Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 7.djvu/29

 GREGORY

GREGORY

land in 1827, between the Armenian Catholics and the Ottoman Empire in 1829. On St. George's Day of the latter year Cardinal Cappellari had the joy of learning that Catholic Emancipation had become a fact in the British Isles.

On 10 February, 1829, Leo XII died, and Pius VIII, broken by the revolutions in France and in the Nether- lands, followed him to the grave on 1 December, 1830. A fortnight later the Conclave began. It lasted for seven weeks. At one time Cardinal Giustiniani ap- peared likely to secure the requisite number of votes, but Spain interposed with a veto. At last the various parties came to an agreement, and on the feast of the Purification, Cardinal Cappellari was elected by thirty- one votes out of forty-five. He took the name of Gregory XVI, in honour of Gregory XV, the foimder of Propaganda. Hardly was the new pope elected when the Revolution, which for some time had been smouldering throughout Italy, broke into flame in the Papal States. Already on 2 February the Duke of Modena had warned Cardinal Albani that the con- clave must come to a speedy decision, as a revolution was imminent. The next day the duke caused the hou.se of his erstwhile friend, Ciro Menotti, at Modena, to be surrounded, and arrested him and several of his fellow-conspirators. At once a revolt broke out at Reggio, and the duke fled to Mantua, taking the prisoners with him. The disturbance spread with prearranged rapidity. On 4 February Bologna revolted, drove the pro-legate out of the town, and by the eighth had hoisted the tricolour instead of the papal flag. Within a fortnight nearly the w'hole of the Papa! States had repudiated the sovereignty of the pope, and on the nineteenth Cardinal Benvenuti, who was sent to quell the rebellion, became a prisoner of the "Provisional Government''. Even in Rome it- self a rising projected for 12 February was only averted by the ready action of Cardinal Bernetti, the new secretary of state. In these conditions, the papal forces being obviously unable to cope with the situ- ation, Gregory decided to appeal to Austria for help. It was immediately forthcoming. On 25 February a strong Austrian force started for Bologna, and the "Provisional Government" soon fled to Ancona. Within a month the whole movement had collapsed, and on 27 March Cardinal Benvenuti was released by the rebel leaders, on the understanding that an am- nesty should be granted by the pope. The cardi- nal's action, however, was without authority and was not endorsed, either by the papal government or by the Austrian general. But the rebellion, for the moment, was crushed, and after an abortive attempt to seize Spoleto, from which they were dissuaded by Archbishop Mastai-Ferretti, all the leaders who were able to do so fled the country. On 3 April the pope was able to assert that order was re-established.

In the same month, the representatives of the five powers, Austria, Russia, France, Prussia and England, met in Rome to consider the question of the " Reform of the Papal States". On 21 May they issued a joint Memorandum urging on the papal government reforms in the judiciary, the introduction of laymen into the administration, popular election of the communal and municipal councils, the administration of the finances by a skilled body selected largely from the laity. Gregory undertook to carry out such of these proposed reforms as he deemed practicable, but on two points he was determined not to yield : he would never admit the principle of direct popular election to the councils, and he would never permit the establishment of a council of State, composed of laymen, parallel to the Sacred College. By a succession of edicts, dated 5 July, 5 October, and 5 and 21 November, a compre- hensive scheme of reform of the administration and of the judiciary was set afoot. The delegations were to be divided into a complex hierarchy of central, provin- cial and communal governments. At the head of each

of these bodies respectively was to be a pro-legate, a governor or a mayor, representing the pope, and as- sisted b}-, and (in financial matters) controlled by, a council who were selected, out of a triple-elected list, b}- the government. All these bodies were to keep the pope informed as to the wishes and requirements of his subjects. The reform of the judiciary, as regards civil Litigation, was even more thorough. An end was put to the confusing multiplicity of tribunals (in Rome no less than twelve out of the fifteen conflicting jurisdic- tions, including that of the arbitrary uditorc sanlissimo, were abohshed), and three hierarchies, composed each of three civil courts, one for Bologna and the legations, one for Romagna and the Marches, and one for Rome, were estabUshed. In each of these the agreement of an}- two courts inhibited further appeal, and most of the courts were to be composed largely of laj'men skilled in the law. The criminal courts were not so radically reformed, but even in these an end was made of the vexatious and often tyran- nous secrecy and irregularity that had hitherto pre- vailed.

All these re- forms, however, de- spite their extent, were far from sat- isfj-ing the aims of the revolutionary party. The Aus- trian troops were withdrawn on 15 July, 1831, but by December much of the Papal States was again in revolt. Papal troops were dispatched to the aid of the legations, but the onl\- result was the concentration of 2000 revolutionists at Cesena. Cardinal Albani, who had been appointed commissioner-extraordi- nary of the legations, appealed on his own author- ity for aid to the Austrian General Radetzky. who at once sent troops. These forces joined the papal troops at Cesena. attacked and defeated the rebels, and by the end of January had taken triumphant pos- session of Bologna. This time France intervened, and as a protestagainstthe.\ustrian occupation, seized and held Ancona, in sheer violation of international law. The pope and Bernetti protested energetically and even Prussia and Russia disapproved of this act, but though, after long negotiations, the French com- mander was ordered to restrain the outrages of the revolutionists in Ancona, the French troops were not withdrawn from that city until the final departure of the Austrians from the Papal States in 1838. The rebellion, however, was quelled and no further serious outbreak occurred for thirteen years. But, amidst all these disturbances in his own kingdom, Gregory had not been free from anxieties for the Faith and the Uni- versal Church. The revolutions in France and the Netherlands had created a difficult situation: the pope had been expected by the one party to condemn the change, b}' the other to accept it. In August, 1831, he issued the Brief, "SoUicitudo Ecclesiarum", in which he reiterated the statements of former Pontiffs as to the independence of the Church and its refusal to be entangled in d\Tiastic politics. In November of the same 3'ear, the Abbe de Lamennais (q. v.) and his com- panions came to Rome to submit to the pope the ques- tions in dispute between the French episcopate and the directors of "L'.^venir". Gregory received them kindly, but caused them to be given more than one hint that the result of their appeal would not be

Ghegort XVI