Italy, Modern

Italy, Modern a kingdom in Southern Europe, with an area of 112,852 square miles and a population in 1870 of 26,500,000 inhabitants. The name originally belonged to the southern point of the Apennine peninsula alone; at the time of Thucydides it embraced the whole southern coast from the river Laus, on the Tyrrhenian Sea, Metapontium to the Sicilian Straits; after the conquest of Tarentum by the Romans it was extended to all the country from the Sicilian Straits to the Arno or Rubicon; finally, at the time of Augustus, it came to be used of the whole of the peninsula. In a still wider sense it was, under Constantine, the name of one of the four chief divisions of the Roman Empire, being subdivided into three (according to others into four or two) dioceses — Illyria, Africa, and Italy Proper. But this wider significance died out with the dissolution of the Roman Empire, and the name has since been confined to the Apennine peninsula. It denoted a century, the people of which gradually coalesced into one nation, united by the sane language, literature, and habits, but which never, for any length of time, constituted one political commonwealth. Not until 1859 did the national aspirations for unity succeed in erecting by far the larger portion of the peninsula into the kingdom of Italy; in 1866 Venetia was added, and in 1870 the incorporation of Rome completed the structure of national unity.

I. Church History; —

(1.) The planting of Christianity in Italy can be traced to the first years of the Christian sera. The apostle Peter, according to old accounts, visited Rome as early as A.D. 42, but no satisfactory evidence can be adduced for the assertion of Roman theologians that Peter was at any time bishop of the Church of Rome, and still less that he held this office for twenty-five years. In 53 the Christians, together with the Jews, were expelled from Rome by order of the emperor Claudius. The Epistle of Paul to the Romans (about 55) indicates that the Church in Rome was at that time fully organized. Under Nero, Peter and Paul were probably put to death, together with numerous other professors of Christianity. Among those who were put to death under Domitian (81-96) was Flavius Clemens, a man of consular dignity, and belonging to the imperial family. Many other churches in Italy, besides that of. Rome, trace their foundation to 'assistants of the apostles; thus Barnabas is said to have established the Church of Milan, Mark the Church of Aquileja, Apollinaris the Church at Ravenna. The churches of Lucca, Fiesole, Bologna, Bari, Benevento, Capua, Naples, Palermo, Syracuse, Pavia, Urbino, Mantua, Verona, Pisa. Florence, and Sienna also claim to be of apostolic origin. That many of the churches were really organized during the first century is not doubted, but hardly any of them has a documentary history which ascends beyond the beginning of the 2nd century. Even the history of the Church of Rome is so involved in obscurity that it is not known in which order the first four bishops succeeded each other. From the beginning of the 2nd century bishoprics rapidly increased, and down to the year 311 there are enumerated many geats of bishops in all the provinces. The first epistle of the Roman bishop Soter (A.D. 175 sq.) was written to the bishops of Campania, and his second to the bishops of Italy. The Roman bishop Zephyrinus (203-221) addressed his first epistle to all the bishops of Sicily, and Eusebius his third to the bishops of Tuscia and Campania. A "Provincial Synod of Rome," consisting of twelve bishops, was presided over by Telesphorus (142-154); it was followed by a synod under Anicetus (167-175); another in 197, and many more in the 3rd century. At the beginning of the 4th century Christianity was so firmly established throughout Italy that the pagans could make no notable resistance when Christianity under Constantine the Great became the religion of the state. The apostasy of Julian retarded but little the victory of Christianity, which became complete when, towards the close of the 4th century, Theodosius exterminated paganism by fire and sword. As the bishop of Rome was from the earliest period of the Church one of the three great bishops of the Christian Church (Rome, Alexandria. and Antioch), the churches of Italy became subordinate to his superintendence and jurisdiction: only the Church provinces of the metropolitans of Mailan and Aquileia remained independent of the jurisdiction of Rome for many more centuries. The more the power of the bishops of Rome rose, the more the Church history of Italy is absorbed by the history of the papacy and the Roman Church. In no other country of Europe was the unity of faith better preserved and less interrupted than in Italy. The rule of the Arian Goths (493-563) lasted too short a time to establish Arianism on a firm foundation, and all the following changes in the secular government of the country recognized the predominant Church. The unity of the Italian Church during the Middle Ages was but little disturbed by heretical sects; the Catharists and Pasagii never became powerful, and soon disappeared; only the Waldenses, in the remote valleys of Piedmont, survived all persecution. SEE PAPACY.

(2.) History of the Reformation. — Italy, like other countries, had its forerunners of the Reformation, the most prominent of whom was the Dominican monk Savonarola (q.v.), who fearlessly advocated a radical reform of the Church. The revival of the classical studies on the one hand, and the corruption which prevailed at the papal court on the other, disposed at the beginning of the 16th century many minds towards abandoning the doctrines of Rome. In general, however, the tendency towards freethinking was stronger among the malcontents than the wish for a religious reform. One of the most important efforts in the latter direction was made in the time of Leo X by some twenty earnest men, who formed a society for the purpose of rekindling in the Church a spirit of piety in opposition to the prevailing corruption. Among them were Cajetan, subsequently founder of the order of the Theatines; Caraffa, subsequently pope Paul IV; and Contarini, subsequently cardinal. All of them desired to effect a reformation within the Church, though some of them strongly inclined towards the reformatory doctrine of justification by faith alone. To this class of reformers belonged also Bruccioli, who published an Italian translation of the Bible (1530-1532), which passed through several editions. Among the sympathizers with this movement were also Foscarari, bishop of Modena; San Felice, bishop of Cava; cardinal Morone, Grimanai, patriarch of Aquileia, and Folengo, a pious Benedictine of Monte Casino. In consequence of the frequent intercourse of Upper Italy with Germany and Switzerland, the writings of Luther and other reformers began to circulate in Italy from the beginning of the Reformation. To evade the Inquisition, they were generally published either anonymously, or under the name of other authors.

Venice appears to have been the first city of Italy in which the Reformation took root. This was chiefly due to its constant intercourse with Germany, and to the independent position maintained by that republic towards the see of Rome. As early as 1520 Luther received news from Venice that a great need was felt there of evangelical preachers and books, and in 1528 he was informed that the cause was making good progress. The fact that Venice was a refuge for all who in other parts of Italy were persecuted for their faith was likewise favorable to the progress of Protestantism. The proceedings of the Diet of Augsburg (1530) excited the attention of the friends of the Reformation at Venice to a high degree, and Lucio Paolo wrote a pressing letter in their name to Melancthon, imploring him to resist to the last. Even priests were found in the evangelical party, as Valdo Lupetino, provincial of the Franciscans, who advised his relative, M. Flacius, of Illyria, afterwards one of the champions of Protestantism, to go to Germany, where he would learn a better theology than he would find in a convent (1537). Through such men, who were in personal communication with the reformers, Venice remained regularly connected with Wittenberg. In 1539 Melancthon addressed an epistle to Venice which affords most valuable information concerning the position of the evangelical party in that city at that time. The evangelical party increased not oily in the city of Venice, but in the whole territory of the republic, particularly at Vicenza and Treviso, and it does not appear that the government ever interfered with its peaceful development. It is only after 1542 that, at the instigation of Rome, the Protestants of the Venetian republic began to experience serious difficulties. Although very numerous, they had not till then organized themselves into a society. They were obliged to observe the greatest caution and secrecy. They were without a leader, and, besides, there were differences of opinion dividing them. Balthasar Altieri, a native of Aquila, and secretary of the English ambassador, succeeded in uniting them. He also wrote to Luther, asking him to obtain for the Protestants, through the intercession of German Protestant princes, permission from the senate to act according to the dictates of their conscience, at least until the council should decide on the points of difference. He also invoked the mediation of Luther to allay the manifold divisions which weakened the Protestants of Venetia. As Italy had intercourse with Switzerland as well as with Germany. both the Reformed and the Lutheran reformations had found their adherents; and, in particular, disputes arose about the doctrine of the Eucharist. Bucer had in vain endeavored to heal these difficulties, and it was now expected that Luther would be more successful. The answer of Luther expressed, however, distrust towards the Swiss and their doctrines, and warned the people against the works of Bucer. Melancthon was deeply grieved at the tone of Luther's answer, as he knew the Italians-to be only too prone to indulge in discussions and arguments on disputed points of doctrine. Probably about this time secret societies began to be formed for the discussion of theological doctrines, principally concerning the Trinity; and those anti- Trinitarian schemes which, in the following century, separated Italian Protestantism from that of other countries, originated-in them. About 1542 the principles of Protestantism were- introduced into Istria by Paolo Vergerio, bishop of Capo d' Istria, and for a while made rapid progress, which, however, was, soon interrupted. After opposing Protestantism for a long while, particularly in Germany, where he was for a while papal legate, and took part as such in the Conference of Worms, Vergerio was, by-the reading of Luther's works, which he had procured for the purpose of refuting them, brought to embrace their views. His first convert was his brother, the bishop of Pola. Both now labored zealously, and with great success, to evangelize their dioceses, until in 1545 the Inquisition finally interfered, and Vergerio was obliged to flee.

Next to Venice, Ferrara became one of the central points of Protestantism. It was introduced there by Renata, wife of Hercules II, duke of Ferrara, and the daughter of Louis XII, king of France. She had become acquainted with the doctrines of the Reformation through Margaret of Navarre, and when she came to Ferrara in 1527, she soon found herself surrounded by persons holding the same views. Some were scholars who held offices in the university or at court, while others were refugees who, persecuted in their own country for their Protestant opinions, found there a safe refuge. Calvin himself spent a few months there in 1536, and ever after remained in active correspondence with the duchess; also Hubert Languet, who distinguished himself in the history of the French Reformation. Among the Italians were Flaminio and Calcagnini, a friend of Contarini and Poole; Peter Martyr Vermigli, Aonio Paleario, and Celio Secundo Curione, who won over Peregrino Morata, the tutor of the duke's brother, to Protestantism. The learned daughter of Morata, Olympia, whose letters express a truly evangelical spirit, was one of the ornaments of the court. and the companion of the young daughter of Renata.

From Ferrara probably the movement spread over to Modena, which belonged also to the duke of Ferrara. Already in 1530 a papal rescript commanded the Inquisition to use every exertion to suppress the heretical tendency among the monks of the diocese of Ferrara. Yet the movement did not really break out until 1540, when the learned Sicilian Paolo Iicci came to Modena and established a congregation there. Ladies of high rank protected the new doctrine, especially a certain countess Rangone. As a sign of the spirit of opposition against Rome, we may mention the satires which were published, as, for instance, a letter purporting to come from Jesus Christ, and worded in the manner of the papal commandments, announcing that our Lord contemplated resuming the absolute and immediate government of the Church himself. Cardinal Morone, bishop of Modena, although evangelically inclined himself, complained much in his letters (1540-1544), written during his stay in Germany as papal legate, of the progress of Protestantism in his diocese, and said he was told that Modena had become Lutheran. But with the news of the progress of the Reformation came also the information that the differences concerning the Eucharist had arisen, and Bucer wrote to the Protestants of Modena and Bologna to heal the breach (1541). At Bologna, the Germans who came there to attend the university gained many supporters to evangelical views;. the most important among them. was Giovanni Mollio, a Minorite, who labored long as a preacher and professor. The presence of the Saxon ambassador, John of Planitz, who came to Bologna with Charles V, gave the Protestants an opportunity to present a request in which they asked for the convocation of a synod, and expressed their veneration for the German princes who had protected Protestantism in their states. — They hoped by the council to get freed from the yoke of Rome, and to obtain religious liberty; in the mean time they wished only permission to use their Bibles without being on that account considered as heretics. The movement was propagated also through other parts of the Papal States, at Faenza and Imola; and in Rome itself there were many who privately approved the doctrines of Luther. In Naples, the principles of the Reformation were imported by the German soldiers in 1527, and they appear to have taken root, for an imperial edict was issued in 1536 to counteract the Protestant tendencies by threatening the severest punishments against the so-called heretics. Yet in the same year the emperor himself sent to Naples the man who was destined to play the most important part in the evangelization of' Italy. Juan Valdez came to Naples as secretary of the viceroy. Position, education, intelligence, and character combined to make him influential. A small but eminent circle silently formed around him for reciprocal edification and the promotion of an inner, living Christianity. Among them were count Galeazzo Caraccioli, nephew of pope Paul IV; the martyr Pietro Carnesecchi, Roman protonotary; Giulia Gonzaga, duchess of Trajetto;.Vittoria Colonna, the widow of Pescara; and the noble confessor Isabella Maurica. Valdez only continued his evangelizing labors for four years: he died in 1540. But his work was continued by two of his followers, Pietro Martyr Vermigli and Bernardino Occhino. The former, having been sent as prior to an Augustinian convent at Naples, read some of Bucer's and Zwingle's works, and, having become converted to their doctrines, he began working in the same direction as Valdez. He delivered lectures on the epistles of St. Paul, which were attended not only by his own monks, but also by the most distinguished members of the clergy and the laity. In the mean. time the Capuchin Occhino, confessor of Paul III, general of his order, and one of the most eminent men of the Church at the time, was invited to preach the Lent sermons at Naples. first in 1536. and again in 1539. An attentive reading of the Bible had already caused him to regard faith as the only means of salvation; his intercourse with Valdez strengthened him still more in his views; he began preaching justification by faith, and gained many adherents by his fiery eloquence. Although none of these men thought as yet to separate from the Church of Rome, they were soon looked upon with suspicion. The Theatine Cajetan, friend of the zealot Caraffa, was the first to call attention to them. Vermigli was summoned to appear, and to justify himself, but was saved from any annoyance this time by the interference of several cardinals. Soon after, having been at Naples for about three years, he demanded his recall; and having been appointed prior at Lucca, he began to labor for the evangelization of this new field. New persecutions finally decided him to separate openly from the Church of Rome, and to flee the country for safety. Three of his most intimate disciples accompanied him: Paolo Lacisio, afterwards professor at Strasburg, Theodosio Trebellio, and Giulio Terenziano. Eighteen others followed him soon after; among them Gelso Martinengho, who died as pastor of the Italian congregation at Geneva; Em. Tremellio, who, after various vicissitudes, became professor of Hebrew at the Academy of Sedan, and H. Zanchi, who occupied a distinguished place among the most eminent theologians of Germany. At Florence Vermigli met with Occhino, who, stimulated by his example, also sacrificed his position, and left Italy. Another champion of the. Reformation, the. learned Celio Secundo Curione, replaced for, a while Martyr in the congregation at Lucca, and afterwards labored at various places, until he. also was obliged to seek safety in flight, and went to Switzerland.

Thus the movement had become general throughout Italy. Many admitted that no reforms were to be expected from the Church or its hierarchy, and separated from it, some silently, others openly; the latter inclined more and more to a union with the Protestants of Germany. and Switzerland. Still a large number retained the hope that the Church itself would make the necessary reforms, either by the long-wished-for council, or by other concessions. The evangelical tendencies finally acquired such influence, even among the clergy, that pope Paul III thought it best to make apparently some concessions; he appointed Contarini, Sadolet, Poole, and Fregoso (but at the same time also Caraffa), members of the college of cardinals. As a preliminary step towards the convocation of a council, he formed them,-together with some other prelates, into a congregation, with the mission of drawing up a project of the reforms most needed. Soon, however, the uncompromising opponents of all reformatory measures gained the ascendency with the pope, and it was resolved to put down the reformatory movement at any price. A superior tribunal of the Inquisition was established at Rome, with full power of life and death in all cases concerning religion, and acting with the same severity against all, without distinction of rank or person. The bull establishing the new Congregation of the Holy Office was issued July 21,1542. It was composed of. six cardinals, with Caraffa at their head. They were authorized to appoint envoys, with full power to act for them in the different provinces. The pope alone had the power of pardoning those they had condemned. The new institution was soon adopted in Tuscany, Milan, and Naples; all the Italian states gave it the necessary support. Venice itself was unable to resist its introduction, though here lay judges. were joined to the inquisitors. Books were also subjected to the judgment of the Inquisition; after 1543 no book was permitted to be published without its sanction, and soon there appeared lists of forbidden books. Next to the Inquisition, the Council of Trent proved a heavy blow to Italian Protestantism. Many who were wavering or lacked courage were induced to return to the old fold; many others left their native land for safety, and a great number became martyrs to their faith in dungeons or at the stake. Rome gave the signal of most of the persecutions which-the Protestants suffered in Italy. Caraffa had spies everywhere. Among the first who were obliged to seek safety in flight were Occhino and Vermigli. The congregation which had been established by them and Valdez at Naples was subjected to severe attacks as soon as the latter was dead; many of its members gave way under the persecution, and the others were obliged to use the utmost secrecy. Giovanni Mollio, of Montalcino, a Franciscan, still officiated among them for some time, but he also was obliged to leave Naples in 1543. An Augustinian from Sicily, Lorenzo Romano, subsequently shared the same fate, and finally became reconciled with Rome.

The congregation founded at Lucca by Peter Vermigli met with the same fate. Rome compelled the senate in 1545 to issue severe edicts against the Protestants, who here also submitted to outward conformity, and by so doing lost the spirit which had animated them, so that when the Inquisition was really established among them the greater number became reconciled to the Church. Manay, however, resisted to the last, and a number of prominent citizens left for Geneva, Berne, Lyon, and other places. SEE INQUISITION.

The countess of Ferrara was no longer able to protect her fellow- Protestants. A papal decree commanded that all suspicious persons should be examined; imprisonment, banishment, death, or, at best, fight, was the usual fate of the accused. Fannio, of Faenza, fell a martyr to his faith. Renata herself was much persecuted by her husband, but remained steadfast, and after her husband's death retired to France, where she showed herself a courageous protector of the Protestants. All Italy was awed into obedience by the Inquisition. The prisons at Rome were filled with prisoners brought from all parts of Italy. Mollio, having returned from Naples to Bologna, was taken, brought to Rome, and executed. The Gospel had made great progress among the Franciscans, especially in Upper Italy; a large number of them were imprisoned, others escaped and most of them were compelled to recant. The persecution became still more violent when Caraffa himself, aged seventy-nine years, ascended the papal throne in 1555 under the name of Paul IV. To purify and restore the Church was his chief aim, and, in order to attain this, he was most zealous in the persecution of all unbelievers and heretics. He spared none-not even the leaders of the moderate reform party. The most distinguished of these (Contarini being dead), cardinal Morone, remained a prisoner until the pope's death, in the castle of St. Angelo. Bishop Foscarari, of Modena, and San Felice, of Cava, were also arrested, while cardinal Poole was summoned to come from England to justify himself. Among the chief points of accusation against Morone were that he doubted the correctness of the decisions of the Council of Trent, especially in regard to justification; that he rejected the efficiency of good works, and advised his hearers to trust only in the redeeming sacrifice of Christ. The first martyr in the reign of Paul IV was Pomponio Algieri, Who had labored faithfully for the propagation of evangelical views at Padua; he died courageously at the stake. Under Pius IV, the Inquisition did not relent in its work. He was himself present at an autoda-fe at which Ludovico Pascali, a minister of the Waldenses of Calabria, was executed. When the Dominican Ghislieri, former president of the Inquisition, and a worthy disciple of Caraffa, ascended the papal throne in 1566, under the name of Pius V, the Inquisition entered a new era of prosperity. He accomplished the final suppression of Protestantism in Italy. Prisoners were sent to Rome from all parts of Italy. The duke of Florence himself sent there, as his peace- offering, the eminent apostolical protonotary. Pietro Carnesecchi. whom his learning, piety, and position had heretofore protected, and who now became a martyr. The same fate befel Antonio del Pagliarici (Aonio Paleario), who, as professor of rhetoric at Sienna, Lucca, and Milan, had acquired universal reputation, and who is generally considered as the author of the treatise Del Beneficio di Christo, a truly evangelical work, which, by its clear exposition of the doctrine of justification by faith, gained many adherents to Protestantism.

The numerous Protestants of Venetia also experienced the effects of the papal persecution, although the republic resisted the Inquisition, and sought to counteract it by a number of decrees. Already, in 1542, the papal nuncio Della Casa procured the arrest of a priest, Giulio Milanese, and, soon after, that of the provincial of the Minorites, Baldo Lupetino. The former, however, succeeded in making good his escape. In 1546 pope Paul III gave a fresh impulse to the persecutions, and many fled the country, some recanted, and others were imprisoned for life. The persecution was still more violent in the neighborhood of Venice than in the city itself. The bishop of Bergamo himself, Soranzo, was obliged to go to Rome to give an account of his faith, and was imprisoned. A few only succeeded in hiding themselves in the midst of the greatest dangers. Altieri, who had so often obtained protection for the Italian Protestants from the princes forming the League of Smalcald, was at last in danger himself, and, after many escapes, died poor in the neighborhood of Brescia in 1550. After 1557, foreigners who visited Venice for study or commerce received, however, some degree of protection. This encouraged the native Protestants, who called a minister, and again formed a congregation in private. They were soon betrayed, and most of them imprisoned. The senate now for the first time consented that their offence should be punished by death. They were not burnt, however, but thrown into the sea at night. Baldo Lupetino was among these. The destruction of the little church of the Waldenses, who, since the end of the 14th century, had settled at St. Pisto and Montalto, in Calabria, is one of the saddest episodes of the sad history of Italian Protestantism. The other evangelical communities of Locarno, etc., met with the same fate.

(3.) Church History from the Suppression of the Reformation until the present Day. — Throughout the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, Italy remained dismembered into a number of small states, which prevented the people from becoming one consolidated nation. Its ecclesiastical history during this period is as unimportant as the political. Only once an aera of ecclesiastical reforms appeared to dawn, when Leopold, grand-duke of Tuscany, brother of emperor Joseph IT, attempted, by the agency of Scipio Ricci, bishop of Pistoia and Prato, to reform the polity of the Church. At a synod of his clergy which Ricci assembled at Pistoia (1786), and which was largely attended, the principles of the Gallican Church and of the most liberal Jansenism were adopted; the prerogatives claimed by the popes, and in particular, the claim of infallibility, were severely denounced, many superstitious ceremonies were abolished, and it was determined that public worship should be conducted in the language of the people, and that the Scriptures should be circulated among them. But these enactments were opposed by most of the bishops of Tuscany, and when Leopold ascended the imperial throne of Austria, the hierarchy obtained a complete victory. The territorial changes which the French republic and the first Napoleon introduced in Italy were not of long duration, but the revolutionary ideas which during this period had been kindled in the minds of many Italians survived. A secret society, the Catrbonari, which at first aimed at the introduction of a universal republic, but subsequently had the establishment of a national. union and the introduction of liberal reforms, and, in particular, religious toleration, for its chief object, spread with great rapidity throughout the peninsula, and became the rallying-point for all the educated Italians who wished to break the omnipotent influence of the Church upon the political and social affairs of the people. The Carbonari succeeded in 1821 in compelling the government of the Two Sicilies to grant a liberal constitution, but an armed intervention of the Austrians soon restored the absolute power of the king and the despotic influence of the Church. It was, however, apparent that the educated classes of Italy only yielded to brutal force, and that the desire to emancipate the people from the influence of the priests, and, in particular, from the temporal rule of the popes, became stronger every year. In 1830 a new revolution broke out in the papal provinces, and within a fortnight four fifths of the States of the Church had made themselves free from papal rule, and constituted themselves an independent state. Again it required the armed intervention of Austria to arrest the success of the liberal and anti-papal movement throughout Italy. The accession to the throne of Sardinia of Charles Albert in 1831 gave, however, to Italy one prince who openly adhered to the programme of the national liberal party, and therefore awakened great hopes for the future. In the same year Mazzini organized the secret society Young Italy, which repeatedly attempted insurrections for the purpose of establishing an Italian republic, All these attempts were unsuccessful, but they greatly increased the breach between the Italian people and the Church of Rome. The liberal priest V. Gioberti, in his work on the moral and political primacy of the Italians (1843), endeavored to prove that a reconciliation between the national liberal party and a reformed papacy was possible, and that the best way for securing a political regeneration of Italy was the establishment of a confederation of the several states, with a liberal pope at its head. When, in 1846, Gregory XVI died, and the new pope, Pius IX, seemed to adopt some of the views of Gioberti, the belief in the practicability of the scheme found many adherents among the liberal party, but the large body of the ultramontane party looked upon them with distrust and even regarded many steps taken by the new pope as a mistaken policy.

The revolutionary movements of 1848 at first appeared to have a great influence upon the religious affairs of the country. In Rome a Constituent Assembly was called, which on Feb. 5,1849, abolished the temporal power of the pope, and proclaimed the Roman republic. The greatest enemies of the papacy in Italy, Mazzini and Garibaldi, were at the head of the republic, which, however, only a few months later (June 4), was struck down by the French troops, which Louis Napoleon, the president of the French republic, had sent there for the restoration of the temporal power. But, although the revolutionary movements, which, if successful, would have abolished throughout Italy the prerogatives of the Church of Rome, were unsuccessful, one of the state governments, Sardinia, remained favorable to the cause of national union and of a liberal legislation in the province of Church affairs. The Legislature, in 1850, adopted liberal laws, introduced by the minister Siccardi (hence called the Siccardian laws), which provided, 1, that all civil suits must be decided in civil courts and according to the common law; 2, that all priests in criminal cases be subject to the jurisdiction of the state; 3, that criminals may be arrested in churches and other sacred places. When archbishop Franzoni, of Turin, resisted the new law of the state, he was promptly arrested; and when he refused the sacraments of the Church to the dying minister Santa Rosa, he was deposed from his office (Sept. 26,1850) and exiled. The archbishop of Cagliari shared his fate. In the threatening allocutions of the pope (the first dated Nov. 1,1850), the government replied by sequestrating the revenues of the archbishop. In consequence of the violent opposition made to the government by the monks, the ministry of Cavour (18521858), the greatest Italian statesman of modern times issued the stringent laws of March 2,1855, by which the convents of all monks who did not devote themselves to preaching, to instruction, or to the nursing of the sick were suppressed (331 out of 605). The papal anathema against the authors of these laws remained without the least effect. On the contrary, when the king of Sardinia, in consequence of the war against Austria and the successful revolutions in central and southern Italy, united all the provinces of Italy, with the only exception of a part of the papal territory and of Venetia, into the kingdom of Italy, the liberal Sardinian laws were not only retained, but made more stringent. Nobody seemed to care about the Church laws against those who spoliated the patrimony of St. Peter (the States of the Church), and on Jan. 1, 1866, the obligatory civil marriage was introduced. The government and the Parliament were fully agreed in the wish to complete, as soon as possible, the unity of Italy, by the annexation of Venetia and the remainder of the papal territory, inclusive of the city of Rome. In accordance with the plan of Cavour, the Parliament, as early as 1861, almost unanimously declared in favor of making Rome the capital of Italy, though they expressed a willingness to give to the pope full guarantees for the free and independent exercise of his ecclesiastical functions. The movements of Garibaldi showed that the inhabitants of the papal provinces alone, aided by volunteers from other parts of Italy, would have been fully able to depose the papal government, and unite the territory with the kingdom of Italy; and it required the presence of a large French army in Rome to maintain the detested papal rule. Venetia was obtained as a result of the war of 1866 but the expedition of Garibaldi against Rome in 1867 led to a new occupation of the papal territory by a French army.

The wretched financial condition of Italy, which had become more threatening than ever by the war of 1866, and the September convention of 1864 by which the government engaged to assume a part of the papal debt, compelled the ministry in 1867 to bring in a bill for the confiscation of the property of the Church. The subject had been under deliberation since 1865, when a personal correspondence took place between the pope and the king, which induced the latter to make to the Church a few concessions. But the sale of the Church property, though for a time delayed, was urgently demanded by the Parliament and public opinion as the only escape from a general bankruptcy, and the government therefore laid a bill before the Parliament which met on March 22, 1867; but the committee elected by the Parliament rejected the project of the government as too compromising and not sufficiently radical, and in the very first article of its own draft demanded the abolition of all monastic institutions, and the confiscation of the whole property of the Church. The government yielded to the views of the committee, and, after several modifications had been agreed upon by the government and the Parliament, both chambers adopted the 'bill for the sale of the Church property by an immense majority (the lower chamber, on July 27, by 296 votes against 41; the senate, on Aug. 12, by 84 against 29). The actual sale began at Florence on October 26, 1867, though even before this drafts on the revenue to be realized by the sale had been issued to the amount of 400 million francs. The new excommunications pronounced against all buyers of Church property failed to have any effect; the government and the overwhelming majority of both chambers unwaveringly persisted in carrying out the new laws concerning the Church and her property.

The Ecumenical Council which was opened by the pope at Rome on Dec. 8,1869, was unable to improve the influence and the prospects of the papacy among the Italians. The government, the Parliament, and the people at large repudiated the claims of the council more generally than was done in any other purely Catholic country. The nation became more impatient than ever for the overthrow of the temporal sovereignty of the pope, and the incorporation of his states with the kingdom; and when, in 1870, the Franco-German war caused the withdrawal of the French troops from Rome and ultimately led to the destruction of the French Empire, the Italian government could no longer resist the popular pressure for the annexation of the papal states. In September, 1870, count Ponza di San Martino was sent to Rome, and, in the name of the Italian government, proposed to the pope to renounce the temporal rule and to dissolve his army; he was, in this case, to retain the Leonine part of Rome, a civil list, and the right of diplomatic representation. The government also offered to guarantee the free exercise, by the pope, the bishops, and the priests, of their ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and the immunity of all cardinals and ambassadors. When the pope rejected all these offers of compromise, on Sept. 11, the Italian troops, in compliance with numerous petitions from the subjects of the pope, entered the States of the Church, and on Sept. 20, by the occupation of the city of Rome, put an end to the temporal power of the pope. A note from cardinal Antonelli, the secretary of state, to the foreign government, protested against the act; and the bishops and the ultramontane party in all the countries re-echoed the protest, and many princes, both Catholic and Protestant, were called upon to interfere and to restore the pope to his throne. The pope issued a new brief of excommunication, in which he said, "We declare to you, venerable brethren, and through you to the whole Church, that all those (in whatever notable dignity they may shine) who have been guilty of the invasion, usurpation, occupation of any of our provinces, or of this holy city, or of anything connected therewith, and likewise all who have commissioned, favored, aided, counseled, adhered to them, and all others who promote or carry out the things aforesaid, under any pretext whatever, and in any manner whatever, have incurred the greater excommunication (excommunicatio major), and the other censures and penalties which have been provided in the holy canons of the apostolical constitutions and the decrees of the ecumenical councils, in particular that of Trent." None of all these measures produced the least effect. When the first Parliament of all Italy met, the king declared, "We entered Rome in virtue of the national right, in virtue of the compact which unites all Italians to one nation. We shall remain there, keeping the promises which we have solemnly given to ourselves; freedom of the Church, entire independence of the pope in the exercise of his religious functions, and in his relations to the Catholic Church." None of the foreign governments interrupted its amicable relations with the Italian government. In July, 1871, the government transferred its seat to Rome, where, in spite of all the papal excommunications, it received the enthusiastic applause of a large majority of the Italian people, and where it was at once followed by the representatives of all the foreign governments.

Although nearly all the bishops and the overwhelming majority of the priests showed themselves as partisans of the papacy in its struggle against the government and the public opinion of Italy, the idea of reforming the Church by rejecting all or much of the corruptions which had crept into it during the Middle Ages and in modern times and by reconciling it with the civilization of the 19th century, found more adherents among the priests of Italy than among those of any other country. In a political point of view, the reformers desired the Church, in 'particular, to abandon the temporal rule of the pope, to recognize the national unity of Italy, and to aid in carrying through a separation between Church and State. In the province of religion they all wished to restrict the power of the popes, to enlarge that of the bishops, and one portion went so far as to enter into amicable relations with the High-Church party of the Church of England. They had an organ, the Examinatore of Florence; and as even one of the six hundred bishops (cardinal D'Andrea), and the Jesuit Passaglia, who had long been regarded by the ultramontane party as one of their ablest theologians, and other men of high prominence, declared their concurrence with a part or the whole of the reformatory projects, there seemed to be good reason for hoping lasting results from the movement. More recently, the reformatory movement in Germany, headed by Dr. Döllinger, has found the warmest sympathy among the Italian reformers.

After the suppression of the Reformation in the 16th century, cruel laws made it for more than two hundred years impossible for any Italian to declare himself a Protestant; only the Waldenses (q.v.), in their 'remote valleys, maintained with difficulty, and amidst great persecutions, their organization. At the close of the 18th century the victorious French republic recognized the human rights of the Waldenses, and proclaimed religious toleration; but the restored monarchies revived some of the most intolerant laws, and even the Waldenses were placed in so unbearable a position that it required the intervention of England and Prussia to secure for them the merest toleration. At length the liberal constitution of 1848 gave them full political rights in Sardinia; they were allowed to step forward out of their seclusion in the valley, and, with the most hearty sympathy of all friends of religious toleration, opened a chapel in the capital of the kingdom, Turin. In the remainder of Italy the persecution of the Protestants continued. The government of Tuscany, though by no means the most tyrannical of the Italian governments, startled the whole civilized world by its cruel measures against the Madiai couple, against count Guicciardini and Dominico Cecchctti, and only the most energetic remonstrances of the foreign powers prevailed upon the grand-duke to change the penalty of imprisonment into exile. Finally, in 1859, the establishment of the kingdom of Italy gave to the Waldenses the liberty of extending their evangelistic labors to all parts of the peninsula. They soon occupied a number of important places, transferred their theological seminary to Florence, and had an able representative in the Italian Parliament (the Turin banker Malan). Many Italians, however, who were eager to embrace Protestant views, did not share all the views of the Waldenses, especially those on the ministry and the Church, and, after the model of the Plymouth Brethren in England, organized free Christian organizations. Of their leaders, professor Mazarella and count Guicciardini are the best known. Moreover, a number of missionaries were sent out by the Protestant churches of the United States, Great Britain, and other countries, who laid the foundation of several other Church organizations. Nearly every town of importance has thus received the nucleus of a Protestant population. 'In some places the fanaticism of the priests caused riots against Protestants, none of which was so bloody as that in Barletta in 1866; but the government of Italy, and the immense majority of the Italian Parliaments, have secured the complete triumph of the cause of religious toleration.

II. Statistics. — Nearly the whole population of Italy is nominally connected with the Roman Catholic Church. The total population of the kingdom was estimated in 1881 at 28,459,457; of whom 96,000 were Protestants. 36,000 Jews, and 100,000 members of the Greek Church. Practically a large portion of the population is no longer in communion with the Church of Rome, as can easily be proved by the fact that the government and Parliament have been for years in open conflict with Rome, and utterly disregard and set aside the laws of the Church: that the claims of the pope have only a few advocates in the Parliament, and that, in particular the radical party, with men like Mazzini and Garibaldi at their head, have openly and formally renounced the religious communion with Rome.

According to the Papal Almanac (Annuanrio Pontifico) for 1889, the country had, exclusive of Rome and of the six suburban sees (the sees of the cardinal bishops), Ostia, Porto, Palestrina, Frascati, Albano, and Sabina, 268 dioceses, which were distributed among the former Italian states as follows:

Archbishoprics Bishoprics Naples 25 89 States of the Church 7 57

Sardinia 6 32 Tuscany 4 19 Venetia 2 9 Lombardy 1 7 Modena 1 4 Parma 3 Total 47 221

Of these dioceses, 11 archbishoprics and 63 bishoprics are immediately subject to the pope, and without connection with an ecclesiastical province, while 37 archbishops are heads of ecclesiastical provinces, containing, besides them, 155 suffragan bishops. The dioceses of Italy, in point of territorial extent, are smaller than in any other country; and while the (nominally) Catholic population is no more than one eighth of the Roman Catholic population of the world, it has more than one fourth of all the dioceses. Thus the Italian bishops have an undue preponderance at every council; and as they generally hold the most ultramontane views, they have considerably contributed to the success of ultra papal theories within the Catholic Church. The government of Italy has expressed a wish to reduce the number of dioceses, and a considerable number has therefore been kept vacant since the establishment of the kingdom.

The secular clergy in 1866 had about 115,000 members, or about 1 to every 245 inhabitants, showing a relatively larger number of priests than in any other country of the world. Besides the secular clergy, Italy had in 1860 more than 60,000 monks in 2050 establishments, and about 30,000 nuns in 302 establishments. The most numerous among the monastic orders are the Franciscan monks, with 1227 houses; the Dominicans, with 140; the Augustinians, with 138; the Carmelites, with 125; the Jesuits, with 57; the Brothers of Charity, with 49; the Redemptorists, with 31; the Franciscan nuns, with 89; the Sisters of Charity, with 50. The convents were formerly very rich, but a large portion of their property was confiscated during the French invasion at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century. More recently the government of Italy has suppressed a large portion of all the convents, and confiscated their property. In 1866, the total number of convents suppressed amounted to over 2000, with 38,000 inmates; of these, 1252, with 20,228 inmates, belonged to the mendicant orders, and 1162, with 18,168 inmates, were of other orders.

Popular instruction, which until recently was chiefly in the hands of monks and nuns, is, according to official accounts, in a very low condition. In 1862, of the entire male population, only 2,620,269 were able to read; of the female, only 1,258,186; 17,000,000 persons were unable to read and write. Of every 1000 persons, there were, unable to read-in Lombardy, 599; in Piedmont, 603; in Tuscany, 773; in Modena, 799; in the Romagna, 802; in Parma, 818; in the Marca, 851; in Umbria, 858; in Naples, 880; in Sicily, 902; in Sardinia, 911. Since the establishment of the kingdom of Italy public instruction has made great progress. From 1860 to 1863 the number of male teachers increased from 12,475 to 17,604; that of female teachers from 6631 to 13,817. The number of educational institutions amounted in 1881 to 42,510, which were attended by 1,928,706 children. In the same year Italy had 104 gymnasia, with 8268 pupils; 79 lycea, with 3773 pupils; and 135 seminaries, with 10,659 pupils. There were 21 universities, 16 of which were state and 5 free. Six have been declared by the government to be first-class universities: Turin, Pavia, Bologna, Florence, Naples, and Palermo; The number of students had in 1881 decreased to 11,728, from 15,668 in 1862.

The Church of the Waldenses is the only fully organized Protestant Church in Italy. It consists of 16 communities, with a membership of 22,000. Its governing body is called the Table. The Theological School in Florence had in 1869 3 professors (Revel, Geymonat, and De Sanctis) and 14 students, 4 of whom were formerly Catholic priests. According to the report made to the Waldensi: n Synod in 1866, evangelistic work was carried on by this Church at 23 principal stations, which were thus distributed: 7 in Piedmont, 3 in Lombardy, 1 in Emilia, 3 in Liguria, 4 in Tuscany, in the district of Naples, 1 in Sicily, 1 in the Isle of Elba, and 2 in France for Italians. To work these stations it employed 19 pastors, 11 evangelists, and 29 teachers in all, 59 agents. The number of attendants upon public worship was reckoned at from 2000 to 2500; that of communicants at 1095. According to the latest official returns the Waldensian Church had in 1886-87 43 churches and 38 mission churches throughout Italy. The ordained pastors numbered 37, evangelists 6, male and female teachers 56, the total number of salaried agents being 124. The Church had 4005 members, and the day-schools were attended by 2206 scholars, the Sunday-schools by 2482. The Methodist Episcopal Church entered this field in 1872. The work is now organized into an Annual Conference with two districts, with (1889) 17 preachers, 968 members, and property valued at $105,900. There is a theological school at Florence. The Nice Foreigners' Evangelization Committee employed in 1867 15 agents, who were stationed at Barletta, Como, Milan, Fara, Florence, Piverone, Sardinia, and Sondrio. The salaries of six of the evangelists are paid by the Evangelical Continental Society of London. The total receipts of the committee, including the money received from the Evangelical Continental Society, were £1323; the expenditures £1180. The American and Foreign Christian Union supports more than 40 agents in Italy. A Theological Training School has been established by the society at Milan where in 1866 the Rev. Mr.. Clark, assisted by 4 Italian professors, instructed 19 theological students, superintended churches in 8 different places, and sustained from 10 to 20 colporteurs in North Italy. In 1870 the training school was transferred to the care of a Committee of Evangelization- appointed by the Free Christian Church of Italy. This body was formally organized at Milan in June 1870, and consists of a considerable number of evangelical churches, two thirds of which (more than 20) represent the results of the previous expenditure and labor of this society. These churches and their pastors are still sustained by the board. Another missionary of the society superintended at Sarzana evangelistic operations in some 10 different places. The Wesleyan Missionary Society had in 1867 several agents in Italy under the superintendence of the Rev. H. J. Piggott at Padua. A Ragged School, supported by the society in this city, was regularly attended by 40 lads. Florence also had prosperous schools; there were increasing congregations at Cremona, Parma, Mezzano Inferiore (15 miles from Parma), and at Naples; and efforts, with some success, had been made in other places. The missionaries and other agents were sustained at a cost of about. 20,000. The Scotch Free Church had several ministers settled in various parts of Italy, who were engaged, in addition to their regular labors among their countrymen, in superintending the work of Bible distribution. In addition to these Protestant agencies, free evangelical Italian churches were to be found in several parts, as in Genoa, Florence, etc., all of them being more or less allied with the Plymouth Brethren.

School-work is carried on in connection with most of the churches and stations. In Naples there were in 1868 4 schools, with 14 teachers and 373 children, under the direction of a special committee. There were 3

Waldensian schools in Florence and 2 in. Leghorn. The Waldensian schools in the valleys numbered 80, with 3750 children in regular attendance. The "Italian Evangelical Publication Society" selects and translates religious books and tracts suitable for Italy, and prints them at the lowest possible rate. It prints the Eco della Verita (weekly) and the Amico di Casa (annual). It has published 232 new works, or new editions of works, amounting to 520,000 copies, and has sold since 1862 as many as 390,000 copies. See Herzog, Real-Encyklop. 8, 99; Wetzer u. Welte, Kirchen- Lexikon, 5, 582 sq, Wiggers, Kirchl. Statistik, 2, 3 sq.; Neher, Kirch. Geogr. u. Statistik, 1, 4 sq.; Nippold, Handbuch der z-Ueecten Kirchengesch. (2nd ed. Elberf. 1868); Christian Yearbook- (London, 1867 and 1868); Ughelli, Italia Sacra (Rome, 1644, 6 vols.);. M'Crie, Hist. of the Progress and Suppression of the Reformation in Italy (Edinb. 1827); Erdma-lnn Die Reformation u. ihre Martzrer in Italien (Berl. 1855); Leopold, Ueber die Ursachen der Reformation und deren Verfall in Italien (in Zeitschrifi für hist Theol. 1843); Matthes, Kirchl. Chronik. (A. J. S.)