History of the Catholic Church, vol 1 - J. MacCaffrey (epub ebook reader .TXT) 📗
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With Spain a formal concordat was concluded in 1753. The dispute in Naples regarding the Sicilian Monarchy was settled by the appointment of a mixed tribunal composed of laymen and clerics, presided over by a cleric for the settlement of ecclesiastical affairs. The Pope’s decision that only those who refused publicly to accept the papal condemnation of Jansenism were to be excluded from the sacraments helped to ease considerably the situation in France. He condemned the Freemasons (1751), and reduced the number of holidays for Spain in 1742 and for Austria, Tuscany, and Naples in 1748.
His successor Clement XIII. (1758-69) found himself in a peculiarly unhappy position. Despite the friendly policy adopted by Benedict XIV.
towards the civil rulers, or, as some would say, as a result of the concessions that he made, their demands became still more exorbitant.
The Rationalists, liberal Catholics, Jansenists, and Freemasons united their forces for a grand attack upon the Society of Jesus, the suppression of which they were determined to secure. Already rumblings of the storm had been heard before the death of Benedict XIV. His successor, who had the highest admiration for the Jesuits, stood manfully by the Society, and refused to yield to the threats of the Bourbon rulers thirsting for its destruction. His sudden death was attributed not without good reason to the ultimatum, demanding the immediate suppression of the Jesuits, addressed to him by the ambassadors of France, Spain, and Naples.
In the conclave the cardinals were divided into two parties, the Zelanti who stood for resistance to the demands of the civil rulers, and the moderate men who supported the policy of conciliation. The representatives of France, Spain, Portugal, and Naples, left no stone unturned to prevent the election of a Zelanti, and the veto was used with such effect that the choice of the cardinals was at last limited to only three or four. Threats were made that, if a candidate was elected against the wishes of the Bourbons, Rome might be occupied by foreign troops, and obedience might be refused to the new Pope. In the end a Franciscan friar, Cardinal Ganganelli, who was not an extreme partisan of either party among the cardinals, received the required majority of votes, and was proclaimed as Clement XIV. (1769-74). The new Pope was not unfriendly to the Jesuits, nor had he any evidence that could induce him to reverse the very favourable judgment delivered in their favour by his immediate predecessor. He endeavoured to avert the storm by making generous concessions to the Bourbons and to Portugal, by adopting an unfriendly attitude towards the Society, and by offering to effect serious changes in its constitution. But these half-way measures failed to put an end to the agitation, and at last Clement XIV. found himself obliged to make his choice between suppression and schism. In the circumstances he thought it best for the sake of peace to sacrifice the Society (1773) but he was soon to realise that peace could not be procured even by such a sacrifice. His weakness led only to more intolerable demands from France, Spain and Naples.
The cardinals assembled in conclave after his death found it difficult to agree upon any candidate, but finally after a conclave lasting more than four months they elected Cardinal Braschi, who took the title of Pius VI.[6] (1775-99). The new Pope was a zealous ecclesiastic, anxious to promote a policy of conciliation, but immovable as a rock when there was a question of the essential rights of the Church. He withstood manfully the Febronian policy of Joseph II. and of the prince-bishops of Germany, and condemned the decrees of the Synod of Pistoia (1794). He endeavoured to maintain friendly relations with Portugal, Spain, Naples, and Sardinia, though the old policy of state supremacy was still the guiding principle of the rulers and politicians. The storm that had been gathering for years broke over Europe during the latter years of his reign; the Bourbon throne in France was overturned, and no man could foretell when a similar fate awaited the other royal families of Europe. Pius VI., though not unwilling to recognise the new order, was stern in his refusal to permit the constitution of the Church to be changed. For this reason his capital was occupied; his cardinals were dispersed, and he himself was brought as a prisoner to Valence, where he died in exile (1799).
The enemies of religion could not conceal their delight. They declared triumphantly that with him the long line of Peter had ceased to exist, but the conclave at Venice and the election of Pius VII. (1800) soon showed the world that though kingdoms and dynasties might disappear the Papacy still survived, as Christ had foretold it should survive.
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[1] Pallavicini, Vita de Alessandro VII., 1849.
[2] De Bildt, The Conclave of Clement X., 1905.
[3] Bonamici, Da Vita Innocenti XI., 1776.
[4] Lafiteau, Vie de Clement XI., 1752.
[5] Benedicti XIV. Opera, 17 vols., 1839-46. Heiner, Opera inedita, 1904. Guarnacci, Vie du Pape Benoit XIV., 1783.
[6] Ferrari, Vita Pii VI., 1802. Bourgoing, Memoires historiques et philosophiques sur Pie VI. et son pontificat, 1800.
THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. RELIGIOUS LIFE.
See bibliography, chap. vi. (g). Aubry, La Methode des etudes ecclesiastiques dans nos seminaires depuis le concile de Trente, 1900. Picot, Essai historique sur l’influence de la religion en France, 1824. Joly, Les moralistes francais du XVIIe, XVIIIe, et XIXe siecles, 1900. Andres, Dell’origine, progressi, e stato attuale di ogni letteratura, 1843. Backer-Sommervogel, Bibliotheque des ecrivains de la compagnie de Jesus, 1890-98.
Feret, La faculte de theologie de Paris. Epoque moderne (vii.), 1910. Quetif-Echard, Scriptores Ord. Praedicatorum.
The great theological revival that began with the Council of Trent, and that made itself felt in the Latin countries, died away gradually, to be followed in the eighteenth century by a period of decline.
Scholars like Bellarmine, De Lugo, and Suarez had passed away without leaving anybody behind them worthy to take their places. Except in the field of ecclesiastical history and of historical theology the whole tendency was downwards.
The principal causes that paved the way for this universal decline were the spread of Gallicanism and Jansenism with the consequent waste of energy to which these controversies led, the state of lethargy produced by the enslavement of the Church, the withdrawal of ecclesiastical students, the suppression of the Society of Jesus, and the rejection of the Scholastic system of philosophy in favour of the vagaries of Descartes or of the Leibniz-Wolf school in Germany.
The rise of the Rationalist school in France, threatening as it did the very foundations of Christianity, called for the activity of a new group of apologists, who would do for Christianity in the eighteenth century what had been done for it against the pagan philosophers of old by men like Justin Martyr and Lactantius. Unfortunately, however, though many able works were produced at the time, few if any of them could lay claim to the literary charms or vigour of expression that characterised the works of the enemies of religion. The principal apologists in France at this period were Huet (d. 1721), Sommier
(d. 1737), the Oratorian Houteville (d. 1742), Baltius, S.J. (d.
1743), Bullet, professor in the University of Besancon (d. 1775), Bergier, one of the most distinguished of Bullet’s pupils (d. 1790), Guenee (d. 1803), the able opponent of Voltaire, and Feller, S.J.
(d. 1802), whose Catechisme philosophique and Dictionnaire Historique enjoyed a widespread popularity long after the writer had passed away.
In dogmatic theology the leading representatives of the Thomistic school were without doubt Vincent Louis Gotti (1664-1742) and Charles Rene Billuart (1685-1757). The former of these was born at Bologna, entered the Dominican novitiate at an early age, was the author of several polemical works directed against the Lutherans and Calvinists, and was created cardinal (1728). On account of his ability, prudence, and sanctity of life he exercised a wonderful influence both within and without his order in France, so much so that in the conclave of 1740 his election to the papacy was favoured by a large body of his colleagues. Cardinal Gotti’s greatest work was his commentary on St. Thomas, entitled Theologia Scholastico-Dogmatica iuxta mentem D. Thomae (1727-1735). Billuart was born at Ardennes in Belgium, and on the completion of his classical studies he became a novice in the Dominican convent at Lille. For the years during which he held several positions in Dominican houses in Belgium his abilities as a writer, professor, and preacher, attracted so much attention that on the petition of Billuart’s colleagues at Douay, the general of the order decided to entrust him with the work of preparing an exhaustive and authoritative commentary on the Summa of Saint Thomas. After five years hard work the edition was completed and was published at Liege in nineteen volumes[1] (1746-51). A compendium was issued in 1754.
The best known and ablest exponent of the theological system of Duns Scotus was Claude Frassen (1621-1711). He was born at Peronne, joined the Franciscans, and was sent to Paris, where he taught theology for years. His great work is his Scotus Academicus, a commentary or explanation of the theological system of Duns Scotus.
Both on account of its faithful exposition of the views of Scotus and of the excellent method and style in which it is composed this work enjoyed and enjoys a considerable reputation.[2] Of the theologians of the Augustinian school the two best known were Lorenzo Berti (1696-1766) whose De Theologies Disciplinis (1739-45) led to an imputation of Jansenism, from which the author was cleared by the verdict of Benedict XIV., and Cardinal Norris (1631-1704) for a long time professor of ecclesiastical history at the University of Padua, against whose books, Historia Pelagiana and Vindiciae Augustanae, a prohibition was levelled by the Spanish Inquisition, but reversed on appeal to Benedict XIV.
The endless controversies to which Jansenism gave rise had lowered the reputation of the Sorbonne. The greatest representative of this centre of theological learning at this period was Honore Tournely, the steadfast opponent of Jansenism, whose Praelectiones Theologicae
(1738-40) was regarded as one of the most important works of the time.
In the defence of the Holy See against the attacks of Febronius the greatest writers were Zaccaria (1714-95) who wrote voluminously on theology, ecclesiastical history and canon law; Alfonso Muzzarelli
(1749-1813), the Dominican, Cardinal Orsi (1693-1761), and Cardinal Gerdil (1718-1802), whose election to the papacy on the death of Pius VI. was vetoed by the Emperor. The Theologia Wirceburgenis published by the Jesuits of Wurzburg (1766-71) contained a complete and masterly summary of the entire theological course.
Though Billuart and many of his contemporaries, following in the footsteps of St. Thomas, dealt with both dogmatic and moral theology, the tendency to treat the latter as a distinct department and to give more attention to what may be termed the casuistical side of moral theology became more marked. To a certain extent, at least in manuals intended for the use of the clergy, such a method was rendered necessary by the frequent and more comprehensive character of the confessions. Yet it furnished some apparent justification for the onslaughts of the Jansenists, who thought that they detected in the new method a degradation of theology, a divorce between religion and casuistry, and a return to the unholy hair-splitting of the Pharisees.
Closely allied
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