Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/132

 PINEROLO

102

PINNA

commentarj- on Solomon. The fame he won by his erudition and sanctity is attested in many ways. On a ^■isit to the University of Evora he was greeted by a Latin speech, and a memorial tablet was set up with the legend: Hie Pineda fuit. What astounds one most in the writings of this exegete of the old school is his vast knowledge not merely of Latin, but of Greek and Hebrew.

XlEREMBERG. Varones Tlustres de la C. de J., VII (Bilbao. 1S91), 195; SoMMEBVOGEL, BibIiothcqu€ de la C. de J. (Paris. 1895), VI. 796; IX. 772; Gotlhermt, Menologe de la C. de J. Assistarux d'Etpagne, I (Paris, 1902), 178.

Walter Drum.

Pinerolo, Diocese op (Pixeroliexsis), in the pro\-ince of Turin, in Piedmont, Northern Italy, suffragan of Turin. In the Middle Ages the city of Pinerolo was one of the keys of Italy, and was there- fore one of the principal fortresses of the dukes of Savoy. It is now the seat of a militarj' school. Those of its churches desen-ing mention are the cathedral (which dates from the ninth centurj-, and has a beau- ful campanile) and San Maurizio. a beautiful Gothic church, from the belfrj- of which there is a superb \-iew of the Alps and of the sub-Alpine plain. The earhest mention of Pinerolo is in the tenth century; it belonged to the JNIarca di Torino (March of Turin) and was governed by the abbots of Pinerolo, even after the citv had established itself as a commune (1200). From 1235, however, Amadeus IV of Savoy e.xereised over the town a kind of protectorate which, in 1243, became absolute, and was exercised there- after either by the house of Savoy, or of Savoy- Acaia. When the French invaded Piedmont (1536), Pinerolo fell into their hands and they remained in possession until 157-1. However, by the treat}' of Cherasco it again fell to France (1630), and it re- mained under French rule until restored b}" the treaty of Turin to Savo}'. The latter state, at the same time, withdrew from the league against Louis XIV. Piner- olo was originally an abbey nuUius. It was founded in 1064 by Adelaide, Princess of Susa, and was made a diocese, in 174S. at the request of Charles Emman- uel, its first prelate being G. B. d'Orhe. In 1805, conformably with the wish of Xapoleon, the diocese was united with that of Saluzzo, but, in 1S17, was re-established as an independent see. Within its territorj- is the famous fortress of Fenestrelle. It has 58 parishes, 16,200 inhabitants, 3 rehgious houses of women, and 3 educational institutes for girls.

Cappelletti. Le Chiese d' Italia (^'enice, 1S57); C-^Rrrri, Storia di Pinerolo (Pinerolo, 1893). U. BeXIGNI.

Pingre, Alexaxdre Gut, b. in Paris 11 September, 1711; d. 1 May, 1796. He was educated in Senlis at the college of the Genovcfan fathers. Regulars of the Order of St. Augustine, which he entered at sixteen. In 1735 he was made professor of theology there. About 1749 he accepted the professorship of astronomy in the newly-founded academj' at Rouen. Already famous for detecting an error of four minutes in Lacaille's calculation of the lunar ecUpse of 23 December, 1749, in 1753 he further dis- tinguished himself by the obsen-ation of the transit of Alercurj' and was consequently appointed corre- sponding member of the Aeademie des Sciences. Later he was made librarian of Ste-Genevieve and chancellor of the university. He built an obser\'atory in the Abbey of Ste-Genevieve and there spent forty years of strenuous labour. He compiled in 1753 the first nautical almanac for the year 17.54, and subse- quently for 1755-57, when Lalande was charged with the publication, Laraille had calculated for his treatise, "L'art de verifier les dates", the eclipses of the first nineteen centuries of the Christian era; PingrS in a second edition took up his calculations and extended them over ten centuries before Christ. In 1760 he joined an imsucce.ssful ex-pedition to the Island Rodriguez in the Pacific to obser\'e the transit

of Venus on 6 June, 1761. More satisfactory re- sults were obtained from an expedition to the French Cape on Haiti where the next transit was obser\-ed on 3 June. 1769. About 1757 he became engrossed in the history- of comets, and in his "Cometographie ou Traits historique et theorique des cometes" (2 vols., Paris, 1783—4), the material contained in all the ancient annals and more recent pubhcations is me- thodically arranged and critically sifted. In 1756 he pubfished a "Projet d'une histoire d'astronomie du dLx-septieme siecle", completed in 1786. Through Lalande's influence the National Msembly granted three thousand francs to defray the expenses of pub- Ucation, but it proceeded slowly and at Pingre's death was discontinued. In 1901 the whole work was re-edited by Bigourdan under the title: "Annales celestes du dix-septieme siecle". Pingre also pub- lished "Manuale Astronomicon hbri cjuinque et Arati Phenomena, cum interpretatione Gallica et notis" (2 vols., 1786), and numerous astronomical observations in the "Memoires de ITnstitut" (1753- 87), in the "Journal de Trevoux", in the "Phil. Trans." etc.

In encyclopedic works it is commonly asserted that Pingre took an active part in Jansenistic quar- rels, and hence was relegated to pro\'incial towns and colleges. Consequently he is often said to have fallen a victim to Roman intolerance. The fact is that during his earlier career Pingre seems to have been imbued with Jansenistic views, as is borne out by the "Nou- velles Ecclesiastiques", the great Jansenist organ. In 1737 Mgr de SaUgnac, Bishop of Pamiers, active against Jansenism, summoned Pingre, who was severely rebuked and finally had to submit to an exaraen by some Jesuit fathers. He ex-pressed him- self wilUng to condemn the five propositions, de eceur el d'esprit, at the same time maintaining that he could not condemn them as propositions of Jansenius, as they were not to be found in his works. (It should be remembered that in 1653 and 1656 the popes had declared repeatedly that the propositions were de faeto contained in the " Augustinus".) In 1745 a gen- eral chapter of the fathers of Ste-Genevieve was convened; by order of the king Father Chambroy was elected superior general. Strict orders had been issued to the superiors of the conventual estabUsh- ments that only such members should be deputed as were willing to subscribe to the papal Bulls and espe- cially "Unigcnitus". This measure excited opposi- tion. Father Pingre, then hving at Senlis, and some of his fellow religious entered a vehement protest against the proceedings of the ch.apter. Father Scoffier, one of the most determined opponents of the election, was removed from Senhs. A similar disciplinary punishment was infficted on Pingre, then professor of theology. According to an in- troductory,' notice prefaced to the memoirs of the Jansenist Abb6 Arnauld d'Andilly, in the collection "M6moires sur I'histoire de France de Michaud et Poujoulat" (2nd series, IX), Pingre is their editor (Leyden, 1756). He was therefore an active Jan- senist, at least until 1747; his influence, however, never became serious nor lasting. In the ecclesiasti- cal history of the eighteenth century, especially in the "Memoires pour servir a I'histoire eccWsiastique pendant le 18" siecle "of Picot, his name is not men- tioned.

Phony, Notice sur la vie et les outrages d'Aleiandre Gui Pingri in Memoiresde I'Inatilut, I; L.1L.VNDE. Hist, de I'Astronomie pour 1796, pp. 773-8; Del.imbre, Hist, de I'Astronomie ou XVIII'. siicle, pp. 664-87; Vextesat. Notice sur la yie du ciloyen Pingri, lue d la seance publique du Lycie des Arts in Magasin Encyclo- pidique, I, 342; Table raisonnee el alphabltique des noureltes EccUsiastiques depuis 1728 jusqu'en 1760 inclusirement (1767), s. vv. Pingri; SaUgnac; Chanoines Riguliers de Ste-Generiire.

J. Steix.

Pinna da EncamaQao, Mattheus, writer and theologian, b. at Rio de Janeiro, 23 Aug., 1687; d.