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 SCARISBRICK

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SCARLATTI

at the Supreme Council of the Confederation. At the same time the pope addressed letters to the arch- bishops and bishops of Irehind and also to the mem- bers of the Supreme Council, telling them that in order to show his great love and admiration for the Irish people he had decided to send to their aid Fr. Scarampi, a man of noble birth and eminent for his virtues and great administrative abilities. He told them to place full confidence in him as his representa- tive and give him all help in the fulfilment of his duties. He was received by the Irish Catholics as an angel from heaven. Wherever he went he was met by the bishops, clergy, and nobihty. He was received with military honours and firing of canon. On his arrival in Kilkenny he immediately saw that the*danger that threatened the existence of the Confederation was dis- sension amongst its members. He made an earnest appeal to the Council to avoid all dissension and to make no compromise with the enemies of their religion and country. Richard Bellings, Secretary of the Council, addressed to Fr. Scarampi a statement of the reasons in favour of a cessation of hostiUties. Fr. Scarampi immediately gave a noble answer showing why the war should be continued, and that the EngUsh desired the ces.sa- ion of hostiUties solely to relieve heir present ne- cessities. The l»ishops and the Supreme Council tlianked the pope for having sent to heir aid a person )f such exemplary ife and excellent abilities of mind, and rejoiced at presence ainongst them. The author of ' ' Contemporarv History of Affairs in Ireland" says that Fr. Scarampi was a "verie apt and understand- inge man, and was receaved with much honour. This man in a shorte time became soe learned in the petegrees of the re- spective Irish families of Ireland, that it proved his witt and diligence, and allsoe soe well obsearved all the proceedings of both ancient and recent Irish, that to an ince, he knewe whoe best and worst beheaved himself in the whole kingdome. "

The Supreme Council decirhsd to supplicate the pope to raise Fr. Scarampi to the dignity of archbishop and Apostohc nuncio, and the bishops of Ireland entreated him to accept the Archbishopric of Tuain, which was vacant at the time. He declincMl all honours and re- fused to walk under the canopy prepared for him in Waterford. He was present with the Confederate forces at the siege of Duncannon, and when the fort was taken on the eve of St. Patrick, he ordered a chapel to be immediately erected in honour of the saint and celebrated the first Mass. On 5 May, 164.5, he was recalled to Rome by Innocent X. In taking leave of the General Assembly, he thanked all the members for their kindness to him, and again urged them to be firmly united. The President of the Assembly, after referring to all the fatigues that Fr. Scarampi had endured for the Irish cause, said "that as long as the name of the Catholic religion remained in Ireland, so long would the name of Scarampi be affectionately remembered and cherished." After receiving the Apostolic nuncio, Rinuccini, he set out on his journey to Rome. He was followed to the ship

by the bishops, clergy, and laity, many comparing his departure to that of St. Paul from Miletus. All were in tears. He was accompanied by five Irish youths destined for the priesthood, whom he wished to edu- cate and support at his own expense at Rome. Among these youths was Oliver Plunket, the martyr Arch- bishop of Armagh. On his arrival at Rome he was thanked and praised by the pope for the great work he had done in Ireland. When the plague broke out in Ronie in 1656, he asked to be allowed to attend the sick in the lazaretto. He caught the sickness and died. By special permission he was buried in the BasiUca of SS. Nereus and Achilleus on the Appian Way, the titular church of Cardinal Baronius. In the lazaretto he wrote a most touching letter to Oliver Plunket. Benedict XIV commanded the Master of the Sacred Palace to make known to the Fathers of the Oratory that the title of Venerable was to be given to Fr. Scarampi when writing about him and on his pictures.

Har.\ldu8, Vita L. Waddingi (Rome, 1662) ; Rinuccini, Nun- ziatura in Irlanda (Florence, 1S44) ; Aringhi, Memorie Storiche delta vita del Ven. P. F. Scarampi (Rome, 1744) ; Haverty, Hist, of Ireland (Dublin, 1860) ; Brenan, Eccl. Hist, of Ireland (Dub- lin, 1864); Mebhan, Confederation of Kilkenny (Dublin, 1882); Rise and Fall of I. F. Monasteries (Dublin, 1877) ; Moran, Spicile- gium Ossoriense (Dublin, 1874) ; Gilbert, Contemporary Hist, of Affairs in Ireland (Dublin, 1879); Bellings, Hist, of the Irish Confederation (Dublin, 1882); D'Alton, History of Ireland (London, 1911); Gardiner, History of the Civil War 1643-49 (London, 1910); MS. Life of F. Scarampi and other MS.S. in Vallicellana Library, Rome; Barberini MSS. in Vatican Li- brary; MSS. in Franciscan Library, Dublin.

Gregory Cleary.

Scarisbrick, Edward (Neville). See Neville, Ed.mund.

Scarlatti, Ales.sandro, b. in Sicily, either at Trapani or at Palermo, in 1659; d. at Naples 24 Oct., 1725; buried there in the musicians' chapel of the Church of Montesanto. On his tombstone he is called musices instaurator maximus, which title he deserves in that he originated the classical style of the eighteenth century, and gave a high development to concerted instrumental music. The scenes of his activity were alternately Rome and Naples. His first opera (1679), "Gli Equivoci nel Sembiante" was performed at the palace of Queen Christina of Swe- den, who lived in Rome after her abdication and con- version to the Catholic Church. Five years later we find him in Naples, where he obtained the position of Maestro di capella to the Viceroy. He remained there for about eighteen years. After a short stay at Florence, he returned to Rome (1702), where he was made assistant maestro and afterwards maestro at S. Maria Maggiore. In 1708 or 1709 he returned to Naples and lived there for ten years. He lived in Rome from 1718 until 1721, thence proceeding to Naples, where he died in 1725. His fertility of pro- duction is astonishing. He wrote more than a hun- dred operas (of which less than half are extant). It is said that he composed two hundred Masses, which is questionable, as but few survived him; he left several Oratorios, the best of which are "Agar ed Ismaele", "La Vergine addolorata", and "S. I"ili{)po Neri"; many motets and innumerable chamber- cantatas and serenatas. Moreover he shows great capacity in his compositions for the organ, the cembalo, and other instruments. Not all his religious music is for liturgical use; but many of his compositions, although in his days the Pales- trinian-style was fast declining, are written in severe and noble polyphony. We may quote here his mass for Cardinal Ottoboni (edited by Proske), his "Missa ad usum Cappella? Pontificise" (recently found by Giulio Bas in the library of the Academy of S. Cecilia at Rome, and published by L. Schwann at Diisseldorf), his famous "Tu es Petrus", performed in Paris by the Roman singers at the coronation of Napoleon I (printed by Ricordi of Milan).