Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/417

 PACCANARISTS

381

PACHOMIUS

Finally, on 30 January, 1813, he was told that in view of the concordat concluded between the pope and Napoleon at Fontainebleau (25 January) he was free to join the pope. Napoleon had long objected to his liberation, declaring: "Pacca is my enemy". At Fontainebleau he and the other liberated cardinals in- sisted that Pius VII should retract the last concordat and refuse further negotiations until he was back in Rome with full freedom. Pacca also suggested the re-establishment of the Society of Jesus, although both the pope and he himself had been educated in prejudices against the society. When Pius VII was conducted to Savona the second time, Pacca was de- ported to Uzes (January, 1814), leaving that place on 22 April. He joined the pope at Sinigaglia whence he accompanied him to Rome. Appointed cardinal camerlengo in the same year, he exerted himself to re- establish the religious orders from the foundations not already sold.

During the absence of Consalvi at the Congress of Vienna, Pacca again became pro-rsecrctary of State, the restoration of the pontifical Government thus de- volving on him. He was reproved by Consalvi, from Vienna, for his severity towards the supporters of the Napoleonic regime, and vainly tried to justify his con- duct. When Murat, King of Naples, sent his troops through the Pontifical States to meet the Austrians, Pacca advLsed Pius VII to seek temporary refuge at Genoa, fearing that Murat would attempt to ravage the domains of the Holy See. During the pope's ab- sence, the provisional Government caused the arrest of Cardinal Maury on a charge of having secret intelU- gence with Murat, and his trial was continued even after the pope's return. But Consalvi, immediately on his arrival, stopped the proceedings. The rest of Pacca's life was occupied in the affairs of the different congregations to which he was assigned, and in the administration of the suburbicarian sees. Leo XII appointed him pro-datary, he was the first to hold the post of cardinal legate of Velletri, and he was active against the Carbonari.

Cardinal Pacca's house was frequented by the most illustrious scientists, men of letters, and artists, both Roman and foreign. He had excavations made at Ostia at his own expense, and with the objects dis- covered formed a small museum in his vineyard on the Via Aurelia (Casino of Pius V).

Acute observations on politics and the philosophy of history are found in his "Memorie storiche della nunziatura di Colonia"; "Dei grandi meriti verso la Chiesa Cattolica del clero dcU' University e de' Magistrati di Colonia nel secolo XVI"; "Notizie sul Portogallo e suUa nunziatura di Lisbona"; "Memorie storiche per servire alia storia ecclesiastica del secolo XIX" (1809-14); "Notizie storiche intorno alia vita e gli scritti di Mons. Franc. Pacca, arcivescovo di Benevento (1752-75)". (See also Consalvi; Pius VII.)

Diario di Roma (1844), n. 39; Album di Roma (1844), n. 16; RiNlERl, Corrispondenza inedita de' cardinali Consalvi e Pacca nel tempo del CongresM di Vienna in Diplomazia ponlificia, V (Turin, 1903) ; Wiseman, Recollections of the Last Four Popes (London, 1858).

IJ. Benigni. Paccanarists. See Sacred Heart op Jesds, So- ciety OF. Pace, Peter. See Gozo, Diocese of.

Pachomius, Saint, d. about 346. The main facts of his life will be found in Monasticism. II. Eastern Monasticism before Chalcedon. Having spent some time with Palemon, he went to a deserted village named Tabennisi, not necessarily with the intention of remaining there permanently. A hermit would often withdraw for a time to some more remote spot in the desert, and afterwards return to his old abode. But Pachomius never returned; a vision bade him stay and erect a monastery; "very many eager to em-

brace the monastic life will come hither to thee". Although from the first Pachomius seems to have re- alized his mission to substitute the cenobitical for the eremitical life, some time elapsed before he could realize his idea. First his elder brother joined him, then others, but all were bent upon pursuing the ere- mitical life with some modifications proposed by Pachomius (e. g., meals in common). Soon, however, disciples came who were able to enter into his plans. In his treatment of these earliest recruits Pachomius displayed great wisdom. He realized that men, ac- quainted only with the eremitical life, might speedily become disgusted, if the distracting cares of the cenobitical life were thrust too abruptly upon them. He therefore allowed them to devote their whole time to spiritual exercises, undertaking himself all the burdensome work which community fife entails. The monastery at Tabennisi, though several times enlarged, soon became too small and a second was founded at Pabau (Faou). A monastery at Cheno- boskion (Schenisit) next joined the order, and, before Pachomius died, there were nine monasteries of his order for men, and two for women.

How did Pachomius get his idea of the cenobitical life? Weingarten (Der Ursprung des Moncthums, Gotha, 1877) held that Pachomius was once a pagan monk, on the ground that Pachomius after his baptism took up his abode in a building which old people said had once been a temple of Serapis. In 1898 Ladeuze (Le C^nobitisme pakhomien, 156) declared this theory rejected by Catholics and Protestants alike. In 1903 Preuschen published a monograph (Monc- thum und Serapiskult, Giessen, 1903), which his reviewer in the "Theologische Literaturzeitung" (1904, col. 79), and Abbot Butler in the "Journal of Theological Studies" (V, 152) hoped would put an end to this theory. Preuschen showed that the sup- posed monks of Serapis were not monks in any sense whatever. They were dwellers in the temple who practised "incubation", i. e. sleeping in the temple to obtain oracular dreams. But theories of this kind die hard. Mr. Flinders Petrie in his "Egypt in Israel" (published by the Soc. for the Prop, of Christ. Knowl., 1911) proclaims Pachomius simply a monk of Serapis. Another theory is that Pachomius's re- lations with the hermits became strained, and that he recoiled from their extreme austerities. This theory also topples over when confronted with facts. Pacho- mius's relations were always affectionate with the old hermit Palemon, who helped him to build his monas- tery. There was never any rivalry between the her- mits and the cenobitcs. Pachomius wished his monks to emulate the austerities of the hermits; he drew up a rule which made things easier for the less proficient, but did not check the most extreme asceticism in the more proficient. Common meals were provided, but those who wished to absent themselves from them were encouraged to do so, and bread, salt, and water were placed in their cells. It seems that Pachomius found the solitude of the eremitical life a bar to vocations, and held the cenobitical life to be in itself the higher (Ladeuze, op. cit., 168) The main features of Pachomius's rule are described in the article already referred to, but a few words may be said about the rule supposed to have been dictated by an angel (Palladius, "Hist. Lausiaca", ed. Butler, pp. 88 sqq.), of which use is often made in describing a Pachomian monastery. According to Ladeuze (263 sqq.), all accounts of this rule go back to Palladius; and in some most important points it can be shown that it was never followed by either Pachomius or his monks. It is unneces- sary to discuss the charges brought by Am(^lineau on the flimsiest grounds against the morality of the Pachomian monks. They have been amply refuted by Ladeuze and Schiwietz (cf. also Leipoldt, "Schneute von Atripe", 147).