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 GIANNONE

548

GIBAULT

with Wovoka, alias Jack Wilson, an Indian of the Piute tribe in Nevada. He chxiined to have obtained his revelation in a vision in which he had been taken into the spirit world and talked with God, Who had promised a speedy return of the old Indian life through the reincarnation of all the dead Indians, the buffalo and other game, upon a new earth, which was already advancing from the west and would push before it the alien whites to their own proper country beyond the ocean, while the Indian believers would be taken up, as by wings, upon the new surface and there reunited with their old-time friends. By performance of the prescribed dance and songs the consummation would be hastened, while in the frequent hypnotic trances brought about by the efforts of the priests the more sensitive subjects were enabled to anticipate the event in visions.

The belief spread among nearly all the tribes east- ward of the Missouri, and produced much excitement for several years, until several dates for the great change had passed without realization of the prophecy, when the ferment gradually subsided. In Dakota it led indirectly to an outbreak among the Sioux in the winter of 1S90-1, notable events of which were the killing of Sitting Bull and the massacre of Wounded Knee. In the dance, men and women together held hands, facing towards the centre, and danced slowly in a circle, singing the ghost songs, without instrumen- tal accompaniment, while the priests within the circle brought the more sensitive subjects into the trance condition by means of hypnotizing performances. An essential doctrine of the new religion was the brotherhood of man, and in consequence of this all acts and ceremonies of a warUke nature were pro- hibited.

MooNEY, The Ghost Dance Rdigi&n in i4th Rept. Bur. Am. Elhn., II (Washington, 1896).

James Mooney.

Giannone, Pietro, Italian historian, b. 7 May, 1676, at Ischitella in the province of Capinata, Naples ; d. at Turin, 27 March, 1748. He received his first instruction in the hou.se of his uncle, (Jaetano Argento, a lawyer, and after having received the degree of Doc- tor of Law at Naples he began to practise his profession, following the example of his father. He devoted all his leisure time to the study of history. After prepar- atory work extending over a period of twenty years, he published under the title "Dell' istoria civile del regno di Napoli" (1723, 4 vols.), a work which caused a great sensation, especially on account of its bitter anti-ecclesiastical bias, which led to its repeated trans- lation into English and German. In it Giannone com- bined a narrative of political matters, founded on his- torical sources, with an interesting description of the juridical and moral condition of the country; but as he ascribes all existing evils to the malignant influence of the Church, especially the Roman Curia, we may justly assume it a compilation of biased attacks and misstatements. It was immediately put on the Index and its author excommunicated and forced to leave Naples. He went to Vienna where he was pensioned by Emperor Charles VI. He was readmitted to the Church soon after by the Archbishop of Naples who was in Vienna at the time. Having forfeited his pen- sion in 1744 Giannone went to Venice, but the Govern- ment, suspecting him on account of his political opin- ions, surrounded him with -spies. He tried to gain the Government's goodwill by publishing a pamphlet en- titled: " Lettera intorno al dominio del mare Adria- tico", eulogizing Venice's conquest of the Adriatic; he was unsuccessful and was forcibly expelled in the following year. After wandering to and fro for a while he accepted tlie iKP-^piliility of an old l)Ook- dealer in (ieneva. Tlicrc lie cumposed his intensely anti-cleric.'il essay: "II triregno ossia del regno del cielo, della terra e del papa" (Geneva, 1735, new ed.

Rome, 1895, 3 vols.). Enticed to a village in Savoy, he was arrested, imprisoned in the fortress of Ceva, and transported thence to Turin, where he died. It is reported that before his death he was reconciled with the Church. Giannone 's posthumous works are: "Opere postume" (Lausanne, 1760; enlarged, Venice, 1768; new ed., 2 vols., Capolago, 1841). The first vol- ume contains: "Apologia dell' istoria civile del regno di Napoli ; the second: " Indice generale dell' opera dei tre regni". His collected works appeared in Milan (5 vols., 1858). Later, Mancini published his pos- thumous works in two volumes (Turin, 1859), entitled "Opere inedite", containing the " Discorsi storici e politici sopra gli annali di Tito Livio"; "La chiesa sotto il pontificato di Gregorio il Grande ' '. The auto- biography of Giannone was published by Pierantoni (Rome, 1890).

Nouvelle Biographic Gcnirale (Paris. 1858), XX, 421-424.

Patricius Schlager.

Gibail and Batrun, a Maronite residential see. Gibail is merely the modern name of Byblos (q. v.) a titular .see of Phoenicia. The diocese, administered by the Maronite patriarch through au.xiliary bishops, comprises the civil districts of Ehden, Bcharra, Gi- bail and Batrun. It numbers 70,000 faithful, 470 priests, 277 churches and chapels, 14 convents of Bala- dites containing 177 religious, 2 of Aleppines containing 30 religious, and 2 of Isaites with 9 religious. There are also two religious houses in which there are 58 sisters. The patriarch resides at Bkerkey, where the patriarchal seminary of Saint-Jean-Maron is also situated, in which there are 30 students. Another seminary containing 32 students has been opened at Rumi^. The question of dividing the diocese in such a manner that Gibail should form one diocese, and Batrun another, has been much discussed in recent years. Gibail is a town of about 1000 inhabitants, nearly all of whom are Christians, 650 being Maron- ites. There are 13 churches ; three of them dating from the Crusades are very beautiful. The Catholic Mel- chite title of Gibail is united to that of Beirut ; since 1902 the schismatic Melchite Diocese of Gibail is distinct from Beirut, and has jurisdiction over the mountainous region of Lebanon.

Missiones Calholicce (Rome, 1907), SIS.

S. Vailhe.

Gibault, Pierre, missionary, b. at Montreal, Can- ada, 1737; d. at New Madrid, about 1804; son of Pierre Gibault and Marie Saint-Jean. He was edu- cated at the seminary of Quebec, and ordained a priest 19 March, 1768. Shortly afterwards he was sent by Bishop Briand as missionary, with the title of Vicar- General, to Illinois. In July he arrived at Michili- mackinac, where he spent a week attending to the religious wants of the Catholics, some of whom had not seen a priest for many years. By September he had fixed his residence at Kaskaskia. Later he re-. sided successively at St. Genevieve, Vincennes, and Cahokia. In February, 1770, he visited Vincennes, where he found religion in a deplorable state. During his sojourn of two months at this place he converted a Presbyterian family, and revived religious practices among the Catholics. In this year also, he blessed the little wooden chapel that had been erected at Pain- court, the present site of St. Louis. In spite of many difficulties and in the face of grave dangers incident to long journeys, he succeeded in vastly improving reli- gious conditions in the scattered missions of the sur- rounding country. His journeys led him to such di.s- tant points as Peoria, Ouiatenon, St. Jo.seph's, and Michilimackin.ac. In 1775 he wrote to the Bishop of (Juebec: "This is the fourth voyage I have taken, the shortest of which was five hundred le;igues." l''iir a long time he was the only priest in Illinois and Indi- ana. When George Rogers Clark captured Kaskas- kia, in 1778, it was largely owing to Father Gibault's