deep sensation throughout Christendom. The immediate admission to the beatific Vision, a received and popular tenet,

had been openly impugned by the highest spiritual The Beatific Vision. authority it became necessary either to resign the

tenet or to condemn the Pope. Robert, King of Sicily, warmly exhorted John, whom he had attached by a long and useful alliance, to retract the offensive declaration. Philip VI. of France united with equal ardour in the same solicitation. The most learned Dominicans, together with all the doctors and divines of Paris, humbly urged the same entreaty. Laymen joined with churchmen, the friends of the Pontiff with his bitterest enemies, in rejecting and denouncing his error. The Pope was so far moved by such general and powerful interference, that he assembled, at the close of 1333, his Cardinals in public consistory; and after having caused to be read in their presence all the passages of all writers who had treated the subject, (the labour of five days,) he protested that he had not designed to publish a decision contrary to Scripture or the orthodox faith; and that, if he had so erred, he expressly revoked his error. This explanation may possibly have been considered somewhat equivocal; at least it had not the effect of allaying the irritation which prevailed, and a second consistory was appointed for the same purpose in the December following. But on the evening preceding its assembly, John was seized by a mortal malady. Nevertheless, he summoned his Cardinals around him, and one of the last acts of his long life (he died at 90) was to read in their presence a bull, containing the following declaration: We confess and believe that souls purified and separated from their bodies are assembled in the kingdom of heaven in paradise, and behold God and the Divine Essence face to face clearly, in as far as is consistent with the condition of a separated soul. Anything which we may have preached, said, or written contrary to this opinion, we recall and cancel* Still even the expiring confession of the Pontiff was not considered sufficiently explicit to satisfy the measure of orthodoxy; and thus it came to pass that John XXII., after having ruled the apostolical church for above eighteen years, which he passed for the most part in amassing treasurest, in fomenting warlike tumults, and in chastising heretics, died himself under the general imputation of heresy. But the error of the pontifical delinquent was discreetly veiled by the church which it scandalized; and when Benedict XII., his successor, hastened, in the year following, to restore the unanimity of the faithful respecting the Beatific Vision, he described it as a question which John was preparing to decide, when he was prevented by death‡.

The reasons which gave such popularity to the orthodox opinion on this subject, and excited such very general opposition to the other, were chiefly these: If the Virgin, the Saints, and Martyrs, were not yet admitted to the Divine presence; if they were only in distant and imperfect communication with the Deity, it was absurd to uphold their mediatorial office; it was vain to supplicate the intercession of beings who had no access to the judgment-seat of Christ. Moreover, the mere insult thus offered to the dignity of the saints, and the disparagement of their long-acknowledged

* Bzov., Ann. 1334. i. Fleury, liv. xciv., sect. xxxviii.

In the histories of his life we find many edicts directed against alchymists and the adulterers of coin,-proving at least how much of his attention was turned in that direction. He issued money from the pontifical mint, and counterfeited, with some loss of reputation, the florins of Florence. Giov. Villani, lib. ix., cap. clxx.

In the bull Benedictus Deus, of which the substance is given by Fleury, liv. xciv., sect. xliv.

merits, were offences very sensibly felt and resented throughout the Catholic world. Another reason is likewise mentioned; and it may, in fact, have been the most powerful motive of dissatisfaction-if the dangerous opinion were once established, that the souls of the just, when liberated from purgatory, must still await the day of judgment for their recompense, the indulgences granted by the Church would be of no avail; and this (as the King of France very zealously proclaimed) would be effectually to vitiate the Catholic faith*!' Benedict XII. was born at Saverdun, in the county of Foix, and was the son of a baker. He possessed considerable theological Benedict XII. learning, but such little talent for the management of an intriguing court, that he suspected and proclaimed his own incapacityt for the pontifical functions. But it proved otherwise; for he brought to that office a mind sensible of the corruption which surrounded him, and of the abuses which disfigured his Church, and he employed his useful administration in endeavours to remedy such of them as were placed within his reach. In the first exercise of his power, he dismissed to their benefices a vast number of courtly ecclesiastics, who preferred the splendour, and perhaps the vices, of Avignon to the discharge of their pastoral duties. A large body of cavaliers had been maintained by the pomp of his predecessor, with whose services Benedict immediately dispensed. He was sparing in the promotion of his own relatives, lest the king should make them the means of exerting influence over himself. He undertook the serious reform of the Monastic Orders-not confining his view to the less powerful communities, but purifying, with indiscriminate severity, the poor and the opulent, the Mendicants, Benedictines, and Augustinians; and the Order of Citeaux, to which he had himself belonged, was the first object of his correction. He established numerous schools within the monasteries, and also compelled the young ecclesiastics to frequent the universities of Paris, Oxford§, Toulouse, and Montpellier. In the education of the clergy he saw

*See the end of the Tenth Book of Giovanni Villani. In the course of the controversy, excited solely by his own vanity, John professed the most impartial desire for truth; but it was observed that he showered his benefices most liberally upon those who supported the new opinion. Philip of France came boldly forward as the champion of orthodoxy, and the inviolable unity of the Church- dicendo, laicamente come fidel Christiano, che invano si pregherebbero i Santi, ò harebbesi sperenza di salute per li loro meriti, se Nostra Donna Santa Maria, e Santo Giovanni, e Santo Piero, e Santo Paolo e li altri Santi non potessero vedere la Deitade al fino al dì del Giudizio, e havere perfetta beatitudine in vita eterna; e che per quella opinione ogni indulgenza e perdonanza data per antico per Santa Chiesa, & che si desse, era vana. Laqual cosa sarebbe grande errore e guastamento della Fede Catholica.'

The cardinals, twenty-four in number, agreed with an unusual decision and unanimity, ascribed by some to divine inspiration, by others to a ridiculous mistake. Jacques Fournier (such was his name) being also a cardinal, was present at his own election, and when he heard the determination of his brethren, he reproached them with having elected He was certainly the least eminent member of the Sacred College; and to that circumstance, according to Giovanni Villani (lib. xi. cap. xxi.), he was indebted for his elevation. The cardinals, intending in the scrutiny to throw away their votes, fatally concurred in heaping them upon him-'ch' era tenuto il più menomo de' Cardinali.' Vit. Benedict. XII. ap. Baluzium. Benedict has been celebrated by the pen of

an ass.

Petrarch

Te cui Telluris pariter Pelagique supremum

Contulit Imperium virtus meritumque pudorque.

Yet we observe (in Bzovius, ann. 1339, s. 1,) that on one occasion this virtuous pontiff' reserved the appointment to all the prelacies of all the churches for the space of two years. Did he overlook in his reforming zeal the abuses by which he profited?

§ About twenty years later, an Archbishop of Armagh complained, that when he was

Clement VI.

the only reasonable assurance for the stability of the Church. Lastly, he even displayed a willingness to restore the papal residence to Italy, if it should appear that his Italian subjects were desirous of his presence; but the Imperialists were at that moment so powerful, and the party-spirit so highly inflamed, that he received little encouragement in that design. Clement VI., who succeeded Benedict, in the year 1342, did not imitate his virtues; but while, in his public deportment, he more nearly followed the footsteps of John XXII., he appears even to have outstripped that pontiff in the license of his private life. He was scarcely installed in his dignity, when he was addressed by a solemn deputation from the Roman people. It consisted of eighteen members*, one of whom was Petrarch; and it was charged with three petitions. The first was, that Clement would accept, personally and for his life only, the offices of Senator and Captain, together with the municipal charges; the second, that he would return to the possession of his proper and peculiar See; the third, that he would anticipate the Secular Jubilee ordained by Boniface VIII., and appoint its celebration in the fiftieth year. The Pope accepted for himself the proffered dignities, but without prejudice to the rights of the See; to the second, which was an important and wise request, he returned a friendly but decided refusal; but the third, which only tended to swell the profitable abuses of religion, he accorded without hesitation. The following is the substance of the bull which he issued (in 1343) for this purpose-That the love of God has acquired for us an infinite treasure of merits, to which those of the Virgin and all the Saints are joined ;-that he has left the dispensation of that treasure to St. Peter and his successors;-and consequently, that Pope Boniface VIII. had rightfully ordained, that all those who in the year 1300, and every following centurial year, should worship for a specified number of days in the churches of St. Peter and St. Paul, at Rome, should obtain full indulgence for all their sins. But we have considered (he continues) that in the Mosaic Law, which Christ came spiritually to accomplish, the fiftieth year was the jubilee and remission of debts; and having also regard to the short duration of human life, we accord the same indulgence to all henceforward who shall visit the said churches, and that of St. John Lateran, on the fiftieth year. If Romans, they must attend for at least thirty following days; if foreigners, for at least fifteen.'

This proclamation was diligently published in every part of Christendom, and excited an incredible ardour for

the Pilgrimage. During a winter of unusual Celebration of the Jubilee. inclemency, the roads were thronged with

devout travellers, many of whom were compelled to pass the night without shelter or nourishment, in the fear of robbery, and the certainty of extortion. The streets of Rome presented for some months the spectacle of a vast moving multitude, continually flowing through them, and inexhaustibly renovated. The three appointed churches † were thronged

resident at Oxford, the University contained thirty thousand students; whereas, at the time when he wrote (in 1358) it contained only six thousand. The reason given for the decrease was, that the Mendicants, who occupied several of the chairs, had seduced so many of the young students into their Order, that parents were no longer willing to expose their children to that risk.

The orator on this occasion was Colas di Rienzo, afterwards the Tribune of the Republic.

In visiting the three churches (says Matt. Villani), including the distance from his lodging and the return to it, each pilgrim performed about eleven miles. The streets

with successive crowds, eager to throw off the burden of their sins, and also prepared to deposit some pious offering at every visit.

It is affirmed, that from Christmas till Easter, not fewer than a million, or even twelve hundred thousand strangers, were added to the population of the pontifical city; for as many as returned home after the completion of the prescribed ceremonies, were replaced by fresh bands of credulous sinners, and those again by others, in such perennial abundance, that, even during the late and unwholesome season of the year, the number was never reduced below two hundred thousand. Every house was converted into an inn; and the object of every Roman was to extort the utmost possible profit from the occasion: neither shame nor fear restrained the eagerness of their avarice. While the neighbouring districts abounded with provisions, the citizens refused to admit a greater supply, than was scarcely sufficient to satisfy, at the highest expense, the simplest demands of the pilgrims; and thus those deluded devotees, after surmounting all other difficulties on their errand of superstition, were at length delivered up to be starved, as well as plundered, by the inhabitants of the Holy City. Such was the moral effect produced upon the Roman people by a festival, which was established for their pecuniary profit, and which disturbed the social system through every rank and profession, from one end of Christendom to the other*.

Clement renewed with Louis of Bavaria those vexatious disputes, which had been begun by John XXII., and conducted with so little advantage or honour to either party. Neither had the present difference, after many haughty words, any lasting result; though it seems probable, that the Pope might have succeeded in exciting a civil war in the dominions of his adversary, had not the latter escaped that calamity by death. The same pontiff defended his temporal prerogatives in a correspondence with Edward III. of England. At another time, publicly and in full consistory, he presented to Alphonso of Spain the sceptre of the Fortunate Islands. Nor was this right contested: the less so, perhaps, since St. Peter had claimed, in much earlier ages, the peculiar disposal of all insulart domains. Clement also made an important acquisition to the patrimony of the Apostle by the purchase of the city of Avignon. The jurisdiction over that territory belonged to the Queen of Naples, as Countess of Provence ; and for 80,000 golden florins she consented, in a moment of poverty, to part with the valuable possession. A splendid palace, which Benedict XII. had begun, was now completed and amplified by Clement; and the luxury of the cardinals followed, at no very humble distance, the example of the popes. These circumstances seemed to remove still farther the prospect of the Pope's restoration to his legitimate residence, and thus heightened were perpetually full, so that every one was obliged, whether on foot or on horseback, to follow the crowd; and this made the progress very slow and disagreeable. The Holy Napkin of Christ was shown at St. Peter's every Sunday and solemn festival, for the consolation of the pilgrims (Romei). The press then was great and indiscreet; so it happened that sometimes two, sometimes four, or six, or even twelve, were found there crushed or trampled to death.'

* This account is abbreviated from Mattoo Villani, lib. i. cap. lvi. It is to be observed, that the Pope received a share of the oblations left by the pilgrims in the different churches. Clement VI. employed the fruits in an unsuccessful attempt to recover the property of his church from the nobles, who had usurped it.

Urban II., in his Bull of 1091, presented the island of Corsica to the Bishop of Pisa; and we all recollect that our Henry II. received from Adrian IV. the donation of Ireland. En quoi (says Fleury) ce qui me paroît le plus remarquable n'est pas la prétention des Papes, mais la crédulité des Princes. But credulity, like many other weaknesses, is very commonly the offspring of interest.

the alarm, which some were beginning to entertain for the stability of the papal power.

Clement VI. died five years afterwards, in 1352-celebrated for the splendour of his establishment, for the sumptuousness of his table, and for his magnificent display of horses, squires, and pages; for the scandalous abuse of his patronage; for manners little becoming the sacred profession, and for the most unrestrained and unmuffled profligacy*.

Oath or Capitulation taken in Conclave.

During the vacancy of the see, the cardinals, while in conclave, passed certain resolutions for the limitation of the pontifical power and the extension of their own wealth and privileges; and the whole body bound themselves by oath to observe them. One of their number was then elected, Etienne Aubert, bishop of Ostia, who took the name of Innocent VI.; and almost his earliest act was to annul, as pope, what he had subscribed as cardinal. We must detest his private perjury; yet, as the Sacred College had no power of legislation, unless under the presidency of the pope, and as their office while in conclave was expressly restricted to the election of a pope, their constitutions could not legally be binding either on the church or on the future pontiff. The attempt of the cardinals is chiefly important, as it shows the power and the arrogance into which they had risen during the disorders of the Church; and the conduct of the pope is remarkable, as having furnished an example and a plea to several of his successors, who violated similar engagements in after times with the same perfidy. In every instance the future pope was a voluntary party to the compact deliberately made in conclave; in most cases he confirmed it after his election; he finally broke or evaded it in all. Yet Innocent VI. was a man of simple manners and unblemished moral reputation; and having found the Church nearly in the

same condition in which John XXII. bequeathed it to Innocent VI. Benedict, he imitated the latter in his judicious efforts to reform it. But, though he held the See for more than nine years, it seems doubtful whether his mild and perhaps feebly executed measures were effectual in removing any important abuse. At least, in the year 1358 we perceive him engaged in a dispute with his German clergy, not respecting the relaxation of their discipline, but upon a subject which was usually much dearer to the Popes of Avignon. Innocent demanded an extraordinary subsidy of the tenth of all ecclesiastical revenues, for the use of the apostolical chamber. The clergy of the three provinces of Treves, Mayence, and Cologne boldly refused payment; the spirit of interested opposition spread rapidly; and all orders of ecclesiastics throughout the whole empire united to resist the demand. The Pope yielded without struggle or remonstrance; but he immediately sought his consolation in the exercise of one of the grossest usurpations of his See.

* See Matt. Villani, lib. iii. cap. 43. He delighted to aggrandize his relatives, by conferring on them baronies in France, and raising them, however young and abandoned, to the highest dignities. At that time there was no regard to learning or virtue; it sufficed to satiate cupidity with the Red Hat-Huomo fù di convenevole scienzia, molto cavallaresco, poco religioso. Delle femine essendo Archivescovo non si guardò, ma trapassò il modo de' secolari giovani Baroni: e nel Papato non sene seppe contenere ne occultare; ma alle sue camere andavano le grandi dame, come i prelati, e fra l' altre una Contessa di Torenna fù tanto in suo piacere, che per lei faceva gran parte delle grazie sue. Quando era infermo le Dame il servivano, e governavono come congiunte parenti gli altri secolari. Il tesoro della Chiesa stribuì con larga mano. Delle Italiane discordie poco si curò, &c.' We observe, that some of the cardinals so appointed incurred the severe reproach of Innocent VI. by their undisguised debaucheries. Matt. Villan. lib. iv. cap. lxxvii.