Pope clement xiv biography of mahatma gandhi

His accession was welcomed by the Jewish community who trusted that the man who, as councilor of the Holy Office, declared them, in a memorandum issued 21 Marchinnocent of the slanderous blood accusation, would be no less just and humane toward them on the throne of Catholicism. Assigned by Pope Benedict XIV to investigate a charge against the Jews of Yanopol, Poland, Ganganelli not only refuted the claim, but showed that most of the similar claims since the thirteenth century were groundless.

He deferred somewhat on the already beatified Simon of Trentinand Andreas of Rinnbut took the length of time before their beatifications as indicative that the veracity of the accusations raised significant doubts. The Jesuits had been expelled from BrazilPortugalFranceSpain and its coloniesand Parma With the accession of a new pope, the Bourbon monarchs pressed for the Society's total suppression.

Clement XIV tried to placate their enemies by apparent unfriendly treatment of the Jesuits: he refused to meet the superior generalLorenzo Ricciremoved it from the administration of the Irish and Roman Collegesand ordered them not to receive novices, etc. The pressure kept building up to the point that Catholic countries were threatening to break away from the Church.

Clement XIV ultimately yielded "in the name of peace of the Church and to avoid a secession in Europe" and suppressed the Society of Jesus by the brief Dominus ac Redemptor of 21 July It was a result of a series of political moves rather than a theological controversy. Leopold found the upper clergy offensively haughty, but was received, with his son, by the pope, where Wolfgang demonstrated an amazing feat of musical memory.

The papal chapel was famous for performing a Miserere mei, Deus by the 17th-century composer Gregorio Allegriwhose music was not to be copied outside of the chapel on pain of excommunication. The year-old Wolfgang was able to transcribe the composition in its entirety after a single hearing. Clement made the young Mozart a knight of the Order of the Golden Spur.

The pope held no canonizations in his pontificate but he beatified a number of individuals. The last months of Clement XIV's life were embittered by his failures and he seemed always to be in sorrow because of this. His work was hardly accomplished before Clement XIV, whose usual constitution was quite vigorous, fell into a languishing sickness, generally attributed to poison.

The claims that the Pope was poisoned were denied by those closest to him, and as The Annual Register for stated, he was over 70 and had been in ill health for some time. On 10 Septemberhe was bedridden and received Extreme Unction on 21 September It is said that St. Alphonsus Liguori assisted Clement XIV in his last hours by the gift of bilocation and was during two days in extasis in his bishopric in Arienzo.

Clement XIV died on 22 Septemberexecrated by the Ultramontane party but widely mourned by his subjects for his popular administration of the Papal States. When his body was opened for the autopsy, the doctors ascribed his death to scorbutic and hemorrhoidal dispositions of long standing that were aggravated by excessive labour and the habit of provoking artificial perspiration even in the greatest heat.

To this day, he is best remembered for his suppression of the Jesuits. The Monthly Review spoke highly of Ganganelli.

Pope clement xiv biography of mahatma gandhi

Notwithstanding his monastic education, he proved himself a statesman, a scholar, an amateur of physical science, and an accomplished man of the world. As Pope Leo X —21 indicates the manner in which the Papacy might have been reconciled with the Renaissance had the Reformation never taken place, so Ganganelli exemplifies the type of Pope which the modern world might have learned to accept if the movement towards free thought could, as Voltaire wished, have been confined to the aristocracy of intellect.

In both cases the requisite condition was unattainable; neither in the 16th nor in the 18th century has it been practicable to set bounds to the spirit of inquiry otherwise than by fire and sword, and Ganganelli's successors have been driven into assuming a position analogous to that of Popes Paul IV —59 and Pius V —72 in the age of the Reformation.

The estrangement between the secular and the spiritual authority which Ganganelli strove to avert is now irreparable, and his pontificate remains an exceptional episode in the general history of the Papacy, and a proof how little the logical sequence of events can be modified by the virtues and abilities of an individual. Jacques Cretineau-Jolyhowever, wrote a critical history of the Pope's administration.

Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikisource Wikidata item. The year-old Wolfgang managed to write down the entire score after hearing it just once. Clement made Mozart a knight of the Golden Spur. Clement's last months were marked by setbacks that cast him into gloom.

Despite his generally good health, he fell ill, leading to rumors of poisoning. While there is no evidence of foul play, his illness is likely attributable to old age. Bedridden on September 10,he received the last rites on September 21, He passed away the following day, September Peace by Concession. The inscription on the first medal struck by Clement, Fiat pax in virtute tua, revealed his eagerness to come to terms with secular powers.

A settlement with Portugal came with the appointment Nov. The reading of the bull In coena Domini so called because from it was published annually at Rome on Maundy Thursdayand cited reserved censureswhich had been used by Clement XIII to announce the excommunication of duke Ferdinand of Parmawas omitted inand dropped completely after He further pleased the duke by granting a dispensation for his marriage to his cousin Amelia, daughter of Empress Maria Theresa.

In a letter to Louis XVClement promised that the Jesuit issue would be terminated "avec satisfaction reciproque" October Suppression of the Jesuits. Clement delayed decisive action regarding the Jesuits for four years. As preliminary steps, documents were gathered for a motu proprioand a program to diminish the prestige of the Jesuits in Rome and the Papal States was begun.

The resulting document, Dominus ac Redemptor, was signed by Clement on June 9, though dated July Already more than half of the members of the society were exiled; this brief extinguished the remaining 11, Jesuits, colleges, seminaries, and 88 residences. The Brief Dominus ac Redemptor. The reception of this brief was varied. Festivities were ordered in Lisbon, but there was disappointment in France and Spain that the document was not a solemn bull.

Maria Theresa accepted it regretfully and allowed Jesuits to remain in their houses as secular priests; Frederick II of Prussia and Catherine II of Russia forbade its promulgation, thereby insuring the survival of the society. At the end of the pontificate of Clement XIII, the territories of Avignon and Venaissin had been taken by the French, and Pontecorvo and Benevento invaded by Naples; these were now returned to papal jurisdiction.

In the brief, Clement proclaims his duty in the interest of peace to sacrifice things most dear to himself. Ambrose and Barnabasthe Order of St. Basil of Armeniaand the Jesuatiso he had examined the Society of Jesus and found that at its birth seeds of strife and jealousy germinated within it, and against other orders, the secular clergy, and princes.

Since it could no longer be fruitful or useful and hindered the peace of the Church, he, for the reasons given, and for others "reserved in our heart," dissolved, suppressed, extinguished, and abolished the said society. The members "whom We love with a paternal love" were thus free from the weight of oppression. Novices were to be released; scholastics were permitted to remain in their houses for a year, and being liberated from their vows might embrace a new state of life; priests might enter other religious orders or place themselves under the jurisdiction of a bishop.

All appeals or attempts to defend the society were prohibited. It is to be noted that the brief does not condemn the constitutions of the order, nor any specified member, nor the orthodoxy of any Jesuit doctrine Bullarium Romanum Continuatio — According to a letter of June 29,Clement retracted Dominus ac Redemptor and instructed his pope clement xiv biography of mahatma gandhi to transmit it to the next pope Pius VI.

The letter is found in P. Wolf, Allgemeine Geschichte der Jesuiten …4 v. Zurich — 92 v. Other Affairs. He patronized the arts and letters by commissioning Raphael Mengs to decorate the Vatican Museum, by acquiring antiquities for the Museo Clementino, by increasing the papal coin collection, by encouraging literati, and by decorating the year-old prodigy Mozart with the order of the Golden Spur Clement canonized no one, but he beatified Francesco Caracciolo June 4, and Paolo Burali of Arezzo May 13, ; he confirmed the cultus not solemn beatification of Antonio Primaldi and his companions executed at the capture of Otranto by the Ottomansof Tommaso Bellaci d.

The outlook for the papacy was dark; Portugal was talking of a patriarchate; France held Avignon; Naples held Ponte Corvo and Benevento; Spain was ill-affected; Parma, defiant; Venice, aggressive; Poland meditating a restriction of the rights of the nuncio. Clement realized the imperative necessity of conciliating the powers. He suspended the public reading of the bull In Coena Domini, so obnoxious to civil authority; resumed relations with Portugal; revoked the monitorium of his predecessor against Parma.

But the powers were bent upon the destruction of the Jesuits, and they had the pope at their mercy. Clement looked abroad for help, but found none. Even Maria Theresa, his last hope, suppressed the order in Austria. Temporizing and partial concessions were of no avail. At last, convinced that the peace of the Church demanded the sacrifice, Clement signed the brief Dominus ac Redemptor, dissolving the order, on the 21st of July The powers at once gave substantial proof of their satisfaction; Benevento, Ponte Corvo, Avignon and the Venaissin were restored to the Holy See.

But it would be unfair to accept this as evidence of a bargain. Clement had formerly indignantly rejected the suggestion of such an exchange of favours. There is no question of the legality of the pope's act; whether he was morally culpable, however, continues to be a matter of bitter controversy. On the one hand, the suppression is denounced as a base surrender to the forces of tyranny and irreligion, an act of treason to conscience, which reaped its just punishment of remorse; on the other hand, it is as ardently maintained that Clement acted in full accord with his conscience, and that the order merited its fate by its own mischievous activities which made it an offence to religion and authority alike.

But whatever the guilt or innocence of the Jesuits, and whether their suppression were ill-advised or not, there appears to be no ground for impeaching the motives of Clement, or of doubting that he had the approval of his conscience. The stories of his having swooned after signing the brief, and of having lost hope and even reason, are too absurd to be entertained.

The decline in health, which set in shortly after the suppression, and his death on the 22nd of September proceeded from wholly natural causes. The testimony of his physician and of his confessor ought to be sufficient to discredit the oft-repeated story of slow poisoning see Duhr, Jesuiten Fabeln, 4th ed. The suppression of the Jesuits bulks so large in the pontificate of Clement that he has scarcely been given due credit for his praiseworthy attempt to reduce the burdens of taxation and to reform the financial administration, nor for his liberal encouragement of art and learning, of which the museum Pio-Clementino is a lasting monument.

No pope has been the subject of more diverse judgments than Clement XIV. Zealous defenders credit him with all virtues, and bless him as the instrument divinely ordained to restore the peace of the Church; virulent detractors charge him with ingratitude, cowardice and double-dealing.