations to the
crown, but they were torn up and he himself, with some
others, was banished and the parliamentary councillor Titon
thrown into prison. Parliament now resolved to carry into
effect its previous threat ; on May 16th it decided to suspend
its official duties. The King administered a reprimand but
in vain. Each functionary received an individual royal order
to repair to his office.^ They did so but refused to discharge
their duties. Thereupon an ordinance was issued on May 25th,*
ordering everyone to fulfil his " customar}^ " duties in the
" accustomed " manner.
This was interpreted as including permission to deal with
ecclesiastical questions as they had been in the habit of
doing, and in order to render evident their victory over the
Government, the magistrates eagerly seized an opportunity
that presented itself at that very moment. The Archbishop
of Paris had published a pastoral letter against the newspaper
Ecclesiastical News.^ Twenty-one parish priests refused to read
it from the pulpit, even a^tei" a repeated command of their
Archbishop to do so ; finally they appealed to Parliament.
That body now decided to show its strength in connection
with this pastoral letter which, they alleged, constituted an
1 Fleury, LXXIV., 5 seqq. ; [Nivelle], III., 359 seq. ; Hardy,
273 scq. ■*
^ [Nivelle], III., 364 ; Flkvry, 'LXXIV., y seqq.
' [Nivelle], III., 361 seq.
•» Ibid., ^62 seq.; Fleury, LXXIV., 11.
^ April 27, 1732, Hardy, 267-271. Cf. above, p. 418.
RESIGNATIONS. 429
intrusion into the secular sphere. True, the legal experts
considered such a step too risky, but Parliament announced
that it would act without their counsel. The accusation
against the Archbishop was accepted and his pastoral was
prohibited for the time being. ^ Four parliamentary councillors
were now sent into banishment, deputies of Parliament were
summoned to appear before the King for the purpose of
listening to the reading of a decree of the royal council ^
which reversed the parliamentary decision. As the President
was about to reply Louis XV. cut him short by curtly bidding
him go. Thereupon 150 members of Parliament laid down
their office,^ and as the first President was unwilling to accept
their resignations, the 150 approached him in twos and handed
in their resignation in writing. An immense crowd pressed
around them as they filed past, extolhng them as true
" Romans " and fathers of their country.* Fleury was afraid
lest the Upper Chamber should follow the example of their
colleagues, so he sent for their representatives and received
them most graciously. However, the whole transaction had
no further sequel, for after a few discussions,^ both Chambers
agreed to resume their labours,^ though on condition that
they would be allowed to make extensive representations.'
The Government's answer to these representations ^ was
the announcement, at an audience to the representatives on
^ June 13, 1732, [Nivelle], III., 366 seq.
* June 16, 1732, ihid., 367.
* From the parliamentary sections, Enquete and Requite.
* [Nivelle], III., 367 5e(^. *
* Hardy, 275-281.
« July 6, 1732, Hardy, 281 ; Glasson, II., 113 seq. The
heroism of the members of Parliament was not very remarkable.
More than one directed to the representatives of the Government
letters similar to the one of Paris de la Brosse : " J'ai signe la
demission de ma charge avec tous ceux qui composent la Chambre
ou je suis, ne pouvant pas m'empecher d'executer ce qui passe a
la pluralite ..." Hardy, 281.
' Fleury, LXXIV., 14 seq.
* August 2, 1732, [Nivelle], III., 369-372.
430 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
August 19th, of a fresh royal declaration. ^ This declaration
was meant to clear up every one of the points which, during
the recent conflicts with the Government, had given rise
to differences of opinion, such as the right to make representa-
tions to the King, appeals because of abuse, the right of
discussion, the duty of deahng out justice without interruption.
The declaration '^ was then handed to the deputies with the
order to register it.^
Parliament refused to obey. On August 20th it rejected
the royal declaration by a majority of 120 votes. By the
22nd fresh representations were ready, but the King announced
that he would not listen to them. On the 23rd Parliament
decided to make them in spite of this refusal, only to receive
the same answer. On the 26th the resolution of the 23rd
was confirmed anew, but word was brought that these demands
were not to be repeated and a similar answer was given by
the ministers to written representations.'*
In view of the persistent insubordination of Parliament
the only course left open to the King was to have his
declaration registered in his own presence. Parliament was
accordingly summoned to Versailles for September 3rd.
After the Chancellor and the first President had spoken, the
Attorney-General was told to propose registration. He did
so in a speech in which he expressed regret for his inability
to escape such a duty. The Princes, Dukes and Pairs were
then asked to state their view, and after them the members
of Parliament, whose only answer was silence.^
On the following day Parliament decided to make fresh
representations : they would not stop, but would go on
representing to the King that the execution of the declaration
was impossible." Thereupon the Government decided to take
> Proclamation by the Chancellor, ibid., ■},-]% seq.
" August i8, 1732, printed, ibid., 377-9 ; extract in Cahen,
44 seq. ; Fleury, LXXV., 17 seq.
3 [Nivelle], III., 373.
* Ibid., 373-4.
6 Ibid.. 374-7.
• Ibid., 379 seq.
parliament's motives. 431
forcible action : on tlie ver}^ first manifestation of fresh
discontent 139 members of Parliament were sent into banish-
ment.^ Only one of the four divisions of Parliament, the
" Great Chamber ", was now able to devote itself to the
administration of justice, but its position was being gradually
undermined — the people regarded its members as cowards
because they had left their associates to their fate. Eventually
the Government felt compelled to enter into negotiations ;
it recalled the exiles and on December 4th gave a promise
not to carry the declaration into effect. In return the
magistrates undertook to observe silence on religious
questions. 2
Zeal for religion had not prompted Parliament in the
conflict. Jansenist teaching properly so-called found at most
but one or two advocates among its members ; many of them
were unbelievers, or men addicted to pleasure, whose
Jansenism resolved itself into Gallicanism or hatred of the
Church.^ This did not prevent the various Parliaments, after
the almost complete extinction of the appellant Bishops,
^ Index, ibid., 280 seq.
^ Ibid., 382 ; Cahen, 46 ; Hardy, 288 seq. ; Crousaz-Cretet,
53 seq.
* Gazier, I., 297 seq. : " C'etait un Jansenisine laique et,
comme nous dirions, anticlerical " {ibid., 298). " On pouvait dire
qu'en general personne n'entendait rien aux questions de doctrine
dont elle [the Bull Unigenitus] contenait Texpose. Des cinquante
avocats qui avaient si^ne la consultation [of 1728 against the
council of Embrun], six ou sept seulement y comprenaient quelque
chose. Mais il sufftsait que la Bulla servit de drapeau aux ultra-
montains pour que les Jansenistes proprement dits, les Gallicans,
tous les ennemis de Rome, en un mot, se reunissent contre elle
dans une meme opposition, entrainant avec eux les mecontents de
toute sorte et ceux qui par humeur aimaient le trouble ou cher-
chaient nouveaute " (Rocquain, 48). In the Chambers of the
Enquete and Requite, however, that is to say among the younger
members, many were " meme gagnes aux pratiques convulsion-
naires " (Hardy, 275). The obscurity of the concept " Jansenist "
had for a consequence that one may dispute whether this man or
that could be justly described as a Jansenist.
432 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
from considering themselves their heirs and acting as the
spokesmen of the anti-papal movement. As such they were
the leaders of the Jansenist party which, however, was now
but little interested in the five propositions of Jansenius and
in efficacious grace but concerned itself all the more eagerly
with the relations between the secular and the spiritual power
and increasingly advocated wholly subversive opinions.^
How far Parliament could go in its eagerness to intervene
in ecclesiastical matters, and what consequences it deducted
from its ecclesiastico-political principles, had been demon-
strated at the beginning of 1731.2 At Orleans the Sacraments
had been denied to a Jansenist woman stricken with mortal
illness. The matter was brought before the Parliament of
Paris and that body decided that the Bishop could not with-
hold the Sacraments from the woman. ^ Abbe Pucelle deduced
Parliament's competence to deliver decisions of this kind
from the fact that the secular officials were " the guardians
of the laws of the Church and entrusted with the preservation
of external order and of all that contributed to public
tranquiUity ".^ The council of State indeed pronounced the
ordinance to be null and void,^ but that proud body replied
with a lengthy document in which it expostulated with the
King,^ and when this document was rejected, it forwarded
1 On August I, 1730, Fleury wrote to D'Aguesseau (in Hardy,
219) : " En verite toute la patience humaine et la prudence
echouent contre ce que fait journellement le Parlement. C'est
lever cuvertement I'etendard de la revolte contre I'autorite
de rfiglise et du Roi. On voit un parti pris de detruire la juridic-
tion episcopale. . . . Ce qu'il y a de vrai, c'est que la religion
est perdue si Ton ne fait rien, et qu'en faisant quelque chose, on
aura bien de la peine a la garantir de'sa perte." Cf. Fleury 's
letter to the Abbe Pucelle on the wholly revolutionary character
of Jansenism in its last stages, ibid., 189 seqq.
2 ScHiLL, 277.
3 [Nivelle], III., 431-444.
* Ibid., 432.
' July 6, 1731, [Nivelle], III., 435.
• July 24, 1 73 1, ibid., 436-440.
INTERFERENCE IN CHURCH AFFAIRS. 433
yet another of the same kind.^ A fine phrase to mask these
unheard of encroachments was promptly coined : it was to
the effect that the priests who favoured the Constitution
were introducing a schism into the Church by debarring a
section of the faithful from the Sacraments — it was Parliament's
wish to prevent a schism ! ^ For the rest some Jansenists
sought to make sure of the Sacraments, even without any
parliamentary decrees, by contesting the principle that for
the valid administration of the Sacrament of Penance a
confessor must receive faculties from the Bishop.^
Parliament had no sooner resumed its labours in the
following 3'ear, than it undertook to decide whether or no the
Bull Unigenitus could be described as a " rule of faith ".*
In Paris a sick woman had been denied Holy Communion
at Easter because of her refusal to accept the Constitution
as a rule of faith, and publications had appeared to prove that
the Constitution was rightly so described. To clear up this
question the judges assumed the role of theologians on
April 12th, 1732. " Without pronouncing on a question of
dogma," President Ogier observed, " and without claiming
a right it did not possess, the corporation was surely entitled
to decide that the Bull is not a rule of faith and cannot become
one." The parliamentary councillor Titon asked whether
one single member of Parliament recognized the Bull as a rule
of faith ; the answer was a general silence. Abbe Pucelle
declared that the King's right to give a decision in the question
in hand could not be contested, unless they at the same time
denied that the realm had power to suppress fanaticism and
to forestall a schism. Others spoke in a similar strain. In the
end, however, they shrank from giving judgment on the
refusal of the Sacraments, but denounced writings were
^ August 17, 1 73 1, ibid., 442-4.
2 Ibid., 443, etc.
3 ScHiLL, 276.
* Mention, 76 ; Fleury, LXXIV., 197 seq. Already on
February 24, 1732, Parliament was bent on prescribing the theo-
logical textbooks to be used in the classroom {ibid., 196).
VOL. XXXIV. F f
434 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
suppressed.^ The royal council replied with a declaration of
nullity. This led to fresh excitement in Parliament. More
speeches against the Bull followed and fresh representations
to the King,2 insisting on the danger to the State if the
91st proposition of the Bull — on excommunication — was
likewise declared a rule of faith. The Government upheld
its decision, but Parliament on its side declared ^ that it would
never cease to remind the King of the consequences and to
protest that " with a view to protecting the King and up-
holding public order, the competence of Parliament could
not be questioned ". A strong argument in favour of
Parhament was the fact that the King had previously addressed
a circular to the Bishops ■* in which he recognized the Bull
as a " dogmatic judgment of the universal Church in matters
of faith ", but had requested them to refrain from the equivalent
expression " rule of faith ", on the plea that it gave offence.
Parliament intervened once more in Church matters when
in 1737, 1738 and 1739 there was again question of the refusal
of the Sacraments or of Christian burial.^ In 1735 the
Parliament of Rennes imitated the example of its colleagues
of Paris ^ and in 1731 those of Bordeaux gave orders to the
Archbishop on the administration of the Sacraments and
wrote to the King on the subject ; the latter, however, through
Chancellor D'Aguesseau, rejected their representations,
declaring at the same time that it was the province of
ecclesiastical authority to decide whether or no the Bull
against Quesnel was a dogmatic definition.'
One of these cases of the refusal of the Sacraments created
considerable stir. In 1737 a Canon of Douai had been denied
1 April 25, 1733, [Nivelle], III., 385 seq.
2 May 15, 1733, ibid., 388-391.
3 May 19, 1733, ibid., 392.
* July 27, 1731, ibid., 395 seq. ; Fleurv, LXXIII., 491
seq. ; Lafitau, II., 324 ; Crousaz-Cretet, 46.
* [Nivelle], III., 444-474. A case of the year 1734 in Fleury,
LXXIV., 480.
* [Nivelle], III., 474-482.
' Fleury, LXXIII., 487-490.
INTERFERENCE. 435
the Last Sacraments and ecclesiastical burial on account of
his obstinate refusal to submit to the Bull Unigenitus. The
deliberations of the Parliament of Paris on this incident were
put an end to by an ordinance of the Council of State of
February 17th, 1737, reserving judgment to the King.
Parliament now linked the expression of its discontent to
its complaints about an earlier incident. In a pastoral letter ^
on the obligation of acting at all times from the love of God,
the Archbishop of Cambrai had based his views on the papal
decisions against Baius and a decree of the Inquisition of the
5'ear 1G90. Soon after ^ in a thesis defended at the Sorbonne,
it was asserted that obedience was due to all papal Bulls,
even though they had not been received in France. In the
opinion of Parliament all this was contrary to the principles
of the realm ; the episcopal instruction and the thesis were
accordingly condemned.^ Thereupon both the Archbishop
and the Faculty had recourse to the King who declared the
decree of Parliament null and void.^ Clement XII. also
issued a Brief against this decree ^ which in its turn was
prohibited by Parliament ^ ; a pastoral letter of the Arch-
bishop,' giving an account of these events, shared a similar
fate,^ but in all this Parliament earned a good deal of ridicule
by its petty fault finding.
It goes without sajdng that the members of Parliament
felt profoundly hurt by their being so constantly called to
order. After many speeches had been delivered in the course
of 1735, in which the loquacious Abbe Pucelle distinguished
himself as usual, ^ lengthy representations were at last made
August 14, 1734, ibid., LXXV., 22.
October 30, 1734, ibid.
February 18, 1735, ibid., 25.
February 20 and May 10, 1735, ibid., 27 seq.
May 18, 1735, Reusch, II., 755.
June 17, 1735, Fleury, LXXV., ^oscqq.
May 19. 1735, tfezVf., 31.
June 13, 1735, ibid., Cf. Hardy, 306 seq.
[NiVELLE], III., 445 seq.
436 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
to the King on April 6th, 1737/ the purpose of which was to
justify the proceedings against the Archbishop of Cambrai.
At the same time the Douai case of the refusal of the Sacrament
was once more brought up.- That action, it was alleged, like
the pastoral instruction of Cambrai, sprang from the same
source, namely ultramontane views on the authority of the
Church. In a somewhat lengthy statement. Chancellor
D'Aguesseau replied on August 21st that " the zeal of the
worthiest defenders of our principles has not prevented them
from recognizing, and that with the knowledge and consent
of Parliament, that any dogmatic definition, expressly or
tacitly accepted by the Church, constitutes part of her
teaching." ^ Parliament replied with more representations ^ ;
the King answered in general terms and with that the matter
ended. Parliament fared no better when it suppressed the
Bull of canonization of St. Vincent de Paul and some theses
of the Sorbonne, in which the Council of Florence was described
as a General Council.^
If for the sake of peace the Government withstood the
Appellants more than once, for the same reason the supporters
of the Constitution were also made to feel its heavy hand, as,
for instance, the historian of the Bull Unigenitus, Pierre
Frangois Lafitau, Bishop of Sisteron.** In 1723 the Quesnellists
had begun the publication of a " History of the Book of Moral
Considerations and the Constitution Unigenitus ", in which
they gathered in the form of Annals everything connected
with the Bull.' But tlieir four heavy quarto volumes had no
1 /&zrf., 448-455.
* N. 22, tbid., 455.
' Ibid., 456.
'' September 6, 1737, ibid., 458.
^ Hardy, 310 5^^. ; Feret, VI., 133.
• Lafitau, II., 343-6 ; Hardy, ^00 seq.
' This i.s the work so often quoted by us under the name of the
authors Louail and Cadry. Notwithstanding its Jansenistic
tendencies, it is indispensable on account of the many documents
quoted. It was expressly prohibited by *Bricf of January 26,
1740. Bull, XXIV., 66^.
THE LAW OF SILENCE OF I734 437
great sale. When in 1728 publication began of the Jansenist
weekly Ecclesiastical News} the work was discontinued,
but one Villefore published a summary of the more important
passages ^ which proved more effective than the bulky tomes.
Many Bishops were of opinion that the book provided an
occasion for summoning a national synod for the purpose of
deahng with the religious situation, but to this the King would
not consent. Fleury, however, desired at least a refutation ;
De Bissy recommended Lafitau who published his answer
in 1733. Much pressure was brought to bear on the Court
against the work ; for the sake of peace, it was urged, silence
must be imposed on both parties. Fleury yielded ; one and
the same ordinance ^ prohibited both Catholic and Jansenist
writings, among them Villefore's book and Lafitau's refutation.
In spite of its apparent impartiality, the prohibition put the
Catholics at a grave disadvantage. The law of silence of
March 10th, 1731 was now interpreted as implying that even
the Bishops could no longer speak in defence of the Church's
teaching. Thus the Catholics, who felt bound to obey the
Government, had their mouths effectively shut, whereas
their opponents, who heeded no law of silence, were able to
continue their attacks.
Three Archbishops and six Bishops now laid their
complaints before the King * and, by means of the press, also
before the public. But all that they achieved was that the
^ See above, p. 417 se^.
* Anecdotes ou Memoires secrets sur la Contitution Unigeiiitus,
without name of author, printer or place, 1730 [cf. [Patouillet],
!•» 57) '• translated into German : Geheime N achrichten von
der Konstitution " Unigeiiitus ". Cf. Schill, 57, 269.
' January 26, 1734, Fleury, LXXIV., 568-570 ; cf. 209,
471, and LXXV., 248.
* The Archbishops of Aries, Aix, Embrun, the retired Bishop
of Apt, the Bishops of Belley, Marseilles, Laon, Dignc, Sisteron,
in a letter of June, 1734, Fleury, LXXIV., 472 seq. ; Lafitau,
II., 346 scqq., 368. Subsequently, the Bishop of Verdun also
joined the above-named ; his letter was suppressed on May i,
1735. Hardy, 301.
438 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Government took proceedings against them.^ In stating
the reason for its sentence, the Government declared that the
Bishops should not have made their grievances public without
leave of the King ; each of them might have made an individual
appeal to the King, but without his consent they were not free
to come together for joint action. The nine then represented
to Fleury that the rulers of the Church had always enjoyed
such a right : a joint appeal to the King had been made by
nineteen Bishops under Louis XIV., by twenty-eight under
the Regent and recently by twelve under Fleury. Thereupon
Fleury made some vague promises, but the nine did not quite
trust him and appealed to the Assembly of the Clergy. ^ By
underhand means Fleury sought to prevent the election of the
nine and that of three others, in particular Lafitau, Bishop
of Sisteron, as deputies to the Assembly. The affair became
generally known and Lafitau sought to save the freedom of
election by suggesting that he should be elected and after-
wards voluntarily withdraw. His proposal was not acted
upon, hence he made a public protest against Fleury's action.^
That keen opponent of the Jansenists, Etienne Joseph
de la Fare, Bishop of Laon, fared no better.^ It was he who,
as a matter of fact, had provided Parhament with a
pretext for discussing the ecclesiastical and civil power with
the publication, on November 13th, 1730, of a pastoral letter
on submission to the Bull Unigenitus and on the secular power
and the rights of the Bishops. On February 20th, 1731, the
pastoral letter was the subject of a reasoned condemnation
by that wholly Galilean body.^ La Fare replied with a pastoral
on the authority of the Bishops and Parliament with a prohibi-
tion of the new pastoral.^ On April 1st the Bishop neverthe-
less published yet another reply, thereby provoking a regular
1 August 14, 1734, Lafitau, XL, 474 seqq.
^ Ibid., /[jdseqq.
' Fleury, LXXV., 53 55(7^. .
* Cf. Labouret in Bulletin de la Sociitd acaddmique de Laon,
XXXII., 151 seqq. ; Lafitau, II., 356 seqq.
* The condemnation is printed in [Nivelle], III., 939-941-
* March 2, 1731, ibid.
BISHOP LA FARE OF LAON 439
storm in Parliament which demanded the convocation of
a general assembly of all the Chambers ; the Pairs of France
were also invited to a solemn session.^ The Government
sought to calm the excitement by reserving the affair to
itself, suppressing La Fare's instruction, threatening him
with confiscation of the revenues of his see if he published
any more writings of the same kind, and revoking the privilege
previously granted to him, of publishing his pastorals without
further formahty.^ In spite of all this the Bishop published
two more letters in 1733,^ in which he explained that
Parliament could claim no teaching authority in the Church ;
at the same time he forbade the faithful of his diocese, under
pain of excommunication, to read the parhamentary edicts
against himself. Once again the Government forestalled
parhamentary action by forbidding the Bishop to cross the
boundaries of his diocese.
This banishment from the capital proved disastrous for
La Fare's action against Jansenism. The Jesuits, to whom
the King had conceded a College at Laon, at the Bishop's
request, did much damage to the Jansenists by their popular
missions and by their work as teachers. The heretics sent for
a lawyer from Paris for the purpose of devising counter
measures and even sought to persuade Louis XV. to deprive
the dangerous religious of their College. As La Fare was
debarred from seeing the King, he had recourse to the Assembly
of the Clergy.* He prayed for its intervention and its approval
of his teaching on the relations between the spiritual and the
secular power as expounded by him in his pastorals ^ ; he also
lodged a complaint against Bishops Bossuet of Troyes and
Colbert of Montpellier, the former of whom had taught
Jansenist propositions in two pastorals whilst the latter had
^ Ibid., g^^seq.
2 Beginning of September, 1731, zfcit^., 952.
» May 10 and July i, Fleury, LXXIV., 200.
♦ June I, 1735, ibid., LXXV., 56 seq.
* Summary of his own teaching in eight propositions, and of
that of his opponents in nine, ibid., 59 seqq.
440 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
attacked the papal condemnation of his letter on the Jansenist
miracles.^ •
La Fare's representations had the same result as those he
had made at the preliminary Assembly at Rheims : the
Bishops praised his teaching but took no further steps, and
his complaints in yet another letter ^ were equally useless.
He now appealed to Clement XII. who eulogized his teaching
in two Briefs. Whereas the Government had previously
suppressed even the Bishop's representations to the Assembly
of the Clergy, the King now received him in audience and
certain hints thrown out by Fleury led him to think that
freedom to speak would be restored to him. It was a vain
hope, his opinions were opposed as before. On returning to
his diocese, La Fare at once prohibited a number of Jansenist
writings which circulated under the names of Caylus, Soanen
and Colbert and broke off communion with those prelates. ^
La Fare did not print his letter on the subject, but his opponents
saw to it that this was done, and with some biting annotations.
Thereupon the Government proceeded against him once more,
though it also condemned at the same time Colbert's attack
on Clement XII. and two letters of Bishop Soanen.^ The
Bishop fared no better in 1737 when he insisted on his right
to defend the Church in spite of every edict and attacked the
ecclesiastical policy of Fleury ^ to whom he continued to
address a great many remonstrances which invariably remained
unanswered.^ Undeterred by all the decrees of the Government
and Parliament, La Fare, in conjunction with the Bishops, of
Amiens, Marseilles, Nantes, Chalons, Dol and Boulogne,
printed abroad, viz. at Ypres, an ordinance debarring the
» Ibid., 62. On May 23, 1735, Clement XII. had condemned
this letter to the flames {ibid., 71). On the younger Bossuet
cf. also E. JovY, line biographie inedite de J. B. Bossuet, dveque de
Troyes, Vitry, 1901.
' July 22, 1735, ibid., 64 ; Hardy, 304.
» April I, 1736, Fleury, LXXV., 67 seq.
* June 27, 1736, ibid., 69-72.
* Ibid., 515 seq.
* Hardy, 299.
BISHOP LA FARE OF LAON 44I
Appellants from the Sacraments and ecclesiastical burial.
Parliament, of course, took action ^ but La Fare merely
renewed his ordinance,- whilst Clement XII. issued a Brief
condemning Parliament's sentence against the seven Bishops.^
For the rest La Fare's conduct did not wholly meet with the
approval of the nuncio and several other Bishops.'* In 1739
the King himself intervened in favour of the rights of the
Bishops ; a Prefect was punished for having sought to enforce
the administration of the Sacraments.^
The Archbishop of Aries, Forbin Janson, was likewise
condemned to a nine months' banishment in his abbey of
Saint-Valery because of a pastoral letter ^ ; for all that, in
1736, he refused the Sacraments to the dying Jansenist Bishop
of Castres and excommunicated the Dominican who
administered them.' Colbert's successor at Montpellier,
Berger de Charency, was harried by lawyers' memorials ^
when one of his priests refused to subscribe to the formula,
as was the Archbishop of Sens when the parish priests refused
to accept his catechism. The lawyers decided that in such
matters the parish priests were not bound to obey.^
(3.)
Since the Government disposed of all the highest ecclesi-
astical posts, it was easy to see that before long the Jansenists
would not have a single bishop to side with them. If they
^ April 22, 1739, [Nivelle], III., 411.
' Fleury, LXXVL, 274 seq. Parhament did so on September i,
1740, [Nivelle], III., 412.
^ January 26, 1740, Fleury, LXXVL, 623 seq. ; Bull, XXIV.,
667.
* Fleury, LXXV., 516 ; Hardy, 304, n. 3.
* September 8, 1739, Fleury, LXXV., 275 seq.
* Jean, 36; Hardy, 301.
' Jean, 9.
* May 29, 1739, Fleury, LXXVL, 282, 627. Cf. [Patouillet],
II., 444.
» Fleury, t.xXVI.. 284.
442 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
wished to remain Catholics, they could not but feel this
deficiency as a disaster for their cause since in Catholic opinion
the office of teaching is entrusted to the entire body of the
episcopate, in union with the Pope, and its decisions are final
even though " an angel from heaven " were to say aught to
the contrary.^
As early as the days of Pascal the Jansenists had appealed
to the voice of God who, they alleged, had pronounced in
their favour by miracles. ^ After Vintimille had become
Archbishop of Paris, they appealed once more to this testimony
of God. The miracles wrought at the grave of the Deacon
Paris increased in a remarkable degree during the first years
of the Archbishop's rule. Within a few years the number
rose to no less than 200 and accounts of them were circulated,
bearing the signature of surgeons and physicians. Everybody
flocked to Paris' grave which Noailles had allowed to be
covered with a marble slab supported by low pillars.^
There were not enough vehicles to convey the pilgrims and
the curious and people paid to get a place near the grave.*
The Government was at a loss what to do to stop the cultus
of the Jansenist " saint ". Simply to forbid it, on the ground
that Paris had been an Appellant, seemed too dangerous and
a prohibition would infallibly have had for its consequences
an appeal to Parliament.^ So the affair had to be left to the
Archbishop who ordered a strict inquiry into one of the
miracles. One Anne Lefranc was said to have been cured of
paralysis and blindness by the Deacon Paris and over a hundred
1 Gal. I, 8.
2 " C'est dans de tclles conjectures [the Regent's rejection of
the Jansenists] et lorsqu'il ne reste plus aux Appellans ni espe-
rances, ni ressources du cote des hommes, que Dieu rompt enfin
le silence pour parlor en leur faveur [by miracles]." Thus Jesus-
Christ sous I'anaiheme, Maastricht, 1739, 61, in Mosheim, Disserta-
tiones ad hist. eccl. pertinentes, II., Altona, 1767, 341.
* L. LoEVENBRUCK, in Diet, de thiol, cath., III., 1756 seq.
* Lafitau, II., 331.
* So says a memorial. Hardy, 257.
MIRACLES OF DEACON PARIS 443
witnesses testified to the genuineness of the cure.^ But the
inquiry established the fact that many signatures had been
either forged or extorted and Lefranc's own brother attested
that his sister had never been bhnd.^ True the paralysis was
real enough but it continued the same after the " cure ".^
Vintimille published these facts in a pastoral letter,* in which
he described the miracles of Paris as generally undeserving of
credence and forbade his cultus.
The Jansenist parish priests were dissatisfied with this
measure. Twenty-three of their number presented a petition
to the Archbishop,^ in which they admitted that some of the
miracles might not be genuine, but five had been examined
under Noailles and these they asked Vintimille to have
investigated. A few weeks later ® they demanded an examina-
tion of another thirteen miracles. However, one of those
" cured ", a certain Le Doubf, urged by remorse of conscience,
confessed to his Bishop, La Fare of Laon, that the whole thing
was a fraud. He requested the Bishop in writing to bring his
confession to the knowledge of the pubhc ; this La Fare did
in a pastoral letter of April 10th, 1732. On May 30th Le Doulx
repeated and reaffirmed his statement in presence of the
Archbishop of Paris.''
Thus even though shortly before the unmasking of the
miracle a woman who was said to have scoffed at the miracles,
was suddenly struck with paralysis at the grave of Paris, ^
it was nevertheless up to the new Saint to do something in
1 Ibid., 25S ; [Patouillet], I., 482.
2 His testimony in Trevoux's Memoires, 1731, 2013 seq. Cf.
[Patouillet], III., 430.
^ Cf. Lafitau, II., 327.
* July 15, 1731, ibid., 258 ; [Nivelle], I., app. 136.
5 August 13, 1731, in [Nivelle], loc. cit., 135-7 '> on the ex-
amination under Noailles, ibid., 141. Cf. [Patouillet], II.,
261 seq.
* October 4, 1731, [Nivelle], I., app. 137-9.
' [Patouillet], III., 492-5. On another " miracle " at Blois,
ihid., II., 442.
* The widow Delorme, August 7, 1731, Gazier, I., 279.
444 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
order to restore his diminished prestige. A somewhat simple-
minded Jansenist cleric of Montpellier of the name of Beche-
rand, felt that he ought to provide him with an occasion to
do so.^ Since the end of August, 1731, Becherand repaired
once or twice each day to the cemetery of Saint-Medard.
After he had been laid on Paris' grave and whilst the assistants
were praying, he was seized with convulsions, foamed at the
mouth, turned livid and leaped in the air. His example became
contagious ; with every passing day more and more men and
women crowded round him, with the result that some hundreds
of persons gave themselves up to convulsions in the restricted
space and caused the surrounding streets to become obstructed.
The Jansenists announced that Becherand's cure was indeed
progressing slowly, but a gradual miracle was still a miracle. ^
Some wags laughingly observed that there were twelve lines
in an inch {ponce) — think of it, twelve lines ! — surely it was
asking too much of the new wonder-worker that he should
provide the twelve lines at one go ! Others said that in the
days of the Apostles miracles went differently. In spite of
everything Becherand continued for months in his trust in
Paris, even throughout the whole of winter, until the Govern-
ment, on January 27th, 1732, on the plea of overcrowding
round the Deacon's grave, decided to close the cemetery.'
Thereafter Becherand only went as far as the church, until on
February 23rd the police took him to Saint-Lazare where
he was confined for a time in the section reserved for lunatics.*
It is strange that those who crowded round Becherand
were not drawn from the ranks of the common people, but
even the most prominent personages of the Jansenist party
^ A. NoYON, in Etudes, CLVI. (1918), 412-432 ; H.\rdy,
264.
^ [Patouillet], I., 476.
3 Mention, 73. Another decree of February 17, 1733, against
convulsions in private houses, ibid., 74. The inscription for the
cemetery after it had been closed is well known :
De par Ic Roi, defence a Dieu
De faire miracle en ce lieu.
* NoYON, loc. cit., 416 seqq.
MORE MIRACLES. 445
seemed to have succumbed to a kind of spell in presence of
the alleged miracles. Colbert, Becherand's Bishop, wrote
at this time that he was lost in astonishment at the wonders
which God wrought daily in the person of Becherand. If
He had cured him at once, thousands would have refused to
believe that he had ever been paralysed. Instead of one
miracle, God now wrought several each day, in order to
summon all Paris to so astounding a spectacle. Everyone
could see with his own eyes both the evil and the progress of
the cure ; the spectators all went away with the conviction
that here the finger of God was at work. The cure interested
the whole Church ; the Church prayed for it and without
a doubt her prayers would be answered.^ In a letter to
Becherand himself Colbert wrote that God had made him a
spectacle for the whole of France, or rather for all Europe
and the whole Church. There were more marvellous cures,
but none that occurred more completely before the eyes
ofaU.2
Colbert's pastoral letter of 1725, on the first of the Jansenist
miracles,'^ was followed by a second in which he met the attacks
of Languet and defended the occurrences at the graves of the
priest Rousse and the Deacon Paris.* A few weeks earlier ^
Bishop Ca^'lus of Auxerre, who shared Colbert's opinions, had
drawn attention to a Jansenist miracle which was supposed
to have happened at Seignelay, in proof of the holiness of
Paris and the truth of Jansenism, for soon the miracles were
no longer restricted to Paris, but made their appearance in
all Jansenist centres. "^ Rome, of course, did not remain silent
in the face of these strange pastorals. A special Brief was issued
1 Ibid., 418.
2 Ibid., 424. " Pensonain gerit Ecclesiae " said the partisans
of Becherand (Hardy, 264).
* Cf. above, p. 276.
* February i, 1733, [Nivhlle], II., 357-362.
* January i, 1733, ibid., 655-7 ; [Patoutllet], III., 11 seq.
* Hardy, 256. Soanen also acknowledged the Janscnistic
miracles in his " Spiritual Testament " (1735), [Nivelle], II., i,
257, and Fleury, LXXV., 247.
44^ HISTORY OF THE POPES.
against Colbert's letter and when he replied with another
pastoral on a miracle wrought by Paris in his own diocese,
there followed a second condemnation. ^ The Bishop of
Auxerre fared no better.^ The Roman Inquisition passed a
severe judgment on a " Life of Paris " ^ and not long after
the Archbishop of Paris condemned three such biographies.
In this he had been preceded by La Fare of Laon and he was
followed by the Bishops of Marseilles and Angers and the
Archbishop of Cambrai.'' Bishop Languet had drawn a reply
by Colbert to a pastoral letter of his on the first of the Jansenist
miracles. In 1734 he published yet another examination of
these manifestations which greatly embarrassed his opponents.
The parish priests of Paris turned to Parliament for help ^ ;
that body had declared the Roman condemnation of the
" Life of Piris " ^ to be null and void.' However, in the course
of this same year Archbishop Vintimille pubhshed a letter
1 Briefs of October 3, 1733 ([Patouillp:t], II., 290), and
October 11, 1734 {Bull, XXIV., 8 seq.). Colbert had rephed by his
Lctire pastorale pour pranuniv son diocese contrc un Bref de N. S. P.
le Papa (April 21, 1734), [Patouillet], II., 516-19.
2 Brief of July 19, 1734, Reusch, II., 748.
* August 22, 1 731, ibid., 747. Colbert wrote to Caylus : " Le
decret de Rome contre M. Paris est horrible. Par la Rome se
ferme pcut-etre la derniere porte que Dieu lui ouvrait pour
rentrer en elle-meme . . . C'est une etrange chose que de declarer
la guerre a Dieu meme " (in Noyon, loc. cit., 425, n.).
* January 30, 1732, [Patouillet], IV., 204-8.
* April 19, 1735, [Nivelle], I., app. 140-3.
* On this condemnation by the Holy Office and the public
burning of the book, see Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report to the
imperial Chancellery, September i, 1731, Archives of the Austrian
Embassy at the Vatican.
' [Nivelle], III., 972. " *In proposito di Prancia si sta qui
con molta amarezza per essersi da quel parlamento fatti due
arrcsti molto ingiuriosi all'autorita. del Papa e della S. Scde contro
le scritte condanne del libro," La vie de Monsieur Paris Diacre . . .
Cardinal Cienfuegos' report to tlie imperial Chancellery, October
27, 1 73 1, Archives of the Austrian Embas.sy at the Vatican.
CONVULSIONISM. 447
in which he described the Jansenist miracles as having been
rashly published, as unproven and unworthy of credence.^
Soon after the episcopal prohibition of pilgrimages to
Paris' grave, things occurred in connection with the alleged
miracles which could certainly not be of divine origin. A
certain Aimee Pivert experienced strong convulsions when she
touched the grave and the most fantastic contortions of her
limbs. A few days later the same phenomena appeared in a
deaf and dumb woman of Versailles. The convulsions of
Abbe Becherand worked like a contagion : the cemetery
became filled with a crowd of people who leaped, screamed and
underwent all sorts of contortions. Even the Rector of the
University, Charles Rollin, and the translator of Polybius,
Folard, took part in the proceedings.^ The growing disorder,
which interfered with the traffic, provided Government with
a welcome pretext for closing the cemetery. But this action
only made the situation worse ; the gatherings of the con-
vulsionists were now held in private houses, and when these
too were prohibited by a decree of February 17th, 1733, they
took place with even greater secrecy. There was now talk of
esctasies, of discourses in unknown tongues, of prophecies.
In order to alleviate the pain which accompanied the con-
vulsions, the victims were struck on sensitive parts of the
1 " temerairement publics, destitues de preuves et indignes
de toute creance " ([Nivelle], I., app. 140). Cf. on the miracles
of Paris, Bened., XIV., De canonisat., 1. IV., p. i, c. 7, n. 20
[0pp. IV., Venetiis, 1767, 35) ; Muratori, Antiquit. ital. medii aevi
diss., 60, t. v., 97 seq.
* " On le [Follard] vit en effet, avec peine, affronter le ridicule
s'engageant dans la secte des convulsionnaires " [Nouv. biogr.
gen., XVIII. , 543). " Le bon Rollin, en effet, crut aux miracles
du diacre Paris et ne dedaigna pas de se meler aux convuLsion-
naires de Saint-Medard " (ibid., XLIL, 571). On page 634 of his
essay quoted in the next nol^, Gazier calls Rollin " L'un des
adeptes les plus fervens des convulsions naissantes ". The writer
Fr. V. Toussaint {ob. 1772) composed some hymns in honour of
the deacon Paris {Nouv. biogr. gen., XLV., 556). Gazier, Hist,
gene'r., I., 280.
44^ HISTORY OF THE POPES.
body, for instance on the abdomen, or a board was laid on
them on which as many as ten persons placed themselves.
Instances were reported of invulnerability and of persons
insensible to burning. Convulsionists were said to have
struck non-con vulsionists with daggers without the weapons,
penetrating ; one Marie Sonnet laid herself in the fire whilst
in a state of convulsion, without as much as her clothing being
set alight and a young girl had her feet nailed to a cross at
night, after which she slept soundly and was able to attend to
her work in the morning.^ Besides these outbreaks of
fanaticism there were also cases of incredible foulness ^ and of
downright immorality.^
The outstanding advocate of the convulsions was Louis
Baptiste Carre de Montgeron, a member of Parliament.
Montgeron was a man utterly devoid of either faith or morals
when he visited the cemetery of Saint-Medard on September
7th, 1731, in order to witness and test the alleged miracles.
However, he did not test them for that which he saw in the
cemetery made such an impression on him, that he threw
himself on the ground before Paris' grave ; he remained in
that attitude for the space of four hours, after which he
began a new life. His one thought now was to prove the truth
of Paris' miracles to the whole world. He spent a fortune
^ Aug. Gazier in Revue des deux mondes, 5^ per., XXXII.
(1906), 627, 629, 638 (Voltaire's brother's evidence on miracles
and convulsions).
^ Le Paige, advocate at the Parliament in a letter to Montgeron,
told him " qu'une jeune convulsionnaire de 18 ans, pendant
21 jours entiers n'a bu que de I'urine et n'a mange que de I'excre-
ment d'homme ", etc. [Patouillet], IV., 189.
* " Ce qui est certain, c'est qu'il y a dix ou douze filles [con-
vulsionists] grosses, et que ces chefs de doctrine et de prediction
engagent les fcmmes du peuple qui ont cede a la persuasion, de
leur livrer elles-memes Icurs filles, ^e qu'il font en vue de Dieu "
(Barbier, Journal, II., 527 ; Hecquet, Le naturalisme des con-
vulsions dans les maladies de I'epldimie convulsionnaire, Paris,
1733. 69 seqq. ; Waffelaert, in Diet, apologet., I., Paris, 1911,
711).
CARRE DE MONTGERON 449
in collecting every possible evidence and in publishing it
in a bulky volume illustrated with beautiful engravings.^
He then penetrated, without leave, into the King's chamber
in order to present him with a copy of the book. By this
action he earned a stay in the Bastille and eventually banish-
ment. During his exile he wrote two more volumes ^ dealing
with the convulsions.^
Even the Appellants were not all in agreement with the
naive credulity with which Montgeron viewed the con-
vulsions. On more than one point Colbert and Soanen, as
well as the editor of the Jansenist newspaper, differed from
him, and on January 7th, 1735, thirty Doctors of the party of
the Appellants published a manifesto in which they stated
that not everything connected with the convulsions came from
God ; they condemned the alleged prophecies,^ the violent
remedies — secours — and the pretensions of laymen and
women to exercise functions proper to the priesthood. In
this document the convulsions still received a limited approval,
but others rejected them altogether so that two parties were
formed which were in sharp opposition to each other.
It is not the historian's task to judge and explain the strange
phenomena connected with the convulsions.^ It is enough
^ La verite des miracles ope'res par I'intercession de M. de Paris,
demontree contre M. I'archeveque de Sens [Languet], Utrecht,
1737- The first Paris edition of 5,000 copies was burnt under
Montgeron's window in the Bastille.
2 1741 and- 1747.
' Gazier, Hist, gener., I., 280-6 ; Hardy, 315 seq.
* On the discourses of the convulsionists, cf. Recueil de plusiers
convulsionnaires , 1734, [Patouillet], III., 351-9.
'' According to Gazier (I., 286), physicians described to him
the cures related by Montgeron, especially those of Palacios
and Thibault, as well attested and absolutely inexplicable.
[Patouillet], IV., 202, however, says : " Le celebre miracle
de Pierre Gautier de Pezenas [n. 6 of Montgeron] . . . se trouve
aujourd'hui juridiquement reconnu pour une pure supercherie.
On a re^u d'Espagne une sentence authentique de I'Officialite
de I'Escurial, ou 11 est juridiquement declare, que tout ce qu'on
VOL. XXXIV, Gg
450 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
to recall the fact that such things have occurred more than
once in the course of human history, ^ that they occur even
at this day and often act like a contagion, even on great masses.
The medieval St. Vitus' dance and the dancing dervishes
are instances in point.-
By comparison, then, with the first period of Port-Royal,
Jansenism had sunk to the lowest level within a few decades ;
once engaged on this inclined plane, it seemed incapable
of refraining from any folly. To convulsionism was added
figurism.3 About the year 1712 Jean Baptiste de Sesne de
Menilles, Abbe d'Etemare (1682-1770), had excogitated a new
method of scriptural interpretation. According to him every
incident and every personage of Holy Scripture are figures
of future events in the history of the Church.* In his view
the universal apostasy at the end of time coincided with the
general acceptance of the Bull Unigenitus ; the false prophets
of the last days are the Pope and the opponents of efhcacious
grace, the protagonists of Pelagianism and a lax morality.
The Roman Church, so he hints with sufficient clearness, was
foreshadowed by the beast of the Apocalypse. Since, then,
the end of the world was at hand, the conversion of the Jews
could not be long delayed and EUas was about to return,
fitemare's explanations are a tissue of absurdities. According
to him Mathathias of the Book of Machabees typifies Saint-
Cyran, Judas Machabee the great Arnauld, Balaam's ass
the priests whom ill-treatment by the Bishops compels to
a public de I'lnfirmite et de la guerison miraculeuse de Dom
Palacios [n. i of Montgeron], est un pur mensonge."
^ LoEVENBRUCK, loc. cit., 1757 seq. Description of similar
hysterical spasms by Charcot and Richer in Waffelaert, La
science cath., II. (1888), 278 seq.
* La Taste, Lettres thdolog. siir les convulsions, 2 vols., in 4°,
Paris, 1 733-1 740.
' Cf. Mangenot, in Did. de theol. cath., V. (1913), s.v.
Figurisme, 2299-2304.
* Catalogue of fitemares' writings, only partially in print
since i860, ibid., 2301 seq. ; particulars about his career in
Gazier, II., 37 seqq.
FIGURISM. 451
open their mouths against the Bull Unigenitus. But the
same ass is likewise a figure of Mere Angelique and of the
nuns who had declared themselves opposed to the Constitution.
Elias would place himself at the head of the Convulsionists
and restore all things in the sense of the Quesnellists, and
so forth. ^
Abbe litemare's disciples, such as Joubert, De Fourquevaux,
the two Essarts, carried their master's ideas a step further.
In 1731 the figurist teaching began to take root among the
convulsionists. The war of the beast of the Apocalypse
against the Saints, so it was reckoned, had begun with the
royal declaration of March 24th, 1730, and in September, 1733,
it would come to an end. The time of Elias' return was
known and preparations were being made to meet him.
For the rest the adherents of figurism were not exclusively
recruited from the ranks of dreamers among the common
people, they also included the Jansenist Bishops Colbert,
Soanen and Varlet together with La Roche, the editor of
the Jansenist newspaper. The Deacon Paris was also said
to have been a figurist. ^
Figurism did not simply remain a method of scriptural
interpretation, on the contrary, it ended by becoming a formal
sect which held that the world was so stained with sin that
retribution and the last Judgment could not be far off. Not a
few of its members purposely committed every imaginable
^ [Patouillet], II., 439 seq., cf. 354 ; Extract from De I'avene-
ment d'Elie, ibid., I., 148-156, from Conjectures des derniers temps
(1733), ibid., 308 seq., from Discours sur les Nouvelles ecclesiastiques
(by Le Gros), ibid., 457 seq. Prophecy that a Jew would become
Pope, ibid., 460.
2 Colbert (in Mangenot, loc. cit., 2302) wrote in 1737 : " Isai'e
volt un temps ou les etoiles du ciel seront languissantes, les cieux
se plieroiit . . . Qui peut douter que le ciel dans toutes ces pro-
pheties ne designe I'figlise^ que le soleil, la lune et les etoiles
ne soient le symbole des docteurs," etc. ([Patouillet], II.,
290). On the figurism of the Nouvelles ecclesiastiques, ibid.. III.,
163. Soanen wrote an essay in favour of the miracles of Paris
(Fleury, LXXV., 247).
452 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
enormity so as to fill up the measure of sin as quickly as
possible, in order to hasten the coming of the Judge. Others
proclaimed themselves to be God's heralds and the forerunners
of the Judge of the world. " Brother Augustine," viz. Jean
Robert Cosse, styled himself servant of the servants of God,
forerunner of Elias and fourth person in the Blessed Trinity :
he would he on a table, in the attitude of the Lamb of God,
and demand adoration. Abbe Vaillant claimed to be EUas
and founded the " Ehseans ".^ The " Convulsionists ", we
read, in a letter of the time,^ " have got it into their heads
that EUas would come to renew the Church, but that all
crimes must first reach their height and must previously
be expiated by the zeal of the brethren, on the site of the
monastery of Port-Roy al-des-Champs. In Paris they organized
nocturnal processions of expiation ; they marched to Port-
Royal, that is, to the spot where the convent had stood ;
there they slew an animal, after which they marked with
its blood all the houses— as far as Versailles— which would
be spared by the Destroying Angel at the coming of Elias.
They then drew lots to ascertain which of their number should
be crucified in expiation of sin : the lot fell on a certain Abbe
Sevin. They were already in the act of scourging him, in
spite of his resistance, when he exclaimed that a- victim must
be willing to be sacrificed, but that he did not yet feel the
proper dispositions of a victim ; the Saviour Himself had
sweated blood in the Garden of Olives before His Passion.
Thereupon he was given twenty-four hours in which to get
himself into the appropriate frame of mind, but at the
expiration of the time limit Abbe Sevin was nowhere to be
found.
One is tempted to think that it was fortunate for the first
Jansenists that their bodies no longer reposed in the cemetery
of Port-Royal ; scenes such as those described would have
made them turn in their graves, as the saying is. Yet at
bottom Port-Royal was responsible even for the follies of the
* Cahen, 49.
* DuBUissoN, Letires au Marquis de Canmont, ed. Roussel,
Paris, 1882, 6 seq. Cf. Fleury, LXXV., 73, 246 seq.
THE BISHOP OF SAINT-PAPOUL. 453
Convulsionists.i The spirit of rebellion against the authority
of the Church which had grown up there was bound, in the
end, to lead to utter recklessness. In the case of reasonable
people, convulsionism stripped Jansenism of all its prestige ;
Paris' grave became its grave also. Religion was most
grievously injured by Paris' " miracles " and all that
accompanied them ; unbelief, which was spreading more and
more, used them as a weapon against the miracles of the
Gospel and Christian miracles in general ; David Hume, the
well-known sceptic, exploited them for his purpose. ^ For all
that, miracles and convulsions served the cause of Jansenism
with the broad masses of the people. Of efficacious grace the
ordinary man understood nothing whatever, but the spectacle
of the miracles and convulsions roused his curiosity and
attracted him : two-thirds of the people of the capital, says
Barbier,^ were Jansenists.
The Jansenists enjoyed one final triumph when in 1735
the Bishop of Saint-Papoul went over to them. Jean Charles
de Segur began life as an army officer, later on he became an
Oratorian for a time, but he never made any serious studies
and knew no Latin. ^ Soon after leaving the Congregation,
^ " Quas foeditates [convulsionistarum et fanaticorum] cum
legeremus, in mentem nobis venit, lansenianorum per simula-
tionem pietatis iactare se volentium in Ecclesia, quam graviter
superbiam Deus perculerit, et pestilentissimae sectae conatus ad
haec dedecora tandem rediisse permiserit, quasi dixerit Dominus :
Revclabo pudenda tua ..." {Nahum, 3, 5), thus Clement XIII.,
on November 14, 1764, to the Bishop of Sarlat {Bull. Cont.,
III., Romae, 1838, 22).
2 D. Hume, An Enquiry concerning human understanding,
sect. 10 {Essays and Treatises on several subjects, II., London,
1777, 133). The Nouvelles ecclesiastiques put (December 24, 1731),
Paris miracles on a par with the miracles of Christ. [Patouil-
let]. III., 156 seq.
' Hardy, 164.
* " L'abbe de Segur, disait d'Orsanne, n'a point de theologie
et ne sait pas memo le latin " (Picot in Biographie universelle,
XLL, 474).
454 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
when 28 3'ears of age, he became Bishop of Saint-Papoul.
He supported the Bull Unigenitus but likewise entered into
relations with Soanen and Colbert. As a result of their influence
he resigned in 1735, begged his diocese to forgive his having
defended the Bull, gave a belated adhesion to the appeal of
the four Bishops in 1717 and finally went into retirement.^
The document in which he announced his action called forth
immense joy among the Jansenists,^ but a decree of the
Council of State of April 2nd, 1735, suppressed it. The Arch-
bishops of Embrun and Tours and the Bishops of Laon and
Chalons publicly expressed their indignation,^ all the more so
as, following Segur's example, the Bishops of Grenoble and
Agde withdrew all that they had done against Soanen at the
Council of Embrun.*
(4.)
Fleury's efforts to get the Bull generally accepted were
not without success with the University of Paris and the
religious communities.
The Sorbonne had submitted to the Bull under the
pontificate of Benedict XIII., at the time of Vintimille's
appointment as Archbishop, so that there remained nothing
for Clement XII. to do except to congratulate the Faculty.^
This he repeated in a letter addressed to the King,^ after
the Faculty of Philosophy had followed the example of its
theological sister Faculty. The submission of the philosophical
Faculty was of the utmost importance because in its hand
1 Mandement of February 26, 1735, in [Nivelle], II., i,
676-9.
2 Letter of Soanen and Colbert, ibid., 679 seq. The Paris
advocates also congratulated him (Hardy, 313).
» [Patouillet], I., 10 ; Fi.eury, LXXV., 49.
* Fleury, LXXV., 48. On the precautions taken by the police,
see Hardy, 314.
' Brief of January 16, 1731, in Feret, VI., 105.
* October 2, 1739, ibid., 105 seq.
THE MAURISTS. 455
lay the training of youth, and the Rector, the Syndic and the
Archivist were chosen from among its members, as were also
the assessors of the Rector who decided all general questions
in conjunction with him.^ It was to be expected that such
a change would not come about unopposed, but Fleury
intervened energetically and enforced his will.^ To the other
Universities, Colleges and Seminaries the Cardinal also
gradually assigned teachers of proved loyalty to the Church,^
and he even interviewed in person when there was question
of suppressing printed works. ^
Fleury met with greater difficulties in dealing with the
religious Orders than with the Universities. His chief success
in this sphere was achieved precisely with that religious
body which had offered the strongest opposition to him, viz.
the celebrated Benedictine Congregation of the Maurists.
At their last General Chapter in 1729 it had been found
impossible to get the Bull Unigenitus accepted. In the
following year fifteen Superiors met again in council. The
Minister of Police, Herault, was present at the deliberations
and by command of the King no one was permitted to take
part in the assembly, or assume any office in the Order, who
did not submit to the Bull. The formula submitted for
signature, in which the Bull was recognized as a law of Church
and State, was subscribed to, with but one exception, by all
the fifteen members headed by Alaidon, the General of
the Congregation.^
1 Hardy, 330 scq. On the withdrawal of the appeal by the
" artium facultas ", Clement XII. sent special laudatory *Briefs
to Cardinal Fleury on July 14, 1739, and to the King on October 2,
1739. Epist., VIII. -X., Papal Secret Archives.
" Hardy, 331-2 ; [Nivelle], I., app. 181-4, and the docu-
ments, ihid., 184-208. A *Brief to Cardinal Fleury, dat. March
19. 1737. praising him for this and further exhorting him, in
Epist., VI., Papal Secret Archives.
3 Hardy, 333 seq. ; Fleury, LXXVL, 266-276.
* Hardy, 335 seq.
^ [Nivelle], II., 2, 665 seq. On Alaidon, cf. P. Denis in Rev.
hist. Ardennaise, XVI. {(1909), 5-50.
45^ HISTORY OF THE POPES.
However, this represented no great gain. Those of the
Monks who were opposed to the Bull, refused to accept the
decision of the assembly and a number of them made a written
protest. 1 Consequently the Government, which was
dissatisfied with Alaidon also, kept a close observation, down
to the smallest detail, on the preparations for the next General
Chapter, which was put off until 1733.2 In spite of these
precautions the elections of delegates by the Provincial
Chapters were not in accordance with the hopes of the
supporters of the Constitution ^ ; many refrained from voting
on the plea that the election was not free.
The General Chapter, which met on July 1st, 1733, under
the presidency of the Archbishop of Tours, Rastignac, proved
very stormy. Twenty-two out of the thirty-two delegates
refused to subscribe to the formula by which they were to
accept the Bull and revoke all contrary steps. Thereupon
Rastignac consented to the delegates signing the formula
merely in their own name, not as delegates, of their provinces,
but even so eighteen delegates refused their signature, for
which they were excluded from the deliberations of the
assembly. They then declared that the remaining fourteen,
two of whom had held back for a time, could not be considered
as representing the Order, but when consulted by the Arch-
bishop, the King ordered the dehberations to be proceeded
with. In place of Alaidon, who had died, Herve Menard was
elected General and with few exceptions, in the case of less
important houses, the opponents of the Constitution were
removed from all posts of authority.* It was to be expected
that already during the Chapter and afterwards loud protests
would be raised both against the action of the fourteen and
against the newly appointed Superiors : they would only
be obeyed in order to avoid more grievous mischief.^
1 [Nivelle], II., 2, 666.
2 Ibid.. 668.
' Ibid., 670-8. Remonstrances to the future General Con-
gregation, dat. June 24, 1733, ibid., 674 seq. Paris' miracles
are therein acknowledged (676) as authentic.
* Ibid., 67S-685. ^ Ibid., 685-715.
THEIR SUBMISSION. 457
However, things were not so desperate as they looked.
The new General, Menard, took vigorous steps for the restora-
tion of peace. Cardinal De Bissy, as Commendatory Abbot
of Saint Germain-des Pres, worked in the same sense. True
his formula of submission was rejected, as coming from an
unauthorized quarter, but he was the means of Thuillier and
Le Seur writing a history of the Bull Unigenitus and thus
clarifying the matter in dispute.^
Other writings by ThuiUier too did not fail to make an
impression on many people. The fact that the King withdrew
his decree excluding the recalcitrants from all influential
positions and expressed his confidence that those who
benefited by this concession would not abuse the royal
confidence, also greatly helped to calm the excited spirits.
One of the chief occasions of exasperation was thus removed,
with the consequence that in 1735 many who had at one time
opposed the Bull, now informed Rome of their submission,
for which they were praised by the Pope : the others were at
least prevailed upon to keep silence.^ The next General
Chapter was held in accordance with the rules. However, it
could hardly be said that order had been completely restored
because, on the whole, silence was observed about the Bull, but
there was hope that in time everything would once more run
smoothly. Moreover the most distinguished Maurist scholar,
Bernard de Montfaucon {oh. 1741) was not an Appellant,
nor were such ornaments of the Congregation as Maran,
Martene, Bouquet, or if they were, theirs was but a momentary
hesitation.^ The long lists of Maurists who, for instance,
were supposed to have sided with Soanen when the latter
^ £. De Broglie, La societe de I'abhaye de St. Gcrmain-dcs-
Pres au XVIII'. siecle, II., Paris, 1891, 260.
* Paul Denis, Les Benedictins de St. Germain-des-Pres et
la cour de Rome en 1735, in Rev. Mabillon, IV. (1908), 324-366 ;
Braunmuller in Freib. Kirchenlex., VIII.^, 1076. Cf. *Brief
of August 30, 1736, to Claude du Pre commending him for his
and Menard's good services, Epist., VI., Papal Secret Arch.
' Braunmijller, loc. cit. Cf. Fleury, LXXIV., 481.
458 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
was condemned/ are largely forgeries.^ For the rest the
Congregation had by then passed its peak.
Under Fleury also, as had repeatedly happened in the
history of Jansenism, a community of nuns drew attention
to itself by its obstinacy.^ Father Joseph, Richelieu's
collaborator — the " Grey Eminence " as he was called — had
founded the Society of the Ladies of Calvary. The institute
was governed by a college of three Superiors which, at the
death of any one of its three members, always completed
itself by a free election. In 1737 this college consisted of the
Jansenist Bishops Colbert of Montpellier, Bossuet of Troyes
and Caylus of Auxerre ; the whole Congregation was of
course Jansenist. At the death of Colbert in 1738,
Clement XII., at the King's request, issued a Brief* by which
he conferred plenary powers of visitation on the Archbishop
of Paris for the convents of his diocese, for a period of four
years, and for the other houses to the ordinaries for a period
of two years. At the end of the two years all reports of the
visitations and proposals of reform were to be forwarded to
the Archbishop who was empowered to choose his advisers,
and in conjunction with them to reform the Society, to depose
all Superiors, even the highest, and to appoint others in
their place. A royal decree ^ declared that the Brief was not
contrary to Galilean hberties and must be put in execution.
As was to be expected the Archbishop met with opposition.
The nuns declared in writing ^ that they were filled with
deepest respect for Vintimille and Clement XII. but refused
to submit to the Brief seeing that it had not been registered
with Parliament. In like manner they refused to recognize
the validity of the deposition of their Superioress General
^ [Nivelle], I., App. 71-3.
2 According to La Taste, Lettres theologiques, Lettre 21, part 3,
p. 1641, in [Patouillet], II., 199 ; letter of P. de la Prade to
Chauvelin, October 22, 1728, Hardy, 146, n. i.
3 Hardy, 327-330; Fleury, LXXVI., 277-281.
* August I, 1738, in [Nivelle], II., 2, 562-4.
* November 10, 1738, ibid., 564 seq.
* December 11, 1738, ibid., 565 seq.
FLEURY AND A COMPROMISE. 459
a circumstance which caused the latter to be sent into
banishment. There followed petitions to the King and to
Fleury, protests by the former Superiors Bossuet and Caylus,
intervention by Parliament and a protest by the nuns against
the election of a new Superioress General.^ The affair dragged
on until 1741. It is characteristic of the " Galilean liberties "
that they would not even suffer the Pope to call to order a
handful of refractory nuns.^
In his eagerness to leave nothing undone for the restoration
of peace, Fleury had recourse once again, in 1735, to the
means which had so often proved useless, namely the bringing
together of the conflicting parties by declarations of the Bull.
The twelve articles which were said to have come very near
being approved under Benedict XIII., were put forward once
more, though reduced to eight. Theologians of both sides
were heard, among them the Jansenist Nicolas Petitpied,
who had been allowed to return from Holland two years
earlier, and Colbert of Montpellier. The result of the conversa-
tions was the draft of a Bull which was forwarded to Rome
for papal approval. It was strongly recommended to the
Pope by the French ambassador, the Duke de Saint-Aignan.
Clement XII was not unwilling, but he expressed a wish that
some one, for instance De Tencin, Archbishop of Embrun,
should come to Rome for further discussions. However, no
conclusion was reached.^ Clement XII. hoped for very little
from attempts at reconciliation and general ordinances in
this sense.* He considered the Jansenist question as definitely
^ Ibid., 566-577.
2 A declaration of the Carmelite Nuns of Lectoure against the
Bull (beginning of July, 1735), ibid., 596 seq.
' Fleury, LXXV., 266 seqq. On the steps taken by the nuns
after the death of Caylus to obtain from Benedict XIV. the
appointment of Bishop Fitzjames as their superior, cf. E. De
Heeckeren, Correspondance, de Benoit, XIV., vol. 2, Paris, 1912,
341. 351-
* Cf. *Raccolta di scritt. sopra le cose di Francia colla corte
di Roma dell' a 1730 e seg.. Cod. 32, f. 3-6, Corsini Library,
Rome, and *Lettere di Nuntii Apost. di Francia al C. Corsini
1 730-1 740, Cod. 32, f. 8, ibid.
460 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
decided and merely requested the King to give effect to the
decrees issued long ago.^ He also strove to avoid whatever
might give rise to fresh conflicts. When a number of people
pressed him to prohibit the great Bossuet's defence of the
four Gallican Articles, he refrained from doing so, out of
regard for so deserving a prelate and in order not to provoke
a fresh dispute. ^ But he nevertheless saw himself compelled
to take action against the QuesneUists in particular cases.
Thus he proceeded more than once against Bishop Colbert
of Montpellier. When the Chapter of that city submitted
to the Bull Unigenitus, Colbert was so angry that he declared
the action of the Chapter null and void and forbade the
faithful of his diocese to receive the Bull without his permission.
Clement XII. 's answer was a Brief, ^ couched in the severest
terms and condemning Colbert's treatment of his Chapter.
The Parliament of Paris on its part declared the papal Brief
as of no effect ^ in an ordinance which also attacked the decree
of the Inquisition against a biography of Paris. ^ Colbert's
pastoral letter in defence of the Jansenist miracles ^ was once
more prohibited by Rome,' whereupon that obstinate prelate
brought to the notice of his flock an alleged miracle by Paris
in the diocese of Montpellier. The new pastoral letter shared
the same fate as the previous one— it was condemned by the
Pope.^
The Jansenists' hankering after miracles was rebuked in
^ Lafitau, II., 296.
2 Letter of Benedict XIV. to the Grand Inquisitor of Spain,
Anal. iur. pontif., XVII. (1878), 29 ; R. de Martinis, Benedicti
XIV. Acta, Neapoli, 1894, 555 ; Reusch, II., 833.
' August 22, 1731, Bull, XXIII., 283 seq. Fleury, LXXIII.,
495 seqq.
* September 28, 1731, in [Nivelle], III., 972.
^ August 22, 1731, sec above, p. 445.
* February i, 1733, [Nivelle], II., i, 357.
■' October 3, 1733, Fleury. LXXIV., 686.
* October 11, 1734, Bull, XXIV., 8 ; Fleury, loc. cit. ; Reusch,
II., 748. Some obscure statements on other steps taken by the
Pope against Colbert in Fleury, LXXV., 79.
BULL OF CANONIZATION OF VINCENT DE PAUL 461
yet another papal manifesto, namely in the Bull of canonization
of St. Vincent de Paul.^ There we read that Vincent had
been glorified by God by miracles at the very time when the
innovators strove to spread their errors in France, to disturb
the peace of the Church and to detach the faithful from their
unity with the Holy See by the publication of false and
imaginary miracles. Twenty parish priests of Paris declared
that these remarks were obviously meant for them, because
they had often spoken in favour of the miracles of Paris.
They accordingly appealed to Parliament and protested against
the registration of the Bull.^ A lawyer's memorial ^ and a
parliamentary ordinance * approved their action. This was
the last joint petition of the parish priests of Paris against
ecclesiastical authority. However, at the prayer of Vincent
de Paul's sons, the Lazarists, Louis XV. quashed the judgment
of Parliament which again lodged a protest against that
measure.^ One reason for the opposition of the Jansenist
priests to the glorification of the new Saint was the circum-
stance that Vincent had been a decided opponent of the
rising heresy.® On other points also the Pope came in conflict
1 June 16, 1737, Bull, XXIV., 232 seqq.
2 [Nivelle], I., App. 145. Cf. the *Cifra to Nuncio D'Elce,
January 23, 1738, Nimziat. di Francia, 441, p. 396, Papal Sec.
Arch.
' January 16, 1738, [Nivelle], I., App. 145 seq. {cf. p. XXXII.);
[Patouillet], I., 330 ; II., 479.
* January 22, 1738, [Nivelle], loc. cit. ; Hardy, 310 seq.
5 June 28, 1738, [Nivelle], III., 464 seq.'
« Fleury, LXXV., 482 seqq. Already in 1672 the Jansenists
raised a protest on that account against Abelly's "Life of Vincent "
([Patouillet], I., 355). The Jansenist work " L'advocat du
diable " calls Vincent " un infame delateur et un execrable
boutefeu " {ibid., 178). On June 28 Parliament defended the
suppression of the Bull by saying that it " etablit des maximes
contraires a celles du royaume " and that it " tend a troubler
la tranquillite de Vos sujets " ; that it teaches by Vincent's
example " le recours immediat au Saint-Si^ge " and favours " ces
mouvements impetueux qui les [the priests] porteroient a pro-
poser, soUiciter, presser les mouvements violens, les voics
462 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
with Parliament, as, for instance, in connection with the affairs
of the Archbishop of Cambrai.J
Twice Clement XII., much against his inclination, was
obliged to attend to the Jansenists in Holland. Archbishop
Barchman, whom they had appointed by their own authority,
died in 1732. Twice during Clement XII. 's pontificate, in
1733 and in 1739, they gave him a successor in the person
of Theodore van der Croon and John Meindaerts, and twice
the Pope seized the opportunity of condemning such presump-
tion in the same terms as his predecessors had done.- When
van der Croon informed Rome of his election, he received no
reply whatever, and when the votes of the Chapter of Utrecht
fell on Meindaerts, a Brief of condemnation was issued, it
would seem, even before an official announcement had reached
the Eternal City.^ Van der Croon appealed to a General
Council and invoked the intervention of the Cardinal Arch-
bishop of Malines, but the latter rejected the request in the
most unequivocal manner,^ an act which earned for him
Clement XII. 's approval.^ Van der Croon was equally unlucky
when he requested the State to subject all the Catholics
d'autorite pour trancher les contestations qui arrivent dans
I'figlise " {loc. cit., 464). Cf. Fleury, LXXVL, 1-19.
^ See above, p. 435, and Brief of January 26, 1740, Bull,
XXIV., 667. Of the same day are two Briefs against Louail-
Cadry's History of the Bull Unigenitus and Courayer's transla-
tion of Sarpi's History of the Council of Trent. Ibid., 664 seq. ;
Fleury, LXXV., 351 seq.
* Briefs of February 17, 1735 (in Mozzi, III., 107-111) and of
October 6, 1739 (ibid., 112-16 ; Bull, XXIV., 591). Croon
received letters of recognition from the Jansenist Bishops of
Montpellier (December 28, 1734) and Sencz (February 18, 1735) ;
see Recueil des temoignages, 282 seq. Meindaerts was recognized
by the Bishops of Scnez (December 7, 1739), Auxerre (March 15,
1753) andLu9on (August 15, 1755), ibid., 1 12-15.
» Mozzi, II., 290, 312.
* Two letters: Malines, January 14 and September 18, 1736,
in RosKOVANY, III., 126 scqq., 134 seqq.
^ Brief of June 30, xj^G.ibid., i;^j seq.
A MEMORIAL. 463
in the seven Provinces to his jurisdiction.^ Attempts at
a compromise with the internuncio in Brussels could scarcely
be meant seriously since the Jansenist party was determined
beforehand not to accept the Bull Unigenitus.^
Clement XII. protested against Meindaert's election ;
he had to leave to his successor, Benedict XIV., the duty of
opposing his consecration.^ The latter Pope had to busy
himself repeatedly with the Jansenist Church of Holland.
(5.)
There exists a document of the year 1735 with the following
title : " Memorial of the Sacred Congregation of the Cardinals."
The document contains proposals for a united action by all
the Catholic Princes for the purpose of winning back for
Catholicism the various Protestant States of Europe. For-
cible means were to be employed, according to a uniform plan,
under the guidance of the Pope. The Protestant Princes of
Germany " were to be punished as rebels with the edge of
the sword in body and soul".*
The ideal of united Catholic action and the efhcacy
of papal influence which is here taken for granted, was in
sharp contrast with reality. The Protestants assuredly
were greatly divided, and Calvinists and Lutherans were for
ever at war among themselves, but this opposition was
abundantly compensated for by the political antagonism
between the Great Catholic Powers, especially between
France and the Emperor. To this must be added the fact that
the States which had remained Catholic were infected by
the new spirit of hostihty to the Church, and most of them
1 Mozzi, II., 290.
^ Ibid., 288.
^ Brief of January 24, 1741, ibid., III., 117 seqq. ; Bull.,
Benedicti XIV., vol. I., 13 ; Roskovany, III., 152.
* The document is printed in Droysen, IV., 4, 417-433 ; the
words quoted also in Windberg, Die sog. Denkschrift der Heiligen
Kongregation, 1735, Leipzig, 1900, 47.
464 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
were involved in conflicts with the HoJy See. The memorial
was long considered as authentic even by Protestant
historians of mark/ but to-day it is unanimously regarded
as a clumsy forger}'.-
How little the Holy See was bent at that time on a forcible
conversion of the Protestants appears from Clement XH.'s
memorable attempt to win over the Protestant Saxons,
whose ruling House had become Catholic, by guaranteeing
to them, by a Bull of July 9th, 1732, the undisputed possession
of all secularized Church property in the event of their return
to the Catholic Church.^ The attempt was abortive, but even
^ Droysen, IV., 4, 416, and in Berliner Sitzungsbericht. 1869,
663 seqq. ; also Ranke, Zwolf Biicher preiiss. Geschichte, VI., 5,
228, but in the most recent edition he no longer holds this opinion.
2 Academy, 1872 ; Katholik, 1891, II., i seqq. ; Duhr, Jesiiiten-
fabeln, 816 seqq. ; Erdmannsdorffer, II., 392 ; Hiltebrandt in
Quellen imd Forschungen, XIII., 136 seqq. ; Windberg, 32, 56,
60. How strong a sense of solidarity obtained at that time among
all Protestants was seen when the Archbishop of Salzburg,
Leop. Ant. v. Firmian (on his counter-reformation activities
see Hist.'polit. Blatter, XXXV., 473 seqq.), acting in accordance
with the axiom " Cuius regio, eius religio ", compelled his Pro-
testant subjects (about 22,000) to emigrate by decree of October
31, 1731. Cf. WiDMANN, III., 384 seqq. ; Menzel, X., 197-218 ;
also the earlier essay of L. Clarus, Die Auswanderimg der pro-
testantisch gesinnien Sahburger in den Jahren 1731 und 1732,
Innsbruck, 1864, as also the work of C. Fr. Arnold, based on
official documents, though not always reliable and to the point :
Die Vertreibung der Sahburger Protestantcn und ihre Aufnahme
bei den Glaubensgenossen, Leipzig, 1901. Also the contemporary
work ^ Samrnhmg Einiger der Vornehmsien In dcni Saltzburgischen
Emigyaiions-W esen Bisshero ojfentlich zum Vorschein gekommenen
Schrifften und Glaubhafften Urlnmden, von D. H. I., Augsburg,
1732. For the bibhography, see Doblhoff, Beitrdge zum Quellen-
siudium salzburgischer Eandeskunde, Heft 4 : Zuy Emigrations-
literatur.
3 In the consistory of July 21, 1732, according to the *Acta
consist. (Barb. 2923, Vatican Libraiy), the Pope said : Solicitude
for the salvation of souls urges Us especially in the case of Saxony
" in qua novissimis temporibus haeresis exorta in alias subinde
SUFFERINGS OF CATHOLICS. 465
a Protestant scholar has recently observed that it does not
deserve the contempt with which it is usually treated.^
There is no lack of proof of the fact that the Catholics of
Germany were very much on the defensive. In the North-
German Diaspora, difficulties were such that in 1731 the Pope
was obliged to appeal to the Emperor for help.^ In the course
of the same year complaints were made by the Catholics in
the territory of Cleve of oppression by the Prussian Govern-
ment,^ whereas the adherents of the ancient Church in the
provincias et regna misere influxit, et ad quam revocandam atque
in S. Ecclesiae sinum reducendam tot labores et vigilias praede-
cessores Nostri Rom. Pont, impenderunt. Cum autem diu
multumque apud animum Nostrum cogitaverimus, quae potuerint
difficultates occursare, quominus eorum consilia prosperum
optatumque successum haberent, praecipuum divini operis
impedimentum inde provenire putavimus, quod plerique aegre
admodum in animum possent inducere, ut ea bona dimitterent,
quae olim ad ecclesias pertinebant, iisque vitae commodis,
quibus consueverant, et ipsi carerent et eorum liberi destitueren-
tur, nee suppeteret, unde aliter ea fortunarum detrimenta reique
familiaris dispendia resarcirent ". In order to remove difficulties,
We have decided, after consulting the Cardinals and following the
examples of Our predecessors and the intention of Clement XI.,
to restore their possessions to those who axe converted, etc. Here
follows a Brief (" fore autem confidimus, ut quos calumniatorum
licentia a via veritatis abduxit, hoc Nostrae. caritatis studio
intelligant, a Nobis cuncta conferri, ut reportemus finem fidei
Nostrae, salutem animarum ; We pray God to help Us that not
only Saxony but the other provinces also may return to the Roman
Church "), and a decree regarding Saxony ; the latter is printed
in Bull, XXIII., 414 seqq. Cf. L. Richter, Klemens XII. an die
protestantischen Sachsen, 1732, Leipzig, 1831.
* Hermelink in Zeitschr. fur Kivchengesch, XXIV., 609 seqq.
A Bull of July 13, 1735, granted the ecclesiastical possessions " in
Palatinatu inferiore et due. Neoburg," to those who became
Catholics {Bull, XXIV., 59 seqq.).
* See *Brief of December 27, 1731, Epist., I. -II., Papal Secret
Archives. Also the Brief to the Dowager Empress, Amalie, ibid.
^ See *Brief to Archbishop Clement Augustus of Cologne,
December 8, 1730, ibid.
VOL. xxxiv. Hh
466 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
March of Brandenburg enjoyed a large measure of tolerance
under King Frederick William I.,^ but any considerable
expansion of the Cathohc Church was not to be thought of.^
When the Catholic Duke Charles Alexander became ruler
of Wiirttemberg in 1733, he was obliged to subscribe to con-
ditions in the religious sphere which confirmed anew the
painful situation of the Catholics.^ The Pope also appealed
to the Emperor with a view to the preservation of the Catholic
religion in Hungary.*
(6.)
In the mission field Clement XII. showed his zeal by his
solicitude for the missionary training colleges. The most
^ Cf. the report probably drawn up for Clement XII., in Quellen
und Forschungen, V., 126 seqq.
* On the situation, cf. also Rottmanner, Dcr Kardinal von
Bayern, 35 seqq. Some conversions caused a sensation : as, for
example, that of Prince Frederick of Birkenfeld-Zweibriicken
and Grown Prince Frederick of Hessen-Kassel (Menzel, XL,
1 14-123), the Prince of Sittenberg, 1734 {*Cod. Ottob., 3157,
Vatican Library), and Baron Pollnitzer, 1730 {*Cod. 1054,
Corsini Library, Rome). On Senator Bielke's relations with
Clement XII., see Lebret, Magazin, III., 403 seqq., 424 seqq.,
and BiLDT, Svenska Minnen och Mdrken i Rom, Stockholm, 1900,
41 seq. ; picture of his tomb in S. Brigita (p. 40) ; Inscriptions in
FoRCELLA, I., 81, 86 ; IX., 304.
^ Cf. Stalin, in Allg. Deutche Biographic, XV., 368 seq. ;
Die altwurttenibergischen Religionsreversalien von 1733, in Beilage
der Augsburger Postzeitung, 1898, n. 6. *Reports in Nunziat. di
Germania, 239 (Lettere di Vienna, 1734), Papal Secret Archives.
When, after the death of Charles Alexander (March 12, 1737),
attempts were made to convert the ducal family to Protestantism
{cf. Menzel, X., 225 seqq.), Clement XII., by *Brief of March 27,
1738, asked the Bishop of Constance and Augsburg to use his
inlluence as Director of the circle of Swabia to oppose these
efforts. Epist., Papal Secret Archives.
* Cf. *Brief of January 19, 1732, ibid.
MISSIONARY COLLEGES. 467
important of these institutions, Propaganda in Rome, was
chronically in financial straits : according to a calculation of
Forteguerri the expenditure exceeded the income of 3,321,990
scudi by as much as 530,319 scudi. Already under Benedict
XIII. the College had made various proposals to the Pope
with a view to relieving its rising financial embarrassment ;
Clement XII. ordered a visitation and laid down directions
for the payment of debts and the balancing of income and
expenditure.^
A Franciscan missionary College in Sardinia was subject
to Propaganda ; the Pope gave proof of his benevolence
towards the establishment by guaranteeing once more its
independence from subordinate superiors which it had enjoyed
until then. 2 A Franciscan College for the upkeep of the
missions in the mountainous district of Cimapan in Mexico
also received papal confirmation.^ Matteo Ripa, a missionary
in China, who had gone to the Far East with the bearers of
the Cardinal's biretta destined for Tournon, conceived the
plan of founding a College for training native missionaries in
China itself. After Kanghi's death, he made a beginning at
Naples where he acquired a house in 1724. With Clement's
approval * he opened there the College of the Holy Family
which sent out its first two missionaries to China on September
10th, 1733. The rules of the house ^ also received papal
approval.^ At Ripa's request Charles VI. took the College
under his patronage. '^ Up to this time the 3^oung clerical
* Chirografo of February 26, 1733, lus pontif., VIL, 116 seqq.
2 October i6, 1730, ibid., XL, 423.
^ July 23, 1733, ibid., 442. The college was erected by
Benedict XIII., on April 3, 1727, ibid.
* April 7, 1732, ibid., 431 seq. ; Ripa, Storia della fondazione
delta Congregatione e del Collegio de' Cinesi, scritta dallo stesso
fundatore, Napoli, 1832. Cf. Balan, VI., 1306.
5 Printed in Bull, XXIV., 122.
* April 16, 1736, lus pontif., II., 477. Favours and privileges
for the College, ibid., 488, 490.
' Thomas, 342, where the inscriptions on the collegiate church
and on Ripa's tomb {ob. 1746) are reproduced.
468 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
students of the Greek Rite in Lower Italy had been obhged
to get their training in Latin Colleges, a circumstance which
was not without many inconveniences ; accordingly Clement
XIL provided for them a College of their own Rite at Ullano,
in the diocese of Bisignano, by allocating to them a Benedictine
Abbey together with the necessary means.^ The Superior of
the new " Corsini Seminary " was to be a Bishop, having
the right of ordaining the so-called Italo-Greeks in both
Sicilies ^ and exempt, together with the Seminary, from the
jurisdiction of the Bishop of Bisignano. The first Bishop of
the College was Felix Samuel Rodota.^ For the formation of
missionaries amongst the Maronites, Clement XL had founded
a College in Rome, near the church of SS. Marcellinus and
Peter, and had sent for some Monks from Mount Lebanon.*'
Clement XIL approved the Monks' Rules and Constitutions ^ :
in the same way he also confirmed the Rules of the Greek-
Melchite Congregation of St. John the Baptist of Soairo, on
Mount Lebanon,^ which had a College in Rome for the training
of missionaries for the East. The Pope assigned to the College
the church of S. Maria in Domnica.
In other respects also Clement XIL had to busy himself
with the faithful of Lebanon.' With a view to the restoration
of ecclesiastical discipline in all its purity, the Maronite
Patriarch and his Bishops prayed the Pope to commission their
countryman, the learned librarian of the Vaticana, Joseph
Simon Assemani, to take part in a national Synod. The synod
was held in 1736 ; it was attended by fourteen Maronite, two
* October ii, 1732, lus pontif., II., 436 seq.
2 Ibid., 458 seqq. Cf. confirmation of the rules (printed, ibid.,
VII., 122 seqq., and in Bull. Propag., II., 211 scqq.), April 16,
1736, i«5 ^ow^j/., II., 481.
3 Ibid., 485 seqq. ; cf. 499 seqq. Rodota's commendation and
favours for the college, ibid., VII., 122.
* Clement XIL, on March 31, ij^2, ibid., II.,428se^.
« March 31 and July 14, 1732, lus pontif., II., 435. The Con-
stitution.s in Bull., XXIII., 328 seq.
* September 14, 1739, lus pontif., II., 505.
' Cf. the documents, ibid., 467 seq.
THE NEAR EAST. 469
Greek and two Armenian priests, and among other dispositions,
the synodal decrees reduced the bishoprics from sixteen to
eight. ^ In accordance with a decision of the synod, the
Maronite Monks of the Congregation of S. Isaias sought the
papal approval of their Constitutions ; Clement XII. granted
their request on July 21st, 1738.2
To the Abyssinian Monks in Rome Clement XII. gave the
church of St. Stephen.^ The Negus of Abyssinia entertained
the idea of reunion with Rome ; the Pope accordingly sent
out Franciscans.^ The Franciscan James of Kremsir was
sent to the Patriarch of the Copts,^ to exhort him to carry
at length into effect the noble plan he had conceived,^ to
which end the Friar was to obtain his subscription to a
profession of faith. Clement XII. 's solicitude for the various
eastern Churches was necessarily bound to extend itself also
to the Holy Land.' Apart from the above-mentioned efforts
on behalf of the Copts and the Abyssinians, aU we know of
Clement's further steps for the dark Continent is the permission
given by him to the Prefect of the Franciscan Mission of
Mequinez in Morocco,^ to establish at Madrid, subject to
Propaganda, a centre for collecting alms for his mission.
We have fuller information about the missionary territories
of America. The difficulties and the sacrifices amid which the
pastoral ministry was at times carried out in South America
are illustrated by a memorial of the Hermits of St. Augustine
^ Coll. Lac. ,11., y^ seqq.
2 lus pontif., II., 516 seq. ; VII., 149 seq. Favours for the
Congregation of the Lebanon and for a Maronite charitable
association, ibid., II., 445, 464.
* January 15, 1731, z6i(i., 424.
* February 24, 1737, ibid., VII., 140.
^ Brief of August 20, 1737, ibid., 141 seq.
* " Ut ad ea quae . . . iamdiu meditaris ingentia facinora, tandem
manus admoveas."
' Briefs of September 12, 1731, and February 13, 1734, lus
pontif., II., 427, 443.
' August 22, 1738, ibid., 493 seq. ; Bethune, Les missions oath.
d'Afriqiie, 96 ; Schmidlin, Missionsgesch., 375, n. 3.
470 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
and the Dominicans of Peru and Chile. They relate how they
attend to their priestly duties in convents far removed from
the towns, or situate in miserable hamlets and so poor that
they can only maintain from three to six religious, in spite
of Paul V.'s decree that communities should consist at least
of eight members. This situation had now lasted 120 years
and during this period the members were excluded from
participation in the provincial chapters. Clement XII.
decided that they should enjoy the same rights as their
brethren in religion.^ For the Order of St. Hippolytus in
Mexico another difficulty arose from the great distance of
individual convents ; it was impossible for the Superior-
General to visit all the houses within the brief span of three
years. Permission was accordingly granted ^ for the General
Chapter of the Order to meet only once in six years. Light
is thrown on ideas and conditions by the request of the
Mexican Hermits of St. Augustine ^ — a request which was
granted — to the effect that the mulattos and mestizos should
not be permitted to join their Order, as it would be a shame
if they had to admit persons from the common populace,
whose depravity made them the objects of universal contempt.
In Brazil the Portuguese Jesuits put up a courageous fight
for the freedom of the Indians, though even some of the
Bishops complained that their action on behalf of their
proteges was detrimental to the State and to the white
population. In 1734 King John V. ordered an investigation
into these complaints which resulted in the complete justifica-
tion of the Jesuits.* In order to promote the missions to the
pagans, Clement XII. dispensed the French Capuchins from
the direction of Canon Law which forbids priests to practise
medicine.^
The Reductions of Paraguay were still the most flourishing
1 July 19, 1734, lus poniif., II., 446.
" April 9, 1735, ibid.,^s^.
=> August 6, 1739, ibid., 504 scq.
* Hergenrother-Kirsch, IV., 162 ; Schmidlin, loc. cit.,
400.
* Januarys, 1735, luspontij., II., 455.
PARAGUAY. 471
of all the South American missions. However, already at
the time of Clement XL's death heavy storm clouds were
gathering over those happy creations of missionary zeal,
clouds that were to discharge all too soon their destructive
lightnings. On the whole the Spanish population alone
was affected by the revolutionary movements which disturbed
the country between 1721 and 1735, first during the struggle
for the governorship, and from 1730 to 1735, through the
machinations of subversive elements — the so-called com-
muneros — whose domination led to utter chaos. ^ Hatred of
the Jesuits as the defenders of the Indians and their freedom
did not fail to take advantage of these circumstances. On
two occasions, from 1724 to 1728 and from 1732 until the
restoration of order in 1735, they were driven from the
capita], Asuncion. A proposal was made to the King that they
should be deprived of the Reductions and the Indians handed
over to the owners of commendas. Such a measure the Bishop
of Asuncion, the Franciscan Jose de Palos, wrote to the
King, would be the most effective means " to destroy utterly
the most flourishing and the most profitable Christian com-
munities which Your Majesty possesses in America ".^
The Jesuit Province of Paraguay of that time was not
co-extensive with the modern Republic of the same name ;
it also included the whole of the Argentine, Uruguay and
parts of Bolivia and Brazil. Consequently the revolutionary
movements in Asuncion did not interfere with the activities
of the Jesuits beyond the boundaries of present day Paraguay.
In 1735 the Governor of Tucuman, Juan de Ormaza y Arregui,^
wrote that the Jesuits " have ten Colleges, a Novitiate and two
Residences ; they are zealous in the discharge of the pastoral
ministry and go to the assistance of the secular priests whose
^ P. LozANO [ob. 1759], Historia de las revoluciones de la pro-
vincia del Paraguay en la America meridional desde el aho de 1721
hasta el de 1735, Buenos Aires, 1892 and 1905 ; Astrain, VII.,
506-603.
2 Astrain, VII., 546. A similar suggestion was made already
in 1708 (ibid., 495, 497).
^ Ibid., 605 seq.
472 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
parishes are so extensive that, but for the zeal of the Jesuits,
most of their parishoners would die without the Sacraments.
In addition to this, they devote themselves to the elementary
education of children, teaching them their letters, as well as to
higher education. The only University in those parts, that of
Cordoba de Tucuman, is in their care, and through their
missions they provide the only religious assistance available
to the faithful who are widely scattered over the country ".
This testimony only refers to the Jesuits' activity among the
Spaniards. At the same time the enterprising missionaries
also sought to reach those of the Indians who still remained
pagans, such as the tribes of the Chaco and southern Brazil
and the obdurate Chiriguans among whom, in 1733, Juhan
Ligardi paid for his zeal with his life.^
On the other hand these revolutionary movements proved
most injurious to the Reductions in Paraguay proper. In
1724 Antequera, who had arrogated to himself the post of
Governor, invaded the four nearest Reductions, with the
result that the Indians fled into the mountains from which it
proved exceedingly difficult to induce them to return. With
a view to restoring order the Governor of Buenos Aires, Bruno
Mauricio Zabala, enrolled between 8,000 and 10,000 Indians
as soldiers. In this way the Reductions were deprived of their
labour in the fields and they themselves fell victims to
epidemics, so that fresh levies were constantly required. Worse
still, the Spanish soldiers infected them with the vices of
civilization, thereby rousing the former savage in them. These
conditions caused some of the missionaries to lose heart and to
fear the early ruin of the Guarani missions, seeing that the
Indian population of 141,252 in 1732 had sunk to 107,543
in 1736.2
In the Far East, Corea remained closed to the Gospel.
On the other hand, by 1732 there were in the Philippines
816,615 Christians in 700 parishes, of whom 252,973 were
subject to the Augustinians, 160,199 to the Jesuits, 131,279 to
secular priests, 120,000 to the Franciscans, 98,780 to the
^ Ibid., 6o6 seqq.
2 Ibid., 6o8 seq.
TfBET. 473
Dominicans, 53,384 to the Recollects. Besides their various
houses, the Jesuits had sixteen Colleges.^
The mission begun in Burma by the Barnabite Calchi ^
seemed full of promise. The year of Calchi's death, 1728,
saw the arrival of two auxiliaries, one of whom, the Propaganda
missionary Rossetti, was put in charge of Ava by the Con-
gregation, whilst to the Barnabite Gallizia were assigned the
Kingdoms of Pegu and Martabano. As written appeals for
help met with no response, the missionaries journeyed in
person to Rome where Clement XIL received them graciously,
though he felt unable to comply immediately with their
request.^ At this time the Paris Seminary had 80,000
Christians in Tongking, the Jesuits 120,000, the Augustinians
30,000, the Dominicans 20,000. In Cochin-China the Christians
numbered 60,000.* Among the ten Jesuits of the mission,
Fr. Siebert held the post of court mathematician and physician.
Among the Jesuits of Tongking the German Caspar Kratz,
a native of Golzheim, near Diiren, and three of his brethren
in religion, sealed their apostoHc career with their blood in
1737.5
Under Prefect Orazio della Penna, some Jesuits and
subsequently Itahan Capuchins penetrated from Northern
India into Tibet. With the permission of the Dalai Lama they
established a convent at Lhassa where they converted a
number of Buddhists ; in fact the King and the Lama granted
them freedom to practise their religion by special letters.®
In order to promote their labours as well as with a view to
1 Kath. Missionen, i88o, 224.
- See above, p. 70.
' Gallo, Storia del cristianesimo nelV inipero Birmano, I.
(1862), no seq.
* SCHMIDLIN, 389.
^ Fr. Ortmann, Liber de vita et pretiosa morte ven. P. I. G.
Kratz et sociorum, Augsburg, 1770 ; Kath. Missionen, 1S74,
Nos. 6 and 7.
* Missio Apostolica Thibetano-Seraphica, Romae, 1738 ; Hue,
IV., 12 seqq. ; Jann, in Festschrift fiir G. Schniirer, Paderborn,
1930, 128-207.
474 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
encouraging the rulers to embrace Christianity and winding
their goodwill, Clement XII. dispatched most gracious and
friendly Briefs to the King and to the heads of the priests,
but a persecution had broken, out a 5^ear earlier, though
without ruining the mission. ^ However, for the time being,
no striking successes were realized in Tibet. ^
On the situation in China, the Jesuit missionary Romanus
Hinderer wrote on August 24th, 1736, that the persecution
then raging had begun in the first year of Emperor Yong-
Tshing, in the second year it had spread to every province,
that it had gone on for thirteen years and was becoming more
and more violent.^ Up to the year 1732, besides Peking, the
missionaries had been tolerated in Canton also, but on
August 18th of that year the Governors of the city informed
them that they must all withdraw to Macao : the order had
to be complied with. This measure was occasioned by a
protest from some Mohammedans who complained that,
contrary to the imperial prohibition, Christianity was still
being preached at Canton.* When the missionaries drew
Yong-Tshing's attention to the fact that Macao had no con-
venient harbour for communication with Europe, the Emperor
allowed three or four of them to remain in Canton ; more-
over, without counting a few native priests, some thirty
European missionaries successfully remained in hiding in the
provinces.^ At an audience the Emperor reproached the
Christians for not honouring the ancestors ; such impiety,
he said, could not be tolerated. The Europeans quoted the
1 Launay, Hist, de la mission du Tibet, I., 39.
^ Brief of February 26, 1733, lus pontif., VII., 119, n. IX.
3 lesuitica in gen., fasc. 16, n. 278, State Library, Munich.
* Wolfg. Steinpock, *Compendiosa narratio persecutionis
Cantoniensis motae a. 1732 contra religionem christiariam. May 15,
1733, ibid., n. 277. Cf. Le Roux des Hautesrayes in De Mailla,
XL, 494 seq.
* " *Praeter ahquot sacerdotes Sinenses in variis imperii
provinciis agunt occulti Europaei sacerdotes fere 30, singularique
Dei provindentiae tribuendum, quod nullus ad haec usque
tempera denuntiatus sit." Steinpock, loc. cit.
MEZZABARBA S PERMISSIONS. 475
fourth commandment and declared that they too honoured
the dead. This answer surprised Yong-Tshing ; he ordered
an examination of the Christian teaching, but after a few
months their books were returned to them without a reply.^
The future of the mission seemed desperate,^ though hope
revived to some extent when Yong-Tshing died on October 7th,
1735. Milder treatment was expected at the hands of his
successor Kienlong, but the persecution continued under
him also.^
Mezzabarba's legation had failed to restore concord among
the missionaries in China. On the one hand the Legate had
granted the eight " permissions ", but he had also declared
that Clement XL's decision in the Bull Ex ilia die was not
affected thereby, even though not all the permissions appeared
to agree with the Bull.^ Nevertheless the protests in Rome by
the opponents of the permissions were not at once taken into
account. When on August 6th, 1730,the Vicar Apostolic of
Shansi and Shensi, Saraceni, titular Archbishop of Lorima,
forbade the use of the permissions in regard to the tablets
of the ancestors, he was made to withdraw his pastoral letter
and this prohibition.^ There even followed a decision in the
opposite sense. The new Bishop of Peking, the Augustinian
Francis of the Purification, had sought to restore concord
among the missionaries by means of two letters dated July 6th
and December 23rd, 1733, in which he put them under
obligation to make use of Mezzabarba's permissions. Thus
arose fresh disputes ; Clement XII. accordingly annulled the
decrees of the Bishop, who had died in the meantime, and
1 DeMailla, XL, 499se^. Cf. *Stein^6ck, loc. cit.
* " *In fine Aprilis et initio Mail Macaum pervenerunt Utterae
Pekinenses. Hae sunt plenae lamentationibus circa statum
missionis. . . . Ex variis ecclesiis Pekinensibus advectae hue
litterae in hoc consentiunt, ab isto imperatore nihil non timendum
et radicem missionis vix tenuibus haerere fibris." Steinpock,
loc. cit.
^ DeMailla, XL, 512 se^^'.
^ Cf. Vol. XXXIIL p. 483.
* Brucker, in Diet, de theol. cath., II., 2387.
4y6 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
reserved to himself the right, after mature consideration, to,
make known to the Chinese Christians the judgment of the
Holy See in these matters.^ The pastoral letter of July 6th
had been occasioned by a conference of the Jesuits of Peking
with the Bishop. The latter charged the Jesuit Provincial
Pinheiro to communicate it to the Franciscan Castorano and
others, but they refused to subscribe to it on the ground that,
as attested by Pedrini, the missionaries of Propaganda had
not been previously informed. 2 At the end of 1735 Castorano
arrived in Rome for the express purpose of obtaining the
condemnation of the two pastoral letters and of Mezzabarba's
permissions. He obtained the condemnation of the pastorals
without difficulty ; as for Mezzabarba's permissions, a special
committee of the Inquisition was charged to examine them ;
its task was concluded at the beginning of 1737 and a
cardinalitial Congregation was set up for the purpose of giving
a final verdict. At the request of the Jesuit General, Fr. Retz,
Clement XH. granted a delay pending the arrival in Rome
of the Procurator of the Japanese Province who had already
reached Lisbon. Retz also sought to obtain the intervention
of the King of Portugal.^' The fresh examination of the
question was only concluded under Clement XH.'s successor.
On the other hand a conclusion was reached in the dispute
* September 26, 1735, luspontif., II., 463.
'^ *Petition of Castorano and others to Propaganda, October 8,
1733. For the rest at this time the witness Pedrini plays a
remarkable role : on October 9, 1733, three Jesuits attested on
oath that together with the Jesuits he had petitioned the Bishop of
Peking that the latter would order all the Peking missionaries to
observe what he had laid down in his pastoral letter concerning
Mezzabarba's permissions ; it was his wish that this order be
extended to the whole of China. To the Provincial of the Chinese
Jesuits he wrote that not only had he addressed this petition to the
Bishop, but he would also submit it to the Pope, together with the
Jesuits. Propaganda Archives, Indie Or. e Cina, 1733-6, Scritture
riferite Congreg., 21, n. 8.
* *Retz to Carbone at Lisbon, January 5, 1737 (property of the
Jesuits).
THE MALABAR RITES. 477
on the Malabar rites. Benedict XIII. 's decision had not
become known in India, hence his successor was requested to
take up the matter once more, for in spite of all decrees there
still were those who refused to give up their objections or their
hopes for mitigations. In six final sessions ^ the Holy Office
issued explanations of Tournon's decree. The sixteen points
of the decree were confirmed as a whole, though a few
individual mitigations were granted. ^ Thus in particular
cases of necessity, a dispensation was granted from the use
of the saliva and the breathing on the Catechumen in the
rite of Baptism, for a period of ten years, but the candidates
could not be given the names of pagan divinities or penitents,
though Tournon's order that names should be taken from the
Roman Martyrology, became a mere counsel.^ The ceremonies
observed when a girl reached the age of puberty were altered
by having a different object assigned to them : child marriages
were to be regarded as mere betrothals ; only on the attain-
ment of puberty were they to become true marriages which
might be celebrated with the customary solemnities. Thus
the outward solemnity was preserved whilst the objectionable
element was avoided.^ Tournon's decision with regard to
the translation of Christian expressions was maintained,
whilst the decree conceded that the translations already
in use were unobjectionable.^ The prohibition of the Taly —
that is the commemorative medal with its objectionable
representations, given to the betrothed — was maintained —
but the fresh prohibition expressly mentions the fact that
the missionaries had never allowed its use. An addition was
made to Tournon's directions concerning the Baptism of
pariahs which is intelligible enough — it was to the effect
that Indians could not be admitted to Baptism if they held
that pariahs were rejected by God ; those who did not rid
^ January 21, April 22, May 13, July 22, September 9 and 16,
1733-
" Brief of August 24, 1734, luspontif., II., 448-453.
' Loc. cit., n. 1-2.
* Ibid., n. II.
* Ibid., n. 3.
478 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
themselves of such a prejudice were themselves cast off by
God.^ The demand that marriages must be contracted
according to the Tridentine form, was restricted by a clause
stating that this only applied to places where the Council of
Trent had been published and the observance of the Tridentine
form was possible. ^ To Toumon's prohibition of marks
made on the forehead with ashes the declaration adds that
Gregory XV. 's Constitution of January 31st, 1623, should
be taken into account, in other words these symbols were
not forbidden if they were stripped of every superstitious
association.^ For the rest the Cardinals expressed a wish
that the missionaries should be formally forbidden to sanction
without papal leave, observances peculiar to the pagans or to
alter them into Christian ones, and in order to prevent
confusion of Christian and pagan customs aspirants to Baptism
should be carefully instructed, in accordance with
Alexander VII.'s instructions.
This decision seemed destined to put an end to the disputes
in India. The defenders of the Malabar rites had promised
to obtain submission to the Pope's judgment and the General
of the Jesuits issued instructions to his subjects demanding
unconditional obedience. Information reached Rome that
all the missionaries had subscribed to the papal Brief, that
the schism between Jesuits and Capuchins at Pondicherry
had come to an end and that all the missionaries had declared
their willingness to minister to the pariahs.'* Yet there were
not wanting complaints of inadequate submission.
Clement XII. accordingly renewed his command and demanded
from all Bishops and missionaries in India a promise on oath
that they would obey the papal prescriptions.^
^ Ibid., n. 12.
- Ibid., n. 5.
^ Ibid., n. 15.
* Amann, in Diet, de theol. cath., IX., 1730.
^ Brief of May 13, 1739, luspontif., II., 501 seqq.
CHAPTER IV.
The States of the Church. — Last Years of Clement XII. 's
Pontificate.— The Pope's Patronage of Scholarship
AND Art.
The repeated passage of imperial and Spanish troops and
the prolonged rupture of relations between the Holy See
and the courts of Naples, Madrid and Lisbon did most grievous
injury to Rome and to the States of the Church. Thus the
damage done by the imperial troops was reckoned to amount
to one and a half million scudi.^ How adversely social
conditions in Rome were affected by the interruption of
relations with Spain, Naples and Portugal is graphically
described by the Venetian envoy Alvise Mocenigo in his
report for the year 1737. Thousands of famihes, he writes,
had sunk from wealth into poverty and many others from
an assured existence into misery. An extraordinary large
number of Spaniards, Neapolitans and Portuguese who had
come to live in Rome for the purpose of obtaining benefices
either for themselves or for others, had vanished from the
city, and many Romans had followed them in order to seek
their fortune elsewhere. The population of the Papal States
fell at the same time.^
^ Gandino, Foscarini, lo.
- The passage in question was first printed in Ranke, III,,
222*. then in the complete edition of the report which appeared
in Venice in 1864. The population of Rome numbered in 1730 :
145,494 souls; in 1734, 151,334; in 1735, 150,665; in 1736,
150,649; in 1737, 149,180; in 1738, 147,119; in 1739, 146,750;
see Stiidie e docum., XII., 185 scq. On the population of the whole
of the States of the Church, see besides Corridore, 22, especially
479
480 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
All credit is due to Clement XII. for refusing to despair
in circumstances of such difficulty and for endeavouring,
by every means in his power, to bring about an improvement
in the conditions which then prevailed in the Papal States.
Before all else it was necessary to remedy the financial
straits. The first step towards this end was taken in 1731
when the Pope introduced the lotto which yielded considerable
sums.^ The interception of the revenues from Spain, Naples
G.BEhoCH, La popolationed' Italia nei sec, XVI. XVII. e XVIII.
Roma, 1888, 16 seqq., according to which the population of the
States of the Church (not counting Rome), which in 1701 was
1,841,937 inhabitants, had fallen to 1,656,585 in 1736.
^ Cf. above, p. 353. A. Mocenigo describes the lotto as the " ruina
de' popoli ", and he compares it to alchemy. What he says on the
finances is so interesting that it deserves to be mentioned. He
thinks that in Rome there continued to exist a " contrasto del
buono e del cattivo costume ; alia medesima condizione sono
pure le milizie di quello stato, piutosto destinate ad ornamento
di principato che a difesa e moderazione del popoli, e la piccola
squadra delle galere pontificie non merita che io ne trattenga
un momento I'eccellent. Senato. Qualche cosa bensi non posso
dispensarmi d'esporre alia Serenita Vostra sopra I'economia e
I'erario di Roma, non solo messo in rovina, ma incapace assoluta-
mente di ricevere provedimento che vaglia. Infatti due principi
cozzano fra di loro nel governo di Roma per impedire ogni buon
regolamento nelle co.se economiche. L'uno e il principato elettivo,
I'altro il principato assoluto. II primo fa che le famiglie regnanti
nulla curano la miglior conservazione di quei stati, che non si
tramandano alia posteriorita. II secondo, che non trova riparo
qualunque malversazione. Si pretende inoltre originata
dall'instituzione de' Monti la piaga insanabile di tre millioni di
scudi riservati in' Castel S. AngelO sotto i piu stretti vincoli :
ma dei quali presentcmentc mancano per lo mcno 2/3 del capitale,
quando la Camera regolarmente paga il frutto deU'intiero. Niente
minore 6 I'aggravio assunto da Innocenzo XI. nell'abbolizione dei
dodici chiericati di Camera, avendo dovuto restituire il danaro in
ragione di 60"^ scudi per uno. Anche Papa Clement XI. ha
lasciati di debito alia Camera presso di sei millioni di scudi,
i quali sono anche accresciuti sotto li pontificati seguenti. Le
rendite dello stato non reggono alle spese ordinarie, che vi si
FINANCIAL STRAITS. 481
and Portugal was all the more painfully felt as the budget
of the Papal States was intimately linked to that of the Holy
See. The State was unable to make up for the loss of revenue
from the above-named countries. It was all the more difficult
to make good the deficit as it was necessary to pay interest
on the huge public debt, whilst Clement XII., who personally
lived very simply,^ was unwilling to give up the patronage
of the arts which his predecessors had also practised. Thus
recourse was finally had to the expedient of issuing paper
money, but the remedy only increased the evil. The paper
money became an object of traffic which even people of
humble condition were obliged to purchase, at a serious loss
to themselves, for no notes below the value of twenty scudi
were issued. The capital of the banks of S. Spirito and
Monte di Pieta, which issued the notes, fell from one million
to 130,000 scudi. The debts of the Monti were for the most
part owing to foreigners, Genoese and Florentines, who
spent their revenues abroad. " In this way," the Frenchman
Charles de Brosses writes, " all the money from the Papal
States leaves the country or, more correctly, none comes in.
The money which should come in, makes so many detours,
through the manipulations of those who should pay it, that it
ends by sticking to the fingers of the Genoese and the
Florentines." From his banker. Count Giraud, the gifted
Frenchman learnt immediately on his arrival that in
consequence of the system of paper money, coin was almost
unknown in Rome.^
In a lively account of the lack of money which prevailed
in Rome in the autumn of 1736, Cardinal Cienfuegos mentions
some further causes of this unhappy state of affairs, viz.
fanno, di maniera tale che bisognerebbe, o aumentare le prime, o
diminuire le seconde. Lo state non comporta maggiori gabelle,
e le famiglie del Papi non permetteranno mai, che si minorino le
spese, a segno che il presente pontificate ha piutosto veluto
ricorrere alia spargirica del Lotto, che sottoporre a limiti ragiene-
volirecenemia." Relazione, 12-13.
^ De Brosses, Lettres, IL, 83.
2 Ibid., 20 seqq. Cf. Brosch, Kirchenstaat, II., 8^.
VOL. XXXIV. li
482 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
the bad administration of the Zecca (mint) by people who did
not understand anything, the absence of industries, which
necessitated considerable imports, the failure of the harvest
in the preceding year and the expensive billeting of troops,
which made it necessary to buy corn and other foodstuffs
elsewhere. 1 Clement XII. ordered an inquiry about means
for remedying this situation. Consultations with the leading
merchants took place, but the root of the evil was not touched ;
all that happened was the publication of an edict renewing
the old prohibitions of the exportation of money ^ which,
after Benedict XIII. had attached to the Zecchini a dispro-
portionately high value, had been indulged in on an even
larger scale. ^
On top of all these misfortunes a cattle plague was carried
across from Neapolitan territory.^ Edicts were published by
the Government in 1737 with a view to encouraging the sowing
of wheat in the Campagna and ordinances were issued against
usurers and smugglers.^ However, the financial straits
continued. In 1737 Alvise Mocenigo reports that the
economic condition was such that the State was unable to
provide for the future or to relieve present distress.^ Mocenigo's
successor, Marco Foscarini, recognizes that there was no lack
of goodwill to remedy the financial situation, but the
Government shrank from fresh taxation &nd did not feel
justified in touching Sixtus V.'s treasure in Castel S. Angelo,'
even for the war against the Turks as this campaign was an
offensive not a defensive one. The money which Clement XII.
sent to the Emperor in 1739 for a struggle which ended so
unhappily, came partly from his personal estate and partly
1 Cardinal Cienfucgos' *report, October 13, 1736, Reuss Arch.,
Ernstbrunn.
- Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report, October 20, 1736, ibid. Cf.
Cracas, October 27, 1736 ; ibid., July 26, 1738, on a fresh stern
edict against traffic in coins.
^ Garampi, MonetepontiJ., loi.
* Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report, October 20, 1736, loc. cit.
^ Benigisii, jgseqq. • Cf. above, p. 480 se^., n. i.
' Gandino, Foscarini, 9 seqq., 11.
I
LANGUISHING TRADE 483
from a collection made among the Cardinals and the clergy. ^
Mocenigo also describes in -detail the efforts made by
Clement XII. to revive the languishing trade with a view to
improving the revenues of the State. Efforts in that direction
were, so to speak, in the air. Southern Europe began at last to
see how far it lagged behind the North as a result of the neglect
of economic conditions. Alberoni, and after him Jose Patino,
did much in this direction in Spain, and an extensive
literature on political economy also grew up at this time.^
By comparison with other countries, the people of the Papal
States continued to enjoy the advantage of a very low taxation
but as trade and industry were almost completely prostrate,
economic conditions were very bad. The most necessary
articles of daily use, above all clothing material, had to be
imported. In this way, and because the Monti were mostly
in the hands of foreigners, whatever money flowed to Rome,
went abroad immediately.^ Misfortune dogged the home
industry. The wool and carpet factory set up by Innocent XII.
at S. Michele a Ripa was badly managed and its products
were too dear so that the Romans preferred to buy foreign
^ Ibid., 24 ; Fabronius, 128 ; Zinkeisen, V., 713 ; *Memorie
del pontificate di Clemente XII., Corsini Library, Rome, loc. cit.
On the excommunication of Rak6czi, and on the Pope's offer
to the Emperor, if he restored to the Church both Parma and
Piacenza, of two million florins from the treasury of Sixtus V.
(this was a case when it was permissible to draw upon it), cf.
♦Brief to Charles VI., dat. III. Non. Majas, 1738, Epist., Papal
Secret Archives : " maalcuni ministri di Vienna, indurati nell'er-
rore, non si vergognarono di dichiarare che piu presto vedrebbero
il Turco sotto Vienna (quod Deus avertat) che I'imperatore si
spogliasse dei mentovati ducati di Parma e Piacenza." On the
imposition of a tenth for five years on ecclesiastical property
in the imperial States for the war against the Turks, see *Brevia
dementis XII. in Brief Archives, Papal Sec. Arch. On the
war and the unfavourable peace of Belgrade, see besides
Zinkeisen, V., 669 seqq., also Hist. Zeiischrift, XL., i seqq., and
Mitteil. des osterr. Kriegs archivs, 1881.
^ Baumgarten, Geschichte Spaniens, I., 61 seqq.
' Voyages de Montesquieu, I., 193, 205, 215.
484 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
goods. The Roman stocking merchants also failed to prosper ;
though the articles sold by them were far better than those
made in Venice, Naples and Turin, the Romans bought the
latter products because of their cheapness.^
In 1734 a Florentine academician published a book in
which he explains exhaustively and with great clearness
by what means trade, agriculture and the income of the
exchequer might be improved.^ Clement XIL, who was
sprung from a family engaged in commerce, gave earnest
consideration to these endeavours. A vast number of
suggestions, projects, calculations and plans were submitted
to him.^
The Pope sought to guard the home industries by protective
tariffs.* The complete prohibition of the importation of
foreign textiles imposed by his predecessors Clement XL,
Innocent XIII. and Benedict XIII. and at first confirmed
by him also, had led to a considerable improvement in the
home textile industry in Rome, Nami, Perugia, Rieti, Tivoli,
Alatri, Veroli, Segni, Subiaco, Sanseverino and Giulianello,
but in 1735, by the advice of a Congregation, the Pope
• 1 Ibid. ,11. ,64.
* Testamento politico d'un academico Fiorentino, Colonia, 1734.
According to the catalogue of the Corsini Library, Rome, the
author is Leone Pascoli, 1674-1744. He rejects pure mercantihsm
and advocates, before Quesnay, physiocratic ideas. On the wide-
spread interest in poUtical economy and zeal for reform, see
G. Ricca-Salerno, Storia delle dottrine finanziarie in Italia,
Palermo, 1896, and T. Fornari, Delle teorie economiche nelle
provincie Napoliiane, Milano, 1882.
3 Ranke (III., 218* seqq.) discusses some of these drafts, but
he only quotes them as " Ms. Rom." After prolonged research,
I finally found his source. It is : Cod. 1172 (34, B 4), Corsini Lib.,
Rome, where, on p. 66 seqq., are the " *Osservazioni della presente
situazione dello stato eccles.", and numerous other documents,
which throw a new light on the deliberations about protective
duties.
* Cf. above, n. 3, and below, p. 4S5, n. 2, Arch. star, ital.,
1917, II., 291. On the duty on imported silk imposed in 1736,
see Bull, XX., 351.
FURTHERING INDUSTRY. 485
withdrew the prohibition and allowed the importation of textiles
against payment of a duty.^ No one rejoiced more over this
measure than the Venetians who had long watched the
development of the cloth factories of the Papal States, now
gravely threatened, with an anxiety equal to that with which
they had noted the conclusion of a commercial treaty between
the Pope and the Emperor.^ Connected with this treaty was
^ " Chirografo di N. S. col quale ritorna a permettere a ciasche-
duno indistintamente di poter introdurre in tutto lo state eccles.
(eccettiiato pero Roma per quelle riguarda a damaschi e velluti)
ogni qualunque sorta di pannine, damaschi e velluti, purche
si paghi un 20 per cento di gabella " (see Cracas. Cf. A. . Galli,
Cenni economico-statistici siillo stato pontif., Roma, 1840, 374.
The *Provedimento per lo stato ecclesiastico, of which Ranke
(III., 2ig*) gives extracts, advocates the renewal of the prohibi-
tion and its extension to silk goods. Ranke adds that he did not
find that this measure had any results, but had he only turned
a few pages in Cod. 1172, Corsini Library, Rome, he would have
discovered there the *edict of March 20, 1738, on a new " gabella "
on all foreign silk goods. Mention is also made of it by Galli
(loc. cit.).
^ B. Morosini *writes in 1731 : "La straordinaria gabella
imposta sulla cera forestiera rende minorato il commercio che su
questo capo facea la dominante con Roma ; i panni forestieri
proibiti, dall'editto quelli soli delli stati ereditari dell'Imperatore
sono stati poi eccettuati, fa che soffrano i sudditi di Vostra Serenita,
che introducevano nello stato pontificio ed in Roma quantita
di panni. Sino i merli di Chioggia sono stati vietati, proibizione
che io per il corso di tre anni trattenni e poi non vi fu modo di
impedire. fi vero che niente e succeduto in odio di Vostra Serenita,
perch e gli editti sono universali e per motivo solamente di far
uso delle cose dello proprio stato, procurare nel medesimo la
circolazione del danaro e impedirne I'uscita dallo stato del Papa,
ma se quelli, che devono a tali materie versare, fossero o dalla
nascita o dall'inclinazione portati in vantaggio di Vostra Serenita,
nemmeno questi pregiudicii ell'avrebbe risentito ; come ne
pure si sarebbe formato quel trattato di commercio coll'Impera-
tore, del quale, quantunque sia incerto e probabilmente vano
I'effetto, tuttavia fu stabilito per I'insinuazioni del Cervelli che
trovo benevoli ascoltatori." Relazione, State Archives, Venice.
486 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
a plan for the establishment of direct communication by
sea between the Papal States and the Austrian coast. To this
end, in 1733, a disposition of Clement VIII., of the year 1594,^
was re-enacted and Ancona declared a free harbour, and great
works were undertaken for the creation of a commercial
harbour.2 Venice watched the vigorous efforts of the Pope
with a jealous eye. Clement used the money brought in by
the lotto to pay for the extension of the harbour buildings
and the erection of a safe and well-equipped quarantine
hospital. By 1737, 200,000 scudi had been expended on the
work, but the experts reckoned that a further 660,000 scudi
would be required for its completion. The Venetian envoys
comforted their Government by explaining that the Pope
would not be able to raise such a sum and that the aged
Clement's successor was unhkely to prosecute the under-
taking.^ At any rate they had the satisfaction of seeing that
the hope of a revival of trade in the Papal States remained
unfulfilled.^ This was all the more painful to Clement XII.
as he took the greatest interest in the matter, up to the ver}'
end of his pontificate. The hospital designed by Vanvitelli,
who had already built Caserta, was a brick building round
a central court in the middle of which stood a chapel in the
form of a rotunda. On the northern wall of the harbour of
1 Galli, 374.
2 Cardinal Albani's *cdict of February 16, 1732, Cod. Barb.
4687, p. 2022, Vatican Library. An edict of September 2, 1734
(see Cracas), appointed a commission of five Cardinals " per il
stabilimento e buon regolamento del porto franco di Ancona ",
which had to meet at least once a month. Further *documents
concerning this subject in Cod. 34, B 8 and 9, Corsini Library,
Rome. Cf. Anderson, Gesch. des Handels, VII., 185.
* Relazione del Cav. A. Mocenigo of 1737, ed. Venezia, 1S64,
24 seq. Similarly, Foscarini, 1738, in Brosch, II., 84. Cf. also
Gandino, Foscarini, 13.
* Gandino, Foscarini, 14 seq., 16 ; mention is also made there
of Cardinal Albani's efforts to improve the glass industry in
Urbino ; for this purpose samples were brought not only from
Murano, but even from Saxony.
THE pope's liberality. 487
Ancona, which the Pope constructed as a continuation of
the ancient Roman one, a monument designed by Vanvitelli
was erected in his honour — the Arco Clementine — only a few
yards from Trajan's magnificent triumphal arch. A marble
statue of Clement in a sitting position, carved by Cornacchini
in 1739, adorned the Piazza Maggiore near the church of
Sf. Dominic.^ The people of lesi erected a triumphal arch
in honour of the Pope to mark its gratitude for the new road
from Nocera to Ancona which passed through lesi ; the road
was called Via Clementina after its founder.^
In 1734 Clement XIL distributed 300,000 scudi among
the distressed communities in the Papal States.^ In the same
5^ear the valley of the Chiana was changed from a swamp
into fertile land by the construction of a canal to the Tiber.'*
On the other hand the plan of rendering the Tiber navigable
from Perugia to Rome was not carried out. In addition to
a number of privileges the town of Cesena received assistance
towards the construction of a bridge over the Sinapi, in return
for which the town erected a marble statue of the Pope.^
A similar honour was paid him by Bologna : the Pope had
contributed 25,000 scudi towards the waterworks, 2,000
towards the seminary and 10,000 towards the library and
astronomical instruments bought in London.^
^ Leoni, Ancona illustrata, Ancona, 1832, 323 seqq. ; Fabro-
Nius, 62, 189 seqq. ; Cancellieri, Mercato, 249. On the military
hospital, cf. *Cod. 32, B 16, p. 39, and *Cod. 34, B 4 ( = 1172),
p. 410 seqq. (Vanvitelli's defence), Corsini Library, Rome.
2 Fabronius, 62 seq., 185 seq. On the concern of Clement XII.
for the roads in the States of the Church, cf. *Cod. 1170, Corsini
Library, Rome.
' NovAES, XIIL, 226. Ibid., 198, on other municipal subsidies.
Cf. also the inscription in Tivoli, V. Pacifici, L'archivio Tihurtino
di S. Giovanni Evangelisla, TivoH, 1922, XVIII.
* Fabronius, 85.
* Ibid., 60 seqq., 194. The Communal Archives, Cesena, Parte
III., Congregazioni, 1464, preserve the *dehberations of 1731-2
on the statue.
^ NovAES, XIIL, 285 seq. ; Fabronius, 193.
488 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
In Rome the Pope took steps against the excessive luxury
in^ wearing-apparel, issued an ordinance against the carrying
of arms, restricted the right of asylum and saw to a better
administration of justice. The excellent reputation of the
Rota, the highest ecclesiastical tribunal, dates frona this
time.^ In 1738 Clement XII. established a papal printing
press in the Piazza della Pace ; the celebrated pubhshtng
house of the De Rossi (De Rubris) constituted the nucleus
of this establishment. 2
The Pope did a very great deal for Ravenna which, thanks
to him, awoke to a new life. As early as 1732 he gave orders
for the junction in one bed of the Rivers Montone and Ronco
so as to free the city from the constant danger of inundation.'
A stone bridge was thrown across the united rivers — a work
worthy of the Romans of old.* The merit of having completed
this difficult undertaking belongs to Cardinal Alberoni who
was appointed Legate of the Romagna on January 17th, 1735.^
For the work of uniting the two rivers in one bed recourse
1 NovAES, XIII., 195, 238 ; Fabronius, 88 seq., 97 ; *Memorie
del pontificato di Clemente XII., Corsini Library, Rome, loc. cit. ;
*Ragioni ingerite a P. Clemente XII. per ovviare di frequenti
omicidi, in Cod. X., E 58, National Library, Naples. Cf. Cardinal
C. Cibo's *autobiography in Fondo Gesiiit., 103, p. i seqq., Vittorio
Emanuele Library, Rome. Brosch (II., 85) also acknowledges
the efforts of Clement for a better administration of the law.
On the Rota, cf. Relazione of A. Mocenigo, 1737, Venezia, i86.:|.
2 Reumont, in Allgem. Zeitung, 1874, n. 356 (Beil.) and 364 ;
E. OviDi, calcografia Romana, Roma, 1905. Cf. the periodical
" Emporium ", 1922, Gennaio, and Arch. Rom., XXVIII. , 500.
^ Chirografo of Clement XII. " per la divcrsione dei fiumi ",
dated 1732, Ottobre 10 (printed) in Bibl. Classense, Ravenna.
Cf. Ragguaglio istorico della diversione dei due fiumi, Bologna,
1 741 (anonymous ; Filippo Diego Bellardi, Alberoni's biographer,
is the author) ; mention is also made of the inundation of 1736 ;
see also Novaes, XIII., 220.
* Santi Muratori, Del ponte nuovo prcsso Ravenna e di tin
epigrafe di Giambattista Vice, Imola, 191 1.
* Cardinal Cienfuegos' *report, January 22, 1735, Reuss Arch.,
Ernstbrunn.
THE POPE AND RAVENNA. 489
was had to the most eminent hydrauUc engineers of the time
viz., Eustachio Manfredi and Bernardino Zendrini. Work
continued even at night and Alberoni superintended it in
person. On some days he appeared on the scene as often as
three times. Thus came into being one of the greatest hydraulic
achievements of the century. Work had begun in July, 1735 ;
December, 1736, saw its completion. ^ Commemorative medals,
inscriptions and poems e.xtolled the union of the rivers, the
new bridge and the new road {Via Roma).^
Alberoni furthered the well-being of Ravenna by every
means, set the administration in order and drove out the
bandits. To him and to the Pope the city likewise owes the
navigable canal to the sea, ten kilometres long, constructed
in 1737, and the new outer harbour which was given the name
of Corsini, as was the new city gate.^ In 1738 the grateful
citizens erected a colossal marble statue of the Pope in the
principal square, between the columns bearing the statues of
SS. Apollinaris and Vitalis. Pietro Bracci has produced
a seated figure of the aged Pontiff in the act of blessing the
city, his countenance radiating gentleness and kindness.*
^ See Santi Muratori's monograph, p. 3 seqq., quoted above.
* See besides Santi Muratori, 7 and 8 seqq., also P. D.
Pasolini, Ravenna, Roma, 1912, 2, who, on p. 217, gives a repro-
duction of the commemorative medallion. The inscription says :
" Clemens XII. P. M. | Bedesis, et Vitis aquis | Ravennae utrinque
imminentibus | corrivatis | magnifico ponte superimposito |
Romanaque via restituta | urbem ab alluvione immunem |
reddidit j viatorum saluti et commodo | prospexit | a. s.
MDCCXXXVI. Pont. VI. | opus curante | lulio card. Alberono |
Flaminiae legato | S. P. Q. R. | principi beneficentissimo p."
^ Cf. besides Alberoni's biographies : Fabronius, 201 seqq. ;
Tarlazzi, Mem. stor. di Ravenna, Ravenna, 1852, 473 seq. ;
GoETZ, Ravenna, 128. *Acts in Municipal Archives, Ravenna.
Cf. also B. Fiandrini, *Annali Ravennati, Ms. in Bibl. Classense
Ravenna ; A. Baccarini, // portocanale Corsini, in Giorn. del
Genio civ., 1868, n. 5 ; Nuova Antologia, 4th Series, CXVIII.
(1905), 329.
* Reproduced in Pasolini, Ravenna, 216 ; Ricci, Raccolta artist,
di Ravenna, Bergamo, 1905, 123 seq. ; V. Domarus, Bracci,
490 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
The removal, in Jul\', 18G7, by order of the municipal council,
of this monument of a ruler who had done more for the cit}'
than any other prince, from its place of honour, and its
consignment to the museum of antiquities, is not a brilliant
page in the history of Ravenna. ^ For all that Clement XII. 's
name still lives at Ravenna at thisday, as doesthatof Alberoni.
The practical, useful work done by Alberoni at Ravenna
by no means exhausted the energy of that remarkable man
whose fame was once more in the ascendant. ^ In the gravelike
silence of the city of Theodoric, the man who had been for
a time the all-powerful minister of Spain and who had enter-
tained plans which would have revolutionized the world,
continued his adventurous dreams by drawing up fantastic
schemes for the conquest of the Turkish Empire and its
partition among the Christian Powers.^
This plan for changing the map of Europe, which was
neither original nor practical, was much more harmless
than Alberoni's attempt, in 1739, to rob San Marino of its
independence and to subject the Httle Republic to the
authority of the Pope. Encouraged by and relying on the
enemies of the local oHgarchy, he presented himself on horse-
back, at the head of an armed force, on October 17th, 1739,
I 7, 24. Cf. the rare work (a copy is in Bibl. Classense, Ravenna) :
Evigendosi nella piazza di Ravenna | la statiia | del heatissimo
Padre | Papa Clemente XII. | componimenti | degli Accademici
Informi | consecrati | alia Santitd Sua | dal Senato e popolo di
cssa cittd | in dimostyazione | di ossequiosissinia gratitudine | In
Ravenna per Anton-Maria Landi, MDCCXXXVIIL, contains :
" Alia Santita di Kostro Signore Clemente XII. P. M. il Macstrato
de' Savi di Ravenna ; Introduzione del cav. Marcantonio Gio-
vanni [?] principe deirAccademia ; Orazione del marchese cavalier
Simone Ignazio Cavalli in lode di Clemente XII. P. M. (recitata
alia presenza del card. Alberoni) " ; then follows a series of
poems.
^ Yasox-I^i, Ravenna, 21^ seq.
* Cf. Frugoni's letter of 1738, in Bollct. sior. Piacent., XV.
(1920), 62 seqq. See also Riv. stor. ital., 1921, 69.
^ Vestnitsch, Le card. Alberoni pacifisie, in Rev. d'hist. dipl.,
191 2 ; Michael, in Hist. Zeitschr., CX., 445 seqq.
ALBERONI ATTACKS SAN MARINO. 49I
and proclaimed the sovereignty of the Pope. The Cardinal
Secretary of State had not been averse to action against
San Marino as the situation there seemed to threaten the
security of the Papal States. But when messengers arrived,
demanding justice for the Republic, it was quickly realized
in Rome that they had been misled by exaggerated reports.
In the first days of November, 1730, the Pope decided that no
annexation was to take place without a previous free vote
of the citizens. Alberoni was publicly disavowed for exceeding
his instructions and at Christmas, 1739, he was relieved of his
legation. Enrico Enriquez went to San Remo as papal
commissar}^ to supervise the plebiscite ; the result of the
voting was such that he restored its independence and freedom
to San Remo.^ With this act, in the words of Muratori,
Clement XII. crowned the end of his pontificate. ^ Besides
the affair of San Marino, various chicaneries in secular and
ecclesiastical matters on the part of the new Government of
his native Florence caused the aged Pontiff both vexation
and pain ^ : but these were the last trials of his thorny
pontificate.
To the gout which tormented Clement XII., there was
^ C. Malagola, // card. Alberoni e la repitbbl. di S. Marino,
Bologna, 1886 ; I. Raulich, II card. Alberoni e la repubbl. di
S. Marino [Contributo di documenti Vaticani), in Arch. stor. ital.,
5a, Series XXXIX. (1907), 353 seqq. Cf. also the dispatches,
ibid., 4th Series, XX., 361 scqq. ; Gandino, Foscarini, 6 seqq.
The collection of documents on this matter in Cod. 34, B 2,
Corsini Library, Rome, has not been made use of by Raulich ;
also *Relazione al D. G. M. de Valenzuola 1739, in Cod. ital.,
189, n. 30, State Library, Munich. Brosch treats twice (I., 392 ;
II., 85 seqq.), of the attack against San Marino, but docs not
devote one line to the beneficial activity of Alberoni and Clement
XII. on behalf of Ravenna. As a matter of fact, he only dwells
on the shadows in the picture, so that his History of the States
of the Church becomes a real caricature.
* Muratori, XII., 202.
^ *Mem. del pontif. di Clemente XII., Corsini Library, Rome,
loc. cit. Cf. Fabronius, 130 seq. ; Reumont, Toskana, II., 39.
about the County of Carpegna.
492 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
added a hernia which, towards the end of 1738, caused the
court considerable anxiety.^ In October of the following
year the Pope's weakness was such that his death was expected
daily. His condition improved once more, but he was
compelled to keep to his bed during almost the whole of the
last months of 1738, which were extraordinarily cold.- In
January, 1740, there supervened bladder trouble which caused
a good deal of sleeplessness. ^ On the 28th the Pope asked
for Holy Viaticum and on the 29th he was anointed. He also
suffered from a heavy catarrh, but his strong constitution
continued to resist the approaching end.* Only when the
sick Pontiff was no longer able to take even the chocolate
on which he had been fed, was all hope given up. On the
morning of February 6th he expired after a brief agony,
aged close on 88 years. ^ His pontificate had lasted nine and
a half years. When we remember that he had been totally
blind since 1732 and that during the last years his weakness
had been such as to compel him to keep almost continuously
in a reclining position, we can only wonder at the energy
which caused him to apply himself to affairs to the best of his
power. That in view of his great age and his ailing condition
^ Reports in Arch. stor. Hal., 4th Series, XX., 176 seq. In May,
1738, Clement XII. confessed for the first time that he was feeling
the weight of the years. At that time L. M. Lucini *wrote to
Cardinal Lambertini : "II Papa non sta male e non sta bene."
Report of May 3, 1738, Cod. Ottob. 3052, Vatican Library.
" *Conclave di Benedetto XIV., in Cod. 38, G 20, p. 249 seqq.
Corsini Library, Rome.
^ Acquaviva's *report to the Marquis de Villanas, January 28,
1740, Archives of the Spanish Embassy in Rome.
* L. M. Lucini's report on the illness in his *letter to Cardinal
Lambertini, January, 1740, states : " E mirabile che tanta
vecchiaia possi tanto resistere, onde si conosce di quanta fortezza
sia la di lui complessione." Cod. Ottob. 3052, Vatican Library.
* Reports in Arch. stor. ital., 4th Series, XX., 360 seqq., 365
seqq. ; Acquaviva's *report to the Marquis de Villanas, February
6, 1740, loc. cit. ; Card. Quirini, *Scrittura sopra la morte di
Clemente XII., Cod. A CXLIIL, 11, Marucelliana Library,
Florence.
LEARNING AND ART. 493
many things escaped him and the reins finally slipped from
his hands, was as inevitable as the impossibility for him to
remove completely the faults of government which he had
inherited from his predecessors. At any rate the extraordinary
severe sentence against Coscia was a stern warning to the
officials of the Curia. Clement XII. kept himself absolutely
free from nepotism.^ In the face of the arrogance and
arbitrariness of the Catholic courts he sought to restore peace
by patience and an accommodating disposition, ^ with a view
to saving as much as could be saved of the rights of the Church.
In this way tolerable agreements were arrived at with
Portugal and Spain, but the ecclesiastical disputes with the
courts of Turin and Naples remained unsettled. The Pope
was likewise painfully affected by the utter disregard of the
ancient feudal rights of the Holy See over the Duchies of
Parma and Piacenza.
(2.)
Clement XII. has deserved well of learning and art. The
appointment, soon after his election, of the learned Cardinal
Angelo Maria Ouirini as Prefect of the Vatican Library was
a particularly happy decision. Quirini had at heart both
the increase and the practical usefulness of the treasures
of the Vaticana which, by reason of its manuscripts, ranked
as the first library in the world. ^ On May 26th, 1731, the
Pope thanked him for the gift of his own library to the Vatican
collection and for his having caused Joseph Simon Assemani
to begin work on an edition of the works of St. Ephrem the
^ Gandino, Foscarini, 51.
" As the pontificate of Benedict XIII., L. M. Lucini writes in
his *letter to Lambertini, November 28, 1730, had been made
unhappy by Coscia, so that of Clement XII. was so through
" fatalita " ; " Papa cadente in tutto con notorieta di tutto il
mondo che non habet nee velle nee nolle e senza restare inteso delle
difficolta in contrario si fa dire di si e di no, come pare agli interes-
sati." Cod. Ottob., 3052, Vatican Library.
' Gaddi, Roma nobilitata, 90.
494 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Syrian.^ Clement bought manuscripts for the Vatican Library,
added another wing to it with new bookcases, and presented
it with 200 Etruscan vases, most of which he had acquired
from the collection of Cardinal Gualtieri. A truly princely
gift was that of 328 antique medals, including some superb
pieces from the Albani collection, which he bought for the
sum of 10,000 scudi and left to the Vaticana. He also provided
further funds for the acquisition of manuscripts and printed
books. 2 Only a short time before his death the Pope consigned
to the Vatican Library the original of Eugene IV. 's Bull of
Union and five rare papyri from the collection of Scipio Maffei.^
The circumstance that, as Bishop of Brescia, Cardinal Maffei
frequently resided in that city, increased the importance of
the role of the sub-librarians ; these were the Chaldean
Joseph Simon Assemani, the celebrated editor of the Biblioteca
Orienlalis,^ and the archjeologist Giovanni Gaetano Bottari,
the editor of a new edition of the dictionary of the Crusca,
whom the Pope had summoned from Florence. Bottari's
work on Bosio's book on the Catacombs, undertaken at
Clement XIL's instigation, was less happy.^ The Vatican
^ *Brief of May 26, 1731, Epist., Papal Secret Archives. Cf.,
ibid., *Briefs of January 5, 1732, and February 20, 1737 ; Carini,
Bibl. Vat., 108 ; Opera, Ephraemi, 6 vols., Romae, 1732-1746.
2 Brief of August 24, 1739, in Carini, loc. cit., 105 seq. Cf.
A. M. QuiRiNi, Comment, de Bibl. Vat. a Clemente XII. aucta,
Brixiae, 1739 ; Carini, 107. On the collection of vases, see
Gaddi, 94 ; JusTi, Winkelmann, IIL, 344 seq.
^ *Brief of thanks to S. Maffei, January 29, 1740, Epist.,
Papal Sec. Arch. Ibid. *Briefs of thanks for the dedication of
works, June 21, and (to M. Hergott), June 28, 1738. " Confir-
matio censurarum Sixti V. pro Bibl. Vatic," August 24, 1739,
in Bj<//, XXIV., 571.
* Bibl. Orientalis, 3 vols., Romae, 1719-1728.
^ G. G. Bottari, Sciilture e pitture sagre estratie dai cimeteri
di Roma, pitbblicate gid dagli aiitori delta Roma Sotterranea, ed
era nuovamente date in luce colle spiegazioni, per ordine di N. S.
Clemente XII., tomo L con 48 tavole in rame, Roma, 1737. Cf.
A. NiccoLiNi, Alcune leitere a mons. Giov. Bottari intorno alia
corte di Roma (1724-1761), Bologna, 1867.
LEARNING AND ART. 495
Library was not as yet open to the public, but any one even
slightly known to its officials, was able to use it on certain
days when, as Charles de Brosscs attests, he could be sure of
a courteous reception.^
Clement XII. summoned to Rome, to act as Secretaries
for Briefs to Princes, two of the most distinguished latinists
of the period, viz. Carlo Majella, and after the latter's death
in 1735, Giovanni Lucchesini.^ Cardinal Domenico Passionei
was appointed Secretary of State for Briefs in June, 1738,
and in that capacity he lodged in the Consulta where he also
set up his famous library.^ To his old friend the poet Niccolo
Forteguerri of Pistoia, the courageous censor of the abuses
introduced by Coscia and his Beneventans, the Pope assigned
a secure position by naming him Secretary to Propaganda,*
whilst the Florentine poet Niccolo Ridolfi became Master of
the Apostolic Palace.^ The Pope also gave assistance to
Francesco Lorenzini, one of the principal members of the
Arcadia, in the latter's endeavours for the presentation of
classical comedies ® ; on the learned D'Inquembert, his former
librarian, he bestowed the see of Carpentras in 1735.'^ The
^ De Brosses, Lettres, II., 204. Clement also favoured in this
way Coquelines who made use of the Secret Archives for his great
BuUarimn.
2 Fabronius, 147 seq. On Majella, see above, p. 333. On
Luchesini, see Renazzi, IV., 179 seqq. ; Arch. stor. ital., 4th Series,
XIX., 224, 228.
3 De Brosses, Lettres, II., 255.
* Renazzi, IV., 130 ; Baumgartner, VI., 498 seq. ; F.
Canonici, Notizie della vita e delle opere di N. Forteguerri, Siena,
1895, 30 seqq., 107 seqq., m seqq., who made use of the manu-
scripts of the Forteguerri Archives, Figtoia.
^ Renazzi, IV., 97.
* Ibid., 141 seq.
' Hist, de M. d'Inquembert, eveqiie de Carpentras, Cavaillon,
1867. The Carpentras Library has a number of manuscripts
from DTnquembert's literary remains which serve for the history
of Clement XII., thus Cod. 9, *AIemorie del pontificate di Clemente
XII., especially on the disputes with France ; Cod. 39, *Memorie
del papato di Clemente XII. raccolte da M. d'Inquembert.
49^ HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Florentine Dominican Giuseppe Agostino Orsi, who had
dedicated to the Pope his work on papal infalliblHty, was
summoned to Rome by Cardinal Neri Corsini, to act as his
theologian. 1 The above-named Cardinal always showed great
favour to men of letters. In his palace on the Lungara he
founded a library which exists to this day and which is
extraordinarily rich in manuscripts, printed books and
engravings. 2 There he also received the Accademia de'
Quirini which, previous to Clement XIL's elevation to the
Chair of St. Peter, had held its meetings at the latter's palace.^
Mention must also be made of Clement XII. 's plan for a
further reform of the Calendar.^ To the celebrated Swedish
astronomer Anders Celsius he assigned a room under the
clock tower of the Quirinal for his observations of the sky ^
and he gave assistance to the able Giambattista Nolli for
his work on an accurate plan of the city of Rome.^ On the
Capitol he established a home for the secret archives of the
Camera Capitolina.'
The Pope proved himself a true Florentine by his energetic
^ HuRTER, IV.3, 1505 seq.
* DuDiK, Iter Rom., I., 95 seqq. ; F. Cerroti, Memorie p.
servire alia storia della incisione compilate nella descrizione delle
stampe nella Bibl. Corsiniana, I., Roma, 1858 ; Id., Letter e e
Mem. autogr. ed inedite di artisti tratte dai Mss. d. Corsiniana,
Roma, i860 ; Laemmer, Zur Kirchengesch., 113 seqq. ; Gachard,
La bibliothtque des princes Corsini a Rome, Bruxelles, 1869 ;
Pelissier, in Zentralblatt fiir Bibliothekswesen, VIII. (1891),
177 seqq., 297 seq. ; *Catalogo d. Bibl. del card. Gualtieri acquistata
dal card. Corsini, in Cod. 69, Carpentras Library.
» Renazzi, IV., 121. On the Accademia Quiriniana, see
Cancellieri, Mercato, 129.
* *Raccolta di scritture sopro un progetto per la riforma del
Calendario Gregoriano 1735 (Fil. Lud. Giuliani's project), in Cod.
36, F 7, Corsini Library, Rome. Cf. ibid.. Cod. 41, F i, p. 228 seqq.
♦Parere di Eustachio Manfredi.
* M. DE Benedetti, Palazzi e ville reali d' Italia, I., Firenze,
1911. 35-
* Cracas, August 18, 1736.
' Gli Archivi italiani (Rivista), VI., (1919), 165.
PAINTERS AND ARCHITECTS. 497
patronage of art. In his commissions to artists, as in other
respects also, he gave preference to his countrymen. The
two great architects whom he chiefly employed, Ferdinand
Fuga ^ and Alessandro Galilei, were both Florentines. Among
sculptors the Roman Pietro Bracci was the most eminent ;
most of the others, viz. Giambattista Maini, Agostino
Cornacchini, Filippo Valle, Giuseppe Lironi, were natives of
the city of the Arno.
It is matter for amazement that, in spite of financial straits,
the Pope should have succeeded in making of his pontificate
one of the most splendid and fruitful periods of artistic
achievement. Already in 1736 Giambattista Gaddi was able
to enumerate an impressive list of buildings with which the
Pope had embelhshed Rome.^ But these new constructions
did not hinder Clement XII. 's solicitude for the relics of old
Rome. In the very first period of his pontificate he ordered
the restoration of that venerable monument of the triumph
of Christianity, the Arch of Constantine. The work was
directed by the architect Girolamo Teodoli and Marchese
Alessandro Gregorio Capponi, a noted archaeologist, whilst
the restoration of the statues was carried out by Pietro
Bracci.'
^ Fuga died in 1738 ; see Forcella, VIII., 479.
- G. B. Gaddi, Roma nohilitata nelle sue fabriche dalla S'" di
N. S. Clemente XII., descritta da G. B. G., Roma, 1736. This is
supplemented by the continuation of Falda and Specchi's Nuovo
teatro by Giov. Dom. Campiglia : II quinto lihro del nuovo teatro
delle fabbriche et edifici, fatte fare in Roma e fuori di Roma da
Clemente XII., disegnate et intagliate, etc., Roma, 1739, with thirty
copper plates. I consulted the original copy of this extremely
rare work dedicated to Clement XII., which Cardinal Neri
Corsini assigned to the Corsini Library. Cf. also Fabriche div.
disegnate con' le loro iscrittioni fatte da Clemente XII., formerly
Cod. 1056, Corsini Library, now in Gab. d. stampe d. Galleria
Corsini, 158, J. 6.
' Gaddi, loc. cit., 177 seqq. ; Grisar, I., 96 note ; v. Domarus,
P. Bracci, 16 seqq. ; Bullet, d. Commiss. archeol., XLVI. (1918),
161 seqq. Cf. Gkadara, in Rassegna d'arte, November, 1915.
VOL. XXXIV. Kk
49^ HISTORY OF THE POPES.
To the skilled hands of Capponi, who was assisted by
Abbate Marchesini, Clement XII. entrusted the arrangement
of the museum of statues in the third of the palaces on the
Capitol completed under Innocent X. The nucleus of the
museum was the celebrated collection of imperial busts and
inscriptions of Cardinal Alessandro Albani which that
Prince of the Church, who just then happened to be in great
need of cash, had sold to the Pope for the sum of 60,000 scudi.*
To this were added antique objects from the palace of the
Conservators and numerous new acquisitions, such as two
precious columns of verd-antique, 187 inscriptions, described
by Bianchini, from the so-called tomb of Livia's freedmen
discovered in 1726, and the magnificent statue of Antinous
found in the garden of the Villa Adriana. Albani himself
enriched the CapitoHne museum with spontaneous gifts of
which the best known is the group of " Amor and Psyche ".
The aged Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni also contributed several
statues, among them that of the Vecohia ubriaca {" Drunken
Old Woman "). The statue of the " Dying Gladiator " was
bought by the Pope from the Ludovisi and placed by him
in the museum which was inaugurated in 1734.2
The Florentine Pope's distinction of having created the
first public museum of antiquities in Europe ^ is recalled by
an inscription and the arms and bust of the Corsini Pope
^ Hautecceur, Rome a la fin dii XVI IT. siecle, lo.
" MiCHAELis, Storia della collezione Capitolina di aniichitd,
in Rom. Mitteilungen, VI. (1891), 58 seqq. ; Rodocanachi,
Capitole, 158 seqq. According to *Ristretto delle spese per la
collocazione delle statue comprate da Clemente XII. dal card.
Albani nel Campidoglio sotto la direzione di M. A. G. Capponi, in
Cod. 41, F. I, Corsini Library, Rome, the expenses amounted to
20,972,77 and 10,335,32 scudi.
* The antiques which Sixtus IV. presented to the Palazzo dei
Conservatori {cf. the present work. Vol. IV., 459), as also the
Cortile di statue of Julius II. in the Belvedere {cf. VI., 487), were
architectural decorations of the same kind as those in use in
private palaces ; cf. Fuktwangler, ijber Kitusisammlungen alter
nnd neiier zeit, in Allgem. Zeitimg, 1899, App., n. 67.
MUSEUMS. 499
above the Marforio fountain in the cortile of the museum.^
At one time the great hall of the museum was adorned with
a more than life-size statue of the Pope which the Senate
had erected in the autumn of 1734, in recognition of the
benefits confered by the Pontiff upon the city. The statue,
designed by Pietro Bracci and cast by Francesco Giardoni,
has unfortunately disappeared without a trace : it was
probably destroyed during the period of French domination in
1798.2 jj^g Capitoline museum, to which was to be added
a picture gallery,^ was not yet finally arranged at the time
of Clement XII. 's death and further additions were constantly
being made.* The contemporaries justly extol this collection
which was destined to become the great book of archaeologists,
" Of all the embellishments of the Eternal City," wrote
Mocenigo, the Venetian ambassador, " this collection of
ancient statues, inscriptions and reliefs on the Capitol is
the most important, the most sensible ; by itself alone it
would suffice to commend and endear to posterity the memory
of Clement XII." ^
Facing the Ouirinal and not far from the Giardino Colonna,
Fuga completed in 1730-1731, by order of Clement XII.,
the mews begun by Michelangelo Specchi under Innocent XIII. ^
^ FoRCELLA, I., 79 ; ibid., the other inscriptions about Clement
XII. ^ See DoMARUS, P. Bracci, 22 seqq.
3 Cf. the document from Miscell. d. Bibl. Corsini, pubUshed by
OzzoLA in Corriere d' Italia, 1907, n. 8. The exportation of pictures
especially to England (see De Brosses, Lettres, II., 49), was
considerable ; cf. Bertolotti, Esportazione di oggetti di belle
arti da Roma, in Riv. Europ., 1871, 186 seq. Already in 1729
Montesquieu (Voyages, I., 205) wrote : " II faudrait faire une
loi dans Rome que les principales statues seroient immeubles et ne
pourroient point se vendre qu' avec les maisons oil elles seroient
sous peine de confiscation de la maison et d'autres effets du
vendeur. Sans cela Rome sera toute depouillee."
* De Brosses, Lettres, II., 180, 208.
^ Relazione, ed. Venezia, 1864.
® Gaddi, 57 seqq. In the Quirinal there is an inscription
almost completely destroyed, of which only the ending is still
legible : " A^ 1731 Pontif., II."
500 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
The Quirinal, which was his habitual residence, received
an extension along the street leading towards Porta Pia,
for housing the Pope's familiars, viz. the Manica Lunga and
the adjoining Palazzina. This addition was also made by
Fuga, who used constructions raised by Alexander VIL and
Innocent XII. : the work was completed in 1732. For the
benefit of the Swiss Guards a chapel dedicated to Blessed
Nicolas von der Fliie was set up in the building.^ Opposite
the Quirinal, on the south side, Fuga was instructed to replace
the old palace of the Consulta, restored by Paul V., by a new
building, the upper storey of which was to house the officials
of the tribunal of the Consulta and the Secretaries of the
Cypher whilst the basement was to be occupied by the papal
cavalry. The demolition of the old building, which began in
1732, unfortunately entailed the destruction of a frieze painted
under Leo X. by PoHdoro Caravaggio.^ The foundation stone
of the new Consulta was laid in October, 1732 ; the work,
which was paid for with the copious returns from the lotto,
was completed in 1735.^ The palace was skilfully adapted
to the existing space : the vestibule is characterized by a
noble simplicity whilst the double flight of stairs leading to
the topmost storey is magnificently proportioned ; the long
fa9ade has two orders of pilasters, the lower one partly rustic,
the upper one Ionian ; both carry an attic and a high balustrade
extending the whole length of the facade ; the tympanums
of the portals are adorned with trophies and allegorical
figures.* The magnificent coat of arms of Clement XII.
above the principal cornice, surrounded by allegorical figures,
was completed in 1735.^ Giambattista Maini's marble statues
of Justice and Religion were set up over the main entrance
in October, 1739.'' The spacious palace of the Consulta and
1 Gaddi, 47 seqq.
* Y KUESio in Arte e star ia.'X.'XyiN I. (1917), iS.
* Ibid., 18 seqq. Cf. Gaddi, 63 seqq.
* Letarouilly, Texte, 169, Planches, I., 29 ; Ebe, 822 seq. ;
GuRLiTT, 526 ; Brinckmann, Bankunst, I., 124.
' Valesio, loc. cit., 19.
« Cracas, October 31, 1739.
NEW STREETS. 5OI
the extensive buildings of the Mews gave an entirely new
appearance to the piazza of the Quirinal.
In the interior of the city Clement XII. opened a new
street towards the palace of Monte Citorio ^ ; the Corso
was widened near the Palazzo Sciarra.^ For paving the
streets he adopted the " new method " of using bricks, a
process which though more costly was more lasting.^
Clement XII. enlarged the Vatican Library by the addition
of a new wing,* contiguous to the part which Paul V. had
had adorned with paintings. To the house of correction of
S. Michele in Ripa he added a prison for women. In view of
the fact that great damage was done in May, 1734, when the
wood store in the city caught fire, he established a new one
outside Porta del Popolo.^ He provided Castel S. Angelo
1 Gaddi, 124 seqq.
2 Cracas, February 2, 1737. Cf. Fabronius, 199. According
to Fea {Dei diritti, 82 seq.), Clement XII. also laid out anew the
Piazza Pollarola.
3 " *I1 nuovo metodo di selciare le strade a quadrucci di tanto
maggior durata bench e di spesa piu considerabile," say the
Mem. del pontif. di Clemente XII., Corsini Library, Rome, loc. cit.
The work was almost completed in 1738 ; see Gandino, Foscarini,
13. On the taxes to be imposed on the owners of houses, see
the Memorial *Intorno alle strade dentro e fuori di Roma, Archives
of the Austrian Embassy at the Vatican. Cf. also Cod. 34, A 8,
Corsini Library, Rome. The population of Rome in 1730 was
145,494 ; in 1739, 146,750 inhabitants ; see Studi e docum.,
XII., 185 seqq.
* Gaddi, 89 seqq. On October 25, 1732, Cienfuegos *reports :
" Mercoledi scorso si porto [Clemente XII.] a vedere la Biblioteca
Vaticana, in cui si e accresciuto un nuovo braccio per mettervi
i libri del card. Quirini." Archives of the Austrian Embassy
at the Vatican.
* Gaddi, 121 seqq. ; Forcella, X., 509 ; Fabronius, 197 ;
A. TosTi, Ospedale Apost. di S. Michele, Roma, 1832, 11 seqq.
On the fire in May, 1734, see Relazione del grandissimo incendio
seguito nella citta di Roma il di 5 di Maggie 1734, Firenze, 1734 ;
at this time Clement Xll.^gave orders for the creation of a fire
brigade ; see *Cod. 32, D i, p. 244 seq., Corsini Library, Rome.
502 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
with a supply of water and a fountain. ^ In 1732, in execution
of a plan entertained by more than one of his predecessors,
a competition was organized for the adornment, on a
monumental scale, of the Fountain of Trevi, for the Pope was
dissatisfied with the work of the Neapolitan Paolo Benaglia,
begun under Benedict XIII. The most distinguished artists
took part in the competition, such as VanviteUi, Pietro Bracci,
Niccolo Salvi, Giambattista Maini and two Frenchmen,
Edme Bouchardon and the elder Lambert Sigisbert Adam.
Sixteen plans were submitted and all were publicly exhibited
at the Quirinal.2 Clement XII. began by selecting Vanvitelli's
design but ended by deciding in favour of that of Salvi who
devoted himself unreservedly to his task.^
Thus arose a work which delights the eye of every beholder.
On the south side of the Palazzo Conti (Poli) there rises in
the form of a gigantic triumphal arch a facade measuring
50 m. in breadth harmoniously divided by three Corinthian
pilasters at the sides and by four engaged Corinthian columns
in the protruding centre. The figures of the four seasons and
a large inscription surmounted by Clement XII. 's coat of
arms held up by two genii, crown the central structure.
Between the pilasters are seen the windows of the palace ;
the principal niche of the central structure is set apart for
the colossal statue of Neptune. The sea god stands on a
coach formed by a shell drawn by sea horses led by tritons.
Over the lateral niches with their allegorical figures of Health
and Plenty, there are reliefs showing Agrippa, the first builder
of the conduits of the Acqua Virgo, and the maiden who,
according to legend, led the thirsty soldiers to the spring.
The Neptune group rises from a block of travertine over
which a copiously nourished cascade of water, together
with a number of smaller cascades and waterspouts, comes
* The inscription referring to this still exists.
2 Fraschetti, Bernini, 134 ; Domarus, P. Bracci, 48
seqq.
' Valesio in Arte e storia, XXXI. ■^1912), 265 scqq. Cf. GuiDi.
Fontane, 83 seqq.
FOUNTAIN OF TREVI. 503
tumbling down into a vast marble basin beneath, as into
a lake.^
The cost of this magnificent structure was so considerable
that work had to be stopped at one time. But here also the
profits from the lotto came in useful. ^ In July, 1736, the great
inscription was put in its place and in December the coat of
arms was fixed on the attic, when a commemorative medal
was struck.^ But the fountain was by no means quite finished
at the time of the Pope's death : Giambattista Maini had
only made stucco models of the group of Neptune and the
statues of the maiden and Agrippa ; the whole of the front
part was also missing.*
Clement XII. contributed towards the restoration of the
churches of S. Prisca,^ S. Lorenzo in Piscibus,^ S. Orsola,'
1 Gaddi, 98 seqq. ; Letarouilly, Texte, 710 seq. ; Gurlitt,
525 seq. ; Domarus, 49 seqq. ; Brinckmann, Baukunst, I., 163.
2 Valesio, loc. cit.
8 A. Cassio, Corso delle acqite, I., Roma, 1756, 310 ; Domarus,
P. Bracci, 50. The first draft of the inscription, defended in
a dissertation in Cod. 32, D i, p. 11 seqq., Corsini Library, Rome,
was rejected.
* Domarus (50) refers only to Roma antica e moderna, II. (1750),
251. An accurate description of the state of the fountain in 1739
is given by Campiglia (above, p. 407, n. 2), p. 12 : " Veduta della
fontana dell' Acqua Vergine non terminata," a copy of which,
in the Corsini Library, Rome, has the following autograph
annotation by Cardinal N. Corsini : " Cosi lascio Clemente XII.
la fontana e scudi 40,000 per finirla." The fountain, erected by
Clement XII. at Porta Furba (in Magni, II barocco a Roma,
III., Torino, 191 1, 60), bears an inscription to the effect that
Clement XII. " fontem Aquae Felicis iam diu collapsum publicae
restituit commoditati 1733 ". The fountain before the Rocca of
Spoleto also bears an inscription of Clement XII., 1736.
^ FoRCELLA, XL, 107, 173. Ibid., 509, on a subsidy to the
Monastery of S. Bernardino di Siena, VL, 371, on a chapel in
S. Maria in Trastevere, VII., 221, refectory in SS. Trinita de'
Pellegrini.
^ Fabronius, 178 ; Nibby, L, 307.
' Fabronius, 182.
504 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
S. Pellegrino,^ S. Nicola in Carcere ^ and the portico of
St. Mary Major. ^ He also contributed to the rebuilding of
the church of the Holy Name of Mary * and the erection
of the elliptic cupola of S. Maria della Morte near Palazzo
Farnese.^ The churches of the Bambino Gesu, opposite
S. Pudenziana, and SS. Celsus and Julian, near the Bridge of
S. Angelo, were erected at his own expense.® The national
church of the Florentines, S. Giovanni de' Fiorentini, which
had been begun under Leo X., owes its completion to
Clement XH. with the addition of an imposing facade of
travertine.' Alessandro Galilei furnished the plan but he did
not succeed in bringing his work in harmony with San-
sovino's building with its broad lateral aisles, although it
shows skilful arrangement and sound architectural lines. ^
The statues on either side of the papal arms above the main
portal are by Filippo Valle ; of the four reliefs, that of the
" Baptism in the Jordan " is one of Pietro Bracci's best works. ^
The work was begun in March, 1733, and concluded in the
following year. Here also the money was provided by the
abundant yield of the lotto}^
Clement XH. took up once more a scheme which had
been keenly discussed under Innocent XH. and Clement XL,
when he resolved to provide the basilica of the Lateran with
^ FoRCELLA, VI., 257.
2 Fabronius, 177.
8 Valesio in Arte e storia, XXXVI. (1917), 23.
* Ibid., 21.
5 Arch. d. Soc. Rom., XXXIII., 16 seqq. Cf. Valesio, loc. cit.,
20 ; GURLITT, 526.
* Gaddi, 81 seqq., 105 seqq. Cf. Valesio, loc. cit., 22 ; Fabro-
nius, 180, 198.
' Reproduced in Brinckmann, Baukunst, I., 136 seqq. Cf.
MoRONi, II., 297 ; FoRCELLA, VII., 40. B. MoscHiNi in the
periodical Roma, III. (1925), No. 6, p. 269-272 (with reproduction),
gives reports drawn from Archives on its gradual completion.
* GuRLiTT, 524. Cf. Brinckmann, Baukunst, I., 13S.
» Tin, 422 ; DoMARus, P. Bracci, 21.
" Valesio, loc. cit., 20 seq.
FACADE OF THE LATE RAN. 505
the main fagade which it still lacked.^ The Pope, who had
this undertaking particularly at heart, set up a special
Congregation in connection with it in October, 1731. ^ There
was nevertheless a delay before work could begin as none of
the plans met with universal approval. The archpriest,
Cardinal Ottoboni, discussed the matter with Cardinal Corsini.
Borromini's plan was rejected and a competition was announced
in which, among others, Luigi Vanvitelli, Ludovico Sassi,
Fuga and Gahlei took part. The sketches, drafts and models
were exhibited in the gallery of the Ouirinal in June, 1732.
In the committee of artists, which included the architects
Antonio Valeri and Antonio Derizet, the sculptors Giovanni
Rusconi and Giambattista Maini, the painters Sebastiano
Conca, Niccolo Ricciolini, Pier Leone Ghezzi and Giovan Paolo
Pannini, four favoured Galilei's plan, three Vanvitelli's and
one Sassi's. The Congregation of the fabbrica pronounced
unhesitatingly in favour of Vanvitelli's plan but left the final
decision to the Pope.^ The latter selected the plan of his
countr3^man Galilei, who left Florence for Rome in 1732 and
at once entered upon his task. On December 8th, 1733, the
Pope blessed the foundation stone which was laid by the
Cardinal- Vicar Guadagni. By the end of 1735 the work was
far enough advanced for the statues to be placed on the
1 Valesio, loc. cit., XXXV. (1916), 335 ; Domarus, P. Bvacci,
14. Pozzo's plans in Brinckmann, Baiikunst, I., 138 ; view of the
facade in 1700 in Jahrb. dev pveiiss. Kunstsammlnngen, XLIII.,
70.
^ Cardinal Cienfuegos' report, October 6, 1731. On November
24, Cienfuegos reports : " Nella congregazione di martedi si e
risoluto finalmente la fabrica della gran facciata della Basilica
Lateranense." Next week begins " spianamento della piazza ",
where some graves have been purchased. Archives of the Austrian
Embassy at the Vatican.
* Cerroti, Lett, di artisti, Roma, i860, 21 seqq., 41 ; Valesio,
loc. cit., XXXV. (1916), 337 seqq. See also Domarus, loc. cit.,
5 ; Accad. di S. Luca Ann., 1909-11, Roma, 191 1, 22. According
to the *Acts in Cod. 32, D i, p. 488, Corsini Library, Rome,
at first four were for Galilei's plan, three for Vanvitelli's, and two
for Sassi's.
506 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
fagade.i The greater part of the cost, which amounted to
over half a milhon scudi, was met by the Pope, the rest was
paid for with the proceeds of the lotto. ^
The main facade of the Lateran, facing east and entirely
built of travertine, admirably commands the vast, silent
piazza which extends as far as the walls of Aurelius and
from which one enjoys a splendid view of the distant
mountains. 3 Galilei's work [ohiit. 1737],^ is an achievement
of the first rank, characterized by magnificent simplicity and
unity. Here one sees what the fagade of St. Peter's might
have been. Here also there are two storeys, but the upper
storey above the open portico of 9 m. in depth and 56 m. in
breadth forms with it an imposing unity, and the loggia of
the upper storey, from which the Pope blesses the people on
the feast of the Ascension, harmonizes most happily with the
main portal, yet stands out from it.^
^ Valesio, loc. cit., 338 seqq. Cf. *Mem. del pontif. di Clemente
XII., Corsini Library, Rome. Gaddi (g seqq.) gives an accurate
description. For the lay-out of the piazza the old building of the
Penitenzieri had to be demolished. The Pope erected a new
home for them south of the Basilica ; see Lauer, 593 seqq. The
inscriptions, also the one on the statue of the Emperor Constan-
tine, which the Pope had removed to the porch in 1737, in
FoRCELLA, VIII., 81 seqq. The inscription over the door leading
from the upper loggia to the palace : " Clemens XII. P. M. Ao
VI. o," is missing here. On the pavement of the porch we read :
" Ao VIII., 1737."
" According to Angelo Orlandi's *accounts of 1737, preserved
in Cod. 32, D i, Corsini Library, Rome, the expenses of the fa9ade
amounted to 489,425,46 scudi ; to this must be added 60,599,04
scudi for the " fabriche annesse ".
3 OcTAV. JusTiNiANus. S.J., a member of the Arcadia
(dementis XI. vita, Senis, 1738), in a poem on the buildings
erected by the Pope, calls special attention to the powerful
impression which the fa9ade made on the visitor approaching it
from the south.
* Epitaph in the porch, in Forcella, VIII. , 83.
* Letarouilly, Texte, 495 seqq. ; Bergner, 75. Cf. Brinck-
MANN, Baukunst, I., 138 seqq. ; Gurlitt, 522 seqq. Ebe (822)
THE CORSINI CHAPEL. 507
Charles de Brosses, a contemporary, thus describes the
gigantic structure by the erection of which Clement XII.
presented the Eternal City with one of the most magnificent
and most imposing church facades : " The fagade is of a
composite order with five lofty, narrow arcades which form
a portico supporting a gallery with loggias. The projecting
central section has columns, the sides have pilasters, and
this arrangement is observed in the lower order of doors
and windows as well as in, the principal order forming the
fagade. This principal order is surmounted by a frieze and the
projecting centre is crowned by a single, beautiful tympanum."^
Whilst this work was proceeding Galilei was also engaged
in constructing on the south side, to the left of the entrance,
a chapel destined to serve as a mortuary chapel for
Clement XII. and his family. This chapel was to be dedicated
to S. Andrew Corsini whom the Pope held in highest
veneration. 2 In the course of excavations for the foundations
in February, 1732, a number of antique objects were found.
On May 18th, 1732, Cardinal Guadagni laid the first stone of
the chapel which was only ready for consecration on
January 7th, 1735.3
remarks that although the final balustrade is too high and the
statues that crown it are too colossal, nevertheless the whole is
enormously impressive and is nowhere surpassed in these times.
^ Lettres, II., 264.
* In the Duomo of Fiesole, Clement XII. arranged for a worthy
setting of the Cathedra of S. Andrea Corsini ; the fact is recorded
in an inscription.
^ Valesio, loc. cit., XXXVI. (1917), 16 seqq. Cf. Gaddi, 23
seqq. ; Cancellieri, Mercato, 245. The *Mem. del pontif. di
Clemente XII. (Corsini Library, Rome), remark that Clement XII.
erected the Chapel " del suo proprio danaro cioe de' vacabili
ricadenti ". Cracas mentions a bronze bust of Clement XII.
erected in the Corsini Cappella on April 8, 1736 ; also a marble
bust of the Pope in the porch of the Lateran Basilica. Cardinal
Cibo presented Clement XII. with a Crucifix and eight candlesticks
for the Cappella Corsini ; see Cardinal Cibo's *autobiography
in Fondo Gesuit., 103, p. 113, Bibl. Vittorio Emanuele, Rome.
Other busts of Clement XII. arc in the Ambrosian Library, Milan,
508 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
The Cappella Corsini, beneath which is the burial vault,
has the form of a stumpy Greek cross with a coffered barrel
vault and a cupola over a quadrangular tambour. A magnificent
bronze grille admits the visitor into the light-flooded hall.
The vault with its decoration of richly gilt stucco, the pilasters
of the white marble walls, form the finely-toned frame with
which the many-hued marbles and the sombre bronze of the
sepulchral monuments unite in producing a harmonious
impression.
Above the altar adorned with lapis lazuli, precious stones,
gilt bronze and two columns of verd-antique, the visitor
sees in an alabaster niche the mosaic portrait of St. Andrew
Corsini, after a painting by Guido Reni. On the pinnacle
of the altar are two seated marble figures of " Innocence "
and " Penance " by Pincellotti ; above this is a large marble
relief by Agostino Cornacchini showing St. Andrew Corsini
as the protector of the Florentines at the battle of Anghiari.
The two large niches on either side are each adorned with
two porphyry columns, their bases and capitals being of gilt
bronze. The niche on the Gospel side is occupied by the
tomb of Clement XII. For a sarcophagus, use has been made
of a magnificent antique porphyry basin from the portico
of the Pantheon ; on it lies a cushion of precious black eastern
marble {paragone orientale) on which rests the tiara. High
above this, on a pedestal of black marble, is seen the great
bronze statue of the Pope seated, clothed in gilt vestments,
wearing the tiara and in the act of giving the blessing :
the statue was cast by Giardoni from a model by Giambattista
Maini. On either side of the pedestal are the white marble
statues of " Munificence " with the plan of the facade of the
Lateran, and " Plenty " with the cornucopia, by Carlo
Monaldi. In the opposite niche stands the plainer monument
of Cardinal Neri Corsini, the Pope's uncle, who died in 1678.
The marble statue of the dead Cardinal and the flanking
and in the Baptistery of St. Mary Major. Gius. Passeri painted
his portrait as a Cardinal (1713) ; see Voss, 607. Cf. above,
p. 331. n. 2
THE CORSINI CHAPEL. 509
figures of " Religion " with the decalogue and a sorrowing
genius with the pastoral staff, are by Maini.^
In the corners beside the niches, above the four small
doors made in the pedestal, there are four sarcophagi of
black marble for members of the Corsini family : they are
surmounted by four niches with statues of the cardinal
virtues, the whole being surmounted by reliefs of scenes from
the life of St. Andrew Corsini ; one of these is by Pietro Bracci
and is one of the best of the master's works. ^ Giuseppe
Rusconi carved the statue of " Fortitude ", Filippo della
Valle that of " Temperance ", Giuseppe Lironi that of
" Justice " and Agostino Cornacchini that of " Prudence ",
so that the chapel constitutes a small museum of contemporary
Roman sculpture.^
Perhaps too great a claim has been made when the burial
place of the Corsini was described as one of the finest chapels
not only of Rome, but of the whole world. ^ But it
is undoubtedly a masterpiece of elegance, harmony and
magnificence. The mausoleum of the Corsini bears as
eloquent a testimony to Clement XII. 's artistic feeling^
^ Gaddi, 27 seqq. ; Nibby, Roma moderna, I., 252 seqq. ;
Letarouilly, Edif. de Rome, II., planche 224, 227 ; Bergner,
74 (with reproduction). The inscriptions in Forcella, VIII.,
80, 84. G. B. Maini's sketches for the statue of the Pope in Kaiser-
Friedrich-Museum, Berlin ; see Brinckmann, Barock bozzetti ital.
Bildhaiier, Frankfurt, 1923, 156.
2 DoMARUs, P. Bracci, 16.
' Brinckmann, Barockskulptur, II., Berlin, 1919, 276, 279
(c/., 378) ; DoMARus, P. Bracci, 8. See also Bergner, 104 seq.,
where Cornachini's Priidenza is reproduced.
* Letarouilly {Texte, 499) says : " Et comme la beaute du
travail ne le cede par a la richesse des materiaux, il en resulte que
tout concourt a faire de cette chapelle I'une des plus belles qu'on
puisse citer, non seulement a Rome, mais dans le monde entier."
Cf. also Gurlitt, 524 seqq. ; Thieme, XIII., 97 ; Ortolan:,
S. Giovanni in Laterano, 68 seq.
* Clement XII. intended also to give a new sacristy to St.
Peter's, planned by Galilei ; see *Progetto di una nuova sagrestia
510 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
as does the Lateran facade — the fruit of one single conception
— to the transition then in progress of Itahan architecture to
classicism.^
in S.Pietro con disegni e piante fatti da Aless. Galilei, in Cod.
32, D. I, Corsini Library, Rome.
^ WoERMANN, Gesch. der Kunst., III., Leipzig, 191 1. 460 seq. ;
MuNOZ, Roma barocca, 396 seq.
APPENDIX
OF
UNPUBLISHED DOCUMENTS
AND
EXTRACTS FROM ARCHIVES.
APPENDIX.
1. Tournon's Mission.^
(a) The Augiistinian Bishop of Ascalon, Alvarus dc Benavente,
Vicar Apostolic of Kiangsi, to the King of Spain.
Canton, December 7, 1707.
. . . Ducebat secum patriarcha [Tournon] ingentem
hominum comitantiiim copiam, quae multum etiam augebatur
magno numero missionariorum, qui se ipsi iungebant in
Chinis. Tanta veluti aulicorum et servorum turba sufficere
poterat cuilibet Nuntio Apost. Sedis ad faciendum Matriti
ingressum satis superbum. Ad haec iam inde a principio
affectabat ille dare signa suae authoritatis non inter gentiles
minus quam inter christianos, id quod penitus erat alienum
ab eo more, quern tenere debent in China superiores. — lunio
mense profectus ipse eram Cantonem ad salutandum
patriarcham. Commoratus apud ipsum per tres paene
hebdomades, satis abunde didici, quod in suo procedendi
modo non teneret consuetum ordinem et usitatas leges. . , .
[State Archives, Munich, lesuitica in genere, fasc. 16, no. 278.]
{b) Kilian Stump f to Vice-Provincial Monteiro.
Peking, May 29, 1707.
De Rev^^ V., sociorum et totius missionis casu quantum
doleamus Pekini, quis explicabit ? Missionarii quidem caeteri
de huiusmodi tristissimis eventis dolore simplici, quod videant
sine causa interiisse vineam, quam excolebant, nos triplici
^ Among the literary remains of the author only one piece
was found ear-marked for the Appendix and which appears here
as No. 17. To fill the gap we print a few documents dealing
with the dispute over the Chinese rites. If the Jesuit standpoint
is advocated in all of them, the circumstance is justified by the
fact that the views of their opponents have been abundantly
stated in the numerous publications of the Jansenists so that
historians are not a little influenced by them. Even so our
selection can only give a few samples ; a complete collection is
not to be thought of for the time being. Unless otherwise indicated
all the pieces are the property of the Jesuits.
VOL. XXXIV. "^I^ \ ^^
514 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
afflictione conterimur : 1. omnibus communi, sed nobis
acerbiore, quo enim studiosius missionem nostris laboribus
fovimus, eo profundius contristamur in eius excidio ; insuper
in nos irruit 2da et 3^ declarationis causa, qua spiritum
nostrum quidam conturbant, dum clamant alii, nos ruinae
tarn fatali causam dedisse, alii nos ruinam non avertisse,
cum deberemus et possemus, atque ideo nos esse tarn nefandi
mail [reos], de quo Ecclesia Dei amare plorabit.
Si calamo indulsero, in decumanum lessum se diffundet.
Verum quid proderunt aut lacrimae aut querelae quantumvis
iustae? Sedemus hie Pekini factorum et futurorum ignari,
iam pridem nullae ad nos litterae veniunt, ultimae erant
missae Nankino 12 Aprilis significantes exterminium
tristissimum DD. S. George et Herve . . . Hodie audimus
ex palatio, Imperatorem . . . domum redire magnis itineribus,
hinc timor et tremor nos occupant, dum sollicito cordi multa
occurrant ab eo quaerenda, et nihil inveniamus et nihil
inveniemus quod respondeatur . . ,
Credat R. V. nos ad omnia promptos, quaecumque praestare
possumus, sive in obsequium D. Patriarchae, sive aliorum,
sive nostrorum ; si autem nihil, aut post occasionem
procurandi resciverimus, quid mirum, si nostra solertia
defecerit ? Difficilia nunc sunt tempora et negotia pessima ;
ut vel parum possimus consequi, diu multumque erit
cogitandum, ideo in tempore sumus admonendi. Numquam
eam habuimus potentiam, immo ne centesimam quidem
partem ilHus potentiae, quam ahqui convitiandi gratia nobis
tribuunt, sed si aliquid in nobis facultatis aliquando fuit,
id certe inter has pudendas turbas interiit, et Imperator
se a nobis offensum credit, . . . nee quidquam aut precum
aut intercessionis sinit a nobis interponi. Reliquum est, ut
R. V. orem quam possum enixissime, ut nos doceri procuret,
et scire faciat per suas epistolas, quid ibi in solatium et
levamen emorientis missionis cogitetur, dicatur et fiat.
Commendo . . .
la. LiBELLUs suppLEX SS. D. N. Clementi p. O. M. XI.
PaTRES S. J. EVANGELII PRAECONES APUU SiNAS AD PEDUM
OSCULA HUMILLIME PROSTRATI.
Beatissime Pater ! Nisi nota esset singulis ilia S'^ V^^
pietas, quae facit, ut negotiis omnibus ad religionem
APPENDIX. 515
spectantibus et audiendis praebeat patientissimas aures, et
examinandis invictam soUicitudinem adhibeat, non ausi
fuissemus, Illam de argumento iam toties disceptato
interpellare. Neque vero, si nostra privata tantum causa
ageretur, esset, cur post scripta tarn multa, rursum verba
faceremus. Sed quia agitur gravissimum et certissimum
in missione florentissima periculum, quod scimus S*^ V^^
prae primis cordi et curae esse, non possumus Illius aequitatem
et sapientiam non inplorare. Satis intellexit S. V., veritatem
factorum, de quibus agitur in causa Sinensi, non posse melius,
quam ex missionariorum et ipsorum Sinarum auctoritate
testimoniisque cognosci, eamque partem iudicandam esse
altera probabiliorem, quae pluribus et gravioribus nititur
testibus. Omissis igitur molestis disputationibus, quae annis
superioribus fuerunt agitatae, satis habebimus, proferre
testes, qui quod libet hinc affirmant, inde negant. Turn
quibus magis credendum sit S. V. pro sua aequitate iudicabit.
Unius tantum partis testimonia in actis nuper editis producta
sunt, alterius etiam, ut par est, sententiam, nomina testium
et dicta quaedam praecipua breviter proponemus.
1° Ouaeritur : An ad signilicandum Deum 0. M. repellendae
vel retinendae voces, Sinicae Tien, i. e. coelum, et Xamti,
i. e. supremus imperator.
Putant repellendas, quia non significant Deum, quem
christiani colunt : Semedo, Relazione della gran Monarchia
di Cina, qui tamen non dicit, sacrificari coelo materiali et
visibili, sed tantum coelo ; Maffaeus, Hist. Indie, p. 100 ;
loa. Gruberus in libr. Ital. Notizia della Cina, p. 88. Memoriale
P. Procuratoris Generalis S. J. § 1 : il primo, sed expedit
legere etiam seqq. §§ ; Lud. le Comte in libr. Nonveaux
Memoires, t. I, p. 186 ; P. a Leonissa in suis resp. ad quaest.
s. Congregis et Em^ Casanate ; Longobardus apud Navarrete,
t. 1, p. 24b,
Putant retinendas : P. Matthaeus Riccius cum fere omnibus
PP. S. J. ab annis amplius centum in Sinis missionariis ;
D. episcopus Ascalonensis, qui maiorem partem missionariorum
ita sentire scribit, M. 1, p. 75, KKK, D. ep. Pekinensis, D. ep.
Nankiensis, D. ep. Macaensis, D. ep. Andrevillensis, D. ep.
Rosaliensis, qui se vocat Tien Hiao Su, h. e. coeli doctrinae
doctorem in libello supplici, quem obtulit proregi Chekiam
5l6 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
a. 1598, M. 1 5, p. 52 ; D. a Leonissa, nunc ep. Berytensis,
qui in lapide sepulchrali D. episcopi Basilitani saepius utitur
voce Tien ad significandum Deum, F. Bonaventura de Roma
Franciscanus, Augustiniani PP. missionarii, qui negant, posse
opinionem hanc in dubium verti, Fr. Joannes Fernandez,
Franciscanus. F. Basilius de Glemona, vicarius Ap., in
dictionario, quod in lucem edidit, Tien explicat sic : Tien,
Coeli moderator, Deus. Lieu Paulus senex, literatus insignis,
qui addit : Tien chu '(quo nomine pars contraria Deum
vult exprimi) esse modum loquendi humiliorem. F. Augustinus
a s. Pasch., Ord. Min., Fr. Antonius a s. Maria, primus
missionarius ex ord. s. Franc, Fr. Petrus Pinuela ex eodem.
Confucius Sinarum philosophus, cuius est haec vox et sententia
memorabilis : Qui peccat in coelum, non habet, quem
deprecetur, ut poenam effugiat ; certe non intellexit coelum
materiale et visibile, sed locutus est modo quo s. codices
multis in locis : Sicut fuerit voluntas in coelo (1 Mach. 3),
peccavi in coelum (Lc. 15) ; Fr. Joannes de Paz Ord. Praed.,
Fr. Dominions a s. Petro sive Sarpetrius ex eodem. Missionarii
ex eodem in Fokien. F. loannes Bapt. de Morales ex eodem.
PP. Brancatus, Faber, Intorcetta, Grelon, Gabiani, Buglius,
Sebast. de Amayn, Emmanuel Laurifex, Ant. Thomas,
loachim Bouvet e S. J., Li Cinensis literatus per 30 annos
occupatus in palatio imperatoris in componendis libris, et
a quo libri P^s Riccii versi sunt e Sinensi idiomate in
Tartaricum. Sin Quam Ki, doctor Sinensis et primus
imperatoris minister : Sine discrimine, inquit ille, Li Pie
vam Xamti est vivorum et mortuorum dominus. Doctor
Fum ym Kim ; D. Yam Tin Yam ; D. Chin y ; D. Li Chi
Chao, qui ait : rehgio Christiana unice spectat servire Deo,
id autem est, quod nostri doctores vocant : nosse Tien et
servire Xam ti ; Licentiatus Chu cum yven ; Lie. Cham
Kem, qui ex classicis probat, Deum non vocari aperte Tien
Chu, coeli Dominum, sed tantum Tien, syncopa vid. Sinis
usitata, qui dum loquuntur de imperatore, abstinent ab eius
nomine, dicuntque : aula, thronus, palatium etc. De nomine
Xam ti addit, illud voce tantum differre a Tien Chu, utrumque
enim idem significat (there follow seven Chinese names).
Praeterea mandarini 18 christiani, cum 32 partim candidatis
mandarinatus, partim baccalaureis itidem christianis, qui
omnes in aula et curia Pekinensi degunt, suppHcemque
APPENDIX. 517
libellum ea de causa miserunt ad SS. Pontificem a. 1707,
et praeter cetera, quae in hoc asserunt iurati post omnia
diu multumque examinata testantur, appellari Deum, quem
christiani adorant, Tien et Xam ti, orantes Pontificem non
prohibere velit christianis usum harum appellationum, quae
iuvant plurimum ad christianam legem maiori facilitate
praedicandam. Idem asserunt vocato in testem Deo, idemque
flagitant a Pont. Max. mandarini Nan Kin, duo primarii
christiani, proxime promovendi baccalaurei. Idem testantur,
iurant, postulant 33 christiani ex urbe Sum Kian, et oppido
Kiam Tim literati variisque doctrinae et honoris insignibus
omati. Idem confirmant 30, edito similiter iuramento ex
urbe Su Chen literati et plures exu rbe Xam Itai ; 15 ex
urbe Nan Tchan provinciae Kiam Si, 10 ex Chanchen, 5
doctores ex provincia Huquang . . .
. . . Mahometani utuntur in China voce Tien et Xam Ti
ad significandum Deum, qui profecto non adorant coelum
materiale aut insitam illi virtutem . . . Finally the
Emperor's declaration.- Haec declaratio imperatoris tanti
est ponderis, ut contra obiici nil possit. Tanta enim eius
in suo imperio est auctoritas, ut quidquid ille de vocum
et quotidiani sermonis usu, intelligentia, significatione etc.
statuit, oraculi vim habeat et aliter interpretari usurpareque
voces atque ille declaravit nefas sit omnibus. Idem imperator
Em. Cardinali, et D. episcopo Cononensi declaravit, voce
Tien significari Deum, quem colunt christiani. Nonne autem
imperator se merito ridendum omnibus literatis praebuisset,
si aliter atque illi sentirent vocem illam explicuisset ?
Quaeritur 2^'° : An permitti possit, ut appendatur in
ecclesiis christianis tabella inscripta : King Tien, coelum
colito.
Negant supra citati, quia coelum materiale aut insitam
nescio quam virtutem significari putant, Semedo etc., quorum
testimonia non scrutamur, in iis quibus citata sunt locis.
Affirmant, qui per Tien coeH dominum significant : ac
praeter citatos maior pars missionariorum, teste episcopo
Ascalonensi in cpistola ad s. Congregationcm 17 nov. a. 1700
data ; qui addit : christianos literatos tenaciter defendere,
veteres Sinas sub coeli nomine Deum coluisse. Fr. loa. Serrani
Franciscanus affirmat, hteram Tien in Sinicis vocabulariis
5l8 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
explicari pro una prima causa, quae remuneratur bonos et
punit malos. Fr. Augustinus a s. Pasch. adducit classicos,
in quibus declaratur, Xam ti signiftcare Deum, qui regit
omnia. Dominicani in eo parte provinciae Fokien, quae
linitima est provinciae Che Kiam, in suis ecclesiis habent
expositas tabellas cum inscriptione King Tien. Idem in variis
suis libris Tien vocem pro Deo usurpant. Instar omnium
testimoniorum et argumentorum est decretum imperatoris,
qua declaratur, per voces Tien et Xam Ti intelligi coeli
et terrae, rerumque omnium originem, authorem et dominum.
Ex eodem decreto intelligitur, illas voces, quamcumque
tandem significationem olim habuerint aut habuisse dicantur,
nunc apud Sinas significare coeli dominum, adeoque earum
usum videri christianis permittendum.
Ouaeritur 3° : An Confucius colatur apud Sinas ut sanctus ?
an habeat sacella et templa, ubi sacrificia et oblationes ipsi
fiant ?
Affirmant Semedo, Kircherus in Chma iUitstrata, de Marinis,
Hist, de felic. success., de Rhodes in catech. et rel. Historia
de Tunchino, Bartoli, La Cina, Trigaultius et Riccius ut
dicitur.
Negant D. episc. Macaensis, D. ep. Nankinensis, D. ep.
Ascalonensis, D. electus ep. Andrevillensis. Religiosi ordines,
quicunque in Sina testimonium dixerunt de veritate facti
expositi in decreto Alexandri VII., in quo negatur, coli
Confucius ut sanctus, affirmaturque, aulas eius esse gymnasia
non vero sacella aut templa. Habentur testimonia signata
et authentica Fr. loa. Fernandez Serrani, Fr. Bonaventurae
de Roma, Fr. Augustini a s. Pasch., PPuin Augustinianorum,
qui diserte respondent, praxes circa cultum Confucii et
progenitorum sibi visas fuisse probabiles ideoque eas nunc
permittimus permittemusque etc. et addunt, se ex fama
deprehendisse, nonnullos ex Dominicanis praxes easdem
permittere ; Fr. loannes de Paz, Dominicanus, testatur,
se id habere pro certo et profert testimonia antiquorum
in eodem ordine, qui dicunt auditos a se infideles affirmantes,
coli a se Confucium ut magistrum, neque uUam ipsum habere
potestatem, ad se iuvandos etc. Contirmatur hoc ipsum ex
facto gubernatoris in urbe Cham Xa Fu, cuius iussu graviter
inflictis plagis vapulavit Bonzius propterea, quia imaginem
APPENDIX. 519
Confucii in fano quodam posuisset. Eadem de Confucio
affirmat Fr. Franciscus de Acuna ex eodem ordine. Eadem
Fr. Dominicus Sarpetri, Fr. Gregonus Lopez eiusdem ordinis,
natione Sina : quibus adscribi potest Fr. Dominicus Navarrete,
quippe qui suum calculum addiderit Cantoniensibus, in
quibus factum Alexandro VII. expositum comprobatur, cum
in eo conventu nomine Dominicanorum in Sina missionariorum
tanquam eorum praeses loqueretur. D. de Courtaulion,
antiquus vicarius Apostolicus generalis in Cocincina negat,
ullam in cultu Confucii esse superstitionem, neque solum
se audivisse cerimonias ab aliis relatas, sed se interfuisse
testatur. Missionarii Societatis lesu, quorum praxim censendus
est approbasse D. episc. Cononensis, cum sacramenta
ministravit christianis, palam sequentibus eandem praxim.
Eiusdem praxeos rationes et fundamenta ostendit e libris
Sinicis P. Franc. Xav. Philippuccius in prolixo tractatu.
Item PP. Brancatus, Faber, Hurtado, Intorcetta,
Trigaultius, Riccius et Franc. Noel negant, inscriptionem
in aula Confucii positam esse vertendam latine : Sedes
spiritus Confucii. Negant, spiritum Confucii a Sinis existimari
residere in hac tabella aut ad earn accedere. Negant esse
vestes proprias huic addictas functioni et ab usitatis
literatorum vestibus distinctas. Negant, vocem Miao
significare proprie templum, affirmant vero, ceremonias,
quae adhibentur Confucio et progenitoribus mortuis adhiberi
etiam vivis doctoribus, mandarinis et hospitibus etc., in
quorum gratiam occiduntur animalia interdum etc. et ad
alia id genus usurpantur. Eadem cum PP. Soc. lesu affirmant
negantque P. Lopez, Sarpetrius, Navaretta, de Paz. Immo
D. a Leonissa in plerisque consentit. Omitto testimonia
procerum, literatorurri et doctorum Sinensium, non solum
christianorum, sed et ethnicorum, qui una voce omne clamant,
Confucium honorari tantum ut magistrum etc., nihil ab eo
sperari, peti etc. Omitti tamen non potest testimonium
a declaratione et decreto imperatoris, quo legem Sinis omnibus
imponit, ita loquendi et sentiendi.
Ouaeritur 4° : An defunctis progenitoribus fieri solitae
oblationes sint sacrificia proprie dicta? Num tabellae certis
vocibus inscriptae sint superstitiosae ? Num in mortuis
maioribus agnoscant Sinae quidquam divinitatis aut ullam
dignitatem seu potestatem humana maiorem?
520 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Affirmant Bartoli, Kircherus, Le Tellier, Lopez, a Leonissa,
Marinis, Rhodes, Trigaultius, Maffaeus, Semedus aliique citati
in actis.
Negant citati Oriaes. 3, qui negant Confucium iit sanctum
aut ut Deum sacrificiis et templis coli, D. episc. Basilitanus
ex ord. Praed., D. episc. Ascalonensis, D. a Leonissa episc.
Berytensis, D. episc. Cononensis (M., I., p. 50). (Segue una
lunga serie di letterati cinesi, ecc). Fr. Augustinus a s. Pasch.,
Fr. Petrus de la Pinuella, Fr. Serranus, Bonaventura de
Roma, Franciscani et Augustiniani, Fr. Thomas Hortiz,
Michael Rubins etc. Ex. Societate lesu Riccius, Trigaultius,
Martinez, Phihppuccius, Furtado, Faber, Ant. Thomas,
Philippus Grimaldi, Thomas Pere3^ra, loa. Franc. Gerbillon,
los. Suarez, loachim Bouvet, Kilianus Stumpf, loa. Bapt.
Regis, Lud. Pernoti, Dom. Parrenin, et qui nunc in urbe
est. Franc. Noel, qui ex libris classicis Sinensium docet, ea
quae in actis nuper editis exponuntur, mendosa esse et falso
interpretata multis in locis. Unum exemplum hoc esto :
litera Sinica Goey exponitur 'Sedes' sen thronus spiritus
vel animae. Interim haec litera Sinica non id significat,
ut patet ex dictionariis, sed significat rem ahquam, quae
erigitur, qualiscunque sit. Itaque vertendum esset : tabella
erecta in memoriam spiritus. Sic imagines maiorum et
parentum in aedibus vulgo ad eorum memoriam conservandam
appenduntur. Hanc interpretationem confirmat litera Chu,
quae in eadem inscriptione legitur, et significat intentionem,
mentem, memoriam, repraesentationem etc. Resp. n. 290.
In testibus praecipuum locum obtinere potest frater
imperatoris natu minor, primum vero sibi vindicat in hac
causa imperator ipse, qui palam in scripto asseruit, eorum
tabellis Confucii et progenitorum aliisve, quae ad sepulcrum
fiunt ceremoniis, nee honorem nee felicitatcm etc. a defunctis
petere Sinas, sed tantum fungi officio grati et memoris animi.
Idem anno 1700 pronuntiavit, Sinas non credere, animas
in tabellis illis rcsidere. Citati authores passim negant,
addictas esse istis mortuorum ceremoniis vestes speciales,
sacerdotes et ministros proprios etc. Negant invitari animas
quasi dein invitatae adventurae essent, et sessurae in tabellis
expositis. Negant supra manipulum palearum infundi vinum
etc. et docent, plerasque ex illis ceremoniis adliibcri etiam
ad honorandos vivos, excipiendos convivas, salutandos
liospites : alias plerasque iam non usurpari.
APPENDIX. 521
Habet hie Sanctitas V., Beatissime Pater, utriusque partis
testimonia. Perspieuum est, partem illam, quae Sinenses
ritus vacare superstitione affirmat, superiorem esse altera
numero testium, auctoritate, gravitate. Cui enim persuaded
poterit, eos qui contra sentiunt, doctiores, prudentiores,
experientia maiori et probitate esse praeditos, quam istos,
qui modo sunt a nobis enumerati ? Quid obiici tandem aut
excogitari potest ad fidem eorum testimoniis abrogandam?
An scelerati dicuntur esse ? aut ignari ? aut corrupti ?
Sceleratos nemo dicet tot praesules, tot sacerdotes, tot
religiosos viros. Nemo, inquam, suspicabitur, eos de perdenda
religione, de veritate adulteranda, de adstruenda falsitate
coniurasse. Quid illis tanti esse potuit, ut sibi sempiternum
consciscerent exitium, tanto scelere suscepto ? Idcircone tot
illustres legis divinae ministri, episcopi, vicarii Apostolici,
coenobitae Europa relicta nuntium fortunis et commodis
remisisse credendi sunt et precarium inter Sinas, quibus
exteri omnes contemptui ac odio sunt, spiritufn aegre ducere,
ut se ac religionem perditum eant ?
Multo minus suspicari licet, eosdem testes ignorantia
laborasse, nescivisse quid dicerent, quid testarentur, quid
iurarent, homines in imperio Sinensi diu versatos, sermone
bene peritos, in volutandis eruditorum libris contritos,
plerosque indigenas, de Christiana lege, moribusque gentis
probe instructos.
Rcstat illud tertium, ut corrupti fuisse dicantur. A quibus
corrupti ? Ab hominibus Societatis ? qua spe, quo metu
in fraudem induci ac scelus ab iis potuerunt ? Quodsi de
mandarinis quibusdam suspicio esset, Franciscani et
Dominicani ab iis etiam corrupti fuere? an ipse imperator
in gratiam paucorum Europaeorum convellere opinionem
pubhcam, contra literatorum et procerum suorum sententiam
et libros ire, incurrere gravem seditionis ac tumultus metum
voluisse censendus est? Quaenam in hoc toto negotio
authoritas apud ilium nostra esse potuit ? Ita enim nonnulli
dictitant, nos id ab eo et proceribus consequi posse, ut ritus
illi et consuetudines a christianis penitus omittantur. Nae
qui sic loquuntur errant longissime neque satis animadvcrtunt,
quam sit natio in priscis moribus ritibusque conservandis
rehgiosa et constans, quos ita mordicus tenet, ut fortunas,
dignitates, omnia denique sibi potius eripi patiatur ; quos
si vel minimum attentare conentur Europaei, tanquam hostes
522 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
reipublicae impii conscelerati exterminabuntur ? Testis est
laponia, quam delicata sint fastidia, suspiciones principum,
ubi de legibus ac moribus imperii agitur. Floreret adhuc
inter lapones Christiana lex, si cautius cum illis et prudentius
initio res gesta fuisset. Exulcerati sunt eorum animi a
malevolorum dolo aut parum consulta bonorum pietate :
pulsi sacerdotes, excarnificati legis christianae praecones,
eversa templa et messis uberrimae spes radicitus excisa.
Si quid tamen ex illis ceremoniis aut sensim deradi, aut
inducta religione detrahi quoquo modo potest, id et factum
fuit a nobis hactenus diligenter et in posterum fiet.
Quid plura ? Si corrupti dicuntur a nobis, quos producimus
testes, qui proferuntur ab adversariis, an non ab iis pariter
corrumpi potuerunt ? facilius illis fuit, decern aut viginti,
quam nobis, decem aut viginti millia corrumpere.
Ouodsi neque corrupti sunt, neque ignari, neque improbi :
si plures, si docti, si probi, cur paucioribus, neque numero,
dignitate doctrinave praestantioribus credetur ? Cur pars
probabilior, quae vincere in omnibus causis solet, in hac
vincetur aut cedet ?
Tot testibus hactenus allatis addimus illos ipsos Em.
ac doctissimos cardinales, huic Sinensi causae examinandae
a S. V. praepositos, qui cum minime ignorarent, quam multi,
quam graves testes starent in opposita sententia, dederunt
operam diligenter, ne ab antique more Sedis Apostolicae
recederent, quae super expositorum huiusmodi veritate seu
falsitate pronuntiare non consuevit (in actis, p. 37) atque
adeo locum semper ulterius quaerendi ac decernendi relinquit.
Itaque ex causa super 1. articulo non pronunciarunt, designari
vocibus Tien et Xamti coelum corporeum et materiale, aut
virtutem quandam ipsis insitam, sed, si istis vocibus designatur
nihil aliud nisi coelum corporeum et visibile, tunc ab iis
penitus esse abstinendum (act. p. 33). Quod nemo prudenter
ac vere dictum non fateatur. Similem in caeteris ipsorum
responsis observare prudentiam et cautionem licet, nee de
ceremoniis Sinensibus loqui se profitentur, nisi prout relatae
sunt. Item : 'iuxta ea, inquiunt, quae proposita sunt' et
alibi aperte declarant ; 'nihil certi firmari posse quoad
propositiones enuntiatas' (act. p. 27, 38) etc., ac proinde
minime dubitamus, quin citatos modo testes, dum aliter rem
exponunt, benigne auscultent.
APPENDIX. 523
Quae cum ita sint, B. Pater, si neque certior alia suppetit
ad cognoscendam in praesenti causa veritatem, quam
testimonium proborum et sapientum, neque tot tantique
testes recusari iure possunt, obsecramus ut eorum aliquam
rationem habere velit S. V., ac saltern concedere, ut liceat
evangelii ministris id usurpare, quod Alexander VII. licere
ipsis voluit, quod tot sacerdotes, tot antistites, tot vicarii
Apostolici, tot religiosi omnium ordinum viri, tot literati
doctoresque Sinici, quod imperator ipse, in ritibus suae
gentis unus omnium instar audiendus, declarant, affirmant,
iurant verum et rectum esse. Cuius tandem testimonium,
cuius auctoritas tanta esse potest, ut tot hominibus doctis,
prudentibus, probis, unam in sententiam conspirantibus
anteferri debeat ?
Omnino speramus, B. Pater, quae S^^ V^^ prudentia et
aequitas est, nunquam fore, ut a posteris dici patiatur, quam
causam Alexander VII., Clemens IX., tot summi et sanctissimi
Pontifices condemnare veriti sunt, imo quam tutati sunt
et amplexi, eandem, licet pluribus quam olim argumentis
et gravioribus testimoniis fultam, liquidius et certius tot
testium ore declaratam, per Clementem XI. eversam penitus
et profligatam fuisse.
Non soli, B. Pater, hue adsumus ad S*^ V^'^ pedes provoluti.
Nobiscum adest innumerabilis christianorum multitudo,
quorum lacrimas, gemitus et preces ad Sedis Apostolicae
solium deferimus, quippe qui se crudelissimis exitiis et
saevissimae persecutioni obiiciendos vident, nisi pericHtantibus
S. V. mature succurrat, En, supplices ad Illam manus tendunt,
et negatam ab ahis opem ut enixe flagitant a S® V^, sic ab
eius dementia fidenter expectant.
Quid esse vero causae potest, cur eorum suspiriis et
lamentabili fiorentis ecclesiae ruina nonnulli minime
moveantur? Cur amplectantur sententiam, nee similiorem
veritati et magis adversam infestamque religioni ? Timent
scil., ne gravem admittant noxam, si quam approbent
superstitionem. Laudamus metum, si ratione probabiliori
vel auctoritate nitatur. At inanem esse metum, et causam
esse probabiliorem, testimonia praesentia satis docent.
Periculum est, inquiunt, ne quid statuatur parum pie. Quid ?
ne pietas ipsa funditus e vastissimo imperio extefminetur,
periculi nihil est ? At reddenda ratio reHgionis Sedi Apostolicae
524 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
divinitus commendatae. Nee reddenda vid. erit ratio religionis,
eversae, quae sine cuiusquam damno, cum omnium, paucis
demptis, approbatione, cum incredibili totius Ecclesiae
catholicae honore fructuque poterat conservari ?
Metuunt offensionem hominum et scandalum. At quorum ?
peritorumne ac prudentium, qui probe norunt Iniiusmodi
ceremonias a viris optimis et doctissimis diu multumque
consideratas fuisse ? lis certe hominibus scandalum creari
nullum potest. Ab aliis vero si quod male suscipiatur,
condemnandum est ac repudiandum. Ouodsi metuitur
offensio, quanta dabitur tot episcopis ? tot \-icariis Apostolicis ?
tot literatis proceribusque Sinicis ? qui -reclamant acriter,
nee mirari satis ac dolere possunt, paucorum hominum
suffragia contra summorum virorum tot ac tanta testimonia
sic audiri.
Nonne dabitur locus ethnicis conquerendi de Apostolica
Sede, qua suos cultores ac filios, tot laboribus partos destituat,
sacris obterat fulminibus, suppliciis omnibus exponat propter
peregrinos quosdam ritus, dc quorum vcritate ac falsitate
nee statuere vult pro suo antiquo in factis huiusmodi
diiudicandis more (in act. p. 37), nee si velit potest ? Ouis
erit cultissimae nationis et prudentissimae sensus, cum
audiet, sermonem Sinicum, ritus et libros ab exteris aliter
atque ipsimet Sinae sentiunt, declarant, contestantur,
explicatos, damnatos et proscriptos fuisse ? Ridiculi nobis
et merito viderentur, si de ritibus ac libris Europaeis
pronunciare Sinae auderent, nos vero quales ipsis videbimur ?
Imperator autem, ille Orienfis arbiter et sapientiae regalis
absolutissimum exemplar, quo tandem erit animo, cum decre-
tum ac declarationem suam, in publicas illic relatum tabulas,
a literatis suis et mandarinis approbatum, toto quam late
patet imperio Sinensi promulgatum, cum inquam eandem
hie neglectam et condemnatam audiet ? Cuius sententiam,
christianae religioni tam favorabilem in summi benefieii loco
Ecclesia tota numeravit, quam prctio quolibct mercari Sedes
Apostolica merito deberet, hanc ipse spretam turpiter et
auctoritatem suam ac maiestatem proculcatam non dolebit ?
non equuleos, non rotas ad christiani nominis pcrnicicm
expediet ?
Ut huic certissimae cladi totquc pcriculis obiicercntur tot
animae scmpiterno exitio periturae, an non oporteret aliquid
APPENDIX. 525
inventum fuisse in opposita sententia ineluctabilc malum,
quod cum omnibus divinis humanisque legibus adversa veluti
fronte pugnaret ? Cum tamen haec sententia fundetur, ut
levissime dicam, " in valde probabili opinione, cui nulla
contraria evidentia opponi potest " (in act. Cantoniens.) :
ita loquuntur et sentiunt trium ordinum religiosi sacerdotes,
unum olim in coetum congregati. Nee dubitamus, quin idem
loquantur modo et sentiant omnes paucissimis exceptis,
missionarii, si rursum facultas illis a S. V. detur, in ipsa Sina
conveniendi unum in coetum, ad controversiam dirimendam.
Floruit Christiana res in imperio Sinensi, B. Pater, ac
tamdiu florebit, dum valebit prudentissimum illud S. olim
Congregationis de Prop, fide monitum, quo vicariis Apostolicis
in Sina praecipitur : " Nullum ut studium ponant, nullaque
ratione suadeant illis populis, ut ritus suos, consuetudines et
mores mutent, modo ne sint apertissime religioni et bonis
moribus contraria " (A. 1656). Enitendum profecto videretur,
ut omnibus modis quacunque. tandem ratione Ileitis, addu-
cerentur Sinenses populi ad Ecclesiae Romanae sinum vel
reluctantes et inviti. Eosne accedentes nunc ultro et admitti
fiagitantes, repelli nullam ob causam cum religione et bonis
moribus aperte pugnantem et in perpetuum excludi, paterna
Sis Vae caritas patietur ?
Haec sunt, B. Pater, quae confidimus fore, ut S. V. pro sua
pietate, prudentia et aequitate consideret ; quippe quae
probe intelligit ac porro laetabitur, se in hac arce Romani
positam imperii non tam ut destruat et evellat, quam ut
aedificet et plantet. ler. 1.
[State Archives, Munich, lesiiitica, fasc. 16, n. 279.]
2. The Jesuit General, Tamburini, to the Visitor of
Japan and China. ^
November 15, 1710.
Cum mens SS. Pontificis circa ultimum decretum de ritibus
Sinensibus nequeat melius explicari quam per litteras ill""'
Assessoris S. Oflicii, quas ipse ad nos scripsit, illarum copiam
hie accludimus, simul et nostrum responsum. Probe intro-
spectum habet R. V., quanta esse debeat Societatis oboedientia
1 Cf. XXXIII, p. 456.
526 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
erga S. Sedem Apost. ; ideoque ab hoc novo praecepto Sancti-
tatis Suae minime sibi suisque subditis liceat ne latum quidem
unguem deflectere vel ad dexteram vel ad sinistram ; et hoc
ipsum accurate faciat innotescere suis omnibus et singuHs
subditis.
P. Vice-ProvinciaH Sinensi htterae eiusdem tenoris missae
sunt eodem die 15 Nov. 1710.
3. From a Franciscan's Letter to. Lisbon.
Canton, December 2, 1710.
Recepi ad 27 Septembris praesentis anni affectuosissimas
htteras V. Patemitatis, datas sub 27 lanuarii 1709 . . . Credo
quod V. Paternitas isto tempore inquisiverit notitiam negotii
mei cum em. legato Turnone, qui tantis crucibus me oneravit,
ut opus fuerit exclamare : non amplius. Nisi [esset] assistentia
fratrum meorum correligiosorum Hispanorum discalceatorum,
quibus me tempore missionis meae aggregavi, mortuus
fuissem prae fame. Nam ab anno 1702 nee vidi nummum
de subsidio, quo me privavit Em"s praedictus, vel mehus
ipsius familiares, praesertim Dom. Sabinus Mariani etc., atque
ita ferme animam vendere ex necessitate debuissem.
Frater car., apparet totum internum positum esse ad eradi-
candum totaliter vineam istam Domini, et quidem per instru-
mentum illorum, qui promo vere et augere deberent. Patres
S. J. sunt in ista magna tempestate scopulus, contra quern
insurgunt undae, maxime furiosae procellae, et tamen certe
sunt et fuere indefessi maxime prae aliis ministri Chinensis
ecclesiae, non in doctrina solum, qua conciliatos sibi semper
tenuerunt primae dignitatis homines, sed etiam in sanctitate, et
tamen, hoc non obstante, in Europa existimantur gentilibus
peiores. Bone lesu ! hae animae tam candidae Mauris nigriores
depinguntur ! Id quod me maxime affligit, est, quod aliqui
ex nostris religiosis et fratribus non desinant sequi daemonis
pedicas. Considera, frater carissime, quomodo unquam heri
possit, ut unus non dico religiosus, sed etiam saecularis
Europaeus velit relinquere, quanta habet in re et spe in Europa,
et transire maria ab Europa tam longinqua, tot inter vitae
pericula, ut veniat in Chinam ad patiendum mille incommoda
et vivendum cane peius et ab ipsis christianis contemptus,
et postea (quod incredibile) velit hie post tanta passa mori et se
praecipitare in infernum faciendo se participem idololatriae ?
APPENDIX. 527
De operario Christi nee cognitari quidem hoc potest ab uno,
qui vel modicum sensus habet. Multi hue venerunt, sed non
ut fatigentur et sudent pro Christo, sed ex intentionibus
pessimis, quas habuerunt, ut iam notum est tribunaH s.
Inquisitionis, et si ahud non traxit illos, ambitio praefectura-
rum. Amoveat manum suam Sedes Apostohca a certis promo-
vendis, qui sub pelle ovina reipsa sunt lupi rapaces, et videbit,
nemo eorum se resolvet amphus in istas partes venire. Ista
dico, frater carissime, quia mihi omnino nota sunt, nee aude-
rem talia dicere et in rebus tam grandibus ita exphcare
mentem meam, ni taha non ipsis manibus palpassem. . . .
[State Archives, Munich, lesuitica ingenere, fasc. 16, n. 279.]
4. The Jesuit Visitor Kilian Stumpf to the Bishop of
Peking.^
October 6, 1715.
Quod ait 111™^' V* me cum meis debere parere S. Sedis
decretis et mandatis, respondeo ; me et meos semper paruisse
et parere ; ita testantur omnes epistolae nostrae ab anno 1707
sive Romam, sive ad 111^™ V^™ datae, quin unquam de oboe-
dientia argui potuerimus. Quod si modo agitur tantum de
eo, quod Illmae Y&e delegatus mense lanuario et Februario
Pekini fecit aut facere omisit, respondeo : me coram delegato
praesente verbo et scripto, coram Ill^i^' V'^ absente scripto
vere, legitime, solemniter protestantum, quod decreta ponti-
ficia circa ritus Sinicos et iam receperimus ab A. R. P. N.
Generali, [et] iterum recipiamus, et recepturi simus, quoties
aut SS. Pontifici aut 111^^ yae visum fuerit, etiam quocumque
nostro periculo et missionis successu secutro . . . An hoc
est inoboedientium ? Repraesentavi tamen tam delegato,
quam deleganti periculum novum ex novo mandato Impera-
toris, nondum cognito in Lin cim [in residentia episcopi
Pekinensis]. An hoc contra prudentem humilitatem? Hoc
novo mandato Pekini cognito, delegatus concessit inducias,
ut de eodem delegans informaretur. Delegatus [delegans?]
informatus rescripsit, si dimidium eorum scivisset, quae
rescivit ex litteris PP. Pekinensium, se nunquam processurum
fuisse, et nunc scribere ad delegatum, ut desistens ab incepto
conatu publicandi decreta, quamprimum revertatur. Quae in
1 Cf. XXXIII, p. 465.
528 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
hoc culpa mea, aut meorum ? Aut unde mihi criminatur alii,
quod metu percellam D. episcopum, ne procedat ad publica-
tionem ? Periculum agnovit 111^ V^ in suis ad P. Contancin
13 Dec. 1714, quae adhuc sunt Pekini ; quod autem 20 Dec.
post eas litteras die miserit delegatum ad urgendam publica-
tionem, non ego in causa fui, sed informatio segnior et apertum
mendacium Domini Pedrini.
Periculum agnovit Ilia V* in fine lanuarii, ut constat in
litteris eius datis ad P. Dominicum Parrenin et suum delegatum
R. P. Carolum a Castorano. Quod nunc conqueratur de non
perfecta publicatione, non est, quod desierit, aut non fuerit
periculum, aut ego periculum finxerim ; sed quod doleant alii,
machinam suam non habuisse effectum, et dolum Domini
Pedrini fuisse detectum.
Coram Ilia V^ reverenter assero, sicut pridem asserui, me
et meos accepta quidem decreta omnibus suis publicaturos, ac
primum voluerit. Id nunc supplico, ut quod mei subditi ex
me iure quaerent, ex 111^ V^ prius mihi discere liceat. Neque
enim audeo respondere ex me in casu, qui totus est episco-
porum. . . .
(Proponit episcopo aliqua dubia ab ipso resolvenda ante
publicationem, et quidem magni momenti.)
4a. Extracts from Letters of the Bishop of Peking.
1. To the Jesuit Contancin, Lin zing.
Januaiy 25, 1715.
Di gia ho risposto in fretta alia sua delli 16 Gennaro per
mezzo del P. Visitatore, quali li sara capitata, et anco per
scrivcre al P. Carlo [Castorano], che desisti dall'incominciato
e se ne torni quanto prima, e se havessi saputo I'ammetta
[sic !] di qucllo che ne ha scritto il mio caro Parranni, non
haverei fatto quello ho fatto certissimamente, pensando di
fare cosa grata a Iddio, alia Chiesa et alle Paternita Vostre,
ne ho havuto altra mira mondana per gratia del Signore. Vero
e che ho scritto ogn'anno a S. Santita che subbito fosse
venuto il degrcto sarebbe riccvuto da tutti, ma vedendo le
cose mutate non ho stimato bene . . . Lo credo fermamcnte,
che tutti li PP. della Compagnia siano obedientissimi, e Jo
siano per essere usque ad finem mundi . . .
APPENDIX. 529
2. To Parrenin, January 25, 1715.
La vostro lettera delli 17 Gennaro mi fa mutare, credendo a
quanto mi scrivete, cioe idcirco V. S. dignetur distincte prac-
scribere, quid regi dicendum, quid omittendum, a quo dici
debeat, quomodo et quando, ne in tam gravi negotio impru-
denter peccemus ansamque praebeamus adversariis dicendi
lesuitas omnia perdidisse. Conosco essere un poverello ne
voglio mettere in pericolo la missione. Scrivo al P. Carlo
che non prosigua, ma che se torni et il Signore ci benedica
et assisti sempre.
4b. KiLiAN Stumpf on the Situation of the Mission.
(End of October, 1718 ; report to the General.)
The Emperor remains unwilling to tolerate the prohibition
of the rites ; eight proofs of the fact are furnished. " His
vero positis, num dubium esse potest, quin clausus etiamnum
perstet missionis aditus? Attamen in Europam a nonnullis
scribi, patere portam, pariter non dubito, cum certo sciam,
sic Manilam scriptum fuisse . . . Et creditum etiam Manilae
fuit, quod scriptum est tam parum sincere : nam ecce effectum
piae creduhtatis ! Hoc ipso anno 1718 mense Februario
Manila adfuerunt seni e D. Dominici et seni e D. Francisci
familia operarii, praeclara virorum duodecas ; pleni persua-
sione, deducto foribus pessulo, nemine obstante, se missionem
ingressuros. Ne unus tamen intravit." Some ascribe this to
the intrigues of the Portuguese and the Jesuits. " Verum, si
credi sibi volunt, dicant, cur quinque PP. Franciscani, ab
antiquo degentes Cantone, et R. P. Mufioz O. P. a 12 annis
ibidem iussu imperatoris habitans, omnes linguam terrae probe
docti, omnes rerum Sinicarum periti, omnes famihariter noti
mandarinis, ne pro uno quidem publicam ingrediendi facul-
tatem impetrarunt ? Nempe ad portam custos vigilat . . ."
But it is said, " it is enough if we can sHp in secretly " !
" Illos recenseo, qui ab anno 1707, quo porta occlusa fuit,
latenter passim reingressi, partim de novo subierunt : ex
RR. DD. clericis D. Balluer, D. Mullener, D. Vigier ; ex RR.
PP. Dominicanis P. Astudillo, P. Petrus M. Sanchez [sic !],
P. Michael de Arriba, P. Paulus Matthen, P. Joachim Roys ;
ex RR. PP. Augustinianis P. loseph Ferrer, P. Gabriel
Palacios ; ex RR. PP. Franciscanis duo Itali, quorum nomina
VOL. XXXIV. M m
530 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
hucusque mihi ignota voluit Rev. Lorimcnsis ; omnes numero
12. Quod si forte unus aut alter memoriam ac calamum effugit,
hos expungent D. Balluer et P. Ferrer, qui iam in pace
requiescunt, et P. Astudillo, qui sponte recessit. Quid, quaeso,
clandestinae istae 11 capitum suppetiae, per 11 annos missioni
ministratae, si ad annua huius detrimenta conferantur?
Quid ad 115 operarios, qui ab ingressu D. Patriarchae ad Sinas
usque hodie deesse sciuntur? Quid ad senescentium et
magnis passibus deficientium operarum iacturam, quae
ingravescit ? Ecce, quot hoc anno nondum evoluto iam
mortuos luximus. (The names follow.) Ut taceam, qui gravi
aegritudine decumbentes, mortis faucibus iamiam imminent,
ecce unus annus non integer 11 annorum subsidia propemodum
devoravit ! Quid fiet, si tribus aut quatuor annis mors ita
saevire pergat? . . ."
Grief over the situation is partly responsible for these
deaths. " Ante hac laborabant sudabantque in agro Domini,
quin et persecutiones iniquae gentihtatis sustinebant : at
haec omnia dulcia fiebant ex fructu animarum laboribus
maiore. Nunc sine fructu aratur in lapide, Sinis non suscipi-
entibus rituum suorum prohibitionem, sudatur in frigido,
multis cum fide primam caritatem exuentibus, persecutiones
autem, quas privatorum concitabant odia adversus s. reli-
gionem, nunc summorum magistratuum auctoritate armantur
saeviuntque." Reports about the favourable condition of
many missions are misleading.
" Atque haec quidem extrinsecus tantummodo mis-
sionaries affligunt eorumque vitae infesta sunt ; quod vero
intus et in animo cruciat, omni gladio ancipiti peius vulnerat
et plagam spiritus longe acerbissimam infiigit, summas inter
angustias undique coarctato. Sapientissime equidem intendit
SS. Pontifex cor unum, os unum, mentem atque vocem unam
omnibus circa ritus Sinenses infundi ; sed enim ex sonitu
vehementi apparent dispertitae linguae, et lieu malum ! non
in eodem spiritu, nee in una intelligentia praecepti Apostolici.
Incredibile quidem in Europa videbitur, verissimum tamen
est, in Sina nee duos episcopos aut Vicarios Apostolicos, immo
vix duos missionarios inveniri, qui inter se concordent sive
de sensu praecepti, sive de praxi executionis. Hinc dum
pJerique impositum iuramentum praestitere, fuerunt (etiam
qui non sunt de nostra Societate), qui iurare distulcrint, alii
APPENDIX. 531
autem ex illis post iuramentum a publicanda prohibitione
abstinuerunt, alii publicarunt, mira tamen rursus varietate in
diversum tendentes. Nam hi quidem sola vitandorum publica-
tione contenti, nihil quidquam rituum Sinicorum permisere,
ilh vero quosdam permiserunt, et aliqui ex privata duntaxat
auctoritate, pauci etiam ex arbitrio, etiam Episcopi, aUi
rursum sacramenta iidehbus ministrare non sunt ausi, nonnulli,
qui dispensare ilia acceperant, experientia edocti Sinas
insuperhabita observantiae promissione peragere suos ritus
antiquo more, quin nee posse ab iis hie et nunc desistere, a
ministerio postliminium denuo cessarunt, ne irreverentiae
exponerent SS. Ecclesiae mysteria ; quidam tamen eadem
indiscriminatim impertiunt, quin attendant aut curare vide-
antur, si christiani stent promissis, prohibitaque vitent,
sive non. Sic fuit ab ingressu praecepti Apostolici in Sinam,
sic etiamnum est, ut fere in numerum capitum dividantur
opiniones et praxes, nee datur signum in bonum, ad quod
respicientes in unum coeant sensum, eandem sequantur opera-
tionem. Interea apud plerosque angores increscunt mentis et
scrupulorum agmina insurgunt, tam circa seipsos, quam circa
alios, an incurrerint censuras."
5. VisiTATOR Giovanni Laureati to the Jesuits of
Peking.
(Submitted to the Legate by the Rector of the College of
Peking.)
Canton, October 22, 1720.
• " Tutto il mondo sa come le RR. VV. sono in questa corte
I'amparo delle missioni e de' missionarii, senza del quale
niente potressimo operare nelle provincie per la gloria divina.
Ma quest'amparo sino adesso e stato di persone particolari
ed in negotii transitorii, adesso pero e giunto il tempo per che
si deve estendere a tutto I'imperio e per la durata de' secoli
futuri. Trattasi adesso, miei RR. PP., o di conservarsi o di
rovinarsi tutta la missione di questo grande impero, la qual
disgratia se accadera, si puo temere, che sar^ perpetua con
perduta d'inhnite anime. Inde dalle RR. VV. queste medesime
anime dimandano la loro salute. La procurino adunque per
quanto ponno con le sue preghiere ed instanze efficacissime
avanti di questo monarch a.
532 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Questo straordinariamente desidera il S. P. Clemente XI,
che ci manda con tante spese lec^o sig. Legato fra tanti, delle
di cui grandi quality, bella indole ed amore per la nostra Com-
pagnia gia ho longamente scritto alle RR. VV. come ancora
della sua santa e nobile compagnia. Legano le RR. VV. con
qualche attentione questo Breve pontificio e vedino con qual
zelo richiegga da noi altri questo obsequio sino ad abbassarsi
ad uno " Petimus " quella somma autorita che deve essere
venerata ed obbedita da tutti, ma specialmente da noi, che
con voto speciale siamo a cio obbligati. Legano le RR. VV.
questa inchiusa carta del N. R. P. Generale e vedino, se possino
inventarsi espressioni piu efficaci che di quelle che usa per
moverci tutti al maggior sforzo che sia possibile. Considerino
le RR. VV. in quali contingenze si trovi la Compagnia, la
quale tutti dobbiamo amar tanto. Se faremo della nostra
parte, quanto potiamo [ ?], essa sara lodata in tutto il mondo,
e quai favori non potr^ sperare da un Papa sodisfatto, quando
dal medesimo ne ha ricevuti tanti e si grandi anche quando ci
giudicava colpevoli? E qual crudelt^ useremo noi con essa,
se per nostra colpa e negligenza sari condannata ai rigori
che li stanno preparati.
Tanto piu che per via certa io so che S. S*'^ ha concesso,
quanto era possibile concedere dentro i limiti della purita
della nostra s. religione. Onde esagerino miei amantissimi
PP. a questo monarcha il molto che si e concesso, ed extenuino
il poco che non si e potuto concedere. Opcriamo a vista d'un
Legato Apostolico e di una comitiva disinteressata e dis-
passionata, che saranno testimonii delle nostre attioni e li
accreditaranno nel mondo tutto.
E principalmente a voi parlo, RR. PP. Domenico Parrenin e
Giovanni Mourao, a quali Dio N. S. ha dato gratia maggiore
con questo monarcha. Io m'imagino che questi talenti ab
aeterno li abbia determinati Iddio N. S., perche moltiplicassero
il cinque, e li abbia posti nelle vostre mani perche crescessero
in tanta abbondanza, che di essi si sostentassero le anime
Cinesi per molti sccoli. Le RR. VV. daranno un gran trionfo
al N. S. P. Ignatio e chiuderanno la bocca delli heretici e
nostri malevoli. Dunque non vi sia trascuraggine, non negli-
genza, non omissione o indifferenza, ma locano [?] tutti con
tutto Io sforzo in campo, perche qualunque piccolo sonno in
questa occasione sarebbe di sommo pregiuditio e puo essere
APPENDIX. 533
irrimediabile. Ben so die si grande negotio non dipende
dalle RR. PP., ma se chiederanno, se instaranno, se pianger-
anno, se proporranno all'Imperatore i motivi per appiacevolirsi
e contentarsi, io spero che quel Dio, nelle di cui mani stanno
i cuori del re, appiacevolera il generoso di questo Imperatore.
Questo io desidero, questo io chieggo, e spero che le RR. VV.
daranno [?] e conseguiranno questa somma allegrezza e per
il cielo e per il mondo tutto. . . ."
6. Extracts from Letters of Nic. Tomacelli, of the
Order of Clerics Minor.
{ci) To the General of the Order Basalotti.^
Peking, September 23, 1721.
"... Inganno il Papa chi scrisse, questo Imperatore esser
indifferente a qualsisia mutazione de' suoi riti. Ouesti sono
come superstiziosi condannati, e in tanto noi stiamo qui in
corte in un assedio che sara impossibile continuare sul piede
presente. La maniera in che siamo riguardati in corte e
honorifica, ma piena di mille circospezioni e mille obblighi
in mezzo d'una turba di gentih dominanti. . . . Mons.
Patriarcha [Mezzabarba] parte per Europa, e da lui potr^
sentire il mio operato. Li PP. della Compagnia che in queste
parti adempiscono il loro dovere, qui si contradistinguono
per una numerosa cristianita e per la molta tolleranza nelle
fatiche apostoliche, ma piu si sono distinti nelle presenti
emergenze in dar contrasegni di perfettissima obbedienza
alia S. Sede come ben tutti I'habbiamo veduto ; ma non sta
in loro potere il rinversare le leggi di questo impero. II tempo
fara conoscere, che mal giudica delle cose Cinesi chi e poco
pratico di questa corte. . . ."
{b) To Carlo Casnedi at Lisbon.
Peking, October 23, 1721.
"... Ma quello che sempre ho havuto piu a cuore di
scrivere tanto a V. P. M. R. quanto in mie lettere reiterate alia
S. Congregazione, si e I'esatta ubbidienza alii ordini di S. S*^,
per i quali non vi e europeo missionario in Cina che non
abbia travagliato. Ma se Mons. Patriarcha ne tutti noi, ne
1 Cf. above, p. 91.
534 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
il P. Giovanni Laureati sommamente impegnato da un
Breve pontificio, non abbiamo potuto ottenere I'intento di
S. S*^, e provenuto dalla diversita dell'oggetto della consaputa
controversia differentemente rappresentato in Roma et in
Pekino. In somma quel ' vade et vide ' dettomi in Roma
mi ha fatto sempre evitare le prevenzioni e per conseguenza
conoscere le cose al chiaro. Mi fu detto in Roma che il P. Visita-
tore Laureati era un refrattario delli ordini di S. S*^, e come
tale lo havrei considerato alia prima veduta, se dall'hora
istessa egli non faceva conoscere il suo zelo . . . (Then
follows a detailed account of Laureati's conduct.)
(c) To Giov. Giac. Fatinelli.^
Peking, November 29, 1721.
"... Gia dissi come prima della partenza di Mons.
Patriarcha avanti a' suoi occhi il sigr. Pedrini fu battuto e
carcerato e che le lagrime e le reiterate preghiere di Mons.
con tutti noi all'Imperadore per lui non li potessimo ottenere
il perdono totale, ma solo in parte, atteso I'lmperadore
per bocca del suo secondo eunuco et in scritto con publica
sentenza s'espresse, volergli perdonare la vita, ma accio si
corregerebbe da' passati falli, d'aver scritto in Roma, egli
essere indifferente ne' suoi riti, volea, che sia alleggerito dalle
catene e dall'opprobrio delle publiche carceri, consegnandolo
giusta il costume di Cina alii piu prossimi, et amici a guardare,
coll'istesso rigore, come se fosse nelle prigioni della cittk.
L'ordine fu in lingua Tartara ; in esecuzione del quale il sigr.
Pedrini fu consegnato alii PP. Gesuiti francesi, i quali benche
mal volentieri pigliassero questa cura, pure convenne accet-
tarla per l'ordine espresso dell'Imperadorc, e di Mons. Patri-
archa. In una stanza grande, e simile a quella de' Padri stiede,
finche I'lmperadore partendo per Tartaria, lo voile condurre
seco. II detto sigr Pedrini, e molti di noi stimassimo per tal
causa averli gia perdonato I'lmperadore ; ma poi si conobbe
I'opposto ; perchc fu consegnato al terzo figlio dell'Imperadore
con ordine di tenerlo bene custodito con proibizione ad ogni
Europeo di parlarli. Ma dovendo ritornare I'lmperadore da
Tartaria in questi ultimi giorni li mandarini a persuasione de'
PP. Gesuiti dimandarono all'eunuco gih detto, che doveva
1 Cf. XXXIII, p. 482.
APPENDIX. ■ 535
farsi del sigr. Pedrini ? Quegli risposero, osservarsi I'ordine
antecedente. Fu condotto il sigr. Pedrini nella casa de' PP.
Gesuiti francesi, li quali avendo di fresco fatto fabricare un
piccolo appartamento con stanze per servidori e cucina e due
atrii o giardini ; ivi, come in luogo piu capace e piu agiato,
il condussero, dandoli per quel poco spazio di tempo li PP.
e li mandarini la liberty di trasportare le sue robbe, ed accom-
odare li conti con li servidori e mulattieri, che avea condotti da
Tartaria. II sigr. Pedrini prese questa poca liberta come argo-
mento, che non dovea [essere] piu rinserrato ; onde si espresse
chiaramente alii PP., che egli non voleva piu vivere come
prima, asserendo I'ordine essere falso, e che li PP. lo volevano
tenere in prigione per forza, senza la volonta dell'Imperadore ;
e cio detto, benche li PP. protestassero, che gl'imponeva una
falsa accusa ed une enorme calunnia avanti tutti i cristiani,
il detto sigr. Pedrini subito ando in sagrestia, e vestitosi
disse la messa, quale finita prosegui a perorare contro detti
PP., dicendo sempre, I'ordine esser falso. In questo tempo
arrivassimo da Cian Ciun iuen alia casa di detti PP. francesi
il P. Rinaldo da S. Giuseppe, il P. Wolfango a Nativitate
Teresiani,'- et io ; e temendo noi maggiori disturbi, per non
potere i PP. dar conto all'Imperadore d'un tal uomo, con le
preghiere ottenessimo, che li Padri mostrandoli il decreto
dell'Imperadore, patientassero quel troppo desiderio di liberta
del sigr. Pedrini, che lo faceva parlare in quel modo. Donde
il P. Parrenin gli mostro il decreto, con esibire se stesso a
grave colpa in caso, che non fosse vero. Letto questo, spiegato
e tradotto, convenne alia fine il sigr. Pedrini essere vero, ma
come dato nella seconda luna, diceva nella quarta aver ricevuta
la grazia dall'Imperadore : Su questo si dibatte molto, dicendo
li PP., che non avevano ordine di rivocare I'antecedente ;
ne il sigr. Pedrini potea mostrarlo. Noi fossimo per tutto quel
giorno afflitti testimoni di tali contese. In questo mentre
rimperadore venne in Pekino, e quivi li Padri per loro inden-
nita avvisarono li mandarini, accio senza strepito certificassero
il sigr. Pedrini ; ma questi contro I'intenzione de' PP. avvisa-
rono rimperadore, e questo alia presenza di molti comando,
che sia fortemente custodito, con poca speranza di uscire
avanti il ritorno del Patriarcha. II decimo terzo figlio dell'Im-
peradore informato da un servitore del sigr. Pedrini, venne
^ Cf. above, p. 281.
536 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
in corte, e ricerco noi, perche li PP. francesi tenevano carcerato
il sigr. Pedrini. Gli fu da noi risposto, che non sapevamo la
causa, per il che egli chiamo un mandarino di quelli, che presie-
dono alle cose Europee, et avendoli I'istesso richiesto, gli fu
brevemente risposto essere espresso ordine dell'Imperadore,
anche al presente confermato : il che fini di certificare chi
dubitava di tal' ordine. LI PP. Gesuiti si lagnano con qualche
risentimento, e mi pare, che ne abbino ragione, e dicono, che
molto a torto senza osservare il fine, ne il principio delle cose,
qualcheduno de' nostri I'abbia calunniati di voler tenere car-
cerati li missionari di Propaganda, essendo il sigr. Pedrini
il terzo dopo il sigr. Appiani, e'l P. Castorano, che ritengano
per non vederlo esposto all'ignominie delle pubbliche prigioni.
In fatti il sigr. Pedrini soffre I'incommodo di star rinserrato,
li PP. soffrono molto in ritenerlo ; il sigr. Pedrini ivi tenendo
nove servidori, per altro un poco impertinenti ; perocche
per dormire han gettate giu le porte dell'ambito assegnato
al sigr. Pedrini, et avendoli li PP. date 12. o 14. tavole grandi,
mighori per dormire, con tutto cio la notte seguente fecero
I'istesso, non ostante le promesse fatte a noi dal sigr. Pedrini
di non far simil cosa, come anche di licenziare si fatta canaglia
senza alcun'uso, avendo il sigr. Pedrini servidori, quanti ne
abbiamo noi tutti qui di Propaganda. Ogni giorno sentiamo
qualche cosa di nuovo e per parte de' PP. lamenti per il detto
sigr. Pedrini Assicuro V. S. 111°^'^, che io, e noi tutti non sappiam
ove andaranno a terminare I'affari della missione, vedendo cosi
discordi li missionari. L'infedeli ugualmente, e li cristiani
si scandahzano. Alii gia ora narrati travagli aggiunga V. S.
jllma le notizie afflittive, che tuttavia capitano alia corte de'
mali costumi d'alcuni Europei, quali vengono accusati all'Im-
peradore da' mandarini, e benche tutti stimiamo le dette
accuse esser calunnie, nondimeno molto ci conturbano. Qui
e un vivere infelice, che se non fosse per Dio, sarebbc dis-
perazione."
7. Catalogo d'alcuni soggetti, che hanno scritto nella
cina in favore di que' pp. della compagnia contro
le accuse poste da altri.
On November 15, 1720, the Bishop of Peking writes to
three newly arrived Propaganda missionaries in favour of
APPENDIX. 537
the Jesuits of Peking ; jointly with them, so he informs one
of them, he had been writing to the Pope and to Propaganda
since November 10, 1707. On April 30, 1715, he writes to
two Franciscans that for several years he had suspended the
publication of the apostolic decrees with a view to saving
the mission ; he had informed the Pope of the grave perils
which threatened it and implored him to show consideration
for them. In November, 1716, he acknowledged, in presence
of three mandarins sent by the Emperor, that he had acted
thus in order to avert danger from the mission and to avoid
giving offence to the Emperor ; he had informed Rome that
it was not possible to pubHsh and execute the decrees in China.
On November 21, 1716, the Franciscan Michele Fernandez
writes that the Bishop of Peking was very sorry he had
given notice of the apostolic decree and that he had em-
powered the missionaries to act in the matter as they
deemed best.
On January 25, 1719, the Bishop of Lorima, Vicar Apostolic
of Shansi and Shensi, praises the Peking Jesuits because of
all the good they did in the mission, condemns the calumnies
of their adversaries and expresses his sympathy in their
trials.
On January 18, 1717, the Bishop of Peking writes that
Pedrini deserved to be punished for what he had written
against the Jesuits ; he himself was writing to Rome to ask
that Pedrini should not be employed on the Pope's business
with the Emperor. According to a letter of the Secretary of
State to Fr. Laureati, Mezzabarba had spoken highly of the
latter to the Pope and borne witness to the great services
which he had rendered to the Holy See. On June 21,
1721, Mezzabarba wrote about the good services of the
Jesuits to him and of their excellent conduct towards
him. . . .
On November 10, 1707, the Bishop of Peking extols the
Jesuits of China, defends those at the court against gossip,
writes in their defence to the Pope and to Propaganda. . .
On October 7, 1708, he once more takes up the defence of the
Jesuits at the court of Peking and states that he was appealing
on their behalf to the Pope and to Propaganda.
II medesimo a' 31 Ottobre 1712 scrive di aver per piu anni
scritto aS. S^^ e alia S. Congregazione in conformity di quelle,
538 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
che i PP. Gesuiti di Pekino ne avevano scritto. Aggiunge,
che in Roma non lo voglion sentire ; e che e superfluo lo
scriverlo di nuovo : e che in Roma s'ingannano in voler credere
al sigr. cardinale di Tournon contro di que' Gesuiti ; ed
attesta d'avere scritto a Roma, che le accuse di Sua Em^^
contro di detti PP. sono state false ; e che Sua Em^^a
e stata causa dello sdegno di quell' Imperatore, e non i detti
Padri della Compagnia. E replica d'aver cio scritto a S. S*^
ed alia S. Congregazione ; e confessa d'aver da due anni
appresso di se il decreto della S. Sede circa i riti.
II P. Aleman, Commissario Provinciale de' PP. Francescani
scalzi a' 23 Novembre 1716 scrive deplorando la perdita della
mission della Cina ; dice, che quei, che han rappresentata
per cosa facile la proibizion de' riti, la trovan difficile e
pericolosa, e che falsamente spaccian gli altri per disub-
bidienti, quando essi sono i disubbidenti, e non osservano i
decreti.
II P. Fra Giovanni Fernandez Serrano, Commissario Pro-
vinciale de' PP. Francescani a' 21 Gennaro 1718 scrive, non
potersi amministrare i sagramenti senza scrupoli insopporta-
bili. Che i missionari della S. Congregazione di Propaganda
non osservano il precetto Apostolico, e percio non puo segui-
tarsi il lor dettame. Ch'e impossibile a' Cinesi osservare la
proibizion de' riti, e percio e impossibile a' missionari I'am-
ministrar loro i sagramenti.
II P. Fra Francesco della Concezione Francescano a'
23 Novembre 1718 scrive, che i cristiani non vogliono accomo-
darsi alia proibizion de' riti, ancorchc raddolcita da alcune
nuove concession! del vescovo di Pekino.
II P. Giov. Battista Serravalle Francescano missionario della
S. Congregazione agli 8 Agosto 1719 scrive, che di 212 da lui
battezzati, appena ne conta le feste soli 25.
II P. Fra Francesco della Concezione Francescano agl'll
Maggio 1719 scrive, che non amministrava i sagramenti a'
cristiani, perche questi non si accomodavano alia proibizione
de' riti, ancorchc modificata da Mons. vescovo di Pekino.
E che i cristiani, a' quah il vicario del vescovo di Pekino
amministrava i sagramenti, non observavano la proibizion
de' riti, e che I'istesso vicario lo confcrmava.
(Then follow testimonials from Tomacelli, Roveda, Casto-
rano, Pedrini, Fernandez Serrano, etc.)
APPENDIX. 539
8. The Jesuits of Peking to their General. ^
October 28, 1724.
Adm. Rev. in Christo Pater Generalis.
" Inexplicabili nos dolore non modo prostrates obruit,
sed penitus eliso velut spiritu suffocavit, quam a P^e V. A. R'^a
27 Septembris 1723 datam, per R. P. Viceprovincialem nos-
trum die 19 mensis et anni currentis accepimus. Immensus
autem dolor iste non tarn exinde oritur, quod innocentes
gravissimorum atque enormium scelerum, quae sine horrore
audiri nequeunt, iteratis toties et delationibus postulemur et
exprobrationibus redarguamur : id enim secundum spiritum
minimae Societatis nostrae gloriae potius nobis ducimus, ut
£ontumelias, falsa testimonia et iniurias patiendo, assimilemur
et aliquo modo imitemur Dominum nostrum lesum Christum,
cuius vestibus et insignibus indui ardenter exoptamus. Nee
etiam eo titulo gravissime premit dolor, quod saeva hie persecu-
tione circumvolutis nobis ac ferme ad nihilum redactis,
nonnisi suprema derelictio et omnimoda quasi desperatio
proveniat e quorum vultu praesidium, levamen atque solatium
afflictionibus nostris sperabamus : nam et hoc ad imitationem
Christi Regis, atque Salvatoris nostri pertinet, qui in agonia
crucis inter mortis angustias amore nostri constitutus, ab ipso
Deo Patre suo derelictum se fuisse dolenter ingemuit. Sed
neque summa doloris vis inde cruciat, quod dum pro virili
cum mahgnis hie geniis colluctamur, ut Christi haereditatem
ab eorum violentia vindicemus, illinc boni angeh de principibus
primi, tamquam si istis in adiutorium venirent, ex utraque
parte in nos servos suos flagella ingeminent sine intermissione
multis plagis verberantes : nam et hie superandi propter eum,
qui dilexit nos, fiducia est, cum certos reddat Apostolus, quia
neque mors, neque vita, neque angeli, neque principatus,
neque virtutes separare nos poterunt a caritate Dei, quae est in
Christo lesu. Doloris, qui nos perimit, vehementia et excessus
in eo praecipue fundatur, quia propter nos minimos indignos-
que filios suos non tantum P. V. A. R. acerbissima tot annis
sollicitudine ac moerore affligi sentimus, sed insuper dilectis-
simam Matrem nostram Societatem omnem perichtari gravis-
sima authoritate denuntiatur. Hoc enim vere est, quod in
^ Probably drawn up by J. Kogler. Cf. above, p. 85.
540 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
intima grassatur viscera, quod ipsam animam transverberat
et inconsolabili ad mortem usque tristitia opprimit.
Multus hie esset locus pro innocentia et indemnitate Matris
protestandi aeque ac deprecandi, si lacrimae et gemitus
permitterent. Ouamquam nee istud officii genus, quod
superioribus annis per plures litteras sufficienter iam adimplesse
existimabamus, a nobis modo R. A. P. V. exspectat, sed alia
turn subiectionis, tum innocentiae nostrae argumenta praecipit
et exposcit. A. R. Pater, quantumvis forte videri possimus
timore plusquam servili, nequam instar mancipiorum, ad
frugem adigi et compelli, libere tamen prolitemur nos vero
filiorum metu timere a mandatis, quae ex sanctissimi Domini
nostri iussu et voluntate nobis iniungit, eamque cum omni
qua par est humilitate ac submississima veneratione suscipere ;
utque istis extemplo et examussim obediamus, non infra
subscripti Societatis lesu sacerdotes viceprovinciae Sinensis,
Pekini degentes.
1. coram Deo et secundum conscientiam nostram testamur,
nos non minus prompte quam integre et exacte parere Apos-
tolicis decretis, ad ritus Sinenses spectantibus, ministrando
sacramenta, caeteraque missionum exercitia obeundo :
praecipue vero sincera submissione ea omnia (quantum in
nobis est) adamussim exequi, quae continet ac mandat con-
stitutio dementis XL incipiens " Ex ilia die " ; cuncta
iuxta tenorem iuramenti, quod ut obedienter praestitimus,
sic per Dei gratiam sancte hactenus servasse confidimus, certe
servare studuimus. Verumtamen cum executio decretorum
perfecta a nobis solis non pendet, immo vel maxime a fidelibus
Sinis, non possumus non, sic exigente rei veritate, iterum
iterumque contestari, illam difficillime obtineri, nee nisi a
perpaucis curate obscrvari, propter causas pluries iam
enucleate perscriptas : indiscretius autem eandem urgere,
sane quam periculosissimum esse, prout impraesentiarum
(heu dolor !) acerbo minis exemplo experimur.
2. Similiter coram Deo et secundum conscientiam nostram
testamur, nos apud Imperatorem Sinarum eiusque ministros
neutiquam egisse, ut pcrsisterent in proposito non admittendi
decreta S. Sedis circa ritus Sinenses, neque constare nobis
ullum alium e nostris tam enormis scelcris esse reum. Serio
item proponimus, nihil in posterum diligentiae omittere, si
qua aliquando opportuna occasio sese offerat ab illo eos con-
APPENDIX. 541
silio amovendi. Ubi tamen rursum sincerissimo cordis candore,
ut filios ad Patrem loqui decet, profitemur, hie et nunc de
argumento illo vel mentionem ingerere, periculo non vacare,
nisi coram iis, quos divini Spiritus motio valide iam inclinavit
ad religionem nostram amplexandam.
3. Praeterea coram Deo et secundum conscientiam nostram
testamur, nulla nostra instigatione aut cooperatione, saltem
positiva, accidisse, ut tam D. Pedrinus quam DD. Appianus et
Guiges custoditi detinerentur, quin aegre admodum nos
sensisse, quando primo illi ob suammet culpam custodia, et
quidem in Societatis quadam domo assignata fuit : carceris
enim strictum nomen eiusmodi custodiae satis immerito ac
perquam invidiose tribuitur. Testamur pariter D. Pedrinum
iam altero anno liberum agere : sed et de aliis duobus Cantoni-
enscs litterae ferunt pari eos libertate gaudere.
Circa 4, quoque coram Deo testamur, quia a supremo
Ecclesiae pastore sic iussum et ordinatum fuit, humiliter ac
venerabunde nos acquiescere, dicentes : Dominus est, quod
bonum est in oculis suis faciat. Ouodque iam alias commotis
visceribus nostris super Sinensi ecclesia, tot inter labores
sudoresque decessorum nostrorum in Christo genita, educata
et custodita professi fuimus, denuo obsecrare : detur alteri
dum viva servetur proles, nee divisa interficiatur. Inter haee
autem, eheu ! emissae ex oreo furiae hie personant veluti
triumphantes : nee his, nee illis, sed oceidatur et pereat.
5. Denique in simili forma testamur, sanetissimi Domini
nostri per P. V. Z. Rt^am mandata atque praecepta a R. P.
Viceprovinciali nostro, ut primum ea per viam S. Congreg.
de propag. fide recepit, illico nobis transmissa et communicata
fuisse cum ulteriori iussione, ut superaddito iuramento in
verbo saeerdotis humilem omnium ac singulorum obser-
vantiam executionemque promptam contestemur. Quod
quidem in breviori folio succinctius iam fecimus, et rursum in
hac epistola paulo deductius innovamus.
Commcndatis autem humilis observantiae subiectionisque
testimoniis, secundum ac praeceptum fuit, integre, ut arbitra-
mur, pcrfuncti, suppliciter nunc P. V. A. RJam oramus atque
obtestamur, ut dum ilia beatissimo Patri ac Domino nostro
coram exponit, simul exhibita hac epistola eundem eommuni
nostro infimorum servorum nomine prostrata confirmet,
paratos nos esse mori magis, quam dictatas a Christi vicario
542 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
leges praeVaricari, hand aliter ac superiore anno gemini nostri
PP. in Tunkino alter in carceris aerumnis, alter sub capitali
supplicio pro sancta fide vitam posuerunt/ uti pagina docet
separatim adiecta. Affirmabit pariter, nos voti memores, quod
Summo Pontifici fecimus, apostolicis ministeriis nunquam
nos abdicasse, cuius rei abundans testimonium dicet vel sola,
quae nuper iam transmissa fuit et nunc iterum adiungitur,
relatio de illustrissima neophytorum nostrorum familia,
propter fidem praeteritae aetatis tempore in exilium hinc
amandata.2 Verum est, a publica sacrorum dispensatione,
abstinueramus, gravissimis rationibus, quae pluries perscriptae
fuerunt, persuasi atque coacti, ne traditores essemus causae
Dei et animarum, sacraque mj'steria profanarentur. Easdem
rationes P. loannes Laureati, turn visitator, coram hac scripto
proposuit Illnio Patriarchae Alexandrine : tantumque abest,
ut improbarit iste, ut etiam probasse visus sit, PP. nostros
theologice operates fuisse reponens.
Ex hisce argumentis nulli dubitamus, quin sanctissimus
Dominus pernoscat fecisse nos indicium atque iustitiam, ut
proinde in profundissima reverentia suppiicare ei liceat,
ne nos tradat calumniantibus nos,' sed suscipiat servos suos
in bonum, ne superbi nos calumniemur. Valebit etiam ad
firmandam banc deprecationem, si P. V. A. R^a ulterius conte-
stetur per ipsos, quos in Europa superiores habuimus, perque
Patres omni religiosa virtute conspicuos, qui in Christo nos
genuerunt atque in spiritu Societatis educarunt, nos haud-
quaquam disciplinae religiosae intolerantia eiusque subter-
fugiendae, ac libertatis sectandae studio, neque spe terrenas
quasdam dignitates occupandi, sed solo amore Dei zeloque
animarum impulses, multis votis et plurium annorum precibus
obtinuisse, procul a patriae commodis ad extremas mundi
^ Francesco BucharcUi and Giambattista Messeri.
2 The Sunu family, see above, p. 201. Thomas (350 seq.)
endeavours to oppose the Jesuit De Mailla {ob. 1748) to the
Jesuit Parrcnin, to whom we owe the account of the Sunu family.
He overlooks the fact that the years 1 723-1 7S0 in De Mailla's
work (XL, 369 scqq.) are from the liand of the editor, Le Roux
dcs Hautcsrayes. The latter's account also makes it quite clear
(462 scq.) that the familj-'s punishment was increased on account
of its professing Christianity. P.ut it had incurred the imperial
disgrace apart from that circumstance.
APPENDIX. 543
oras transmitti. Talcs autcm cum nos Europa dimiserit,
eundemque spiritum quotidianis Instituti nostri exercitationi-
bus conservare, per Dei gratiam, usque nobis curae sit, qui
probabile reddi queat, repente pessimos enormiterque sceleratos
nos evadere? Num infelix adeo Sinensis agri est terra, ut
cum externo habitu etiam imbibitos ab adolescentia religionis
mores omnisque christianae vitae principia deponi et obliterari
faciat? Si tam diram in nos tyrannidem exercet, qui tit, ut
alii earn in se non experiantur ? An forte quia non sunt sicut
caeteri hominum? Equidem quia tales erroribus nos atque
naevis vel septies in die obnoxios esse inficias baud imus,
scimusque continenter falce opus esse, qua rescindamus, quae
ex corrupto peccati fomite repullulant, ab his qui mundi
sunt accusatores nostri, primi in nos lapides mittant : dum
vero enormium nos scelerum postulant, suspicio est aut
ingentes trabes suismet in oculis circumferre, aut certe obducti
glaucomate oculos, videre se opinantur, quae non vident,
phantastica animi occupatione decepti, ut de notorio fratrum
calumniatore taceamus.
Quod si autem hae contestationes a R. P. V^ illaeque
nostrae attestationes aut non recipiantur, aut non valeant
adversus delatorum nostrorum argumenta, seu verius sophis-
mata (quae quidem ut competenter confutemus, qualia
proferant, ac comminiscantur, ignoramus nee divinare possu-
mus), ita ut extra controversiam, sicut iam habentur, sic
persistant imputata nobis delicta ; aliud nobis non restat,
quam ut ad pedes sanctissimi Domini et innocentissimi Patris
nostri peccatores provolvamur filii et humiliemur sub paterna
castigantis manu : etsi enim quorum incusamur criminum,
reos nos esse baud agnoscamus, in multis tamen offendisse
omnes non difiitemur ; exhorretque animus tantam blas-
phemiam, ut dicentes, quoniam non peccavimus, mendacem
faciamus eum, qui fidelis et iustus est, ut emundet nos ab
omni iniquitate. Interim misericordiam implorare non cessa-
mus, ut dum delinquentes plectere filios constituit, saltem
innocenti parceat Matri, quae nullam in filiorum delictis
partem habet, ut iustam iudicis contra se iram proritet ;
et vel ipse supremus iudicum arbiter olim detinierit patrem
(utique et matrem) iniquitates filii non portaturum. Propter
decem iustos pepercisset idem infamibus Pentapolitanis :
quomodo fieri queat, ut ipsis Sodomis ac Gomorrha peior
544 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
reputetur minima lesu Societas, pauciorumque noxa sociorum
universa luat, quam tot sancti viri et innumeri imdique iusti
exornant, quam praeclarissima per universum orbem de
Ecclesia Dei merita illustrant semperque S. Sedi commenda-
tissimam reddiderunt? Nee inter postrema habentur in
Sinensi parta imperio, nisi a lividis oculis conspiciantur.
Proh, quantum triumpharet orcus, effectum si nanciscantur,
quae in 4° et 5° articulis contra Societatem statuuntur !
quantum laetarentur haereses masticem suam constringi et
impotentem reddi ! quantum hypocritae ^ applauderent, qui
venenosi dogmatis sui sementcm non una satione iam hue
usque proseminarunt, ut sectae suae sequaces subnascantur !
Haec quanto cordolio, quanta maerentis animae compunc-
tione conscribamus, testis est lesus, cuius militiam sequimur,
cuius nomine insignimur, cuius iidem gentibus annuntiamus.
Submissionem erga S. Sedem publice profitemur, eius decreta
venerabunde suscepimus, iuravimus oboedientiam profuse
etiam sanguine testaturi ; executionis partem, quae a nobis
est, explemus, humiliter deprecamur culpam, qualiscumque
vel nos, vel quemcumque nostrum maculare credatur. Si
haec non sufficiunt, quid ultra exposcimur? ut tamquam
purgamenta mundi huius et omnium peripsema substernarum
conculcantibus nos ? Neque hoc abnuimus, dummodo glori-
ficetur Christus in nobis, cui in cruce commori peroptamus,
certi beatitudinis, quam iustitiae causa persecutionem patienti-
bus promisit.
Ut finiamus dcmum lacrimcsam epistolam, ad P. V. A. Rdam
convertimur, quam nostri causa tam diuturnis moerdribus
conflictari iustissime indolemus, utque non tam super nos
quam super vineam Sinensis ecclesiae ingemiscat, demisse
hortamur : ecce inter sacrum et saxum quam vere, tam
lamentabihter constitutam ! Novus Imperator operarios
evangelii in exilium amandat : sed et ex Urbe alii subsidio
mitti prohibcntur, alii iubentur remitti aut a sacro opere
vacare. Atque sic quasi caelum et infernus, boni simul et
mali angeli contra illam conspirasse videntur. Magnitude
doloris plura non permittit. Originem utriusque calamitatis
attribuentes peccatis nostris, in spiritu paenitentiae ingemi-
scamus : Pater, peccavimus in caelum, et coram te, fac,
^ The Jansenists.
APPENDIX. 545
quaesumus, humillima apud Sanctissimum deprecatione, ut
residuam hie scintillam, quam in indignis filiis tuis extinguere
tantopere satagit inimicus, misericorditer et paterne in spem
futuram huius vineae conservet. II ipsum per communia
suffragia Societatis obtineri etiam atque etiam precamur."
" Pekini 28 Octobris 1724. Adm. R. P. V^e minimi in
Christo filii :
Embertus Xaverius Fridelli Collegii Pekinensis Rector
m. pp.—
losephus Suarez S. J. m. pp. — Carolus Slavieek S. J.
m. pp.—
Ignatius Kogler S. J. m. pp.— Andreas Pereyra S. J. m. pp. — •
Aloj'sius Fan S. J. m. pp."
Summarium (cfr. above, p. 197, n. 2), § 8.
9. On the Audience with Emperor K.\nghi on January
14, 1721.1
Adm. Rev. Pater Generalis.
" Tametsi nos duos infrascripti Societatis lesu sacerdotes ac
missionarii in curia Pekinensi per testimonium, quod iuxta
articulos ab A. R. P. V. praescriptos et commendatos cum aliis
Pekini societatis nostrae sacerdotis fecimus atque subscripsi-
mus, videri possimus satisfecisse obligationi nostrae atque
oboedientiae nobis iniunctae in litteris suis 27 Septembris
1723 datis, tamen quia vario rumore comperimus, nos ambos
fuisse nominatim atque speciatim in pessimam suspicionem
tractos, tamquam si voluntatem Imperatoris Sinensis, quando
dimisso alloquio, quod iil^^o Patriarchae Alexandrino cum
omnibus Europaeis 14 lanuarii 1721 benigne indulserat, nos
duos paululum coram se remanere iussit, pervertissemus,
ut denuo mutaret sententiam in iis quae circa ritus Sinenses
petenti ill™° Patriarchae iam concessisse praetendebatur ;
ut pessimam banc suspicionem, immo temerariam atque falsis-
simam penitus convellamus atque signate a nobis amoliamus,
in verbo sacerdotis iuramus coram Deo, qui nos aeque ac
delatores iudicaturus est, nos nihil omnino dixisse vel egisse,
per quod praetenderemus aut procuraremus Imperatorem
a praetensa ilia concessione revocare, aut per quod Im-
perator incitari potuerit ad mentem suam mutandam, idque
1 C/. XXXIII, p. 475 seq.
VOL. XXXIV. N n
546 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
tanto minus, quia extra dubium est, Imperatorem in eo
alloquio nihil eorum, quae praetendebantur, circa ritus Sinenses
concessisse, immo nee velle nee posse concedere, sicuti quam
saepissime iteratis asseverationibus a viginti et amplius annis
verbo et scripto publice ac constanter contestatus fuit.
Pekini 2 Novembris 1724.
losephus Suarez S. J. m. pp.— loachimus Bouvet S. J.
m. pp.
Summarium (cfr. above, p. 197, n. 2), § 6.
10. From Tamburini's " Informazione " of January,
1725.1
" Ex litteris P. Francisci Xaverii Dentrecolles datis Pekino
9 Oct. 1723 : Hoc anno baptizati, magna ex parte infantes,
numerantur dumtaxat 700 circiter, 50 adulti sacramenta rite
muniti in hac christianitate obierunt.— Ex litteris P. Carolide
Resende Viceprovincialis Sinensis datis Pekino 31 Oct. 1723 :
Hoc anno sensim sine sensu Pekini aperta est ianua administra-
tioni sacramentorum absque discrimine personarum, et
quamprimum publice etiam administrabitur eucharistia. Per
provincias nihil novi circa administrationem ; ubique admini-
stratur.— Ex Htteris P. Stephani Couteuls datis ex Han Yang
6 Septembris 1723 : Praeter ea, quae anno praeterito ad R.
P. V. scripsi, tribus ultimis anni mensibus abfui a mea ecclesia
decurrendo varias christianitates ; praesenti hoc anno abfui
iam per duos menses, et post aliquot dies proficiscar ad pagos
usque ad initium lanuarii ; vires supplebit Deus. A Maio
anni 1722 unque ad lunium praesentis anni numeravi G20
baptizatos, 2383 confessiones, 842 communiones ; non est
proportio confessiones inter et communiones, quia multae
sunt occasiones, in quibus fieri non potest sacrum. Caeterum
non existirnet P. V. permissiones ab ill. Legato expHcatas
sufficere ad tollendas omnes difficultates in praxi. Sunt adhuc
puncta non pauca, circa quae variae sunt missionariorum
sententiae.
Ex litteris P. losephi Pirez Provincialis laponiae datis
Macao 29 Novembris 1723 : Ex dictis intelliget P. V., quam
ahenum a veritate sit dicere, sacerdotcs Collegii Macaensis id
temporis vitam degere otiosam ; numero pauci. senectute
* Cf. above, p. 195.
APPENDIX. 547
graves atque adversa valetudine utentes, munera gravissima,
quibus collegium de more so obstrinxit, libenter seu illibenter
adimplent. Tribus in hebdomade diebus et festis per annum
totoque tempore Ouadragesimae a fine orationis matutinae
usque ad secundam mcnsam et aliquando usque ad occasum
confessiones excipiunt. Omnes praedicationes, quae toto anni
tempore et Quadragesima habentur, tam in nostra quam in
cathcdrali ecclesia, Domo misericordiae et tribus parochiis
(totidem enim sunt in hac civitate) non ^ Religiosis hie etiam
habitantibus, sed a Sociis habentur. Omitto instructionem
captivorum ; quorum magnus est numerus, ad collegii ianuam
a duobus sacerdotibus in Quadragesima, necnon alia pia
opera, quae . . . exercentur. Praeter sodalitatem Sinensium
neophytorum, quibus praeest christianorum Pater in ecclesia
separata, in hac nostra a multis annis, quatuor sunt erectae
praeter novam a P. Visitatore sub invocatione SS. lesu Christi
Cordis."
11. SOMMARIO ADDIZIONALE DI NUOVE ECCEZIONI RICONO-
SCIUTE IN ALCUNI DEGLI ACCUSATORI DE' MISSIONARI
BELLA COMPAGNIA BELLA CiNA, CAVATE BALLE LETTERE
be' MEBESIMI MISSIONARL^
No 1. Da una lettera del P. Franco Saverio DentrecoUes,
scritta da Pechino al P. Generale della Compagnia nel 1 Novem-
bre 1724. — " Romae scit (D. Pedrini) eam esse inditam de se
idaeam, quam nullae quantumvis verae accusationes valeant
maculare : quid non audeat homo, qui credit, se quidvis
tuto audere posse et saepius ausum esse ; a levioribus in se
ad graviora recte nonnumquam concluditur ; hinc evulgatum
illud : disce ab ungue leonem : quo tempore ad instantiam
illmi Legati Mezabarba D. Pedrini de mandato Imperatoris
translatus e carcere publico fuit in locum apud nos, ubi
expresse de eodem Imperatoris mandato debuit manere rigo-
rose clausus, ita ut a nemine inviseretur, nihilominus P. Dentre-
coUes ilium quotidie, aliquando post prandium, aliquando post
caenam [in visit], per horam circiter apud ipsum manebat
confabulando ; ita ut si forte per otium ire non potuisset,
D. Pedrini ilium amice per famulum rogabat, ne se solita con-
solatione privaret ; nihilominus in relatione ilia sua famosa
* Cf. above, p. 79 seq.
548 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
de actis in suo carcere, et quae casu Cantone fuit deprehensa,
legitur : P. Dentrecolles veniebat quotidie semel visurus tam-
quam rigorosus carceris custos, num tuto in carcere clausus
essem, ne possem aufugere : munus enimvero viro ingenuo
et religiosae domus superiore dignum ? Accepta casu huius
relationis certa notitia P. Dentrecolles, hoc ingratitudinis
genere eo magis stomacatus, quod amicis talem ingratitudinem
a tali viro praedicentibus non credidisset, hoc exprobravit
Dno Pedrini, qui negavit haec a se fuisse scripta ; at, quaeso,
quis illo silente ista somniasset ? Ut iterum hie revocem vim
adagii superius memorati : homo, qui facta tam sine pudore
invertit, estne, quaeso, aliqua fide dignus? "
No 2. Da una lettera del P. Giacomo Filippo Simonelli da
Cantone al P. Generale sotto li 10 Decembre 1725. — ■" Idem
D. (Mulliner) habet secum unum clericum natione Sinensem,
qui fuit eius famulus a longo tempore ; est ex infima plebe,
filius unius christiani, propter affixos publice contra Societatis
Patres infames libellos tempore E^"' de Tournon apud omnes
christianos pessime audientis. Patri suo similem se probavit
filius. Nam Pekini sese cum D. Pedrini inclusit, nequicquam
reluctantibus PP. Gallis (Romae autem fertur a Patribus
inclusum), fuitque illi pro amanuensi in scribendis pluribus
infamatoriis libellis, quos ad ianuas pubhcas collegii Pekinensis
et residentiae ibidem PP. Gallorum affigi curarunt, et insuper
uno scripto infamatorio adhuc peiori eo, quem D. Appiani
Cantone conscripserat. Omnia praedicta exarata erant litteris,
et idiomata Sinico. Post haec facinora ab eodem 111°^^ ordinatus
sacerdos nuper fuit."
N°. 3. Da una lettera del P. Giuliano Placido Hervieu da
Cantone al P. Generale sotto li 19 Decembre del 1725. —
" Examinet etiam, quaeso, Sua Sanctitas et P. V., an non
timed possit, ne ille ipse D. Pedrini, qui alias convictus est
clam accusasse apud defunctum Impcratorem, Patres Socie-
tatis Pekineneses et mandarinos quosdam aulicos, ne, inquam,
ille ipse, si quid audiat de ideis P. Bakoski, rem deferri curet
Imperatori aut alicui regulo, sicque Societati nostrae soli
nocere intendens, ansam praebeat Imperatori iudicandi suas
suspiciones legitime esse fundatas, et ne videar Suae Sanctitati
ac V^6 Pt' liberius loqui de D. Pedrino, cogor adderc, quod hoc
ipso anno dixit R. P. Volfangus Carmelita ^ coram P. Dentre-
* Cf. above, p. 195.
APPENDIX. 549
colles, dictum D. Pedrini, cum agitur de lesuitis, minime esse
liberum."
No 4. Dalla sopradetta lettera del P. Simonelli citata al
no 2. — ■" Cum illmus Lorimensis cum P. Perroni loqueretur :
motus scilicet ex iis, quae audierat a viro omni fide digno nee
lesuita ; quoad innocentiam nostram circa omnia ea tarn
horrenda, quae nobis Romae imponuntur, et diceret : Si hi
Religiosi humiliarent se, et si in aliquo peccassent forte,
emendationem serio promitterent, numquid pro illis spes veniae
non esset ? Respondit P. Perroni : Minime, eradicemus illos.
At adiunxit 111™"^ : Christus Dominus praecepit, ut peccatori
paenitenti non dimittatur solum usque septies, sed usque
septuagies septies. Excandescens praedictus Pater : Minime,
inquit, illi"^ D"^, minime, eradicandi sunt, eradicemus illos.
Is nempe, et non alius eorum finis est, quem factis iamdiu,
nunc vero, cum se prope tenuisse vident, quod peroptant, etiam
dicto manifeste declarant."
No 5. Da una lettera del P. Giov. de Saa Viceprovinciale
al P. Generale da Cantone. — " lam aliquid dicendum dehomini-
bus Sacrae Congregationis hie degentibus. D. ep iscopus
Lorimensis indifferenter se habet. D. Moliner positive semper
contrarius, spirans minarum in Societatem nostram. D. P.
Perroni Procurator S. Congregationis odium formale contra
nos, quod hoc anno saepius declaravit, videtur ad sepulchrum
usque allaturus, accusationibus, calumniis omnis generis
contra nos concinnandis semper intentus, illius enim praecipue
sunt illae frequentes voces : eradicentur lesuitae. Hoc anno
homo, qui se vendit honoris Summi Pontificis zelantissimum,
permisit munera pontificia ad Imperatorem Sinicum deferri
titulo tributi, in itinere fiuviatili erecto magno vexillo flavo
cum magnis litteris Sinicis hpc ipsum significantibus ; hoc
per totum imperium pubHca nuntia diffamarunt. Simile
improperium numquam hactenus nos tulimus, uti de facto
praemonuimus D. Patriarcham Alexandrinum, et olim P. Bovet
efficacissime restitit in faciem mandarinorum idem .attentan-
tium, protestatus se ne unum quidem gressum progressurum,
quod defunctus Imperator probavit ; idem facere potuisset
P. Perroni, cum de hoc expresse ab aliis monitus, sed homo de
nostra infamia summe sollicitus et in ea procuranda audacissi-
mus, pro Summi Pontificis honore tuendo animum non habuit,
nee de eo sollicitus fuit."
550 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
N° 6. Item da altra lettera del citato P. Simonelli al
P. Generale da Cantone sotto li 10 Decembre 1725. — " Huius
metropolis Cantoniensis Prorex (serione, an illudendi nobis
animo, novit ipse) rumorem sparsit, Imperatorem indigna-
bundiim iubere, ut omnes Europaei, nullo praeter Pekini
degentes excepto, intra Macai fines coercerentur. Tunc enim
vero S. Congregationis homines quasi fulmine icti expallescere,
amaris querelis intimum animi sensum prodere : et qui siccis
oculis intrepidoque corde innumerabilium spectabant anima-
rum excidium, unius domus ridenda, si cum illo conferatur,
iactura miro modo turbantur : adeo grave illis accidebat
(liceat clare edicere quod est : quid enim ulterius dissi-
mulemus?) nidulo illo extrudi, ubi enormes adeo, atque a tot
annis numquam interruptas calumnias ad famam Societatis
evertendam totque machinas ad eius operarios e his terris
eradicandos (eradicandos enim saepius expresse dixerunt)
fabricantur. Interim vix credibile est, quot et quam atroces
calumnias in dies contra nos comminiscantur spargantque,
quam graviter hominum Societatis famam indesinenter vul-
nerent, adeo ut ex eorum convictu unus timoratioris con-
scientiae ea petulantia tandem stomachatus e communi se
mensa subtraxerit, neque ad cam ut rediret, persuadere passus
est sibi, nisireceptasponsione fore ut in posterum a detractioni-
bus saltem publicis omnino abstinerent."
No 7. Dalla lettera del P. Domenico Perenin al P. Assis-
tente di Francia da Pechino 3 Novembre 1725. — " lis (les
Jansenistes de France) ont des emissaires a la Chine comme
partout ailleurs, ils en ont a Canton pour distribuer leurs livres
et leurs appels contre la Bulle Unigenitus a leurs camarades
du Tunquin et de la Cochinchine. Ils ont eu soin d'y joindre
les Lettres Provinciales pour §ervir de lecture spirituelle a
leurs neophites, et Icur inspirer de bonne heure toute la haine
pour la Compagnie, qu'ils portent partout avec eux.
Ce fait est demontre par la sentence juridique d'excommuni-
cation, fait prouve dans les formes par le depute de I'Ordinaire
du lieu contre le sieur Guigues.
Vous verres cette sentence. lis en ont d'autres icy et k
Canton pour nous attaquer et crient contre nous k Rome, en
France, en Hollande ou tout s'imprime. Ils ont pour cela
chacun une grosse pension du Seminaire de la rue du Pacq.
Cet argent passe aussi par les mains du dit M"" Guigues, sans
APPENDIX. 551
quoy la modique pension de la S. C. ne suffiroit pas pour tant
d'ancre et de papier, et comme ils ont encore besoin de presans
pour mieux reussir contre nous, c'est M"" I'eveque de St. Malo
appellant, qui les leur fournit par caisses. Je ne vous citeray
pas en preuve une sentence juridique, mais j'en appelle au
temoignage des missionnaires de Canton k qui la chose est
connue, et meme a Rome tons ne I'ignorent pas. Je s^ay de
leurs gens, qui en ont donne avis. On passe le voile par dessus
pour de bonnes raisons. Mais qui sont ceux, dires vous, qui
font se vilain metier? Ce sont M^ Pedrini et son confrere
Mr Appiani. Pourquoy ne les pas nommer, puisque ce sont
les principaux dont on fait valoir le temoignage contre nous,
et qu'on n'ecouteroit pas, si on voioit I'histoire de leur vie,
qui a ete envoiee en Europe, du moins en abrege."
No 8. Dalla lettera del P. Ignazio Kogler al P. Generale da
Pechino 1 Novembre 1725. " Venerat eo dem die ad Collegium
R. P, Wolfangus,^ quern ex occasione seorsim rogavimus
P. Suarez et ego, ut sua subscriptione dignaretur testimonium
firmare de eo, quod nuper a R. D. Pedrino coram nobis testis
compellatus fuerit facti sui promissi, scilicet se scripto inter-
rogatum, similiter scripto responserum. At vero,' R. Pater, et
si verissimum id esse affirmaret, constanter tamen abnuit sua
subscriptione testari, aiens testimonium, istud nee necessarium
nee utile sibi videri, immo nocivum potius ac praeiudicio
futurum in Europa, Romae praesertim, quod in causa contra
D. Pedrinum se passus sit immisceri. Addidit, se persuasum
esse D. Pedrinum ilia sua dicta numquam inficiaturum, ac
certo etiam responsurum, si scripto interrogetur : an vero illud
bene, an male, ad propositum, an extra chorum, se non audere
polliceri. Eccum autem novo hie exemplo confirmatum, quan-
topere etiam pro agnita veritate testimonium dare viri boni ac
religiosi refugiant, si norint earn displicere eo loco, unde vel
promotiones sperant, vel sua sibi metuunt stipendia curtari."
No 9. Da una lettera del P. Dentrecolles al P. Assistante di
Francia da Pekino 6 Ottobre 1724.^ — ■" . . . Une de nos peines
est de vivre pres d'un M"" Pedrini et d'un P. Renaldi Carme
Dechausse, gens plein de duplicite et de mensonges et nulle-
ment embarasses d'etre surpris sur le fait. Leur occupation est
d'attraper un mot ici et un mot la, et de batir ensuite de fausses
nouvelles contre les Jesuites, nouvelles qu'ils s^avent etre les
^ Cf. above, p. 195.
552 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
seules agreables, crues et recompensees. On les a confondu
sur des choses qu'ils disoient avoir recemment ouies d'un tel ;
leur regret pour lors n'est que d'avoir ete deconcertes. Le
R. P. Tomacelli de I'ordre des Clercs Reguliers Mineurs, est
rappele par la S. Congregation d'une maniere humiliante. Les
premieres paroles que Mr Pedrini luy dit en le voiant sont
celles-ci : Voila ce qui vous est arrive pour avoir ete du cote
des J6suites. II falloit done venir a la Chine resolu d'ecrire
contre nous, quoy qu'on put voir et toucher au doit etant
arrive en Chine."
No 10. Da altra lettera del P. Simonelli da Cantone 8
Decembre 1725. — " . . . Negl'anni passati le calunnie si
mandavano alia sorda. Quest'anno si strombettano ad alta
voce. L'intento non pare altro, se non ispaventare i due Ill™i
Nankinense e Lorimense, perche non ardiscano impegnarsi
per gl'innocenti oppressi : onde ancor si vantano, e sopra
tutti il sigr Appiani, che solo ad essi dassi credito in Roma,
e che non si fa ne piu ne meno di quanto essi insinuano."
Item da altra lettera del medesimo citata al no 5. "... Hoc
anno ab incepto non deviabunt ; immo conatum duplicabunt,
eo violentius quo intentum finem prope iam se tenere vident,
eoque confidentius quo persuasum habent palamque de eo
gloriantur, quicquid aliunde quam per ipsos Romam scribatur,
nullam fidem inventurum : quod dictum in quantam Summi
Pontificis ac Sanctae Sedis iniuriam cedat, nemo est qui non
videat."
No 11. Da una lettera del P. Placido Hervieu al P. Generale
da Pechino 25 Settembre 1725. — "... His observatis,
moneo Iptem Vram \ R gt COS omnes, quibus communicandam
iudicabit hanc mcam epistolam et adiunctum, ei folium,
moneo, inquam, haec me scribere et observare, ut hoc exemplo
pateat, quam sit periculosum et aequitati parum consonum,
accusationes Romae admitti, quae hie non fuerint communi-
catae accusatis. De caetero nullatenus intend© recriminari.
Si enim Illmus Myriophytanus [Mullinef], loquens cum 111™°
Nankinensi, recessit ab aequitate et caritate, utramque servavit
postea, quando ad eum recurrimus pro elucidanda veritate ;
et nobis hoc sufficit. Utinam per hoc ipsum non offenderit
suos ! Audivi enim eum a quibusdam vituperari non de
facta criminatione, sed quod eam non miserit occulte Romam,
ut iam toties factum, et quod diluendae hie accusationi dederit
APPENDIX. 553
locum. O tempora ! Authographas ill™' episcopi Myriophytani
subscriptiones hie servamus ad cautelam."
12. Mamiani to Ruspoli.
Dal Gesu, September 21, 1725.
" L'ill™o ed ecc"io Msgr. Ruspoli segretario di Propaganda
fide viene riverito con tutto I'ossequio dal P. Mamiani, il
quale haven do inteso che Domenica si doveva di nuovo
radunare la S. Congregazione deputata sopra gh affari della
Cina, ha giudicato esibire a sua Eccellenza altri nuovi docu-
ment! giunti dopo i primi in giustilicazione de' missionari
della Compagnia, perche si compiaccia riferirli in Congrega-
zione. II primo consiste in una testimonianza giuridica del
vescovo di Nankino e suo Vicario generale sopra altri cinque
missionari havere amministrato i sagramenti et haver'osser-
vato i Decreti Apostolici. Al che si aggiunge il 2° del P. Kogler,
che riferisce il numero de' sagramenti amministrati in Pekino
negl'ultimi quattro anni.
Dove si prega a fare tre riflessioni. La prima e che tutti i
missionari Gesuiti, sopra de' quali si sono esibite le testimoni-
anze, non sono in cosi poco numero come si suppone, mentre
se ne contano ventisei, quindici Francesi e sette della vice-
provincia ; anzi affermando il P. Resende V.-Provinciale nel
§ 7 del predetto Sommario anche con giuramento che tutti i
suoi sudditi hanno amministrato e efettuato i decreti Pontificii>
e niuno hauer cooperate ad altri delitti opostigU, pare che
quasi tutti siano compresi.
La 2^ e che I'amministrazione in Pekino e evidente, con-
fessandola ancora alcuni [di] Propaganda nelle loro lettere
particolari. Che se non si sono procurati i loro attestati anche
sopra i due punti di non haver cooperate i Gesuiti ne alia
opposizione del'imperatore defonto alia osservanza de'
decreti Pontificii, ne alia carcerazione de tre missionarii
consaputi, deve riflettersi, che essendo stati il sig. Pedrini con
altri i delatori a Roma di questi due delitti imputati a' Gesuiti,
come hauerebbero potuto contradirsi, con affermare a favore
de' Gesuiti che tutto cio fosse falso? Oltre di che e troppo
notorio nella Cina quanto pregiudichi a chiunque scrive a
favore de' Gesuiti, come si puo Icggere nel documento 5^ delle
present! scritture.
La 3^ riflessione si e che in alcune provincie non si trovano,
554 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
fuori de' Gesuiti, altri missionari, e pero riesce impossibila
trovare in quelle altri attestati che de' Gesuiti, come si accenne
nell'altro Sommario ultimamente esibito, § 11. Si conchiude
che se si hauesse da prestar fede solamente alle semplici rela-
zioni di quelli di Propaganda come indubitabili, e che le attesta-
zioni de' Gesuiti ancora giurate dovessero stimarsi spergiuri,
sara superfluo procurare altre diverse giustificazioni, anzi
impossibile.
Intorno alia scarcerazione de' due di Cantone, non vi e
dubbio, che tutte le lettere di Pekino la suppongono seguita,
ma si e scoperto essere stato un falso rumore col^ sparse ;
poiche in una lettera scritta da Pekino al P. Generale, dove si
suppone la stessa scarcerazione, si trova una nota fatta dal
P. Hervieu Superiore de' PP. Francesi, che si trovava in
Cantone, nelle cui mani capito la detta lettera ; nella quale
scritta di diverso carattere in margine si avverte essersi sparsa
falsamente questa nuova in Pekino, restando ancora col titolo
di carcerati i due missionari, come si puo leggere nel documento
3° con la circostanza di potere uno di essi, il sig. Appiani
scorrere liberamente per tutta la citta, siccome si riferisce in
altre lettere dell'anno precedente ; e il sig. Guige parimente
con la liberta di andare ne' villaggi circonvicini, come si
legge nella sua sentenza" esibita nel documento 4^. Che poi
fosse comune in Pekino questa opinione, oltre le dette lettere,
s'inferisce dalle lettere del sig. Pedrini, dove non fa menzione
d'hauer procurata la detta scarcerazione, come doveva, e
poteva per I'entratura che ha in palazzo, segno che ancor'esso
era dell'opinione degli altri.
Si aggiunge per 4° documento la sentenza data dal com-
missario del vescovo di Macao contra il sig. Guige uno delli
due, come fautore di eretici, e per colpe in materia de' costumi,
della quale sentenza potranno gli Em^ Card^' fame quell'uso,
che giudicaranno piii convcniente.
Per cio che spetta alia nomina de dicci sogctti per mandarli
alia Cina, e alle missioni adjacenti, non e possibile al P.
Generale il metterla in effetto adesso, per non haverc ricevuto
da due anni in qua instanza da alcuno de' suoi sudditi che
dimandasse quelle missioni, perchc essendo notoria la proi-
bizione fatta al detto P. Generale, non ha piii ricevuto simili
instanze, senza le quali non suolc mandare alle rnissioni. Che
se chicdeva la libertk di poterli mandare come prima, era per
APPENDIX. 555
animare i suoi a chieder le missioni. Quelli poi che restano in
Cantone essendo la maggior parte vecchi, e di eta avanza,ta,
non sono in stato di andare ad altre missioni di diverse lingue.
Solamente si rappresenta, che se quella proibizione provisionale
fu in pena delle colpe supposte, essendosi giustificati i suoi
missionari con tanti attestati, pare che non haveva piu da
sussistere la detta pena. E chi scrive con ogni rispetto si
rassegna a comandi di Sua Ecc^^,"
13. The Peking Jesuits to Mezzabarba.^
November 25, 1726.
" Praeteritis his diebus ad nos . . . pervenit una ' ad
Praelatum quendam epistola ', quae ab IlFustrissima]
D[ominatione] T[ua], falso hand dubie, scripta supponitur,
viro sane nobih legatoque Apostolico prorsus indigna. Quid
enim a nobili viro magis alienum quam atrocissimae calumniae
malaque in omnibus fides, quibus est referta? ..."
We now give a few material facts from the lengthy refutation
of the accusations : —
" D. T. Ill 25 Dec. ann. 1720 sic scripsit ad Imperatorem :
' devo humilmente V. M. supplicare in nome del SS. Pontefice,
de permettere che si osservi liberamente e da' missionarii e
da' christiani Cinesi la sua Constitutione che comincia " Exo
ilia die, " ' etc. Ad tarn subitam declarationem in primo
primi sui adventus prope Pekinum responso Imperator iratus
26^ eiusdem mensis sic respondit : ' qui sunt in artibus periti,
aetate provecti et infirmitatibus detenti, relinquam in Sinis,
caeteros vero, qui legem praedicant in Sinis, tu tecum accipe
et deduc in Europam.' Ad has perterritus minas D. T. 111.
rogat clementiam Imperatoris, ut saltem dignetur reciperc
Breve SS. Pontificis. Imperator abnuit et rursus mandat, ut
eos qui non pos^unt illi inservire, reducat secum in Europam.
D. T. 111. petit inducias, ut liceat saltem soluta glacie ad annum
subsequentem expectare. Ea occasione Imperator ilh expro-
brat, quod sibi non constiterit, Cantone aliter, aliter prope
Pekinum locutus fuerit, insurgit contra 111. D. Maigrot et
D. Pedrini, conqueritur de modica aequitate etc. tunc temporis,
1 Cf. above, p. 83. The first page of the document is signed,
probably in the writer's own hand : Mens. Mezzabarba vescovo
di Todi.
556 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
cum nihil superesse videretur nisi ipissionarios e toto Sinarum
imperio exire, praeeunte omnium superiore Apostolico
Legato, D. T. 111. permissiones circa decretum Brevi
pontificio adiungens rogavit Mandarines, qui negotia sua
tractabant, preces suas dignarentur addere precibus, ad
obtinendum eas admitteret Imperator, qua de re M. S.
monuerunt.
D. T. 111. negare non potest rem ita fuisse peractam, et
consequenter veram banc esse viam, quae illi aperta est ad
producendas dictas permissiones : hoc est ad id fuisse coactum,
quod forte in mandatis habebat, ne omnia pessum daret.
Cum autem Imperator audivit aliquas esse permissiones
coniunctas cum Brevi pontificio, non dubitavit, quin D. T. 111.
in suis instructionibus haberet, ut non statim, non ultro,
sed paulatim coactisque a SS. Pontifice accepta rescripta in
lucem proferret. Idcirco ut primum audivit, iussit uni ex
suis Mandarinis, ut ad D. T. 111. rediret, utrumque foHum
de mandibus eius reciperet et de mandate suo diceret illi
haec verba : ' S. Pontifex dcdit tibi duplicis generis Breve,
duplicis generis permissiones tibi mandans, ut ad me secundum
rerum circumstantias referres.'
Horum omnium testis fuit D. T. 111., vidit, palpavit, palpa-
runtque et viderunt socii omnes, et ex hoc ultimo non potuit
non concludere Imperator, persuasum habere D. T. 111.,
permissiones omnes nondum produxisse, sed ahquas tantum
tunc obtulisse, ahas secundum rerum circumstantias obla-
turum, quod per se patet."
The Emperor, the mandarins, and the Europeans pi-esent
now showed their satisfaction that the affair promised to end
favourably. But " Ipsamet D. T. 111. adeo aberat ab existi-
mando permissiones praedictas Imperatori abunde satisfecisse,
ut tertio post oblatas die, cum publice corarn magnatibus in
conspectum Imperatoris primum admissus est, absolutis in
simili casu consuetis caeremoniis, ipso interrogante, quid
haberet dicendum, necesse iudicaverit in suo response authori-
tatem S. Pontificis ab ipsa a Christo Deo in deftniendo data
potestate firmare, qua stabilita petiit nomine S. S. Clcmentis
XL, ut M. S. dignaretur permittere christianis Sinensibus,
decretis Apostohcis circa ritus patrios sese conformarent et
ilia observarent ; haec autem dixit audientibus tum magnati-
bus, qui ad illam audientiam iussi fuerant adesse, tum omnibus
APPENDIX. 557
legationis Apostolicae sociis et aliis tarn dudum Pekini degenti-
bus Europaeis ".
Ripa thought that Kanghi considered the dispute at an
end ; however, " D. T. 111. non erit immemor praedicti
D. Ripae iteratarum apud illam supplicationum, ut per
mitiores explicationes ad plura permissiones extenderet."
With regard to the accusations : 1<^ The Jesuits deny that
they spoke disrespectfully of the papal Brief. " Verum
est et libenter fatemur, nos ad D. T. 111. conquestos fuisse, uti
filii humilHmi ad patris aequitatem recurrentes, in eo phrasim
quandarn reperiri, quam inscio S. Pontifice insertam fuisse
asserebamus et nunc quoque asserimus, in eo scil. loco, ubi
loquendo de non-reditu Patrum, quos Imperator Romam
miserat, sic ait : ' Egregiae tuae moderationis exemplum
tunc dedisti . . ., tametsi non deessent, qui malevolo in nos
animo nequiter tibi suaderent, eiusmodi eventum incuriae
nostrae e.t forsan etiam dignitatis tuae contemptioni ac
despicientiae tribuendum esse, adeoque authores tibi forent
ad ea in nostros missionarios statuenda, quae certe praeter
modum acerba accidissent.'
Haec sunt, 111. D., quae in Brevi pontificio improbavimus.
Ecquis non improbaret eos praesertim, qui talia tamque
calumniosa scripsere ? Improbavit D. T. 111. Summi Pontificis
legatus, dum in compendio Brevis ad Imperatorem misso
reticuit, licet fuerit ex duobus unum, quae praecipue ipsi
commendabantur ; dum ad iustas nostrum omnium querelas
negavit tale quidquam in Brevi pontificio reperiri, Romae
nihil de eo audivisse, nee esse in exemplari, ex quo compendium
ad Imperatorem missum extraxerat. Eadem igitur, quae in
nos cadit calumnia, in D. T. 111. cadere pariter necesse est ;
de caetero negamus absolute, in ullo unquam defuisse honori et
reverentiae S. Pontificis Brevi Apostolico debitae, et audacter
affirmamus, nullum unquam hominum nos in hoc peccasse
posse demonstrare.
Qui tam odibilem calumniam ad S. Sedem detuht, sibi pro
certo non persuaserat, illam unquam ad tantem lucem fore
producendam : non ignoravit D. T. 111., quid egerit in tali
occasione D. Theodoricus Pedrini, qui forte maiorem in eo
partem habet, quomodo sese aliis interpretibus opposuerit,
ut totus ille articulus in vcrsione totaliter omitteretur ; quo-
modo se nihil proficere videns, morbum simulaverit ; opus
558 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
cui interesse iussus fuerat, repente deseruerit domumque
reversus fuerit ; quomodo versione absoluta iussus cum
auxilio unius scriptoris mandarini earn cum originali conferre,
omnibus modis illi persuadere conatus sit, ut illas lineas vel
omnino omitteret, vel alia illis substitueret. Certe si nos
tanti, cuius in Brevi S. Pontilicis accusamur criminis rei
fuissemus, non tam constanter illius conatibus et voluntati
obstitissemus, verum innocentia in medium apparere non
formidat.
An idem de dicto D. Pedrini dici potest ? lis quae modo
fecisse diximus et quae non ignoravit D. T. 111., num ansam
praebuit non mediocrem suspicandi, ipsum tam atrocis
calumniae fuisse authorem ? Ad quid enim tanta commotio ?
Ad quid ea animi perturbatio, quae ilium censurarum ecclesi-
asticarum immemorem ad Brevis Apostolici falsificationem
impulerit? ..."
2. Against the accusation that the Jesuits had represented
the papal Constitution as a mere act of revenge of Maigrot and
Pedrini against them, they state that it was {a) " atrox accusatio
a multis conclamata, sed a nullis hactenus probata, nee unquam
probanda " ; (b) The Emperor's testimony at Mezzabarba's
audience of January 14, 1721 : " ' Antiqui Europaei cum
mira patientia calumnias passi sunt, et sapientissimo illorum
agendi modo vere commotus sum : non solum in Europa apud
S. Pontificem accusati sunt, quod doctrinam religioni
christianae contrariam docerent : Pedrini, Ripa et alii
saepius apud me accusationes factitarunt, ilH sciverunt,
siluerunt, et nihil unquam contra eos quidquam ad me retule-
runt.' Haec sunt, quae D. T. 111. ab ipsissimo Imperatoris
ore excepit, quae omnes sui comitatus socii audierunt, quae
in faciem DD. Pedrini et Ripa omnibus Europaeis adnibus
obiurgarat . . . " ; (c) The Jesuits were not the first to
inform the Emperor of the existence of the dispute over
the rites. " Certum est et indubitatum, primam huiusce
litis notitiam Imperatori Kanghi fuisse datam ab ill. D. de
Tournon postea cardinali ; Patris Societatis eatenus fuerant
semper attenti, ne Imperator aut Sinenses, praesertim aulici,
scirent aliquam inter Europaeos inesse controversiam circa
illorum ritus et caeremonias, quare prius rem tantum Imperatori
proposuerant amicorum curiositati satisfaciendi gratia. Res
erat adhuc in eo statu, cum 25 Dec. anni 1705 ill. Legatus
APPENDIX. 559
coepit de iis ritibus disputare cum uno ex delegatis ab Impera-
tore mandarinis, qui per modum familiaris colloquii ab
60 petebat, an decleratio Imperatoris supra ritus Sinicos in
Europa non fuisset cum plausu recepta, unde famosum illud
D. Mariani dictum, qui valde improbabat ill. D. de iis dis-
putare : ' hoc est perfodere parietem.' De eo non contentus,
non diu post . . . ill. D. Maigrot in aulam advocavit et
invitis, quin immo et sese opponentibus ill^ D" Ab Ecclesia
tunc episcopo Pekinensi et omnibus Patribus Societatis in aula
degentibus ad Imperatorem introduxit, ut cum illis de ritibus
disputaret. — Certum est et indubitatum, D. Pedrini primum
decreta pontificia suo modo adaptata Imperatori declarasse,
et R"^ P'" Castorano, ill. episcopi Pekinensis tunc temporis
Vicarium generalem, ea promulgasse, de quo R. ille P. tam
amare conquestus est in sua ad S. Congregationem de Propa-
ganda Fide relatione his verbis : ' me etiam publicatorem
decretorum S. Pontificis revelat.' Certum est et indubitatum,
praedictum D. Pedrini multoties Patres Societatis tum verbo
turn script© hie in Sinis accusasse, ut odium principis in eos
commoveret. . . . Oculatum habuit argumentum D. T. 111.,
dum de mandate principis iussus est dictus D. Pedrini, ipsemet
unius libelli supplicis versionem latinam facere, in quo inter
alia bene multa accusabat nos, inscio Imperatore, ' in carceri-
bus DDos Appiani, Guigue et Bourghesi Cantone a 5 annis
detinere, ita ut Bourghesi mortuus sit in carcere ', et quosdam
aulicos mandata Imperatoris vel falsificasse vel executioni non
dedisse, in Sinis capitale crimen, ut D. T. 111. propriis oculis
videret, quam mereatur fidem, qui tam horrendas imponit
proximo calumnias. ..."
3. Third accusation : The Emperor would have been willing
to drop the rites. When informed of the " concessions ",
of which Mezzabarba was the bearer, he was said to have
expressed his entire satisfaction. At the audience of January
14, 1721, he was reported to have said " che le cose proibite
in quella Constitutione erano bagatelle, e che non erano
dottrina di Confuzio, ne contenute nei libri classici, e che per
Tavvenire non se ne parlasse piu, mentre il negozio era linito ".
But on both occasions the Jesuits were said to have persuaded
the Emperor not to yield. The answer to this charge is :
Kanghi was not the man to be persuaded to say one thing
to-day and another to-morrow. When on December 28, 1705,
560 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Toumon presumed to say that Kanghi " faciles alicui prae-
buisse aures ", the mandarins were indignant : " Imperatorem
suum non tam levis esse cerebri ut ad susurronis nutum mutet
consiha . . . injuriam banc Imperatori suo illatam ferri non
posse." Toumon himself, Clement XL, and the writings
of the opponents of the rites, give quite another picture of the
Emperor. In particular the assertion that when he first heard
of Mezzabarba's concessions he had shown himself satisfied,
is disposed of by a simple narrative of the facts (see XXXIII,
pp. 468 seqq.). As for the audience of January 14, 1721, it is
impossible to believe that the Emperor should have thought
that neither Confucius nor the classical books speak of Tien
and Shangti and the veneration of ancestors. The adversaries
of the rites, such as Maigrot and Visdelou, endeavour to
justify their opinions by the classical books, hence there must
be question of them in those volumes. Hence either Kanghi's
words are an invention, or he spoke ironically " praesertim
cum remisit D. T. Illam ad mandarines Cantonienses et
ad tribunalia quae religioni christianae fuerunt semper adeo
opposita ut nihil nobis esset metuendum magis." . . .
4. The accusation that the Jesuits had told the Emperor
that in France also due obedience was not rendered to papal
Constitutions is refuted by the fact that the Company of
Jesus glories in its obedience to the Pope : " Utinam idem
possemus affirmare de omnibus ahis extra Societatem mission-
ariis : non audivissemus cum tanto nostri animi dolore
lansenistarum libros ingenti decretorum Apostolicorum
contemptu ex Europa venire ad Sinas. D. T. 111. non ignora-
verit huiuscemodi librorum areas his annis praeteritis ad
D. Guigue missionarium Galium venisse : sciverit baud dubie
consuetudinem et commercium, quod interest . . . inter eos,
qui a Constitutione Unigenitus ad futurum concilium appella-
runt, istorumque libros, amicorum opera, ad ultimas usque
regiones disseminari : quam plurimi sparsi reperiantur in
Cochinchina, in Tunkino, in Sinis libros scimus ; pecuniam
saepe missam aliaque pretiosiora dona scimus, quo vero animo,
quo intuitu haec omnia mittantur, satis patet : non certe ad
oboedientiam S. Pontitici et suorum decretis, ncc S. Sedis
reverentiam debitam in animos tum missionariorum, turn
etiam neophytorum insinuandam."
5. Concerning disrespectful remarks about the Pope. . . .
APPENDIX. 561
6. At the time when Mezzabarba contemplated returning to
Europe, the Jesuits are accused of having forced him, through
the Emperor, to present his companion, Roveda. The answer
is a narration of the events to the truth of which Mezzabarba
himself is quoted as a witness.
7. On the mandarins' Diary : " (a) Meminerit D. T. III.,
cum 20 Febr. 1721 esset coram Imperatore simul cum sociis
et- antiquis missionariis, praedictam relationem, de qua est
quaestio, Imperatorem accepisse, illi et nobis omnibus osten-
disse illique dixisse haec verba : ' quae in suo legationis
negotio peracta sunt, iussi a meis mandarinis sinice scribi
et ab antiquis Europaeis latine verti ; vidi et nihil nisi verum
dixisse reperi, haec sunt, quae prae manibus teneo, verissima
sunt et ne unus quidem character vel addi vel detrahi potest ;
haec sunt vera mea mandata, ut tecum accipe et ad
S. Pontificem deferas.' . . . (6) 15^ die eiusdem mensis manda-
rin! de mandato Imperatoris dederant praedictum diarium,
ut fieret latina versio a quatuor ex antiquis Europaeis, DD.
scilicet Pedrini et Ripa cum duobus ex nostris. . . . Verum
quidem est, praedictos DD., cum non noverint characteres
Sinicos, totum laborem in duos alios transtulisse ; sed cum
isti aliquas paginas paratas habebant, ad illos mittebant,
ut conferrent simul, quod D. Pedrini sub diverse sed vano
praetextu semper renuit. D. vero Ripa ope unius Sinae partem
unam accurate examinavit et approbavit, et si integram
versionem cum Sinico non contulerit, ad alia ab uno mandarino
vocatus per otium non licuit, illjus testimonium non recusamus
[sic !]. Non negamus, D^" Ripa interposita contestatione
praedicto diario subscripsisse ; sed asserimus, uti certum est,
non id fecisse, quod iudicaret versionem latinam in aliquo
fuisse infidelem et mancam ; sed aliqua in diario referri, quae
cum non vidisset, de eorum veritate aut falsitate testari se
non, posse existimabat : praeterquam quod utrumque exem-
plar, et sinicum et latinum, multiplici via Romam missum
est ; Romae non desunt, qui sinicos characteres se scire
gloriantur . . . dicant in quo traductores errarunt . . . cum
liducia illos provocamus.
Fatemurnihilominus, diversammissam fuisse praedicti diarii
versionem, unam, quam puram et simplicem vocare liceat,
aliam alteratam et auctam, sed non ab alio quam ad 111. D. T.,
meminerit enim se post lectam et attente examinatam
VOL. XXXIV. 00
562 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
puram versionem nobis dixisse, in eo Imperatoris diario
pauca inesse minus vera et alia omissa, peropportunum sibi
videri, ut adderentur omissa, resecarentur falsa et emen-
darentur minus vera ; addiditque pluries, et sua et nostra et
missionis maxime interesse, ut S. Pontifex et Em. S. Congrega-
tionis cardinales viderent in praedicto diario, se totis viribus
institisse, ut executionem decretorum S. Pontificis permit teret
Imperator, nihilque egisse aut dixisse, quod illi tantillum
obstare posset . . .
Post factam, quam desiderabat, mutationem, omnibus
antiquis Europaeis subscribendam relationem suam proposuit,
qui paucis exceptis, omnes subscripserunt, etiam D. Ripa,
non protestando sicut prius, nullus enim ad subscribendum
compellebatur ..."
8. On the mission of the Jesuit Antonio Magalhaens to
Rome : "... Die 19 Febr. 1721 Imperator petiit, qua navi
[Legatus] reverti vellet. Respondit D. T. 111., * eadem qua
veni.' Tunc Imperator ait, ' nonne tipi expedit, ut regi
Lusitaniae de te tam bene merito aliqua munera deferas,
quae meo dentur nomine ? ' Cui libentissime acquievit. Verum
aliquot post diebus mutavit sententiam Imperator et iudicavit
magis opportunum, aliquem Lusitanum designare, qui cum
D. T. 111. iret in Europam et praedicta munera nomine Impera-
toris deferret ad suum regem ; quare 2 die Martii facta abeundi
copia ultimo admisit in conspectum 111. D. T™, comitantibus
sociis aliisque Europaeis in aula degentibus. Imperator
multa, ut in aliis audientiis, di;cit, quae rcpetere non est opus.
Ouibus dictis advocavit D. T. 111. ad thronum suum, propriis
manibus dedit illi tredecim uniones inclusas in capsella ad
S. Pontificem deferendas, quo facto iussit P. Ant. Magalhaens
accedere pariter ad thronum suum, et propriis manibus todi-
dem uniones in simili pyxide remisit ad regem Lusitaniae
destinatas ; horum testes fuerunt socii caeterique adstantes
Europaei.
Dictus P. Magalhaens Pekino versus Cantonem cum D. T. 111.
profectus est, vidit in via locorum mandarinos non dubitasse,
quin esset verus in Europem ab Imperatore missus, vidi
Cantonienses talem ilium habuisse, talcm Macaenses — qui
igitur fieri potest, D™ T. 111. de vera legatione dicti Patris
dubitasse ? " Magalhaens returned with a Portuguese envoy ;
both were received at Macao amid the chiming of bells and
APPENDIX. 563
salvoes of gunfire ; the mandarins were informed, the Viceroy
informed the Emperor " de reditu P. Magalhaens prius in
Europam missi ab imperatore . . . ", the two envoys parted
at Macao : Magalhaens first repaired to Canton where the
mandarins received him with the honours due to an ambas-
sador. Accompanied by a mandarin he reached Peking on
September 24. At an audience with the Emperor the latter,
to express his satisfaction at the successful issue of the embassy,
presented him " suum pretiosis pellibus biretum. Quis post
haec negare potest dictum Ant. Magalhaens verum fuisse ab
Imperatore Kanghi ad regem Lusitaniae legatum ?
Haec sunt. 111. D., quae breviter tantum ex ' Epistola ad
Praelatum ' delibare hcuit. Ex quibus attamen satis apparet,
quanta sit iniuria, quam D* T. 111. infert, dum illam talis
epistolae facit authorem. Nos qui ipsius probitatis fuimus
testes, quibus tam saepe contra illatas nobis calumnias
missionisque perturbatores clarissime mentem suam decla-
ravit, qui non ignoravimus, quam bene in nostrum et missionis
favorem hinc Romam scripsit, quam clarum et ab ulla aequi-
vocatione ahenum testimonium relationi imperatoriae circa
legationis suae negotia dedit, quam honorifice quantisque
laudibus nostros in aula degentes aliosque quos in via viderat
Societatis missionarios Macai extuht ac celebravit, qui audivi-
mus gloriosum testimonium, quod in favorem nostrum in
prime suo in Europam adventu scripto dedit, qui persuasum
habere possemus, inter tot de nobis nostroque optimo persemi-
nandi Evangelii modo elogia, talem epistolam unquam
scripsisse. ..."
14. JOAO MOURAO TO MeZZABARBA.^
Si-tai-tum, September 25, 1725.
" . . . Na mesma carta [of the year 1723] me queyxey
[fol. 149b] a V. S. 111™^ de que proxime a navegar para Europa
deixasse contra toda a expeta^ao na sua carta pastoral hum
docomento de que os inimigos da Companhia se haviao de
valer para mais fortemente accuzar a nossa inocencia, a qual
V. S. 111™^ mostrava incuzar, reprehendendonos de nao
executar em Pekim a prohibi^ao dos Rittos Sinicos, emposi-
bilitandonos na mesma Pastoral com os mais rigorosos preceitos
^ Cf. above, p. 81.
564 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
que permitte o jus ecleziastico, a reduzir a praxi o mismo que
nos suadia, e nao mandava, executar.
Soponho que V. S. 111™^ entendeo a principal razao por que
me queixey, assim como eu alcancey o motive porque V. S.
Ulma nos deo materia para a minha queixa. Persuadome que
o motivo, porque V. S. 111™^. escreveo a sua Pastoral, foi origi-
nado da famoza relagao do Senhor Pedrini, divulgada, em
Cantao pelo Senhor Appiani, a qual comunicou a V. S. Ill™*
o P. Fr. Joao Frz. Serrano e nella procurava o auctor de tantas
fi^oens malquistar a V. S. Ill°i*, como se fora parcial dos
Jesuitas. Esta nota era, a que mais V. S. 111°^* temia, como me
disse muitas vezes, e que mais poderia enredar em Roma os
seus negocios e os da missao. Pello que se vio V. S. 111™^.
obrigado a desvanecer com actos contrarios o conceyto que
poderia cauzar a iniquidade da ditta rela^ao : por esta cauza
na Pastoral rebate V. S. 111°^* as senistras expozi^oens com
que o Senhor Pedrini escreveo as promessas de V. S. 111"^*
nos seus memoriaes para o Imperador da China. O tomar
V. S. Ill™* a nossa suspengao por materia para a sua Pastoral,
foi cauza o nao achar outra mais propria para condecorar as
omissoes, de que se via incuzado pello Senhor Pedrini : e o
nao nos mandar sob graves penas, mas suadirnos somente a
administ ra9ao dos neofitos, ajuntando as excomunhoes precei-
tos sobre o segredo da ditta Pastoral ; foi advertirnos, que a
fizera constrangido de evitar com ella o que maiz temia, sem
animo de nos obrigar ao que notoriamente era incompativel
com a dura9ao destas christandades. A este mcsmo fim creo,
que expedio V. S. Ill™* o P. Ceru para Roma por outra via
com copias da sua Pastoral.
Tambem me persuado que nao foi diversa a causa da questao
que em Macao excitou V. S. Ill™* contra o P. Antonio de
Magalhaes quazi ao mesmo tempo em que V. S. Ill™* recebeo
a rela^ao do Senhor Pedrini que athe hum ponto tam claro,
quis enredar, se V. S. Ill™* julgasse que se Ihe dcvia entregar
o mismo do Imperador para Sua Magestade Portugueza sem
duvida proporia o lazo ao Mandarim llegado na ocaziao da
entregua, que fez ao P. Antonio de Magalhaes conforme as
ordens do Imperador seu amo. Intrepretando eu tam natural-
mente o sentido destas ultimas opera^oens de V. S. 111™^
em China, ja se ve que o queixarmc naquella carta foi cooperar
ao mesmo fim com o provido animo de V. S. 111™^' desvanecendo
APPENDIX. 565
a fama de parcial dos Jesuitas, em isto me acomudey a adver-
tencia, que V. S. Ill™*^ me mandou fazer ao P. Joao Priamo
sobre elle dever em Roma falar mais mal que bem de V. S.
Illma athe entrar inoffenso pede naquella sagrada curia. Se
eu nao interpretasse na forma assima ditta o animo de V. S.
Illma, nos dous apontados cazos, seria necesitado a persuadirme,
que tudo quanto V. S. IIV^^ obrara em Penkim fora maquinado
em hum cora^ao fingido. Histo porem nao deveria eu supor
em hum homen particular medianamente honrado, e muito
menos emhum tam illustre Senhor como V. S. 111'^'^ e em hum
legado de Sua Santidade, sendo V. S. 111™^ tam refiexivo no
seu obrar e ainda em palavras de nenhuma consequencia
como abreria comigo tanto o seu interior em pontes que
tinhao correlagao com o credito de V. S. 111™^. He certo que
nao fiaria tanto do meu silencio, se uzara commigo com animo
menos sincero e alheyo do sangue de sens illustres progenitores
e pouco conforme a provida advertencia que observey em
V. S. 111™^ a quem a sagrada curia fez seu dignissimo legado e
tanto honrou a corte de Portugal, julgando a V. S. 111°!^
sogeito digno de tam singulares attengoes. No mesmo sentido
intrepreto as novas vozes, de que V. S. Ill°i^ chegando a Roma
se declarou contra nos e contra esta infausta missao. De
nenhum modo me persuado que in re assim seja ou tenha
succeedido : julgo sim que presentindo V. S. 111™^ nao poder
sem detrimento proprio resistir ao empenho de nossos advera-
rios, procrastinou o patrocinar a missao e defender a verdade
para o tempo em que amainada a tempestade pudesse V. S.
ser servido em favor destas christandades e perseguidos mis-
sioneros. No que ouvi em Pekim a V. S. 111™^ me fundo para
assim entender o animo, com que se portou voltando a Roma.
Em huma occaziao perguntey a V. S. 111°!^ por que rezao
properava tanto a sua viagem para Europa : ao que me
respondeo as seguintes palavras : ' Procuro partir logo para
Roma, porque o remedio desta missao totalmente depende .
de que eu pronto veja a Sua Santitade, de que ella seja por
outros enformada nos negocios desta legacia ; se os informes
de outros sugeitos chegarem pronto que eu a Roma, nao serey
so bastante a defenderme, nem menos poderey ja tratar os
negocios da missao a seu favor.' Em outra occaziao me
disse V. S. Ill™* o seguinte : ' Rogue a Deus que chegado eu a
Roma esteja 8 dias sem me arguirem de algum crime que me
566 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
embarasse o representar os negocios desta tarn debatida
cauza.' E suadindo eu huma vez a V. S. Ill^a^ que em prezenga
do Imperador falasse hum pouco mais do que costumava,
V. S. 111™^ me respondeo ; ' Nao falo mais, porque temo, que
Pedrini e outros para me enredarem interpretem para Roma
em sinistro sentido as minimas palavras : e a rezao de nao
quererme deter nesta corte athe a festa natalicia do Imperador
he para evitar occazioes de que elles me emredem.'
Destas palavras e de outras mais que por brevedade nao
aponto, duas couzas colegi naquelle tempo. Primeira a senciri-
dade com que V. S. 111™^ me tratava, e o bom animo de
favorecer a missao. Segunda, quam potente fosse em Roma o
partido de nossos adversaries, pois sendo V. S. 111™^ legado de
Sua Santidade tanto temia, de que os enformes do Senhor
Pedrini e de outros sogeitos particulares fossem bastantes a
infirmar as instrugoens de V. S. I]l^^. Bem conhecia o Senhor
Pedrini esta potencia, o qual antes de V. S. Ill™^ partir de
Pekim disse a hum dos que ficavao na corte que, ' fora bem
ditozo, em nao acompanhar a V. S. ll\^^, o qual sem duvida
havia de ser em Roma mal recebido e que a mesma fortuna
encontrariao os da sua comitiva.' Pello que enformado eu
desta absoluta prediyao do' Senhor Pedrini e dos condicionados
presagios de V. S. 111™^ mais sensivelmente comessey a temer
o infelis exeito da cauza Sinica, quando me constou a navegagao
tao moroza de V. S. 111™^ e o infausto fim, que encontrou
no Brazil a nao em que se embarcou em Macao V. S. 111'^'^.
Por esta cauza julgo que quando chegou a Roma, sem duvida
acharia ja a sagrada curia inclinada as instro^oes do Senhor
Pedrini, e pouco propensa a dar atten9ao aos enformes de
V. S. 111™^, os quaes sendo conformes a verdade, necessaria-
mente haviao de ser contrarios aos que primeiro tinhao
sido acreditados e por isso, nao poderiao ser os de V. S. 111™^
bem admettidos ; imo forte seriao com detrimento proprio
rescitados. Neste estado, parece, estava a sagrada curia,
quando V. S. 111™^ la chegou : e prevendo talves nao Ihe ser
possivel defender sem o perigo proprio a verdade, julgou
rczbalar para milhor tempo o patrocinalla, e nao impossibili-
tarse a defendella sem emolumento da missao e sem se preju-
dicar a si mesmo. Alem destas rezoes, que bastao a persuadirme
que V. S. Ill™* nao he inimigo nosso, tenho para a mesma
persua9ao outro motivo naquelle juramento com que V. S.
APPENDIX. . 567
Illma tomando a ceo por testemunha, me uno praesente
jurou defender o credito dos Jesuitas na cauza Sinica.
Bern se ve, que se nao constasse a V. S. lll^^ a nossa
inocencia nesta cauza, nao juraria defendella, nem em tantas
occazioens louvaria a paciencia com que por tantos annos
fomos ultra] ados.
Tambem sei que muitos fundandose em mais segura
theologia, julgao que V. S. Ill™* como legado Apostolico devia
ex justitia informar claramente a Sua Santitade da verdade,
que conheceo e confessou em China e nao supremilla ; porque
em a suprimir foi necessariamente cooperar com os que falsa-
mente conformarao a santa curia em damno de tantas chris-
tandades e detrimento grave da inocencia, o que tudo ja se
executou, e talves se nao executaria, se V. S. 111°^* intrepida-
mente representasse ao Sumo Pastor o perigo evidente, em
que ficavao estas suas disgragadas ovelhinas. Se nao corriao
perigo, por que tantas vezes o chorou V. S. 111°^* em Pekim
com tao copiosas lagrimas? Nemhuma outra cauza seria
bastante a ferir tao vivamente o coragao de V. S. 111™*. Incrivel
paresse, que V. S. Ill™* representasse a Sua Santidade a ver-
dade, que conheceo na China e perigo que tao amargamente
lamentou, nao ouvesse de fazer mais favoravel mossao nas
paternas entranhas ao Santissimo Vigario de Jesu Christo.
Se a sagrada Curia, por nao irritar o Imperador Kamte,
aceitou a instancia de V. S. Ill™* sobre o nao serem chamados
para Europa os Jesuitas de Pekim, tambem admeteria as
outras propostas, que V. S. Ill™* Ihe devia fazer, a fim de
evitar a ultima indignagao do Imperador. Bem previa V. S.
Ill™* que nao voltando a China, como Ihe prometeo verbo
tenus muitas vezes, e em dous memoriaes e varias cartas, se
havia de seguir sem duvida a ruina de toda a missao,
e inevitavel a publicar por todo o mundo oprobiozissimos
decretos contra o decoro da Santa Se, os quaes em Londres e
Ambstardao seriao bem aplaudidos. Bem vio V. S. Ill™* os que
estavao ja preparados para se publicarem, quando para os
impedir, e a ruina da missao se vio obrigado a pedir repetidas
vezes com muitas lagrimas huma interina suspengao, em
quanto V. S. Ill™* voltava a Roma a informar a Sua Santidade
promettendo tornar brevemente com resposta a S. Magestade
Imperial. Nem menos previa V. S. Ill™* que corriao perigo de
vida o Senhor Pedrini e talves outros mais : huns prezos por
568 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
falsarios em relatar os sucessos que passarao em prezen^a
do Imperador, e outros porque abonarao as promessas de
V. S. 111™^ a quern he evidente que eu offered a minha cabessa
em fian^a da palavra de V. S. 111™^. Nem duvido, que sobre
mim caheria a mayor furia da indigna^ao daquelle monarcha ;
ao qual procurey abrandar, fazendolhe dizer, ser costume
entre os principes da Europa reconhecer as promessas dos
seus legados ; e que sendo V. S. IIV^^ de muito nobre naci-
mento, de nenhum modo se atreveria a macular toda a sua
Illustre Caza enganando a Sua Magestade com promessas que
nao julgava comprir.
Fiz dizer estas couzas ao Imperador com o consenso de
V. S. Ill™*, afim de impedir os males, que ja choravamos,
como executados ; e tambem, porque julguej^ que dizia a
verdade segundo as praticas das cortes de Europa, e o que se
tinha praticado na sagrada Curia nos procedimentos do Senhor
legado de Tournon, por cujo credito a Se Apostolica julgou
aprovar, quanto elle ca fizera, ainda as couzas, em que passou
OS limites das suas commissoes. Sabendo pois, os que assim
discorrem, ser isto tudo certo a e w. S. Ill™* tao notorio, nao
podem persuadirse, que o SS. Padre nao ouvesse de dar assenso
as propostas de V. S. Ill™* maxime sendo ellas em favor destes
neofitos o que nao se achara nas instrugoens do M. de Tournon :
imo julgao que esta ultima rezao bastava na corte do Sumo
Pastor para [que] os verdadeiros enformes de V. S. 1111™*
em remedio das ovelhas Sinicas devessem pervalecer aos do
antecedente Senhor legado Apostolico totalmente oppostos a
diuturnidade desta missao, como supoem que V. S. Ill™*
assim devia discorrer ; por isso julgao, que supremindo
em Roma a verdade, que na China conheceo e confessou, nao
fez o que em justi^a devia fazer, comforme a abriga9ao de
legado Apostolico, a quern o Sumo Pontefice incarregou o bem
destas christandades.
Se eu ouvesse de discorrer, segundo este sisthema poder me
hia fundar aliunde em certas palavras, que ouvi a V. S. Ill™*
e por serem tao notaveis, me ficarao impressas no coragao.
Conversando eu hum dia com V. S. Ill™* sobre os negocios
desta missao, me disse assim : ' Se eu attendesse ao meu
aumento temporal, de outro modo havia de ter obrado ;
que ocaziao mais propria para conseguir o cardinalado,
que o voltarme para Roma quando, proximo a esta corte, me
APPENDIX. 569
mandava voltar o Imperador sem me querer admitir? Que
me aproveitaria porem no tribunal de Christo a purpura, se
eu enganasse na terra o Seu Vigario com detrimento de tantas
almas? En outra ocaziao me disse V. S. 111'"^. as seguintes
palavras : * Hum homem bem nascido, que elegeu a vida
ecleziastica, nao obrara conforme a sua livre eleigao e nasci-
mento senao fizer alguma ac^ao heroica em servicio de Deos
e da Igreja, eu suponho, que Deos me meteo nas maos esta
cauza da missao para a concluir conforme o Seo divino servigo
e bem de tao amplas christandades.' Fundandome pois nestes
tao notaveis sentimentos de V. S. 111™^, quando esteve em
Pekim, nao seria de admirar, se eu sentisse com o comum
parecer? Acomudandome porem aos antecedentes presagios
de V. S. 111™^ suponho, que o que obrou em Roma, ou deixou
de obrar, tudo foi originado das mas dispozigoens, em que
achou a sagrada Curia, totalmente persuadida, que nao havia
perigo nas execugoens dos Ritos prohibidos. Espero porem
agora, que fortalecida V. S. 111™'^ com o inegavel documento do
perigo ja executado, se animara a representar intrepidamente
a verdade, que antes julgou ad tempus supremir. Bem sey
que a ruina da missao he muy universal, e que cada vez se
mostra mais irreparavel : porque alem da publica sentenga,
e execugoens a instancia do Cumto acuzador Man Pao, nova-
mente sahio huma terrivel critica ou perpetua sentenga deste
Imperador, que ja fez publicar por todo o Imperio, ajuntando
a santa religiao as outras seitas falsas, e ordenando declararse
a sua critica cada mez ao povo, ensinarse nas escolas, e exami-
narse sobre ella os letrados. Tarn radical damno nao chegamos
a prever, os que da prohibigao dos ritos presagiamos certa
ruina da missao. Como porem este mesmo mal se originou
da ditta prohibigao, talves se podera desvanecer e reparar
com resposta a Sua Magestade Imperial. . . ."
15. Controversy between Mons. Mezzabarba and
P. Magalhaens.i
" Paragrafi d'alcuni documenti sopra I'essersi Mons. Mezza-
barba mutato in Macao da favoravile in contrario a' PP. della
Compagnia di Giesii circa gl'affari della Cina, e d'essersi mutato
coll'occasionc, che il P. Ant. di Magalhaens non li voile cedere
^ Cf. above, p. 81.
570 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
i regali da offerirsi al Ser. Re di Portogallo in nome dell'Impera-
tore della Cina.
§ degli atti d'una consulta provinciale tenuta in Macao
sopra I'affare de' sudetti regali, ove il P. Vicepronviciale del
Giappone Franc. Pinto, dando la sua sentenza a' 29 d'Ottobre
1721, disse cosi a tutti i consultori, e cosi lo riferisce al P.
Generale della Compagnia di Gesii : quoniam vero idem
excellentissimus Dominus adhuc fortius questibus ac etiam
minis me ursit dicens, debere me consulereSocietatiacmissioni,
quarum bonum vel malum ex hac re pendet, idcirco teneri me
iudico, rigorosum oboedientiae praeceptum imponere P.
Antonio de Magaglianes.
Dalla lettera del menzionato Viceprovinciale del 26 novem-
bre 1721 al Generale ;
Omnes qui ex Europa ad Sinas venerunt cum D. Patriarcha
(excepto R. Benedicto Roveda saeculari presbytero, et fortasse
etiam R. P. Nicolao Tomacelli ex Clericis minoribus), non erant
bene affecti Societati nostrae, statimque aliis antiquis nostris
adversariis conglutinati sunt, et una omnes nunc Pekinensia
acta vitio vertunt Pekinensibus lesuitis, quos multo acrius
quam antea (ut credimus) accusabunt apud Sedem Apostoli-
cam, falsissime tamen. Certissimum enim est, Pekinenses
Patres minime posse ab Imperatore obtinere, ut prohibitionem
rituum a S. Pontifice imperatam permittat in Sinarum imperio
contra antiquissimas leges per tot saecula in imperio ipso
tenacissime observatas, quas etiam, si ipsemet Imperator
relaxare vellet, magnam omnium subditorum suorum indigna-
tionem incurreret et in gravissimum periculum se coniiceret.
Idipsum D. Patriarcha clare vidit, atque intellexit Pekini, et
S. Pontilicem de totius rei veritate informatum, nostrorumque
innocentia defensatum [ ?] non solum Pekini, sed etiam Macai
saepe dixit. Postquam autem P. Magalhaens coepit dicere,
non traditurum se supradicta imperialia munera Excellentiae
suae, frigere coepit ipse excellentissimus Dominius in re prae-
dicta, et in partem adversariorum nostrorum inclinare visus
est. Haud poterit tamen dicere, lesuitas Pekinenses non
obtemperasse Exc. Suae, cum enim rei impossibilitatem
vidcret, nihil omnino ilhs praecepit. Verissimum praeterea
est, nostros semper et ubique non solum debita, sed etiam non
debita obsequia D. Patriarchae praestitisse, praesertim Macai,
unico excepto P. Magalhaens in casu praedicto. . . ."
APPENDIX. 571
16. Jansenism in the Missions. ^
Letter of the Jesuit Goville to his confrere Nyel.
"... Saprete dalle lettere della Cocincina quello che c'e
accaduto per conto del Signer Carlo Fleury prete del Seminario
delle Missioni straniere e sostegno del Giansenismo in quella
Missione. E da altra parte gia sa la R. V. i discorsi sc;indalosi
che tenne a Yam Gin Ly nella chiesa de' PP. Francescani il
Signor Antonio Guigue sacerdote del medesimo Seminario.
II Rev. Padre Ceru I'obligo in punto di morte a ritrattarsene
due o tre anni sono, perche allora il detto Signore fu in gran
pericolo di morire nella sua casa di Safousse. L'istoria di Ben-
gala e anco fresca in Roma : due signori dell'istesso Seminario
sono voluti prima morire senza sacramenti, che ritrattarsi delle
proposizioni giansenistiche, che avevano messe fuori in piu
occasioni. Tutti questi fatti possono dar molto che pensare
intorno ai veri sentimenti di questo Seminario in materia di
Giansenismo. La scoperta che qui s'e fatta in quest'anno, e
una conferma sonora di questo stesso : che non si puo ne
negare ne scusare.
II primo di Settembre del 1722 gl'interessati nel vascello
d'Ostenda avendo fatto venire a Cantone i loro bauli e le casse
di mercanzie, il doganiere gl'ando a fare la sua visita in com-
pagnia d'un tagino Tartaro e del P. Murano, tagino anch'esso,
mandato dall'Imperatore a Cantone. Tra quelle casse ce n'era
una diretta al signore Guigue piena di libri mandatili dal
Seminario di Parigi, affine che esso poi I'inviasse al Seminario
di Siam. Dopo che questa cassa fu aperta dal doganiere, il
P. Murano ebbe curiosita di vedere qualcuno di questi hbri,
ed avendo veduto che il primo, a cui diede di mano, era gianseni-
stico, ne prese un altro e poi un altro, che non erano punto
meghori del primo. Allora prego il doganiere, che avesse per
bene, che la cassa si portasse in sua casa, come fu fatto inmanti-
nente, non senza qualche repugnanza per parte de' mercanti
fiammenghi, a conto di cui erano caricate, ed a cui questa
medesima cassa con due altre piu piccole erano state singolar-
mente raccomandate. Queste seconde furono consegnate
segretamente al signor Guigue, che non voile che andassero alia
dogana : per quell'altra piu grande non temeva di nulla non
v'essendo altro che libri.
^ Cf. above, pp. 79 seq. »
572 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Subito che questa fu in casa del P. Murano, egli invito i PP.
italiani e due PP. Francescani ad andare da lui per un negozio
d'importanza. Fece questo, perche voile avere de' testimonii
nell'aprire la detta cassa e nel fare I'inventario de' libri che
c'erano, e cosi in presenza di quattro testimoni, che furono li
PP. Perroni e Miralta, di S. Rosa e Alaman, si fini d'aprire
la cassa. I due nostri PP. Jaque e Gaubil, ci si trovarono
anch'essi, ma per caso o a dir meglio, per un tiro di providenza.
Non e credible I'opposizione che fece il P. Perroni per salvare
la riputazione de' signori del Seminario, suoi buoni amici.
Ma cio non ostante si fece I'inventario di tutti i hbri contenuti
nella cassa, al qual inventario si sono sottoscritti i quattro
PP. nominati di sopra. lo ne mando una copia, che bastera
per fare conoscere a Roma questo famoso Seminario.
II P. Perroni volendo risparmiare a' suoi buoni amici la
confusione d'essere scoperti e colti in flagranti, voile mettere
in ballo anco noi per far paura al P. Murano. Disse dunque
che anco noi nella nostra chiesa ricevevamo de' libri cattivi,
ed in particolare cito il P. Foquet. Disse questo in presenza di
due Spagnoli, che riferito poi ad altri Spagnoli, si prese molto
scandalo di noi. II P. du Baudory si trovava a Yam Gin Ly
convalescente d'una malattia, di cui e stato vicino a morire ;
esso vedendo il scandalo, parlo in difesa mia e di questa nostra
casa : ma appena se li credeva, tanta era I'impressione che
aveva fatta il dire del P. Perroni. Questo ha dato occasione ad
una specie di hte tra questo religioso e me. Mando a V. R. tutto
il processo, afifine che si comunichi al R. P. Assistente e per suo
mezzo al R. P. Generale. II P. Perroni fece ricorso al P. Visita-
tore : ma perche in quello che scriveva di me non c'era verisi-
militudine, il P. Visitatore non li fece altra risposta. Ma nel
suo ritorno a Cantone ha veduto tutte le lettere, che sono passate
dall'una e dall'altra parte : et ha detto chiaramente, che nelle
mie non c'era che riprendere : ma fu ben lontano da fare
I'istesso giudizio di quelle del P. Perroni. V. R. ne giudichi.
Finisco con tornare per la seconda volta al signor Guigues.
Sul vascello cinese che portava alia Cocincina li RR. PP. Ccsati
et Alessandri Barnabiti, Mons. Guigues mando di grossi dis-
pacci : e perche altri ancora ne mandavano, era su quel vascello
una gran quantita di lettere. Per lo che il mandarino del luogo
in vedere tante lettere, venne in pensiero che ci fosse qualche
conspirazione contro lo stato formata e fomentata dagl'Europei,
ed a fine di prevenirla, tratenne le lettere e le sorprese.
APPENDIX. 573
Gl'Europei avendo compreso il sospetto del mandarine stima-
vano di non potere far cosa di meglio per distruggerlo che
abbandonare le lettere, ne prendersene pensiero alcuno. II
mandarino aspettava, che si sarebbero dati gran briga per
ricuperare le loro lettere, ma essi non se ne presero nessuna,
di modo che quegli per levarsi la curiosita, le apri e chiamo
un missionario (che io credo che fosse il P. Pires, al presente
Provinciale del Giappone), perche li spiegasse queste lettere.
Cosi se ne trovo una del signor Guigues trattante dell'affare
dell'appello del signor cardinale di Noaglies, che egli mandava
a' suoi confratelli : e mandandoglielo, si congratulava con essi
loro della buona nuova che loro dava ; pregandoli ancora, che
per comune consolazione facessero passare di mano in mano la
copia di quell'appello. Su questo fondamento si potra credere
che la ritrattazione, che il P. Cerii suo confessore li fece fare
prima di darli il s. Viatico, fosse sincera ? Almeno e certo che
non fu molto chiara ne publica, come necessariamente doveva
essere per riparare lo scandalo.
PS. Si tien memoria in Francia, che Mons. di Cice vescovo
di Sabula, mentre tornava da Parigi a Siam nel 1699 o nel 1700,
fece naufragio vicino ad Orleans. • Si ripescarono i suoi bauli
e si fecero sigillare. Tra quelli pure si ci trovavano de' libri
molto cattivi, de' quali il libraro che gl'ebbe per asciugarh,
rests tanto scandalizzato, che non pote trattenersi di non fame
de' rimproveri all'istesso prelato. In oltre Mons. de Vigyer,
che allora era soggetto del Seminario di Parigi, venne aUa Cina
per la strada del Peru nel 1710 o 1711. Sen'ando a Namcham
capitale di Kiansi, e la sua barca s'apri : e tra' libri che egli
aveva ricevuto dal Seminario di Parigi e portava alia Cina,
sene trovarono di molto cattivi. Finalmente il libro di Ouesnel,
hora condannato colla bolla Unigenitus, fu portata nella Cina
da' questi signori del Seminario. E uno di loro ne fece presente
al P. Vizdelou, ora vescovo di Claudiopoli. Tutti questi fatti
certi uniti insieme serviranno a levarsi la maschera a dette per-
sone che sin allora non s'era ben conosciuto chi fossero."
17. NOTIZIE SULLA STORIA DELL'aRTE.
{a) Nota di quelle che e stato fatto nella Basilica Vaticana
dal 1713 sino al 1720 corrente.^
1. Dieci statue di stucco di palmi trenta I'una sopra i cinque
arconi del tempio, a' quah mancava tale ornamento.
1 Cf. XXXIII, p. 523.
574 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
2. Gradino di Verde antico colle cornici di metallo dorato
all'altare del santissimo Sagramento, che prima era di legno.
3. Altro simile gradino fatto all'altare sotterraneo dei ss,
Apostoli, che parimente era di legno.
4. Li sportelli di metallo dorato fatti di nuovo alia balaustrata
della Confessione.
5. Cristallo con cornice di metallo dorato a\anti I'immagine
della Madonna delta della Gregoriana.
6. Altro cristallo con cornice simile avanti I'immagine della
Madonna detta della Colonna.
7. Ciborio fatto di nuovo per I'altare della Gregoriana.
8. Organo portatile fatto di nuovo tutto intagliato e messo
a oro.
9. Cupola della Presentazione ricoperta di mosaico per due
terze parti.
10. Cupola del coro cominciata e terminata.
11. Tre sordini della stessa cupola cominciati e terminati.
12. Cupola del santissimo Sagramento rifatta tutta di nuovo
e ornato il lantcrino della medesima.
13. Tre copie di tre quadri grandi di S. Pietro, che devono
servire di cartoni per farli a mosaico, essendo gia tagliati i
peperini per quello del Lanfranco dato al Cristofani.
14. II pulpitino di noce, dove si ricevono e si notano I'ele-
mosine delle messe, fatto di nuovo.
15. Ouattro cartoni per i sordini, due per la cupola degli
angioli fatti dal Lamberti, et altri due dal Ricciolini per quella
del coro.
16. Ripuliti e risarciti li stalli del coro e indorati i leggii del
medesimo coro.
17. Credenzone di noce fatto di nuovo nella sagrestia per
custodia degl'argenti.
18. Scala che dalla sagrestia porta alia cappcUa del coro fatta
di nuovo e datoli il lume.
19. Cappella di S. Clemente, che si sta attualmentc facendo
nella sagrestia, dove prima si ritenevano gl'argenti.
20. Sei modelli di diversi architctti i)er la fabbrica della
sagrestia.
21. Cancellate del portico ripulite e resarcite colla giunta del
metalli che mancavano.
22. Voltone dalla parte del Constantino indorato di nuovo.
23. Voltone sotto il campanile ornato di stucchi c indorato.
APPENDIX. 575
24. Opera del Carlo Magno, per la quale e stabilito il modelloin
piccolo e avanzato il modello in grande, come pure staccato il
marmo dalla montagna di Carrara.
25. Lastricati i cornicioni della facciata con tavole di marmo,
accio non penetri I'acqua.
26. Avanzato il lavoro del mattonato in coltello sopra lo
scoperto di S. Pietro.
27. Ricoperta di piombo la met^ e piu della cupola grande,
che haveva patito per lo scirocco e faceva danno I'acqua.
28. Modelli di maestro Nicola Zabaglia de' ponti in aria, che
attualmente s'intagliano per servizio della Rev''''' Fabbrica, e
sara un libro di cinquanta e piu rami con le sue spiegazioni.
29. A tutto questo s'aggiunge I'estinzione di 170™ scudi di
debito, come costa da riscontri del banco, e circa scudi 40™
di credito, in mano del depositario della Rev'"^ Fabbrica, oltre
piu migliara di scudi pagati per frutti de'luoghi de' Monti
estinti, dovendosi ancora il ritlesso alia gran quantita di danari
mancati per le note vertenze dalla Cruciata di Spagna e Nunzia-
tura di Napoli e anche da Malta per il soccorso a' preti Siciliani
esiliati.
Papal Secret Archives, Miscell. di Clem.. XI., t. 12, p. 50-1.
{h) Piazza di S. Pietro.
Le 50 statue di travertino, poste sopra li due bracci delli
portici di S. Pietro, sono state fatte et alzate nel terzo anno del
pontificato di S. S*'^.
Discorso sopra le nicchie o sian tabernacoli della Basilica
Lateranense e dell'altezza delle statue che proporzionalmente
vi devono essere collocate secondo il disegno del cav. Borromini,
a Msgr. Corsini, Tesoriere di S. St^., dat. Di casa 16 marzo 1703,
Miscell. di Clemente XL, t. 12, p. 19-21. Papal Secret Archives.
Memoria del danaro impiegato per fare le dette statue de'ss.
Apostoli, ivi p. 23.
Denaro del re di Portogallo, ivi p. 24, del principe elettore di
Baviera, ivi p. 25.
Ristretto dello stato presente del dare c dell'avere delle dette
statue, ivi p. 27.
Notizia dcgli artefici e de' disegni di dette statue, ivi p. 28.
Capitali in essere a favore della facciata da farsi alia chiesa
di S. Giovanni in Laterano, ivi p. 31. [Inoltre : il moltiphcato
che fa il rev. capitolo d. mcdesima (in tutto 36,065).]
576 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Pareri d'alciini architetti sopra la facciata, ivi, p. 32.
Notamenti (in parte di mano propria di Clemente XL),
sopra accrescimento di libri stamp, e ms. per la Biblioteca
Vaticana. Trasporto di caratteri e di libri neH'anno 1713,
ivi, pp. 101-120.
Notizia distinta di tutti li beneiici et opere fatte da
P. Clemente XI. nel Palazzo Apost. Vat. : ovunque restauri
in tutte le parti del Palazzo ; Biblioteca : " 200 codici mss.
in lingua Siriaca, Araba e Cofta fatti trasportare dal Egitto
in due volte presentemente ristaurate tutti le pitture d. Biblio-
teca." Cure per I'Archivio : " Armeria vaticana accresciuta " ;
abbellimento dei giardini. Cura del " cortile delle statue ",
ivi, pp. 124-134.
Chicsa di S. Clemente : Capitali, fondo e frutti destinati da
Clemente XI. per fare il soffitto di S. Clemente, ivi, p. 211.
Idea de' quadri da dipingersi e porsi ne' muri laterali, ivi,
p. 212.
Quadri dipinti nel soffitto con le notizie de' loro autori, ivi
p. 215.
Spese del cardinale Ferrari per la " Cappella di S. Domenico ",
ivi, p. 206.
Lista del danaro fatto pagare da Clemente XI. a queUi che
anno operato in S. Clemente sotto la direzione di Carlo Stefano
Fontana architetto, sottoscritto di propria mano da lui, ivi,
p. 217.
Iscrizione in S. Clemente del 1715, ivi, p. 218.
Iscrizione antica trovata in S. Clemente nel 1725, ivi, 220.
18. Memorial of the Cardinals on Noailles'
Recantation. 1
Beatissimo Padre.
Essendo uno de' negozi piii gravi che possa offerirsi alia
Chiesa di Dio I'accettazione di cui ora si tratta, e che deve fare
della bolla Unigenitus il signor cardinal di Noailles, ed essendo
stata da Vostra Santita commessa la discussione di quest'affare
ad una congregazione particolare, e restato sorpreso il Sacro
CoUegio dall'intendere che la forma, colla quale pretende detto
' Cf. above, pp. 259 seq.
APPENDIX. 577
signer cardinale di Noailles di accettare detta bolla, e con-
danna le 101 proposizioni in essa condannate " del medesimo
modo, e con le medesime censure, che la Santa Sede le ha
condannate, e revoca la sua istruzione pastorale dell'anno 1710
con tutto quanto in essa si dice e contiene ", giudicando esso
cardinale, che questo basti per adempire al suo obbligo con
Dio, con la Chiesa universale, e con la Santa Sede, e di dover
essere percio ammesso alia sua communione, e che basti
ancora per dar la pace alia Chiesa ed al regno di Francia. Ha
per tanto il medesimo Sacro Collegio giudicato essere di sua
precisa ed indispensabile obligazione di qui rappresentare
umilissimamente alia Santita Vostra quanto se gli offerisce sopra
questo progetto per non mancare dal canto suo di far noto tutto
quello, che occorre in questo rilevantissimo affare, ed accio
possino tanto maggiormente detti signori cardinali far quel
giudizio, che richiede simile progetto.
A questo effetto bisogna presupporre, che uno de' principali
assunti di detta istruzione pastorale del signor cardinale e che
la bolla Unigenitus non sia dogmatica, ma solo di polizia e di
disciplina, ed in conseguenza sia ritrattabile : il che s'impegna
egli a trattare in primo luogo per la natura delle proposizioni
condannate, ed in secondo, perche se bene in detta bolla dette
proposizioni si condannino con varie censure usque ad haeresim
inclusive, queste pero sono in globo, senz'assegnare ad ogn'una
la censura particolare, che merita, onde conchiude, che non
puo essere ne ammettersi, come dogmatica, ne come regola di
fede, mentre per esser tale bisognerebbe che insegnasse la
quahta del veleno che ciascheduna racchiude, il che in detta
bolla non si dichiara.
Supposta dunque una tale dottrina, della quale detti signori
cardinali averanno formato quel giudizio, che si deve, come
similmente di molte altre proposizioni contenute in detta istru-
zione, per le quali essa pure fu condannata dalla Santa Sede
con pill censure usque ad haeresim inclusive, non dubita il
Sacro Collegio di giudicare, che con la sopradetta formola di
Noailles non accetta la bolla Unigenitus come bolla dogmatica,
ma come di mera polizia e disciplina, e conseguentemente come
ritrattabile. Imperoche per una parte egli dice, che accetta
la bolla e condanna le 101 proposizioni, come la Santa Sede
le ha condannate, e con le medesime censure ; e per I'altra
giudica, e ferma nella sua istruzione che questa bolla, appunto
VOL. x.xxiv. pp
57^ HISTORY OF THE POPES.
perche condanna con la censura in globo le 101 proposizioni, e
una bolla non dogmatica, ma solo di disciplina ; onde condan-
nando egli dette proposizioni nell'istessa maniera, cioe in globo,
con questa ragione medesima fa vedere, che ora I'accetta, come
ha fatto fin ora, cioe a dire come bolla di disciplina retrattabile,
nel che ha mai avuta difficolta. E cio tanto piu e vero, quanto
che in questa formola di accettazione ei non ritratta il contenuto
in detta sua istruzione pastorale, ma solo la revoca, cioe non
ne vuole ora far uso, ma lascia intatte come prima, la dottrina
e le massime stabilite in essa, onde si vede con evidenza essere
questa una accettazione, non gia relativa alia spiegazione, che
prima domandava, ne a quella che gli ha data alle proposizioni,
ma relativa al giudizio da esso fatto della bolla, che sia di mera
disciplina, e dichiarato nella sua istruzione.
E che in detta formola benche revochi I'istruzione, non per
questo ritratti, e condanni il contenuto nella medesima, si
riconosce assai chiaramente dalla diferenza, che passa fra il
revocare, ed il ritrattare, perche il ritrattare e disdire quello che
si e detto, e mutare di parere, e giudicare altrimenti, e mani-
festare un giudizio contrario a quello che si e detto e fatto ;
ma con il revocare non si forma giudizio alcimo dello scritto o
detto, che si revoca, ne della verita o falsita di esso, perche il
revocare solamente si riferisce all'atto esterno di averlo detto,
scritto o fatto, ma non percuote la verita o falsita di cio, che
lo scritto o fatto conteneva ; onde non puo dedursene la sua
riprovazione, quando sia dannabile ; e percio col rivocare la
sua pastorale il cardinale non muta punto il giudizio gia fatto
in essa della bolla, e pubblicato con le stampe non solo alia sua
diocesi, ma a tutto il mondo, e cosi egli rimarrebbe nell'errore
come prima, e si ridurrebbe tutto a un atto puramente ceri-
moniale, e si direbbe ne' futuri secoli che con una simile ricon-
ciliazione la Santa Sede si e data per sodisfatta ed in conseguenza
non ha giudicato il caso presente di tanta gravita, che meriti
altro. Che non sia dunque lo stesso il rivocare che il ritrattare
puo dichiararsi con mille esempi, come nelle promesse ; impero-
che se uno avesse promesso di fare qualche cosa, che giudica
d'essere lecita, e dopo propostosegli ragioni politiche o di timore
o di convenienza, la rivocasse, da questo non s'inferirebbe
necessariamente che I'avesse rivocata per esser detta promessa
di cosa illecita, perche puo essere stato mosso a farlo da altri
motivi. Cosi parimenti si puo discorere de' contratti, delle
APPENDIX. 579
querele, e piii chiaro puo osservarsi nelle appellazioni ; se uno
appella da una sentenza, la quale giudichi ingiusta, e revochi
detta appellazione, non si puo eseguire certamente da questo,
che abbia poscia stimata giusta la detta sentenza, perche
puo averlo fatto per cento altri motivi, come sarebbe per pru-
denza per evitare qualche sconcerto, per condescendere alle
preghiere di un amico ad altre simili.
Ma senza cercare esempi, e tralasciata ogn'altra ragione, basta
convincere che vi e differenza esenziale tra' li sudetti termini
rivocare e ritrattare I'osservare che il sudetto signor cardinale
ha sempre resistito alia parola ritrattare, non cosi alia parola
rivocare, mentre se fosse il medesimo, e cosi lo riputasse,
I'avrebbe rigettate o ammesse ambedue, ed all'incontro il
termine ritrattare benche sia assai piu del semplice rivocare,
e pero quel meno, che puo domandarsegli per le ragioni ponder-
ate fin ora.
Oltre di questo il Sacro Collegio osserva parimenti in detta
formola, che dicendo il cardinale di accettare la bolla Unigeni-
tus e di condannare egli stesso le 101 proposizioni, come la
Santa Sede le ha condannate, e con le medesime censure, lascia
in dubbio quale sia il motivo della sua accettazione, se sia
perche le ha condannate la Santa Sede o perche esso le condanna,
d'onde facilmente i Giansenisti potranno dire, che intanto ha
accettata la bolla, perche esso con la sua condanna di dette
proposizioni ha approvata la condanna fattane dalla Santa Sede,
e non gi^ perche questa le abbia condannate, sottoponendo in
questa forma il giudizio della Santa Sede a quello del cardinale :
Capo per cui solo, benche mancassero gli antecedenti, non si
deve reputare sufficiente la detta accettazione, ma bensi
equivoca e sospetta, essendo ben noto quanti siano li raggiri
degli eretici in somiglianti progetti, con li quali hanno sempre
procurato d'ingannare la Santa Sede e principalmente i
Giansenisti, de' quali abbiamo tutti pur troppo tanta
sperienza.
Inoltre considera il Sacro Collegio, che in questa formola da
esso proposta non si fa alcuna menzione dell'appellazioni
interposte dal signor cardinale cosi avanti la sua carta pastorale,
come nella medesima al futuro concilio, e di altri atti fatti, e
pubblicati dal medesimo, che meritano altrettanta riprovazione,
come la detta pastorale, e cosi benche rivocasse e ritrattasse
la sua carta pastorale con tutte le proposizioni, dottrine e fatti
pp*
580 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
che contiene come indispensabilmente deve fare senza che sopra
di cio possa cadere alcun dubbio, questa ritrattazione non si puo
ne si potra mai riputar sufficiente se almeno non vi si aggiunga
la rivocazione e ritrattazione di tutti gli atti fatti da esso
e a nome suo avanti e dopo di detta pastorale, perche altrimenti
in detta rivocazione e ritrattazione dell'istruzione non ponno
intendersi compresi nell'appellazione ne gli altri atti sudetti,
ne meno implicitamente, come almeno e necessario in ogni
maniera, tanto piu che essendo stata specialraente detta appella-
zione di scandalo si enorme dovrebbe ritrattarla e condannarla
esplicitamente.
II Sacro Collegio non dubita, che terranno tutocio presenti li
signori cardinali di detta congregazione, e che ogni volta che il
signor cardinale di Noailles almeno non dica che accetta la bolla
Unigenitus senza nessuna restrizione colla condanna delle 101
proposizioni fatta dalia Santa Sede, e con le medesime censure :
e che revoca e ritratta la sua carta pastorale con tutte le pro-
posizioni, dottrine e fatti che in essa contengonsi e che simil-
mente revoca e ritratta tutti gH atti e scritti fatti da se, o a
nome suo, cosi avanti, come dopo detta istruzione non si puo,
ne si potra mai dire, che abbia sodisfatto al suo obbhgo, ne
che possa restituirsi alia communione colla Santa Sede.
Perche se si facesse altrimenti {quod absit) non solo non si
darebbe la pace alia Chiesa e la quiete al regno di Francia, ma
pill tosto si ecciterebbero maggior dissidii e turbazioni che pur
troppo si comincerebbero a sperimentare ben tosto ; si darebbe
maggior forza ai Giansenisti per sostenere i loro errori che appog-
gierebbero su questa accettazione e su questo fatto della Santa
Sede ; si cagionerebbero sempre maggiori ruine delle anime,
che sempre piu si acciecherebbero ne' loro errori, e finalmente si
darebbe un gravissimo scandalo a tutta la Chiesa, e sarebbe
il primo caso tra quelli che si leggono nell'istoria ecclesiastica di
tanti contrasti, che in tutti i tempi ha avuto la Chiesa, e di
riconciliazioni fatte di eretici penitenti, che nissuno si leggerk
ammesso alia communione colla Santa Sede, essendosi conos-
ciuto I'equivoco, e I'insufficienza della formola di ritrattazione
degl'errori per li quali era stato separato, come qui ben si
conosce, e si e dimostrato. E finalmente si darebbe materia
assai funesta alle istorie ecclesiastiche ed armi agli eretici
contro di noi, e fomento ai medesimi per paragonare questo caso
con quello di Liberio degno di aversi presente in questa occasione,
APPENDIX. 581
come si riferisce dal Baronio nell'anno 357 dalla colonna prima
del foglio 668.
Da quanto si e detto fin'ora, Beatissimo Padre, apparisce
ben chiaro di quanto pregiudizio sarebbe alia Santa Sede, alia
cattolica religione ed all'onore di Vostra Santit^ e di tutto il
Sacro Collegio, se si approvasse il progetto del cardinale, e
quanta anche sarebbe la turbazione in questo case del medesimo
Sacro Collegio, il quale ancorche la dottrina, la perspicacia ed
il zelo de' signori cardinali deputati lo persuada non esservi
bisogno di anteporre queste considerazioni, niente dimeno per
I'obbligo strettissimo ed indispensabile, che abbiamo tutti in
corpo ed ognuno in particolare li cardinali di rappresentare e di
fare anche non ricercati tutto quello che giudichiamo oppor-
tune per cooperare alia conservazione della Chiesa e della
religione nella sua purita e la Santa Sede in quell'onore e buon
nome, che e Tunica arma, onde, come dice S. Paolo, vereatur
qui ex adverso est, ha creduto di non potervi dispensare dal far
questa parte, ed e certo che in qualunque evento, anche a
tenore del proprio giuramento, e e sara sempre risoluto e pronto
di spargere il sangue per il buon servigio della Chiesa, della
Santa Sede e di Vostra Santita."
INDEX OF NAMES IN VOL. XXXIV
Abbati (Marquis), 301, 202.
Achards de la Baume, Des
(Apostolic Visitor), 194..
Accoramboni, Giuseppe, Car-
dinal, i8q, 332.
Acquaviva, Francesco (Spanish
Ambassador), Cardinal, 7,
9. 10, 12, 19, 22, 23, 25,
26, 30, 34-6, 39, 92, 93,
95, 100, 106, 115, 124, 368,
370. 373. 375-8, 381, 383,
384, 386-8, 390, 394,
396.
Acquaviva de Aragona,
Trajano, Cardinal, 333,
404.
Adam, Lambert Sigisbert, the
Elder (sculptor), 502.
Agnes of Montepulciano
(Dominican), 165.
Aguesseau, D' (Procurator-
General), 256, 414, 434,
436.
Alaidon (General of the Maurist
Congregation), 285, 455,
456-
Alamani, Vincenzo (nuncio at
Madrid), 36S, 378.
Albani, Alessandro, nephew of
Clement XI., 93, 96, 100,
105, 106, 147, 153, 216,
296, 307, 320, 321, 323,
351, 352, 353, 396, 498.
Albani, Annibale (nephew of
Clement XL), nuncio.
Cardinal, 4, 6, 7, 11, 12,
15-21, 24, 100, loi, 102,
104-107, 216, 232, 301,
305, 311, 314, 323, 332,
350.
Albani, Carlo (father of Clement
XL), 7.
Albani, Carlo (nephew ot
Clement XL), 13.
Albani, Gian Francesco, Car-
dinal (Clement XL), 41.
Alberoni, Giulio, Cardinal, 3, 4,
17, 94, 104, 160, 343, 388,
483, 488-491.
Aldobrandini, Alessandro
(nuncio in Spain), Cardinal,
35, 36, 402.
Aldobrandini, Cipro (Bolognese
• Ambassador), 302.
Aldrovandi, Pompeo (nuncio in
Spain, Governor of Rome),
Cardinal, 35, 129, 385,
386, 405.
Alexandris, De, Bishop (Italian
Barnabite), 194.
Alexander VIL, 52, 66, 219,
244, 247, 255, 361, 478,
500.
Alexander VIIL, 5, ri, 27, 99,
104, 327.
Alexandre, Noel (Dominican),
205, 206.
Almeida, Tommaso di
(Patriarch of Lisbon),
Cardinal, 40S.
Althan, Count Michael Fred-
erick von (Viceroy of
Naples), Cardinal, 7, 8, 13,
15-17, 19-25, 31, 32, 64,
65, 99, loi, 172, 320.
Altieri, Giambattista, Cardinal,
179.
Altieri, Lorenzo, Cardinal, 93,
no, 160, 341.
Altieri, Ludovica, 109.
Altieri, Paluzzo, Cardinal, 5, 11.
Altieri, Prince, 120.
Amenio, Giovanni, 190.
Angelique, Mere, 451.
583
584
INDEX OF NAMES.
Anne (Electress of Bavaria),
322.
Anne (Empress of Russia), 290.
T^nsidei, Marcantonio (Assessor
of the Inquisition), Cardi-
nal, 186, 188, 228, 234.
Antequera (Governor of Para-
guay), 472.
Appiani, Luigi (Lazarist), 82,
85, 89-91, 195, 198.
Arbocave, Bishop of Dax, 256.
Archinto, Alberico (nuncio at
Florence), 413.
Amauld, Antoine (Jansenist),
53, 78, 450.
Arnia (Dominican), 214.
Assemani, Joseph Simon, 468,
493. 494-
Astorga, Diego de' (Archbishop
of Toledo), Cardinal, 187,
305-
Augustus of Saxony (King of
Poland), 361.
Auvergne, Princess of, 290.
Baius, Michael, 435.
Baldradi (General of Con-
ventual Minors), 228.
Banchieri, Antonio (Secretary
of State), Cardinal, 129,
186, 188, 319, 321, 323,
324, 332, 333, 338, 341.
Barbarigo, Marcantonio, Car-
dinal, II, loi, 104.
Barberini, Antonio, Cardinal,
109.
Barberini, Francesco, the
Younger (Prefect of Pro-
paganda), Cardinal, 5, 11,
93. 99, 303. 314, 321, 341.
350, 377. 378.
Barbier (writer), 453.
Barchman, Buytiers (Jansen-
ist), Archbishop of Utrecht,
288-291, 462.
Beaujeu, Honore de (Bishop of
Castres), 256.
Beaumont (Bishop of Saintes),
228.
Becherand, 444, 445, 447.
Belluga, Luis (Bishop of Carta-
gena), Cardinal, 5, 9, 36,
105, 106, 125, 184, 214,
2x6, 308, 312, 313, 350,
377, 378, 386.
Belsunce (Bishop of Marseilles),
250, 277.
Benaglia, Paolo (Sculptor), 502.
Benavente, Alvaro de (Vicar
Apostolic of Chiangsi),
Augustinian Bishop, 91.
Benedict XL, 107.
Benedict XIIL (Orsini) Pope,
passim 107-304, 345-7,
353, 403. 422, 454, 459,
467, 482, 484, 502.
Bentivoglio, Macro Cornelio
(nuncio in France), Car-
dinal, 9, 60, 104, 183, 184,
213, 216, 265, 302, 308,
312, 317, 320, 321, 350,
351, 356, 358.
Berger de Charency (Bishop of
Montpellier), 441.
Berthamont de (Bishop of
Pamiers), 42 n, 51, 256.
Bianchini, Francesco (archae-
ologist), 96, 98, 498.
Bichi, Vincenzo (nuncio in
Portugal), 37, 157, 181-3,
186, 187, 189, 311, 403,
406.
Bijlevelt, John (Vicar Apostolic
in Holland), 59.
Billuart, Rene (theologian),
2X2.
Bissy, Henri de (Bishop of
Meaux), 7, 25, 47-9, 223-6,
243, 245, 250, 254, 257,
263, 279. 283, 424, 437,
457-
Boncompagni, Cardinal, 5, 8,
IX, 18, 99, xoo, X02, X04,
X09.
Boniface VI H., Pope, 146.
Bonnet (General of the Lazar-
ists), 279, 280.
Borghese, Francesco, Cardinal,
189.
Borgia, Seraphin of
(Franciscan), 194.
INDEX OF NAMES.
585
Borgia, Francesco, Cardinal, 5,
9. 305-
Borromeo, Carlo, Saint, 284.
Borromini, Francesco, 180, 505.
Bosio, Antonio (archaeologist),
494-
Bossuet, J. B. (Bishop of
Meaux), 460.
Bossuet, J. B. (Bishop of
Troyes), 255, 439, 458, 459.
Bottari, Giovanni Gaetano,
337. 494-
Bouchardon, Ed. (sculptor),
502.
Bourbon-Conde, Due Louis
Henri de, 235, 236, 240,
245-
Bouquet, Mart., 457.
Boussu, Count Thomas Philip
de (Archbishop of Malines) ,
Cardinal, 5, 224, 305.
Bouvet (Jesuit), 199.
Bovicelli, Giulio, 160.
Bracci, Pietro (sculptor), 297,
489, 497, 499, 502, 504,
509.
Brandolini (Jesuit), 92.
Brisacier (Superior of Foreign
Missions in Paris,) 68, 280.
Brosses, Charles de. President,
336, 481, 494.
Buondelmonte, Monsignore,
342-
Bussi, Giovanni Battista
(nuncio), Cardinal, 14, 100,
loi, 104.
Caillebot de la Salle
(Franciscan), Bishop of
Tournai, 42.
Calchi (Barnabite), 70, 473.
Calvin, 215.
Capessi, Gerardo (Servite), 41.
Capponi, Marchese Alessandro
Gregorio (archaeologist),
497, 498.
Caracciolo, Ifiigo (nuncio),
Cardinal, 8, 13, 20, 102,
104.
Carafa, Pier Luigi (Secretary
for Propaganda), Cardinal,
61, 83, 84, 189.
Caravaggio, Polidoro da
(painter), 500.
Casal, Juan de (Bishop of
Macao), 200.
Casanata, Cardinal, 79.
Cassagnet de Tilladet (Bishop
of Macon), 42 n, 256, 267.
Castorano, Carlo Orazio da
(Franciscan) , Vicar-General
in Pekin, 476.
Catherine of Genoa (Fieschi
Adorno), 410.
Caumartin (Bishop of Blois),
266.
Caylus (Bishop of Auxerre),
42 n., 255, 272-5, 420, 440,
445, 458, 459-
Celestine III. (Orsini), Pope,
108.
Celoron (Oratorian), 277.
Celsius, Anders (astronomer),
496.
Cenci, Serafino (Archbishop of
Benevento), Cardinal, 405.
Cerri, Urbano (Secretary of
Propaganda), 78.
Chao (Mandarin), 72.
Charles Alexander (Duke of
Wiirttemberg) , 466.
Charles Emmanuel III. (King
of Sardinia), 348, 350, 364.
Charles Edward (Pretender to
the throne of England),
412.
Charles II. (King of Spain), 136.
Charles III. (Carlo, Infante of
Spain, King of Sicily), 164,
355-7. 359-361, 363. 365-
7. 369-371. 379, 384. 385,
392, 395-7-
Charles V. (Emperor), 59.
Charles VI., Emperor (Charles
III. of Spain), 13, 14, 21-5,
31-4, 39, 63, 65, 100, lOI,
103, 108, 136-8, 143, 145,
146, 164, 274, 291, 299,
323. 341-3- 355, 358. 359,
364, 372, 467.
Charmot, 76, 77.
;86
INDEX OF NAMES.
Chatre, De la (Bishop of Agde),
266.
Chevriere (Bishop of Quebec),
60.
Christine of Sweden, 337.
Cibo, Camillo (maggiordomo).
Cardinal, 129, 131, 132,
189.
Cienfuegos, Alvaro, Cardinal
(Imperial Ambassador at
Rouen), 8, 20, 21, 23, 24,
33, 94, 100, 102-6, 116-8,
124, 125, 135-8, 140, 142,
144, 152, 154 n., 180, 184,
187, 188, 214, 216, 303,
307, 309, 313. 315. 317.
320, 321-3, 350, 359, 362,
363. 365. 367-9, 405. 407.
481.
Clement VIII., 43, 210,211,486.
Clement X., 5, 11, 98, 120.
Clement XI. (Gian Francesco
Albani), i, 3, 4-7, 10-15,
20, 24, 25, 28, 31, 33, 38,
41, 45, 46, 58, 67, 99, 104,
108, 135-7, 139, 140. 145.
146, 171, 205, 210, 211.
Clement XII. (Lorenzo Corsini),
278, passim 324 to end.
Clement Augustus I., Prince
Elector of Cologne, Bishop
of Miinster, Paderborn and
Hildesheim, 173'.
Cloche, Antoninus (General of
the Dominicans), 208.
Codde, Peter (Vicar Apostolic
in Holland), 59.
Coislin, Cardinal, 267.
Colbert de Croissy, Charles
(Bishop of Montpellier),
42 n., 53, 54, 237, 239, 241,
242. 249, 252, 256, 273-9,
420, 421, 439, 440, 441,
445. 446, 449, 451, 458-
460.
Collalto (Imperial Envoy Extra-
ordinary in Rome), 306,
313. 323-
Collicola, Carlo (Treasurer-
General), Cardinal, 132,
186, 188.
Colonna, Carlo, Cardinal, 93,
102, 104, 309, 316.
Colonna, Prospero (Uditore di
Camera), 410.
Conca, Sebastiano (painter),
505-
Conti, Bernardo ]\Iaria (brother
of Innocent XIII.), 30,
100, 104, 304, 314.
Conti, Carlo (nephew of
Innocent XIII.), 31.
Conti, Giuseppe Lotario (Duke
of Poll), 93.
Conti, Marcantonio (nephew of
I Innocent XIII.), 30.
j Conti, Michelangelo (nuncio,
Card.), Innocent XIII., 4,
8, 13, 20-8.
Conti, Count Richard, of Sora,
26.
Cori, Marcellino (Governor of
Rome), Cardinal, 409.
Cornacchini, Agostino (sculp-
tor), 487, 497, 508, 509.
Cornaro (Doge of Venice), 11.
Cornaro, Giorgio, Cardinal, 5,
II, 19.
Corradini, Pietro Marcellino,
Cardinal, 14, 22, 24, 30,
93, 100, 102, 105-7, 117.
125, 130, 132, 138, 144,
150, 152, 170, 183, 222,
319, 321, 325. 332, 334.
341. 350, 378, 385. 386.
Corsini, Andrea (Bishop of
Fiesole), 326.
Corsini, Bartolomeo (father of
Clement XII.), 327.
Corsini, Bartolomeo (nephew
of Clement XII.), Com-
mander of Light Cavalry,
334. 365. 367-
Corsini, Lorenzo, Cardinal
(Clement XII.), 13, 18-20,
100, 104, 118, 206, 317,
318, 321, 323.
Corsini, Neri, Cardinal (nephew
of Clement XII.), 334, 337-
9, 341. 376, 381, 384, 385.
389, 396, 402. 405, 407,
413. 495. 505-
INDEX OF NAMES.
587
Corsini, Neri, Cardinal (uncle of
Clement XII.), 327, 508.
Coscia, Niccolo, Cardinal, 106,
123-140, 142, 143, 144,
146. 147, 150, 153, 174,
175, 181, 298-302, 307,
309, 314. 340-2, 349, 353,
390, 493, 495-
Cosimo III. (Grand Duke of
Tuscany), 334.
Cosse, Jean Robert (figurist),
452.
Costerano, 91.
Couet, Abbe, 256.
Cour, Jube de la (Jansenist),
290.
Constant (Maurist), 96.
Cozza, Lorenzo, Cardinal (Gen-
eral of Franciscan Ob-
servants), 131, 185.
Crescenzi, Marchese, 375.
Christian Augustus of Saxony
(Archbishop of Gran), Car-
dinal, 5.
Croon, Theodore van der
(Jansenist Archbishop of
Utrecht), 462.
Crudeli, Tommaso (poet), 412,
413-
Cunha, de Atay de Nuno da,
Cardinal, 5, 365.
Cusani, Agostino (Nuncio at
Paris and Vienna), Car-
dinal, 7, 13, 105, 304.
Czacki, Emmerich (Bishop of
Kalocsa), Cardinal, 8, 23,
33, 305-
Daemen, Adam (Vicar
Apostolic of Holland), 58.
Dalbert, Abbe, 414.
Daubenton (Jesuit), Confessor
of Philip v., 36.
Davia (nuncio in Vienna), Car-
dinal, 8, 14, 102, 104, 142,
143. 316, 318, 319.
Derizet, Antonio (architect),
505-
Desmaretz (Bishop of St. Malo),
256.
Dolgoruki, Alexis Gregorowich,
290.
Dolgoruki, Catherine (fiancee
of Tsar Peter II.), 290.
Dolgoruki, Sergius Petrowich,
290.
Domenico di San Pietro
(missionary), 197.
Doncquer, 289.
Doria, Sinibaldo (maestro di
camera), 30.
Dorotea of Parma, 359.
Dorotheus of the Blessed
Trinity (Capuchin), 191.
Dubois, Abbe (French
Minister), 20, 42, 48, 50.
Elias (Bishop of Ispahan), 61.
Elizabeth (Empress of Russia),
291.
Elizabeth Farnese (wife of
Philip V. of Spain), 355,
370-
Emmanuel (Infante of Port-
ugal), 183, 184, 187.
Emmanuel of Jesus and Mary
(Bishop of Nankin), 201.
Enriquez, Enrico (papal com-
missary), 491.
EntrecoUes, D' (Superior of the
French Jesuits), 79.
Espen, Zeger van (Doctor), 45,
60, 62, 291, 292.
Essarts, Des, 451.
fitemare. Abbe d', Jean
Baptiste de Sesne de
Menilles, 450, 451.
Eugene, Prince, 141, 363.
Eugene IV., 494.
Eva, Gabriel (Abbot of Mt.
Lebanon), 67.
Fabrizi, 102.
Fabroni, Carlo Agostino, Car-
dinal, 3, 6, 14, 24, 100,
102, 104, 106, 118, 125,
187.
Falconieri, Alexius (Governor
of Rome), 98, 179, 180,
313, 316, 350.
588
INDEX OF NAMES.
Falconieri, Juliana, 410.
Farnese, Antonio (Duke of
Parma), 356, 359.
Farnese, Francis (Duke of
Parma), 22.
Farnese, Pier Luigi (Duke of
Parma), 359.
Febronius, 60.
Fernandez, Miguel (Franciscan
Commissary), 91.
Ferreri, Carlo Vincenzo (Dom-
inican), Cardinal, 190.
Ferroni (Assessor of the
Inquisition), 395.
Fidelis of Sigmaringen, 166.
Fieschi, Lorenzo (Archbishop
of Genoa), Cardinal, 5, 13.
Fini, Francesco (maestro di
camera), Cardinal, 130,
147, 150, 151, 153, 186,
188, 225, 297, 301, 307,
341. 347, 349.
Firrao, Giuseppe (Secretary of
State), Cardinal, 37, 181,
334. 338, 385. 386, 390,
403-
Fleury, Andre Hercule, Car-
dinal, 181, 182, 213, 226,
231, 232, 234, 245, 252,
254, 257, 263, 267, 268,
272, 274, 279, 283, 305,
313, 356, 413-17, 420, 424,
429, 437, 438. 440. 454.
455, 459.
Fleury (Jansenist), 88.
Foland (wTiter on military
subjects), 447.
Fontaine de la Roche, Jacques
(Appellant), 418.
Fontana (Jesuit), 44.
Fontanini, Giusto (scholar),
351, 370-
Forbin Janson (Bishop of
Aries), 441.
Forteguerri, Niccolo (Secretary
of Propaganda), 467, 495.
Forziati, Giuseppe, 343.
Foscarini, Marco (Venetian
Ambassador), 482.
Fourrier, Pierre, 167, 411.
Fourquevaux, De, 451.
Francis II., 413.
Francis Stephen of Lorraine,
Grand Duke of Tuscany
(Francis I., Emperor), 412.
Francis of the Purification
(Augustinian Bishop of
Peking), 475.
Francis (Bishop of Lorraine),
56, 370-
Francolini (Jesuit), 43.
Frangipani, Giovanna, mother
of Benedict XIII., 108.
Frederick II. (Emperor), 108.
Frederick Augustus II. (Aug-
ustus III. of Poland), 362,
363. 370- 371. 395-
Fuga, Ferdinando (architect),
337, 497, 499, 500, 505-
Gaddi, Giambattista (writer),
497-
Galilei, Alessandro (architect),
.497, 504-7-
Galliani, Celestino (Cappellano
Maggiore), 142, 394, 395,
397-
Gallitzin, Irina Petrowna, 290,
291.
Gallizia (Barnabite), 473.
Gasto, Giovanni (Duke of
Tuscany), 322, 356.
Gennes, De (Jesuit), 235.
Genovesi, Antonio, 392.
Gentili, Antonio Saverio
(Datarius), Cardinal, 333,
338, 339, 384-6, 403-
Gesvres, Leon Potier de (Arch-
bishop of Bourges), Car-
dinal, 5, 257, 305.
Ghezzi, Pier Leone (painter),
505-
Giampriamo, Niccolo (Jesuit),
70-2, 85, 86.
Giannone, Pietro (writer), 352,
353, 397-
Giardone, Fran (sculptor), 499,
508.
Giraud, Comte, 481.
Giudice, Francesco del (Grand
Inquisitor of Spain), Car-
dinal, 5, 8, 12, 99.
INDEX OF NAMES.
589
Giudice, Niccolo (Maggior-
domo), Cardinal, 30, 117,
125, 137, 181.
Gonzaga, Aloysius (Jesuit
Saint), 166.
Gonzaga, Silvio Valenti (nuncio
in Spain), Cardinal, 373,
378. 395. 397. 409.
Gotti, Vincent Louis (Domini-
can), Cardinal, 188, 313.
Gouffier (French Ambassador
in Rome), 162.
Gozzadini, Ulisses Joseph, Car-
dinal, 8, 13, 20, 100, 102,
104.
Grassi, Abbot, 303.
Graveson (Dominican), 208,
211, 220, 222.
Gravina, Vincenzo (jurist), 96.
Gregorys VII., 155, 156, 166,
272, 274, 275, 420, 421.
Gregory XIV., 165.
Gregory XV., 478.
Grimaldi, Girolamo (nuncio in
France), Cardinal, 402.
Gros, Count de (Envoy in
Rome), 350.
Guadagni, Antonio (Carmelite
Bishop of Arezzo), Car-
dinal, 403, 505, 507.
Gualbert, John, Saint, 324.
Gualtieri, Francesco Antonio
(nuncio). Cardinal, 9, 12,
20, 25, loi, 494.
Guelle (English envoy in
Rome), 4.
Guglielmi, Bishop, 350.
Guiccioli (auditor), 373, 379,
380, 383, 384, 387.
Guigues, 85, 195, 198.
Guimenius, Amadeus (Moya,
Jesuit), 245.
Gumilla, Jose (Jesuit), 70.
H.\xxLEDEN (Jesuit), 193.
Harrach, Count von (Imperial
Ambassador in Rome) , 336,
337. 338. 339 n., 374, 378,
385-
Harrach, Count von (Viceroy
of Naples), 156.
Hebert (Bishop of Agen), 256.
Henry IV. (Emperor), 155,
156.
Herault (Director of French
Police), 455.
Hervieu, Placid (Jesuit),
missionary, 202.
Hinderer, Romanus (Jesuit),
474-
Hoffreumont, Servais, 63, 64,
65-
Holzhauser, Bartholomew, 15,
169.
Hume, David, 453.
Imperiali, Lorenzo (Cardinal
Secretary of State), 5, 11,
20, 24, 99, 100, 125, 152,
309, 311-13, 317, 334, 341,
350-
Ingoli, Francesco (Secretary for
Propaganda), 78.
Innocent X., 98, 167, 498.
Innocent XL, 5, 11, no, 160.
Innocent XII., 5, 11, 12, 19, 27,
30, 160, 383, 500.
Innocent XIII. , passim 26-97,
99, 115, 147, 160, 164, 171,
181, 285, 403, 484.
Inquembert, d', librarian of
Cardinal Corsini (Bishop of
Carpentras), 328, 495.
James III., Pretender to the
English throne, 115, 404.
James of Kremsir, 469.
Jerome of the Blessed Trinity
(Franciscan), 88.
Jobard, Superior, 281.
John Nepomuk, 166.
John Baptist of St. Teresa
(Carmelite), 193.
John of the Cross, 166.
John of Sahagun, 166.
John (King of Portugal), 37,
406, 470.
JoUain (Syndic), 51, 52.
Joseph P. (Eminence Grise),
458.
Joubert (figurist), 451.
590
INDEX OF NAMES.
Kanghi (Emperor of China),
70-2, 74, 89, 90, 199, 202-
4. 467-
Kaunitz, Maximilian Ulrich von
(Imperial Envoy Extra-
ordinary to Rome), 100,
102, 103, 104, 115.
Kervilio, O. de. Bishop of
Treguier, 267.
Khevenhiiller, General, 371,
372.
Kienlong, 475.
Kinsky, Count (Ambassador
Extraordinary of the
Emperor), 23, 24, 33.
Kogler, Ignatius (Jesuit), 72,
85.
Kollonitsch, Innocent of St.
Leopold (Carmelite), 193.
Kollonitsch, Count Sigismond
von (Archbishop of, I
Vienna), Cardinal, 181,
313-
Kostka, Stanislaus (Jesuit),
166, 184.
Kratz, Caspar (Jesuit), 473.
Krys, Jansenist Parish Priest,
61.
Labbe (missionary), 194.
La Fare, Etienne Joseph de,
Bishop of Laon, 438-441,
443, 446.
Lafitau, Francois (Jesuit),
French Ambassador in
Rome, Bishop of Sisteron,
4, 8, 9, 266, 419, 436, 437,
438. 440-
Laghi (Vicar Apostolic of
Shansi, Bishop of Lorina),
80, 201.
Lamberg, Count Dominic von
(Bishop of Passau), Car-
dinal, 407.
Lambertini, Prospero (Benedict
XIV.), 140, 142-7, 150,
151. 153, 165, 186, 188,
228, 307, 332.
l-anfredini, Amadori, Cardinal,
303. 392, 405.
Langle de (Bishop of
Boulogne), 42 n., 50, 54,
55. 243.
Languet de Gervy (Bishop of
Soissons), 49, 50, 52, 223,
240, 277, 445, 446.
Laureati (Jesuit), 201.
Laziosi, Pellegrino (Ser\-ite),
166.
La Roche, 451.
-Le Comte (Jesuit), 77.
Le Doulx, 443.
Lefranc, Anne, 442, 443.
Le Gobien (Jesuit), 77.
Leonessa, Joseph da, 410.
Lercari, Niccolo Maria (Car-
dinal Secretary of State),
117, 129, 131, 132, 139,
140, 143, 147, 150, 153,
171, 185, 186, 246, 283,
297. 307-
Le Seur (Maurist), 457.
Lesseville de (President of the
Parliament of Paris), 414,
416.
Leszcynski, Stanislaus, 362,
363. 370-
Ligardi, Giuliano (Jesuit),
missionary, 472.
Lipski, John Alexander (Bishop
of Cracow), Cardinal,
408.
Lironi, Joseph (sculptor), 497,
509.
Livizzani, Giuseppe (Secretary
of the C>'pher), 333.
Lobkowitz, Prince, 372.
Lopez, Gregori (Dominican
Bishop), 91 .
Lorraine, Fran9ois Armand de
(Bishop of Bayeux), 235,
237. 256.
Lorenzini, Francesco, 495.
Louis XIV., 40, 235, 361, 363,
379, 438-
Louis XV., 45, 52, 54, 182, 245,
270, 419, 420, 422, 427,
429, 439-
Lucchesini, Giovanni Vincenzo
(Secretary for Latin
ISriefs), 117, 495.
INDEX OF NAMES.
591
Luis (Infante of Spain), Car-
dinal, 367, 368, 369, 373,
374. 397. 405-
Luther, 384.
Maffei, Scipione, Cardinal,
494-
Majella, Carlo (Secretary of
Briefs for Princes), 117,
139, 220, 228, 333, 494.
Maigrot, Charles (Vicar
Apostolic of Fukien), 75,
76, 78, 81.
Mailly, Fran9ois de (Arch-
bishop of Rheims), Car-
dinal, 5.
Maini, Giambattista (sculptor),
497. 500. 502, 503, 505,
508. 509-
Maloet, Dom. (Procurator
of Maurists in Rome),
283.
Manfredi, Eustachio (hydraulic
engineer), 489.
Maran, Prud. (Maurist), 457.
Marca, Giacomo della (Francis-
can Observant), 165.
Marchesini, Abbate, 498.
Marchioni, Carlo (sculptor),
297.
Marefoschi, Prospero (Cardinal
Vicar in Rome), 130, 180,
309-
Marescotti, Cardinal, 5, 117.
Marescotti, Giacinta (Poor
Clare), 166.
■ Marguerite of Cortona (Saint),
166.
Maria Amalia (Queen of
Naples). 395, 396.
Maria Anna (Archduchess of
Austria), Queen of Portu-
gal, 21, 28.
Maria Teresa, daughter of
Charles VI., 412.
Marini, Maria, Cardinal, 104.
Martene, Edmond (Maurist),
457-
Masnata, Giovanni Andrea
(Cleric Minor), 203.
Massei, Bartolomeo (nuncio in
France), Cardinal, 34, 402.
Maurepas, 240.
Medici, Francesco Maria de.
Cardinal, 4.
Mcindaerts, John (Archbishop
of Utrecht), Jansenist, 462,
463-
Menard, Herve (General of the
Maurists), 456-, 457.
Merlini, Camillo (nuncio in
Poland and Vienna), 117.
Mezzabarba, Carlo, Ambrogio
(Patriarch of Alexandria),
Legate in China, 70, 71,
81-4, 89, 91, 201, 202, 204,
475. 476-
Millo, Secretary of Cardinal
Lambertini, 153.
Milon, Luigi (Bishop of
Condom), 256.
Mimbela (Dominican), Bishop
of Trujillo, 70.
Mocenigo, Alvise (Venetian
Ambassador in Rome and
Madrid), 479, 482, 483, 499.
Mogrobejo, Turibius (Bishop of
Lima), 165.
Molina, Luigi (Jesuit), 220, 243.
Molina y Oviedo, Gaspar
(Augustinian Bishop of
Malaga), Cardinal, 379,
381, 383, 384, 395, 398-
400, 407.
Monaldi, Carlo (sculptor), 508.
Monteleone (Spanish Am-
bassador Extraordinary in
Rome), 306.
Montemar, Count, 365, 371.
Montfaucon (Maurist), 457.
Montgeron, Louis Baptiste
Carre de (Member of
French Parliament), 448,
449.
Morosini, Barbon (\'enetian
Ambassador at Rome) ,
127, 130, 133, 334.
Morosini, Francesco (Doge of
Venice), 27.
Mosca, Agapito, Cardinal, ^74,
396, 404.
592
INDEX OF NAMES.
Motta y Silva, Giovanni de,
Cardinal, 187, 305.
Mourao (Jesuit), 72, 81, 82, 202.
Muratori, Ludovico Antonio
(historian), 381, 491.
Muti, Isabella (mother of
Innocent XIII.), 27.
Navarrete, Domenico
(Dominican), 76.
Neez (missionary), 194.
Negroni, Niccolo (Treasurer),
302, 345.
Nicolalde (Dominican), Bishop
of Concepcion in Chile, 70.
Nicholas III. (Orsini), Pope,
108.
Nicholas V., Pope, 146, 147,
151. 152.
Nicholas, von der Fliie, 500.
Nicholas (Bishop of Herrea),
192.
Noailles, Antoine de (Arch-
bishop of Paris), Cardinal,
3. 4. 5, 40. 41. 44. 46, 48.
54, 77, 207, 215, 219, 220-
235, 241, 250, 252, 256-
262, 264, 267, 276, 413,
442.
Nolli, Giambattista, 496.
Oddi, Giuseppe (protonotary),
357. 359-
Odescalchi, Benedetto (nuncio),
Cardinal, 12.
Ogier (President), 433.
Olivieri, Fabio, Cardinal, 8, 14,
■ 30, 93, 100, 102, 105, 117,
138, 319.
Origo, Curzio (Secretary of
Memorials), 9, 14, 22, 24,
93, 102, 104, 143, 332, 341.
Ormaza, y Arregui, Juan de
(Governor of Tucuman),
471.
Ormea, Vincenzo Ferreri,
marchese d' (Minister of
Savoy and Piedmont), 147-
153. 303. 306, 349, 352.
Orsi» Giuseppe Agostino
(Dominican), 496.
Orsini, Domenico, brother of
Benedict XIII., 109.
Orsini, Blessed John (Bishop of
Trail), 170.
Orsini, Pietro Francesco (Dom-
inican), Cardinal, Benedict
XIII., 5, II, 98, 100, 102,
104-113, 123, 206.
Orsini, Gravina Mondillo
(Oratorian), Bishop of
Mem, 184.
Ottoboni, Minotti, 188.
Ottoboni, Pietro, Cardinal
(Alexander VIII.), 5, 6, 18,
19, 21, 24, 93, 99, 1x8, 126,
188, 222, 323, 324, 363,
498, 505.
Pacca, Cardinal, 297.
Pallu, Frangois (Bishop of
Heliopolis), 76, 81.
Pamfili, Benedetto, Cardinal, 3,
5, II, 17, 26, 98, 100, 102,
104. 305-
Pannini, Gian Paolo (painter),
96, 505.
Paolucci, Fabrizio (Cardinal
Secretary of State), 5, 8,
12, 15-18. 24, 30, 93, 99-
105, 117, 118, 124, 126,
128-130. 137, 147, 170,
222, 229.
Paracciani, Gian Domenico,
Cardinal, 8, 13, 20, 29.
Paris, Fran9ois de (Jansenist
Deacon), 278, 442-8, 451,
453-
Pascal, Blaise, 442.
Passeri,Marcello, Cardinal, 333,
334. 338, 404-
Passionei, Domenico (nuncio),
Cardinal, 255, 408, 495.
Passionei, Guido (Secretary for
Latin Briefs), 30.
Patino, Jose, 483.
Patrizi, Giovanni (nuncio), Car-
dinal, 9, 14, 104, 129.
Paul III., 359.
Paul v., 43, 155, 209-211, 470,
500, 501.
Paul of the Cross (Founder of
INDEX OF NAMES.
593
the Congregation of Pas-
sionists), 169.
Pavilion (Bishop of Alet), 239.
Pedrini, Theodore (Lazarist),
72, So, 82, 84, 89-91, 195,
197, 198, 202, 204, 476.
Penna, Orazio da (Capuchin),
473-
Pereyra, de Lacerda, Joseph,
Cardinal, 182, 1S3, 305,
403-
Perez (Franciscan), Vicar
apostolic, 194.
Perfetti, Bernardino, 161. ,
Perrelli, Pietro (Imperial
Agent), 137, 137 n., 138-
144.
Perroni, Domenico (Procurator
of the Propaganda in
China), 80.
Peter the Great, 39.
Peter II., Czar, 290.
Peter, Patriarch of the
Maronites, 67.
Petitpied (Jansenist), 53, 459.
Petra, Vincenzo, Cardinal, 180,
303. 315. 350-
Philip II., of Spain, 59.
Philip V. of Spain, 34, 39, 100,
164, 355. 358, 376, 381.
390, 392, 405.
Philip of Orleans (Regent of
France), 46, 47, 48, 51, 54,
56, 235.
Piazza, Giulio (nuncio). Car-
dinal, 14, 101-5.
Picenino (Swiss Protestant),
188.
Pico della Mirandola, Ludovico,
Cardinal, 9, 20, 102, 104,
125, 160, 216, 316, 334,
341. 350-
Pieri, Pier Maria (Servite),
Cardinal, 405.
Pietro della SS. Trinita, 193.
Pignatelli (Viceregent of Sicily),
12.
Pignatelli, Francesco (nuncio in
Poland), Cardinal, 8, 12,
23, 24, 102, 104, 303, 321.
Pincellotti (sculptor), 508.
Pinheiro (Provincial of the
Jesuits), 476.
Piombino, Princess of, 12 n.
Pipia, Agostino (General of the
Dominicans), 150, 209, 222,
. 228.
Pittonio (advocate), 147, 153.
Pius v., 116.
Pivert, Aimee, 447.
Poisson (Jesuit), missionary,
192.
Polignac, Melchior de (French
Ambassador at Rome),
Cardinal, 5, 102, 147, 170,
181-3, 216, 223, 225, 226,
228, 229, 232, 284, 302,
307. 323. 324. 350-
Portail (President of the Parlia-
ment of Paris), 415, 416.
Porzia, Leander (Abbot of St.
Paul outside the Walls),
Benedictine Cardinal, 188,
228, 341, 385.
Potocki (Primate of Poland),
362.
Priuli, Pietro, Cardinal, 104.
Publicola, Scipione (Prince of
Santa Croce), 366.
Pucelle, Abbe, 48, 415, 426-8,
432. 433. 435-
QUEMENER, 76.
Quesnel, Pasquier (Jansenist),
43, 44, 60, 62, 63, 65, 206,
207, 215, 217, 221, 223,
242-4, 247, 260, 265, 277,
279, 281, 417, 434.
Quirini, Angelo Maria (Bene-
dictine of Monte Cassino),
Cardinal, 185, 187, 188,
296, 493-
Ramone, 302.
Rasle (Jesuit missionary), 192.
Rastignac, Louis Jean de
(Archbishop of Tours), 456.
Regis, John Francis (Jesuit
missionary), 410.
Reni, Guido, 508.
Resay of Angouleme, 256.
594
INDEX OF NAMES.
Retz (General of the Jesuits),
476.
Rezzonico, Carlo (Auditor of
the Rota), Cardinal, 408.
Ricci, Caterina (beata), 410.
Ricci, Francesco, 302.
Ricciolini, Niccolo (painter),
505-
Ridolfi, Niccolo (Master of the
Apostolic Palace), 495.
Rinaldi, Gottardo (Carmelite),
195-
Rio, Emanuele del (Franciscan
Minor), 67.
Ripa, Matteo (missionary in
China), 91, 169, 467.
Ripoll, Tommaso (General of
the Dominicans), 297.
Rist, Valerius (Franciscan
Minor), 194.
Rivera, Domenico (Secretary of
the Consulta), 333, 338,
339, 353. 385. 404-
Riviera (Papal Delegate), 30.
Roca, Miguel (Provincial Com-
missary of the Franciscan
Minors), 197, 198. I
Rodota, Felix Samuel, 468. I
Rohan, Armand Gaston, Car- 1
dinal, 9, 16, 17, 19, 20, 22, I
24, 25, 30, 40, 41, 100-3, I
223, 226, 254, 257, 263, j
279.
Rollin, Charles (Rector of the
Sorbonne), 51, 447. j
Romigny (Syndic of the theo-
logical Faculty of the
■ Sorbonne), 52, 53, 264,
269.
Rossetti, Cardinal, 109.
Rossetti (missionary of Pro-
paganda), 473.
Rossi De (De Rubris), 488.
Rota, Abbate (Auditor of Paris
nunciature), 34.
Rousse, Canon (Jansenist), 277,
445-
Rovenius (Vicar Apostolic), 59.
Ruffo, Tommasso (nuncio).
Cardinal, 8, 22, 100, 102,
104, 309. 315.
Rusconi, Camillo (sculptor),
505-
Rusconi, Giuseppe, 509.
Ruspoli, Bartolomeo, Cardinal,
3. 402.
Ruspoli, Francesco Maria
(Prince of Cervetri), 126.
Saavedra, Bernardo Froilano
de (titular Archbishop of
Larissa), 398.
Sagripanti, Carlo Maria
(Treasurer-General), Car-
dinal, 302, 333, 410.
Sagripanti, Giuseppe (Datar-
ius). Cardinal, 5, 8, 11, 84,
99, 100, 102.
Saint-C}Tan, 450.
Saint-Olon, Pidou de, head of
the Persian Mission, 60.
Sainte-IMarthe, Denis de (Gen-
eral of the Congregation of
Maurists), 282, 284.
Salerni (Jesuit,) Cardinal, 6, 7,
105, 125, 216.
Salvi (sculptor), 502.
Sanctis, F"rancesco de (archi-
tect), 162.
Sanna (Jesuit), 88, 91.
Sansovino (architect), 504.
Santa Croce, Prince, 373.
Santamaria, Niccolo Saverio,
127, 153, 301.
Saraceni (Vicar Apostolic of
Shansi), 475.
Sardini, Giacomo, Abbate, 153,
302.
Sardinius (advocate), 147.
Sassi, Ludovico (architect),
505-
Scaglione (Secretary of Briefs
to Princes), 30.
Schonborn, Damian Hugo von,
Cardinal, 23, 304.
Schrattenbach, Wolfgang Han-
nibal von. Cardinal, 8, 303.
Scotti, Bernardino, Cardinal,
7, 13, 104, 129.
Segur, Jean Charles de, Bishop
of St. Papoul, 453, 454.
Selleri, Gregorio (Dominican),
INDEX OF NAMES.
595
Confessor to Benedict
XIII., 153, 186, 188, 190,
228.
Serry, Hyacinth (Dominican),
62.
Sevin, Abbe, 452.
Sfondrati, Cardinal, 43, 245.
Siebert (Jesuit), 473.
Simonetti, Raniero (nuncio in
Naples and Savoy), 379,
396-
Sinzendorf, Philip Louis \on.
Cardinal, 188.
Sirmond, Augustine (Jesuit),
245-
Sixtus v., 120.
Soanen (Bishop of Senez), 42 n.,
50, 242-255, 265-368, 440,
449, 451. 454. 457-
Soffietti, Simon, Friar Minor,
203.
Solano, Francesco (Franciscan
Observant), 166.
Sonnet, Marie, 448.
Souel (Jesuit missionary), 192.
Spada, Orazio Filippo (nuncio
at Cologlie), 8, 14, 19, 24,
100-2, 104, 118.
Specchi, Alessandro (architect),
29, 32, 162.
Specchi, Michelangelo (archi-
tect), 499.
Spinelli, Giuseppe (internuncio
at Brussels), Cardinal, 286,
381, 384-6, 394, 405.
Spinola, Giorgio (nuncio at
Vienna), Cardinal, Secre-
tary of State, 12, 22, 24,
30. 35. 35 n., 86, 93, 95,
104.332,339,350,357.385-
Spinola, Giovanni Battista,
Cardinal, 104.
Spinola, Giovanni Battista,
Cardinal, Governor of
Rome, 403.
Spinola, Niccolo (nuncio in
Poland), 105 n.
Stampa, Count Carlo, Imperial
General, 357, 359.
Stampa, Count Gaetano (Arch-
bishop of Milan), 409.
Steenoven, Cornelius, 62, 63,
2S5-9.
Steffani, Agostino (Vicar
Apostolic of German)'),
178 n.
Stosch, Baron Philip von, 412.
Strozzi, Isabella, mother of
Clement XII., 327.
Suarez, Joseph (Jesuit Vice
Provincial), 99, 202.
Tamburini, ]\Iichelangelo (Gen-
eral of the Jesuits), 83, 86-
gi, 192, 195, 196, 201, 217.
Tanara, Seb. Antonio, Cardinal
Dean of the Sacred College,
4, 8, 12, 15, 17, 23-25,
100, 102.
Tanas, Seraphin (Cyril VI.),
Patriarch of the Melchior-
ites, 190, 191.
Tanucci, Bernardo (Minister in
Naples), 392, 393, 395, 397.
Tencin, Pierre Guerin de. Car-
dinal, 69, 93, 245, 248, 251,
254, 409, 459-
Teodoli, Girolamo (architect),
497-
Terrasson (Oratorian), 291.
Tessier de Querelay (Vicar
Apostolic of Siam), 194.
Thibault (General of the
Maurist Congregation), 282,
2 S3.
Thuillier, \ incent (Mauri-st),
284, 285, 457.
Tiberge (Superior of the
Seminary for the Foreign
Missions), 280, 281.
Tilladet (Bishop of Macon),
256, 267.
Titon (Councillor of the Parlia-
ment), 428, 433.
Tolomei, Giovanni (Jesuit),
Cardinal, 13, 104, 106, 107,
125, 222.
Tomacelli, Niccolo Maria of the
Clerics ]\Iinor, 79, 91.
Tommaso da Spoleto (Minor),
147.
50
INDEX OF NAMES.
Tour de la [General of the
Oratorians), 256.
Tour, Henri Oswald de la,
Count of Auvergne, Car-
dinal, 407.
Tournely, Honore, Doctor of
the. Sorbonne, 264, 269,
270.
ToTirnon, Charles Thomas
Maillard de (Cardinal Le-
gate in China), 74, 81, 89,
204, 467, 477, 478.
Tourouvre (Bishop of Rodez),
267.
Tria (Bishop of Larino), 395.
Ugarte (Jesuit), 191.
Urban II., 140, 145.
Urban VIIL, 116, 145, 160,386.
Vaillant, Abbe, 452.
Valenti, Antonio Francesco
(Datarius), 333.
Valeri, Antonio (architect),
505-
Valerio, Giuseppe (Dominican),
203.
Valle, Filippo (sculptor), 497,
504. 509.
Vallemani, Giuseppe, Cardinal,
13, 102, 104.
Vanvitelli, Luigi (architect),
486, 487, 502, 505.
Varlet, Dominic Mary, 60, 61,
286, 287, 288, 451.
Viera, Antonio (Jesuit), 194.
Victor Amadeus II. of Savoy
(King of Sardinia), 146-8,
153. 306.
Villalpando (representative of
Philip v.), 386, 387, 391.
Villars, Marshal, 425.
Villefore (Jansenist), 437.
Villemeule (Jansenist), 77.
Vintimille du Luc (Archbishop
of Aix), 257, 267, 268, 271,
273, 275, 424, 442, 443,
446, 458.
Vincent de Paul, 410, 436, 461.
Violante Beatrice of Bavaria
(Grand Duchess of Tus-
cany), 161, 174, 322.
Vitry, de (Jesuit), 223, 228.
Vittoni (secular Priest), 70.
Vivant (Chancellor), 256.
Vosmeer (Vicar Apostolic in
Holland), 59.
Ward, ]Mary, 78.
Wencelaus, St. (Duke of
Bohemia), 166.
Wolfgang, Ildefonsus (Carme-
lite), 195.
YoNG-TsHiNG (Emperor of
China),72,73,85, 474, 475.
Zabala, Bruno Mauricio
(Governor of Buenos
Aires), 472.
Zendrini, Bernardino (hydraulic
engineer), 489.
Zondadari, Antonio Felice
(nuncio in Spain), Car-
dinal, 100, 104, 125, 216,
309, 316, 341, 350, 385.
Zuloaga (Archbishop of Lima),
70.
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