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 CORTE

397

CORTKS

liero were iiiiiny heathens hi Corsica, which long re- aineil ils early reputation as a wild and unhospitable iland. On the fall of the Western Empire (476) 'orsica was taken by the Vandals, but was recovered y Belisarius, only to be captmed by the Goths nder Totila. Kventually, however, it became sub- jet to the exarchs of Ravenna, and remained a iyzantine possession until the eighth century. At he end of the sixth and the beginning of the seventh entviry the Roman Church owned large landed es- ites in Corsica. By the Donation of Pepin the Short 754-55) the island came under the civil sovereignty f the popes (Liber Pontif., ed. Duchesne, I, 498; 11, 04, note 35). From the eighth to the eleventh cen- ury it was frequently plundered by Saracen pirates, 'isa then set up a claim of overlordship which was oon disputed by Genoa. In 1300 the latter made ood its claim to the civil and ecclesiastical influence itherto exercised by Pisa, and despite numerous evolutions (Sampiero, 1507; Baron Neuhof, 1729; 'aoli, 17-55) held at least a nominal authority until 768. In that yi-ar Genoa ceded Corsica to France, ince which time the island has remained a French rovince. Ajaccio, its chief town, is historically imous as the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte.

It has been asserted that Christianity was intro- uced into Corsica in Apostolic times. Ughelli, in his Italia Sacra", says of Mariana,' one of the oldest set- ad its own pastors, ever since the times of the Apos- ,es"; but this would be difficult to establish. An- ther tradition which finds favour with historians is, iiat Christianity was spread in the island by con- !ssors of the Faith exiled thither (Hergenrother, I, in 'ranch tr., Paris, 1901, p. 297). The Bollandists say le country was entirely Christian in a. d. 439. It ave saints and martyrs to the Church; Mgr. de la 'oata, in his "Recherches" (see bibliography infra), ites the names of three Corsican I'Viars Minor of the Ibservance, Bernardino Albert i, Franccschino Muc- tiieli, Teofilo Designorio, whose virtues had been uthoritatiyely declared heroic, and also claims as orsicans St. Laurina, virgin and martyr, whose fes- val was celebrated as a first-class feast in the ancient •iocese of Aleria, St. Parthceus, martyr, St. Vindc- lialis and St. Florentius. It is said, also, that St. alia was a Corsican.
 * ements: "It received the Catholic Faith, and has

We have seen that before and after 600 Corsica as in close dependence on the Apostolic See, and Iways remained so, (see Cappelletti, Le Chiese 'Italia, Xyi, 307 sqq.). In 1077 Gregory VII amed as his vicarius for Corsica the Bishop of Pisa. 1 1092 Pope Urban II made its bishops suffragans f the Archbishop of Pisa. In 11.33 Innocent II, aving granted the pallium to the Archbishop of enoa, gave him for suffragans the Corsican Bishops f Mariana, Xobbio, and Accia, the Archbi.shop of isa retaining as suffragans the sees of Ajaccio, ,\lcria, ad Sagona. Tlie Bishoprics of Mariana and Accia ere united, .30 January, 1563. About 1.580 the lesscd Alexander Sauli (q. v.), known as the Apostle of Corsica" awoke the islanders to a more »rnest religious life and founded a seminary on the lodel of those decreed by the Council of Trent. At le time of the French Revolution there were five ioceses in Corsica: Mariana and Accia, Nebbio, leria, Sagona, and Ajaccio. A decree of 12 July, 790, of the National .\ssembly at Paris, whose mem- ers had voted the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, duced these five bishoprics to one, giving to Bastia le piistoral care of the whole island. On 8 May, r91, the election of the Constitutional bi.shop took lace. The choice of the electors fell upon the canon ^atius Francis Guasco, Vicar-General of Mariana, nd Provost of the Cathedral. He, however, made a iiblie and solemn rocant.ation 22 December, 1794. he Concordat of 1801, between the Holy See and the

French Republic, which officially restored Catholic worship in F'rance, made of Corsica a single diocese with Ajaccio as its episcopal city. (See Concouuat ofLSOI; Ajaccio.) St. Euphrasius, bishop and mar- tyr, is the patron of the diocese. Sts. Julia and Devota were declared patronesses of the island by decree of the S. C. of Rites, 5 August, 1809, and 14 March, 1820. The "Directorium Cleri" of the dio- ce.se for 1907 states that there are in Corsica one bishop and five hundred and ninety-seven priests, professors, directors, and chaplains. There are one vicar-general, eight titular canons, twenty-nine hon- orary canons, five archpriests, thirteen parishes of the first class, forty-eight of the second class, and three hundred and thirty-three chapels. Parochial councils, composeil of members of the laity, assist the parish priests, since the suppression of the former boards of trustees by the separation of Church and State. In Ajaccio there was, until recently, a dioc- esan seminary, but the students were dispersed on account of the non-acceptance by Pope Pius X of the so-called "Law of Separation". At the time it ceased to exist, it had thirty-eight students and ten candidates for the priesthood. Every newly ordained priest is required to present himself yearly for five consecutive years for examination in ecclesi- astical sciences before a special committee. The degrees in theology may dispense from several or all of these examinations, but a young priest is never admitted to the parish ministry without having passed an examination of this kind. In Corsica there are numerous charitable and pious brother- hoods, founded in the days of Italian rule. Several of these associations assemble in their own chapels. The churches are usually of the Italian style of architecture and sometimes richly adorned. The Society for the Propagation of the Faith is directed by a diocesan committee instituted 13 February, 1859. The St. Vincent de Paul Society has two conferences. An Association for free Catholic schools is supported by the subscriptions of the faithful, who also provide for the needs of Catholic worship. Before the suppression of the religious orders there were in Corsica one house of the Jesuits, si.x Francis- cans, one Dominican, and five Capuchin monasteries, and one house of the Oblates of Mary. These, as well as the schools of the Christian Brothers and all convent schools, have been closed by the Government. There are still six convents of nuns. In consequence of the new laws of France, the Catholic Church in Corsica, a poor country, is confronted with a crisis: the people, habituated to look to the State for the support of public worship, must now adopt new methods and make many sacrifices for the maintenance of religion. PiETHO Fklce (or Pktrcs Cyrn(KUb), Chronicle to the Year IWO in MuRATORi, Ilnlicartim Ih-rum Scriptores, by della Grossa, Ceccaldi, and Monteckjiani, Chronicles, continued to 1590 by FiLlPPlNl, and tr. into French by Letteron (Bas- tia); (Jaudin, Vouagc en Corse (latter half of the eighteenth century): Renucci, Storia di Corsica (Bastia, 1834); Robiquet, Recherches. . . sur la Corse (Paris, 1835): Friess, Hisloire des Corses (Bastia, 1852); Gregoroviijs, Hisloire des Corses, a French tr. of the German work (Stuttgart and Tubingen, 1854). by LrcciANA; Giamarchi, Vita politica di Pasquale Paoli (Bastia, 1858); Galetti, Histoire illustree de la Corse (Paris, 1863); BouRDE, En Corse: Corresponilance de 1881 (Paris); d'Ornano. La Corse militaire (Paris); Bulletin de la SociM des Sciences historiqurs et naturelles de la Corse (periodical, Bastia; a magazine of valuable documents for Corsican history); de LA FoATA, Recherches et notes diverses sur V histoire de Veglise de Corse (Bastia. 1S95); Ortolan, Diplomale et Soldat; Mgr. Casanelli d'htria. Evfque d' Ajaccio (Paris, 1900); Cortona, Hist.de la Corse (Paris, 1906) ; PoLl, La Cone dans Vanliquili et dans le haut moyen Age (Pans, 1907).

Alexandre Guasco.

Cortes, DoNoso. See Donoso Cortes.

Cortes, Hernando, conqueror of Mexico, b. at MedeUin in Spain c. 1485; d. at Castilleja de la Cuesta near Seville, 2 December, 1547. He was married first to Catalina Xuarez, from which marriage there