Pius VI

Pius VI
Pius VI
    Pope Pius VI
     Catholic_Encyclopedia Pope Pius VI
    (GIOVANNI ANGELICO BRASCHI).
    Born at Cesena, 27 December, 1717; elected 15 February, 1775; died at Valence, France, 29 Aug., 1799. He was of a noble but impoverished family, and was educated at the Jesuit College of Cesena and studied law at Ferrara. After a diplomatic mission to Naples, he was appointed papal secretary and canon of St. Peter's in 1755. Clement XIII appointed him treasurer of the Roman Church in 1766, and Clement XIV made him a Cardinal in 1775. He then retired to the Abbey of Subiaco, of which he was commendatory abbot, until his election as Pius VI.
    Spain, Portugal, and France had at first combined to prevent his election, because he was believed to be a friend of the Jesuits; he was well disposed towards the order, but he dared not revoke the Bull of their suppression. Still he ordered the liberation of their general, Ricci, a prisoner in the Castle of Sant’ Angelo in Rome, but the general died before the decree of liberation arrived. Upon the request of Frederick II of Prussia he permitted the Jesuits to retain their schools in Prussia; while in Russia, he permitted an uninterrupted continuation of the order. Soon after his accession he took steps to root out the Gallican idea of papal supremacy which had been spread in Germany by Hontheim (see FEBRONIANISM. Joseph II forbade the Austrian bishops to apply to Rome for faculties of any kind, and suppressed innumerable monasteries. Pius VI resolved to go to Vienna; he left Rome on 27 Feb., 1782, and arrived in Vienna on 22 March. The emperor received him respectfully, though the minister, Kaunitz, neglected even the ordinary rules of etiquette. The pope remained at Vienna until 22 April, 1782. All that he obtained from the emperor was the promise that his ecclesiastical reforms would not contain any violation of Catholic dogmas, or compromise the dignity of the pope. The emperor accompanied the pope on his return as far as the Monastery of Mariabrunn, and suppressed this monastery a few hours after the pope had left it. Scarcely had the pope reached Rome when he again saw himself compelled to protest against the emperor's unjustifiable confiscation of ecclesiastical property. But when Joseph II filled the vacant See of Milan of his own authority, Pius solemnly protested, and it was probably at this occasion that he threatened the emperor with excommunication. On 23 Dec., 1783, the emperor unexpectedly came to Rome to return the papal visit. He was determined to continue his ecclesiastical reforms, and made known to the Spanish diplomat, Azara, his project of separating the German Church entirely from Rome. The latter, however, dissuaded him from taking this fatal step. To avoid worse things, the pope granted him the right of nominating the bishops in the Duchies of Milan and Mantua, in a concordat dated 20 Jan., 1784 (see Nussi, "Conventiones de rebus ecclesiasticis et civilibus inter S. Sedem et civilem potestatem", Mainz, 1870, 138-9).
    Joseph's example was followed in Tuscany by his brother, the Grand Duke Leopold II and Bishop Scipio Ricci of Pistoia. Here the antipapal reforms culminated in the Synod of Pistoia in 1786, where the doctrines of Jansenius and Quesnel were sanctioned, and the papal supremacy was eliminated. In his Bull "Auctorem fidei" of 28 Aug., 1794, the pope condemned the acts, and in particular eighty-five propositions of this synod. In Germany the three ecclesiastical Electors of Mainz, Trier, and Cologne, and the Archbishop of Salzburg attempted to curtail the papal authority by convening a congress at Ems (q.v.). With Portugal the papal relations became very friendly after the accession of Maria I in 1777, and a satisfactory concordat was concluded in 1778 (Nussi, loc. cit., 138-39). In Spain, Sardinia, and Venice the Governments to a great extent followed in the footsteps of Joseph II. But the most sweeping anti-ecclesiastical reforms were carried out in the Two Sicilies. Ferdinand IV refused the exequatur to all papal briefs that were obtained without the royal permission, and claimed the right to nominate all ecclesiastical beneficiaries. Pius VI refused to accept the bishops that were nominated by the king and, as a result, there were in 1784 thirty vacant sees in the Kingdom of Naples alone, which number had increased to sixty in 1798. The king, moreover, refused to acknowledge the papal suzerainty which had existed for eight hundred years. The pope repeatedly made overtures, but the king persisted in nominating to all the vacant sees. In April, 1791, when more than half the sees in the Kingdom of Naples were vacant, a temporary compromise was reached and in that year sixty-two vacant sees were filled (Rinieri, loc. cit., infra).
    In response to the application of the clergy of the United States, the Bull of April, 1788, erected the See of Baltimore.
    Pius VI put the papal finances on a firmer basis; drained the marshy lands near Città della Pieve, Perugia, Spoleto, and Trevi; deepened the harbours of Porto d'Anzio and Terracina; added a new sacristy to the Basilica of St. Peter; completed the Musee Pio-Clementino, and enriched it with many costly pieces of art; restored the Via Appia; and drained the greater part of the Pontine Marshes.
    After the French Revolution, Pius rejected the "Constitution civile du clergé" on 13 March, 1791, suspended the priests that accepted it, provided as well as he could for the banished clergy and protested against the execution of Louis XVI. France retaliated by annexing the small papal territories of Avignon and Venaissin. The pope's co-operation with the Allies against the French Republic, and the murder of the French attaché, Basseville, at Rome, brought on by his own fault, led to Napoleon's attack on the Papal States. At the Truce of Bologna (25 June, 1796) Napoleon dictated the terms: twenty-one million francs, the release of all political criminals, free access of French ships into the papal harbours, the occupation of the Romagna by French troops etc. At the Peace of Tolentino (19 Feb., 1797) Pius VI was compelled to surrender Avignon, Venaissin, Ferrara, Bologna, and the Romagna; and to pay fifteen million francs and give up numerous costly works of art and manuscripts. In an attempt to revolutionize Rome the French General Duphot was shot and killed, whereupon the French took Rome on 10 Feb., 1798, and proclaimed the Roman Republic on 15 Feb. Because the pope refused to submit, he was forcibly taken from Rome on the night of 20 Feb., and brought first to Siena and then to Florence. At the end of March, 1799, though seriously ill, he was hurried to Parma, Piacenza, Turin, then over the Alps to Briançon and Grenoble, and finally to Valence, where he succumbed to his sufferings before he could be brought further. He was first buried at Valence, but the remains were transferred to St. Peter's in Rome on 17 Feb., 1802 (see NAPOLEON I). His statue in a kneeling position by Canova was placed in the Basilica of St. Peter before the crypt of the Prince of the Apostles.
    Bullarii Romani Continuatio, ed. BARBERI (Rome, 1842 sq.), V-X; Collectio Brevium atque Instructionem Pii Papæ VI quæ ad præsentes Gallicanarum ecclesiarum calamitates pertinent (2 vols., Augsburg, 1796); Acta Pii VI quibus ecclesia catholica calamitatibus in Gallia consultum est (2 vols., Rome, 1871); BOURGOING, Mémoires historiques et philosophiques sur Pie VI et son pontificat (2 vols., Paris, 1900); GENDRY, Pie VI. Sa vie, son pontificat 1777-99, d'après des archives vaticanes et de nombreux documents inédits (2 vols., Paris, 1907); WOLF, Gesch. der Kath. Kirche unter der Regierung Pius VI (Zürich, 1793- 1802), 7 vols. (Josephinistic); BECCATINI, Storia di Pio VI (4 vols., Venice, 1801-02); FERRARI, Vita Pii VI (Padua, 1802); BERTRAND, Le Pontificat de Pie VI et l'Athéisme Révolutionnaire (2 vols., Bar­le­Duc, 1879); SAMPSON, Pius VI and the French Revolution in Amer. Cath. Quarterly Review (New York, 1907), 220-40, 413-40, 601-31; Pius VI in Catholic World, XIX (New York, 1874), 755-64; TIEPOLI, Relazioni sul conclave per la elezioni di papa Pio VI (Venice, 1896); KÖNIG, Pius VI und die Säkularisation, Program (Kalksburg, 1900); SCHLITTER, Pius VI und Joseph II von der Rückkehr des Papstes nach Rom bis zum Abschluss des Konkordats, ibid. II (Vienna, 1894); CORDARA, De profectu Pii VI ad aulam Viennensem ejusque causis et exitu commentarii, ed. BOËRO (Rome, 1855); RINIERI, Della rovina di una Monarchia, Relazioni storiche tra inediti dell' Archivo Vaticano (Turin, 1910); BALDASSARI, Histoire de l'enlèvement et de la captivité de Pie VI (Paris, 1839), Ger. tr. STECK (Tübingen, 1844); MADELIN, Pie VI et la première coalition in Revue des quest. hist., LXXXI (Paris, 1903), 1-32.
    MICHAEL OTT
    Transcribed by WGKofron With thanks to St. Mary's Church, Akron, Ohio

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VIII. — New York: Robert Appleton Company. . 1910.


Catholic encyclopedia.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Pius X. — Pius X. Pius X., (Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; * 2. Juni 1835 in Riese, Lombardo Venetien; † 20. August 1914 in Rom) war von 1903 bis 1914 Papst der römisch katholischen Kirche und wurde von Pius XII. 1954 heiliggesprochen. Pius X …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Pius — Pius,   Päpste:    1) Pius I. (140 154/155 ?); nach dem Murator. Fragment ein Bruder des Hermas. Während seines Pontifikats wirkten in Rom der Theologe Marcion, der Philosoph Justin und der Gnostiker Valentin (* um 100, ✝ um 160). Heiliger (Tag:… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Pius — ist ein männlicher Vorname, der aus dem Lateinischen kommt und der Fromme (Gottesfürchtige) bedeutet. Der Name wird nur sehr selten im deutschen Sprachraum vergeben und dann oft in katholischen Familien. Die weibliche Form ist Pia, die… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Pius IX —     Pope Pius IX     † Catholic Encyclopedia ► Pope Pius IX     (GIOVANNI MARIA MASTAI FERRETTI).     Pope from 1846 78; born at Sinigaglia, 13 May, 1792; died in Rome, 7 February, 1878 …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Pius — is a male name, from the Latin word pius , the meaning of which is similar to the English pious from piety , meaning a desire and willingness to perform religious duties. The name is most commonly associated with popes, twelve of whom (including… …   Wikipedia

  • Pius IX. — Pius IX. Pius IX. (* 13. Mai 1792 in Senigallia (Kirchenstaat) als Grafensohn Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti; † 7. Februar 1878 in Rom) war Papst von 1846 bis 1878. In sein Pontifikat − mit 31 Jahren und 8 Monaten das längste in der römisch katho …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Pius V. — Pius V. in einer Darstellung von El Greco Wappen von Papst Pius V., mode …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Pius XI. — Pius XI., 1930 Pius XI. (* 31. Mai 1857 in Desio (Lombardei); † 10. Februar 1939 in Rom) – bürgerlicher Name Achille Ambrogio Damiano Ratti – war Papst von 1922 bis 1939. Pius XI. widmete sich nach Leo XIII. der Soziallehre und pr …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Pius X —     Pope Pius X     † Catholic Encyclopedia ► Pope Pius X     (Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto).     Born 2 June, 1835, at Riese, Province of Treviso, in Venice. His parents were Giovanni Battista Sarto and Margarita (née Sanson); the former, a postman …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Pius — [pī′əs] 1. Pius II (born Enea Silvio de Piccolomini) 1405 64; pope (1458 64) 2. Pius VII (born Luigi Barnaba Chiaramonti) 1742 1823; pope (1800 23) 3. Pius IX (born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti) 1792 1878; pope (1846 78) 4 …   Universalium

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”