Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/150

 PISTORIUS

118

PITHOU

The Cath Enlarged by Gio'

(1118-41); the Blessed Atto (1135-53); Bonus (1189), author of " De cohabitatione clericorum et mulierum " ; the Yen. Giovanni Vivenzi (1370); Matteo Diamanti (1400); Douato de'Medici (1436) Xicolo Pandolfini (1475), who later became a cardinal; three Pucci, Car- dinal Lorenzo (1516), Cardinal Antonio (1519) and Roberto (1541); Alessandro de'Mediei (1573) became Leo XL In 1653, Prato was made a diocese, and united, aque priiicipalitcr, with Pistoia; as early as 1409, Florence asked for the creation of a diocese at Prato, on account of the dissensions of t he collegiate church of Prato with the Bish- ops of Pistoia; and in 1460, it had been made a prelatura nullius, and given, as a rule, to some car- dinal, in commendam. Other bishops of these sees were the Yen. Gerardo Ge- rardi (1679-90), un- der whom Prato founded its semi- narv; Leone Strozza (1690), Abbot of Vallombrosa, found- ed the seminary uf Pistoia, enlarged by Michele C. Yisdo- mim(1702) ; Scipione Ricci (1780), famous on account of the SjTiod of Pistoia which he convened in 1786, and which Pius YI afterwards condemned. The diocese is a suffragan of Florence; has 194 par- ishes, with 200,100 inhabitants, 5 reUgious houses of men, and 19 of women, and 7 educational estabUsh- ments for girls.

Cappelletti. Le Chiesa d' Italia, XVII; Rosati, Memorie per sertire alia storia dei vescovi di Pistoia.

U. Benigni.

Pistorius, Johaxx, controversialist and historian, b. at Nidda in Hesse, 14 February, 1546; d. at Frei- burg, IS July, 160S. He is sometimes called Xiddanus from the name of his birthplace. His father was a well-known Protestant minister, Johann Pistorius the Elder (d. 1583 at Xidda), who from 1541 was super- intendent or chief minister of Xidda. and took part in several religious disputations between Catholics and Protestants. Pistorius the Younger studied theology, law, and medicine at Marburg and \Yittenberg 1559- 67. He received the degree of Doctor of Medicine, and in 1575 was appointed court physician to the Margrave Karl H of Baden-Durlach, who frequently sought his advice in political and theological matters. In search of more consistent beliefs, Pistorius turned from Lutherauism to Calvinism: through his in- fluence the Margrave Ernst Friedrich of Baden-Dur- lach made the s.ame change. As time went on, how- ever, Pistorius became dissatisfied with Calvinism also. In 1.584 he became a privy councillor of M.ar- grave James III of Baden-Hochberg at Emmen- dingen; after further investigation he entered the Cathohc Church in 1588. At his request the Miir- grave James brought about the religious disputations of Baden, 1589, and Emmendingen. 1590. After the second disputation the court preacher Zehender and the margrave himself became Catholics. James III, however, died on 17 .August, 1590, and being suc- ceeded by his Protestant brother Ernst Friedrich, Pistorius wa.s obliged to leave. He went to Freiburg, became a priest in 1591, then vicar-general of Con-

stance until 1594; after this he was an imperial coun- cillor, cathedral provost of Breslau, Apostolic pro- thonotary, and in 1601 confessor to the Emperor Rudolph II. After his death his librarj- came into the possession of the Jesuits of Molsheim and later was transferred to the theological seminary at Stras- burg.

Pistorius published a detailed account of the con- version of Margrave James III: "Jakobs Marggrafen zu Baden . christliche, erhebliche und wol-

fundirte Motifen"

(Cologne, 1591). His numerous writings against Protestant- ism, while evincing clearness, skill, and thorough knowledge of his opponents, es- pecially of Luther, are marked by con- troversial sharpness and coarseness. The most important are: ' ' .\natomia Lutheri " (Cologne, 1595^8); '' Hochwichtige Merkzeichen des al- ten und neuen Glau- bens" (Miinster, 1599); "Wegweiser vor alle verfiihrte Christen" (Miinster, 1599). Pistorius was attacked violently by the Protestants; e. g., by Huber, Spangenbert, Ment- zer, Horstius, and Christoph Agricola. Replies to the "Anatomia Lutheri" were written by the Protestant theologians of Wittenberg and Hesse. Pistorius also busied himself with cabalistic studies, and published "Artis cabbalisticae, h. e. recon- ditae theologiae et philosophia; scriptorum tomus unus" (Ba-sle, 1587). As court historiographer to the Margrave of Baden, he investigated the genealogy of the princely house of Zahringen; he also issued two works on historical sources: "Polonica> historiae cor- pus, i. e. Polonicarum rerum latini veteres et recen- tiores scriptores quotquot exstant" (Basle, 1582), and "Rerum Germanicarum veteres jam primum publicati scriptores aliquot insignes medii sevi ad CarolumV" (Frankfort, 1583-1607).

PUss, Die Conrerlilen seit der Reformation (Freiburg. 1866),

II, 488-507: III, 91 sqq.; Gass in Allgem. deut. Biog.. XXVI, 199-201; Hi-HTER, Xomenelator, III (Innsbruck. 1907); J.anssen, Hist, of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages. X (tr. Christie, London, 1906). 116-48; Schmidlin, Johann Pistorixts als Propit im Elsass in Hist. Jahrbuch. XXIX (1908), 790-804; [Zell], Markgraf Jakob III. ton Baden in Hist.-pol. BlSUer, XXXVIII (1856); von Weech, Zur Gesch. des Markgrafen Jacob

III. von Baden und Hachberg in Zeitsch. fur Gesch. des Oberrheins, ■, VII (1892), 656-700; VIII (1893), 710; XII (1897).

266-7

Friedrich Latjchert,

Pitaval, John B.\ptist. See Santa ¥&, Arch- diocese OF.

Pithou, Pierre, writer, b. at Troves, 1 Nov., 1539; d. at X'ogcnt-sur-Seine, 1 Xov., 1596. His father, a distinguished lawyer, had secretly embraced Cahdn- ism. Pierre studied the cl.assics in Paris under Tur- nebe, and afterwards -n-ith his brother, FranQois Pithou, attended lectures in law at Bourges ,and ^'alence under Cujas, who often said: Pilhwi fratres, clari.ssima lu- mina. In 1560 he was admitted to practise at the Paris bar: but on the outbreak of the second war of religion, he withdrew to Troves. X'ot being admitted to the bar at Troves on account of his C.alvinist be- lief, he withdrew to Sedan which was a Protestant district, and, at the request of the Due de Bouillon, he