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 FLORENCE

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FLORENCE

following centuries Florence sank into obscurity, and little is known of its civil or ecclesiastical life. With St. Reparatus (fl. 679), the patron of the Duomo, begins the unbroken line of episcopal succession. Among the best known of its medieval bishops are Gerardo, later Pope Nicholas II and author (1059) of the fa- mous decree on papal elections; Pietro of Pavia, whom another Florentine, San Pietro Aldobrandini (Petrus Igneus), convicted of simony (1062); Ranieri (1101), who preached that Antichrist had already come (Mansi, Suppl. Cone, II, 217); Ardengho, under whom was fought (1245) a pitched battle with the Patarini or Catharist heretics; Antonio Orso (1309), who roused all Florence, and even his clergy, against the German Emperor Henry VII; Angelo Acciaiuoli (13S3), a zealous worker for the extinction of the Western Schism; Francesco Zabarella (1410), cardinal, canonist, and philosopher, prominent at the Council of Constance. When in 1434 the see became vacant, Pope Eugene IV did it the honour to rule it in person. Other archbishops of Florence were Cardinal Giovanni Vitelleschi, captain of Eugene IV's army; the Domini- can St. Antoninus Forcillioni, d. 1459; Cosimo de' Pazzi (1508), a learned humanist and philosopher; Antonio Martini, translator of the Bible into Italian (1781). In 1809 Napoleon, to the great dissatisfac- tion of the diocese, imposed on Florence as its arch- bishop Monsignor d'Osmond, Bishop of Nancy. To Eugenio Cecconi (1S74-SS) we owe an (unfinished) "Storia del concilio ecumenico Vaticano" (Rome, 1872-79). Archbishop Alfonso Maria Mistrangelo, of the Society of the Pious Schools {Scuole Pie), was born at Savona, in 1852, and transferred (19 June, 1899) from Pontreraoli to Florence.

Saints and Popes. — Florence is the mother of many saints. Besides those already mentioned, there are Bl. Uberto degli Uberti, Bl. Luca Mongoli, Bl. Dome- nico Bianchi, Bl. Antonio Baldinucci, St. Catherine de' Ricci, St. Mary Magdalen de' Pazzi, and St. Philip Neri. The Florentine popes are: Leo X (1513-21), Clement VII (1523-34), Clement VIII (1592-1605), Leo XI (1605), Urban VIII (1623-44), and Clement XII (1730-40).

Since 1420 Florence has been an archdiocese; its suf- fragan sees are: Borgo San Sepolcro, Colle di Val d'Elsa, Fiesole, San Miniate, Modigliana, and the united Dioceses of Pistoia and Prato. The Archdio- cese of Florence has 800 secular and 336 regular clergy; 479 parishes and 1900 churches, chapels, and orator- ies; 200 theological students; 44 monasteries (men) and 80 convents (women). In 1907 the population of the archdiocese, almost exclusively Catholic, was 500,000.

The literature of this subject is so extensive that only a few titles can be here given. General bibliographies will be found in Chevaueh, Topo-biU. (Paris. 1894—), s. v., and P. Bl- GAZZI, Fireme e cantomi, manualebibliographico-biogratico (Flor- ence, 1893), 360. Ecclesiastical; — Cappelletti, Le chiese d'ltalia (Venice, 1861), XVI, 407-12; Cerrachini, Cronoiojia sacra del vescovi ed arcivescovi di Fireme (Florence, 1716); Lamio, Sacras Ecc. FtorentinoB Monumenta (Florence, 1738); GoRl, Hagiologium Ecc. Florent. (Florence, 1787); Richa, Notizie istoriche dellc chiese fiorenline (Florence, 1754-62); COCCHI, Le chiese di Firenze dal secolo IV fino ai secolo XX (Florence. 1903). The reader may also consult the seven- teenth-century documentary work of Ughelli, Italia Sacra, III, 14 sqq., and F. M. Fiorentini, Hetruscce vietatis origines (Lucca, 1701); also Cianfogni (ed. Moreni), Memorie istoriche delta Amhrosiana basilica di San Lorenzo (Florence, 1804, 1816, 17): LuMACHi, Memorie storiche dell' antica basilica di San Gio- vanni di Firenze (Florence, 1782) and G. BEFANl,A/emone s/on'cAe dell' antica basilica di San Giovanni di Firenze (Florence, 1886); GoDKiN, The Monastery of San Marco in Florence (London, 1887). For the hospitals and other charitable works of Flor- ence, see Passerini, Storia degli stabilimenti di beneficenza delta citta di Firenze (Florence, 1853). — For the ecclesiastical sciences in Florence see Cerrachini, Catalogo generate de' teologi delta eccelsa univ. Fiorentina (Florence, 1725); Idem, Fasti teologici (Florence, 1738); Schiff, L' University degli studi in Firenze (Bologna. 1887).

Civil: — Florentine historiography is very rich, and may best be studied in special introductory works like Balzani, Le Cronache d'ltalia (Milan, 1884), also in Eng. tr., .S. P. C. K.: cf. Hegel, Veber die .infiitige der floretilinischen Geschichtsctirei- bung in Sybel, Hisl. Zcitschrift (1876), XXXV, 32-63; also the

pertment writings of ScHEFFER-BoicnoRST, e. g. Florentiner Sludien (Leipzig. 1873). For the Historic Fiorentine. or Chron- ica ol Giovanni Villani (d. 1348), see the Turin edition (1879), and for the still more celebrated Historic Fiorentine, tibri VIII ol Machiavelli see the Passerini edition (Florence, 1873), and the Eng. tr. in Bohn'a Standard Library (1847). Among the modern comprehensive histories of Florence may be mentioned: Capfoni, Storia delta repubblica fiorentina (3d ed., Florence. 1886); ViLLARi, Storia di Firenze (Milan, 1890); Idem, / due primi sccoli delta storia di Firenze (Florence, 1893-98); Per- RENs, Histoire de Florence depuis ses origines jusqu'a la domina- tion des Medici (9 vols., Paris, 1877-90): Habtwig, Quellen nnd Forschungen zur Hlteren Gesdiichte der Stadt Florenz (Marburg, 1878). Much important material, both ecclesiastical and civil, for the medieval history of Florence, is found in Mdratori's famous collection of medieval Italian annals and chronicles: Scriptores Rcrum Italicamm, 28 folio volumes (Milan, 1723- 1751; newed. small quarto, 1900 sqq.).

Miscellaneous: — Yriarte, Florence, I'histoire, les Medicis, les humanisles, les lettres, les arts (Paris, 1880), tr. (London, 1882); Kleinpadl, Florenz in Wort nnd Bild (Leipzig, 1888); MoRENi, Notizie istoriclte dei contomi di Firenze (Florence, 1790-96); Ouphant, The Makers of Florence, Dante, Giotto, Savonarola and their City (London, 1880): E. M. Clerke, Flor- ence in the Time of Dante in Dublin Review (1879), LXXXV, 279. The writings of Ruskin (1819-1900) on Italian art abound with studies and impressions of the Florentine artists. Svmonds, The .4(76 of the Renaissance (London, 1882 — ) deals at great length with the literary and poUtical figures of Floren- tine history in the fifteenth century; in ecclesiastical matters he is not unfrequently prejudiced, insular, and unduly harsh. The German writings of von Kecmont have also done much to make better known the medieval influence and prestige of the great city by the Arno.

U. Benigni.

Council of Florence, the Seventeenth CEcumeni- cal Council, was, correctly speaking, the continuation of the Council of Ferrara, transferred to the Tuscan capital because of the pest, or, indeed, a continuation of the Council of Basle, which was convoked in 1431 by Martin V. In the end the last-named assembly became a revolutionary conciliabuliim, and is to be judged variously, according as we consider the manner of its convocation, its membership, or its results. Generally, however, it is ranked as an oecumenical council until the decree of dissolution in 1437. After its transfer to Ferrara, the first session of the council was held 10 Jan., 1438. Eugene IV proclaimed it the regular continuation of the Council of Basle, and hence its cccumenical character is admitted by all.

The Council of Constance (1414-18) had seen the growth of a fatal theory, based on the writings of Will- iam Durandus (Guillaume Durant), John of Paris, Marsiglio of Padua, and William of Occam, i. e. the concihar theory that proclaimed the superiority of the council over the pope. It was the outcome of much previous conflict and embitterment; was hastily voted in a time of angry confusion by an incompetent body; and, besides leading eventually to the deplor- able articles of the "Declaratio Cleri Gallicani" (see Gallicanism), almost provoked at the time new schisms. Influenced by this theory, the members of the Council of Constance promulgated in the thirty- fifth general session (9 Oct., 1417) five decrees, the first being the famous decree known as "Frequens", according to which an oecumenical council should be held every ten years. In other words, the council was henceforth to be a permanent, indispensable institution, that is, a kind of religious parliament meeting at regu- lar intervals, and including amongst its members the ambassadors of Catholic sovereigns; hence the ancient papal monarchy, elective but absolute, was to give way to a constitutional oligarchy.

While Martin V, naturally enough, refused to recog- nize these decrees, he was unable to make headway openly against a movement which he considered fatal. In accordance, therefore, with the decree " Frequens" he convoked an oecumenical council at Pavia for 1423, and later, yielding to popular opinion, which even many cardinals countenanced, summoned a new coun- cil at Basle to settle the difficulties raised by the anti- Hussite wars. A Bull of 1 Feb., 1431, named as presi- dent of the council Giuliano Cesarini, Cardinal of Sant' Angelo, whom the pope had sent to Germany to