as introduced, persevered in without cause, and innumerable oppressions of this kind. I pass over the proud pomp of clothing, extraordinary expenses beyond the requirements of the rank in life, drunkenness, surfeits, and the inordinate filthiness of luxury such never took place before; womankind was never less modest and bashful, young men were never more unbridled and undisciplined, the old were never more irreligious and foolish; in fine never was there in all persons less fear of God, honour, virtue and modesty, and never more carnal licentiousness, abuse and irregularity. For what greater abuse and irregularity can be imagined than a pastor without watchfulness, a preacher without works, a judge without equity, a lawyer without counsel, a magistrate without decorum, laws without observance, a people without obedience, religious professors without devotion, the rich without shame, the poor without humility, women without pity, the young without discipline, the old without prudence, and every Christian without religion? It was for a similar reason that David said, "God looked down from heaven upon the sons of men, to see if there was any wise, and any who sought God: all had gone out of the way, all had become unprofitable, there were none that did good, no not one." And Jeremiah says, "From the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely. They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace, where there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they had committed. abomination? Nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush." And the wise man says, "There is no just man upon the earth who doeth good and sinneth not." And he assigns the cause before, saying, "The righteous man perishes in his righteousness, and the wicked man lives long in his wickedness." Thus it is, the good are oppressed and the wicked are exalted, virtues are despised, and vices reign in their place in the world. Hence the prophet Hosea says, "There is no truth or pity, there is no knowledge of God upon the earth: cursing and lying, murder and theft, and adultery have, overspread it, and blood has touched blood." These, therefore, and the other similar offences of mankind, which emit their stench even unto heaven, are the cause why we are visited by God with tribulations and scourgings. Pope Paul 4. An. Dom. 1555. To this meek and amiable pope succeeded in the holy conclave on the 23rd day of May, another person of a disposition totally different, John Peter Caraffa, of a noble family at Naples, who was called Cardinal Teatino, because he had been the bishop of Chieti, which in Latin is Theate. * His head might be described as a model in miniature of his native Vesuvius, since he was ardent in all his proceedings, irascible,harsh and inflexible; undoubtedly he was stimulated by an incredible zeal for religion, but a zeal devoid of prudence, since he broke out into an ex et inverecundior: nunquam juventus effrenatior et indisciplinatior, et nunquam indevotior et insipientior senectus, atque in summa nunquam minor fuit in omnibus Dei timor, honestas, virtus et modestia, et nunquam major in omni statu carnis libertas, abusio atque exorbitantia. Nam quæ major in mundo exorbitantia et abusio excogitari potest, quam pastor sine vigilantia, prædicator sine operi+ bus, judex sine æquitate, jurisconsultus sine consilio, magistratus sine regimine, leges sine observantia, populus sine obedientia, religi osus sine devotione, dives sine verecundiâ, pauper sine humilitate, niulier sine misericordiâ, juvenis sine disciplinâ, senex sine pruden tiâ, et Christianus quisque sine religione? Proptereà David dicebat, "Deus de cælo prospexit super filios hominum, ut videat si est intelligens, aut requirens Deum. Omnes declinaverunt, simul inutiles facti sunt; non est qui faciat bonum, non est usque ad unum." Et Hieremias ait, "A minore quippe usque ad majorem omnes avaritiæ student; et a prophetâ usque ad sacerdotem cuncti faciunt dolum. Et curabant contritionem filiæ populi mei cum ignominia, dicentes, Pax, pax, et non erat pax: confusi sunt, quia abominationem fecerunt, qui potius confusione non sunt confusi, et erubescere nescierunt. Et sapiens dicit, "Non est enim homo justus in terra, qui faciat bonum et non peccet. Et causam superius allegat, dicens, "Justus perit in justitia sua et impius multo vivit tempore in malitiâ suâ." Ita quod boni opprimuntur, et impii exaltantur; virtutes despiciuntur, et vitia pro eis in mundo regnant. Unde Oseas propheta dicit, "Non est enim veritas, et non est misericordia, et non est scientia Dei in terra: maledictum et mendacium, et homicidium et furtum, et adulterium inundaverunt, et sanguis sanguinem tetigit. Hæc igitur et similia hominum crimina, quæ fœtorem usque ad cœlum emittunt, causa sunt, cur a Deo tribulationibus et flagellis corripia mur. Muratori. Annali d'Italia, era volgar. An. 1555, tom. 10, p. 295. (Lucca 1764.) A questó mansueto ed amabil pontefice, correndo il di 23 di Maggio, nel sacro conclave succedette un altro di genio totalmente opposto, cioè Giovan-Pietro Carrafa, di nobil famiglia Napolitano, appellato il Cardinal Teatino, perchè era stato Vescovo di Chieti, in Latino Theate. Potea chiamarsi la sua testa un ritratto in picciolo del patrio suo Vesuvio, perche ardente in tutte le azioni sue, iracondo, duro ed inflessibile, portato certamente da un incredible zelo per la religione, ma zelo tuttora scompagnata dalla prudenza, perchè traboccava in ec t cess of rigour, as if the religion of Christ were not the mistress of meekness, and the school which teaches us to love and to make ourselves beloved by others. An. Dom. 1559. What was meanwhile the feeling of the people of Rome towards this pope was soon made manifest. He was still alive, but reduced to the last extremity, when the people became infuriated, stimulated by certain of the nobles, who conceived themselves to be more particularly injured by the pope. They ran to the prisons and drew out the prisoners, who amounted to four hundred. Going thence to Ripetta, where was the palace of the holy Inquisition, and having liberated all the prisoners (and there were many of them who after a long confinement had not even been examined) they burned all the proceedings, and finally a part of the palace itself. The torrent proceeded thence to Campidoglio, where the statue erected in honour of the pope was cast down and broken, and its head was dragged through the city. * Mezerai's Chronological Abridgment of the Sixteenth Century. The disorders and vices of the clergy reached the highest point, and became so public as to render them the objects of the hatred and contempt of the people. The churches were without pastors, the monasteries without monks, the regular clergy without discipline, the churches and holy houses in ruins and changed into dens of robbers. The bishops fled from their dioceses as if they were frightful solitudes. The amusements of Paris and the occupations of the court were their usual occupation. *Letters of Pope Pius 5, book 3, lett. 45, printed at Antwerp, 1640. To our Most dear Son in Christ, Charles, the most Christian King of the French. The public joy of this city has very much augmented our pleasure; which at the first certain intelligence of so great a victory rejoiced and does rejoice as if some domestic slaughter and intestine war were removed. It now only remains that your majesty in such prosperous circumstances should remit nothing of your usual diligence, application, and perseverance, nor afford our common enemies an opportunity of confirming their courage, and collecting again their forces; but that you should make a good use of the victory, and at length put an end to this most grievous war: to which we exhort your majesty with all possible and conceivable earnestness. For we know that there will not be wanting those, who, either in the name of friendship, relationship, or piety, will intercede with your majesty for many of your enemies, and of the enemies of the Almighty; moved therefore by our paternal care for your welfare, and by our office, we admonish you not to be moved by their prayers so as not to inflict just punishment in those things which are ordained by law; lest if thus influenced by private reasons you should yield more to flesh and blood, than to a just vengeance, the anger of God This letter proves that the massacre of St. Bartholomew owed its origin to the vindictive counsels of the popes. cessi di rigore, quasi che la religione di Christo non fosse la maestra della mansuetudine, e la scuola dell' amare e del farsi amare. An. 1559. Qual fosse intanto l'animo del popolo Romano verso di questo pontefice, poco si stette a conoscerlo. Era egli tutta via in vita, ma vita ridotta agli estremi, quando esso popolo si mosse a furore, attizzato anche da alcuni grandi, che maggiormente si teneano per offesi del papa. Corsero costoro alle carcere publiche, ne trassero i prigioni, che erano da quattro cento. Data indi volta a Ripetta, dove era il palazzo della sacra Inquisizione, è rimesso in libertà, chiunque ivi si trovava detenuto prigione (e moltissimo n'erano da lunghissimo tempo nè pure esaminati) bruciarono tutti i processi, e in ultimo una parte del palazzo stesso. * Quindi passò quel torrente al Campidoglio, dovè restò atterrata e rotta la statua eretta ivi in onor del pontefice, e ne fu strascinato il capo per la città. Mezerai abregè Chronologique du seixième siecle.-From Turner's History of England. Les dèreglemens et les vices des ecclesiastiques monterent au plus haut point, et devinrent si publics qu'ils les rendirent l'objet de la haine et du mépris du peuple Les eglises etoient sans pasteurs, les monasteres sans religieux, les religieux sans discipline, les temples et les maisons sacrées en ruines, et converties en spelonques de voleurs. Les evêques fuyoient leurs diocéses comme des solitudes affreuses. Les divertissements de Paris, et les servitudes de la cour faisoient leurs exercises ordinaires. Pii Quinti Pont. Max. Epistolarum, lib. 3, epist 45, Antverpiæ, 1640. Charissimo in Christo filio nostro Carolo Francorum regi Christianissimo. Auxit autem magnopere voluptatem nostram hujus urbis publica lætitia, quæ, ad primum et adhuc dubium tantæ victoriæ nuntium, sic ut domesticâ quadam clade intestinoque bello erepto, gaudio exultavit et exultat. Restat nunc ut majestas tua tam secundis rebus nihil de pristina suâ diligentia, studio perseverantiâque remittat; nec communibus hostibus spatium det ad confirmandos animos viresque iterum colligendas; sed victoriâ utatur, et luctuosissimo bello aliquando tandem finem imponat. Quam quidem ad rem majestatem tuam sic hortamur, ut majori studio majorique animi contentione hortari non possumus. Quia verò scimus non defuturos esse, qui vel amicitiæ vel propinquitatis, vel etiam pietatis nomine, majestatem tuam pro multis tuorum Deique Omnipotentis hostium deprecantur ; illud pro paternâ verum tuarum curâ, et pro officio nostro monemus, ne illorum te precibus flecti sinas, quo minus de illis justa supplicia sumas, quæ legibus statuta sunt; ne, si privatis quibus should burn against you as it did against Saul, in proportion as he has imparted to you of his goodness. For what would this be, but to make the blessings of God, that is to say the victory obtained, of no effect the fruit of which victory consists in this, that by a just animadversion, the wicked heretics, the common enemies being removed out of the way, its former peace and tranquillity may be restored to that kingdom. * For the sake however of ob taining so wholesome a result, your majesty ought to punish those who have taken up wicked arms against the Almighty God and your majesty, and to appoint inquisitors of heresy in every town, and to do all other things, by which the so much troubled affairs of that kingdom by the aid of God may at length be improved and restored to their former state.-Dated St. Peter's Rome, under the Fisherman's Seal, the 20th day of October, 1559. Massacre of St. Bartholomew. Mezerai's History of France, fol. vol. 2, p. 1098. (Paris, 1646.) The daylight, which discovered so many crimes, which the darkness of an eternal night ought for ever to have concealed, did not soften their ardour by these objects of pity, but exasperated them still more. The populace and the most dastardly being warmed by the smell of blood, sixty thousand men transported with this fury and armed in different ways ran about wherever example, vengeance, rage, and the desire of plunder, transported them. The air resounded with a horrible tempest of the hisses, blasphemies, and oaths of the murderers, of the breaking open of doors and windows, of the firing of pistols and guns, of the pitiable cries of the dying, of the lamentations of the women whom they dragged by the hair, of the noise of carts, some loaded with the booty of the houses they pillaged, others with the dead bodies which they cast into the Seine, so that in this confusion they could not hear each other speak in the streets, or if they distinguished certain words, they were these furious expressions, "Kill, stab, throw them out of the window." A dreadful and inevitable death presented itself in every shape. Some were shot on the roofs of houses, others were cast out of the windows, some were cast into the water, and knocked on the head with blows of iron bars or clubs, some were killed in their beds, some in the garrets, others in cellars; wives in the arms of their husbands, husbands on the bosom of their wives, sons at the feet of their fathers. They neither spared the aged, nor women great with child, nor even infants. It is related that a man was seen to stab one of them who played with the beard of its murderer, and that a troop of little boys dragged another in its cradle into the river. The streets were paved with the bodies of the dead or the dying, the gateways were blocked up with them. There were heaps of them in the squares, the small streams were filled with blood, which flowed in great torrents into the river. Finally to sum up in a few words what took place in these three days. Six hundred houses were repeatedly pillaged, and four thousand persons massacred, with all the confusion and barbarity that can be imagined. * * * Namely, that one Catholic faith be professed by all the people. |