Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 6.djvu/624

 GIBNEY

550

GIBRALTAR

at liis house. He led a severely religious life, and was a member of the Sodalilium Divini Atnoris of St. Cajetan and Cardinal Caraffa. After his ordination to the priesthood, and the death of Leo X, he was sent by Cardinal Giulio, his patron, on a mission to Charles V, and returned to Rome with the new pope, Adrian VI. Clement VII immediately after his election made him Datario (1523), and in 1524, at the request of the Doge of Venice, he was appointed Bishop of Verona. Being obliged, against his will, to remain in Rome, he had himself represented at Verona by a very zealous vicar- general. Giberti was chosen a member of the Reform Committee decreed by the Fifth Lateran Council, but political events soon put an end to these labours. At Pavia (1525) he tried to make peace between Francis I and Charles V. It was at his prompting that Clement VII espoused the cause of France; the League of Co- gnac (22 May, 1526) was also his work. After the sack of Rome (1527) he was made to feel the vengeance of the Imperialists; being one of the hostages, he was put in prison and barely escaped death. He succeeded in making his escape, and went to Verona (1528) in- tending to devote himself entirely to the ruling of his diocese. He was done with politics, all the more be- cause the pope had gone over to the imperial cause. However, he appeared from time to time in the Curia. Paul III recalled him to Rome for the work of the Reform Committee; among other missions he was sent to Trent to make preparations for the council. His wise and unwearying efforts to reform his diocese, whose clergy were in a deplorable state, were crowned with unhoped-for success. In that see Tridentine re- forms were put in force long before the council assem- bled. St. Charles Borromeo, before taking charge of his see at Milan, wished to study Giberti's system at Verona, and chose as his vicar-general a priest from Verona trained in Giberti's school. His first aim was to improve the standard of ecclesiastical knowledge. In his own palace he set up a printing-press which turned out many splendid editions of the Greek Fathers, in whose writings he was very learned. He reformed the choir-school of Verona which had long been famous; for the instruction of the young he had printed the catechism known as "Dialogus", the work of Tullio Crispoldi (Rome, 1539). At Verona, moreover, he gathered around him a group of learned men to assist him in his efforts at reform. His complete works were edited by the famous scholars Pietro and Girolamo Ballerini ("Constitutiones Gibertince", " Costituzioni per le Monache", "Monitiones generales", "Edicta Selecta", "Lettere Scelte", etc., Verona, 1733, 1740), together with an appendix containing the story of his life, a " Dissertatio de restituta ante concilium Triden- tinum per Jo. Matth. Giberti ecclesiastica disciplina", and two panegyrics, one in Latin by Fumani, the other in Italian by Castiglione.

DiTTRiCH in Hi'it. Jahrbuch der GorresgeselUchaft (1886), VII, l-.TO; Idem in KirchenUiikon, V, 583 93; also the excellent account by Pastor, Gesch. der Pdpste, IV (2), 609 sqq.

U. Benigni. Gibney, Matthew. See Perth, Diocese of.

Gibraltar, Vicariate Apostolic op. — Gibraltar is a rugged promontory in the province of Andalusia, Spain, about 6 miles in circumference. Its almost perpendicular walls rise to a height of 1306 feet. The town is on the west side; on the north a narrow isthmus (neutrfil ground) connects the fortress with the main- land of Spain. The great rock itself is the ancient Mount Calpc, which with Abyla (Ceuta) constituted the famous Pillars of Hercules. In antiquity Gibral- tar belonged in turn to the Phcenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, and Visigoths. Scipio took it from the Car- thaginians, and it remained Roman territory until A. D. 412, when the (Jotlis liecame masters of Spain. Being Arians, they built two churches of their faith in the vicinity of Calpe; one at San Roceo, the other, a chapel, on the rock itself. In 710 the Visigothic king-

dom in Spain, after an existence of 300 years, was torn with internal strife. Amid this dissension the Moors crossed from Africa, for the second time (711), under their leader Tarik-Ibn-Zeyad, who sent a detachment of soldiers to Mount Calpe, and had a castle built there, the ruins of which yet excite admiration. The mountain was thenceforth known as Gibel-Tarik, the mountain of Tarik, or Gibraltar. Thus began the Moorish conquest of Spain. Gibraltar was besieged, in 1309, and retaken from the Moors by Alonzo de Guzman. By 1462 it had sustained eight sieges, with varying fortune. The last of these was under Alonzo de Arcos, who captured it from the Moors in 1462, the surrender on this occasion taking place on 20 August, the feast of St. Bernard, in consequence of which he became the patron of Gibraltar. The Infante Don Alonzo gave the city and territory of Gibraltar to the Duke of Medina-Sidonia in absolute and perpetual possession for himself and his successors. Ferdinand and Isabella confirmed this gift, conferring on the Duke of Medina-Sidonia the title of Marquis of Gil> raltar; at a later period, however, during the same reign, the place was annexed by the Crown.

During the War of the Spanish Succession, which began in 1701, Gibraltar was besieged (1704) by a squadron commanded by Sir George Rooke and a land force of ISOO English and Dutch under Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt; after three days the city was captured (24 July). The fortress had 100 cannon and ammunition, but a garrison of only 150 men; the in- habitants were reduced to 6000. After a bombard- ment of six hours the garrison surrendered.

Before a year had passed Spain endeavoured, with the help of France, to recapture Gibraltar. In this, the twelfth siege of Gibraltar, the attacking party had a great preponderance of numbers, but the fortress successfully resisted all their efforts to capture it. By a special decree of February, 1706, Queen Anne de- clared Gibraltar a free port. In 1713, by the Treaty of Utrecht, it became definitively a British possession, though many attempts were made by the Spaniards to regain it. The last siege, the fourteenth in its history, began 14 July, 1779, and continued for 3 years, 7 months, and 12 days. In April, 1782, the French and Spaniards again bombarded Gibraltar by land and sea, but without success. A peace was finally concluded by which Spain received the island of Minorca in place of Gibraltar. When the city was occupied by the English in 1704, the Spaniards carried away whatever they could and settled in the neighbouring district of San Rocco. Scarcely a dozen persons remained in Gibraltar. It was subsequently populated by people of every nation, especially by Genoese and Maltese, as is evident from the various family names. Spanish is generally spoken by the people, though English is the tongue of public administration.

The population (1908) numbers about 25,000, of whom 16,000 to 18,000 are Catholics; and the rest Jews, Protestants, etc. The garrison varies in number from 3,000 to 5,000 men. Gibraltar is ruled by special laws; has a military governor, an admiral, and a co- lonial secretary. The Anglican Bishop of Gibraltar does not reside there. Until 1S06 Giliraltar belonged to the See of Cadiz. In that year it was made a vicariate Apostolic (since 1840 the vicar is always a titular bishop). The Catholic clergy number 11 secu- lar priests and 5 religious. There are 8 churches and chapels; 3 religious houses for men and 4 for women, with a total of 28 and 61 members respectively. There is but one parish, though three of the churches have each a resident priest. Catholic elementary edu- cation is provided for by 6 boys' schools (1136) under the Christian Brothers and the Brothers of St. John of God, and 8 girls' schools (1126). There is also an institute for the higher education of boys (141) and two similar ones for girls (174). There are many other private institutions and schools, the most im-