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policy . Accordingly , Ricci found that while he had thus Struck into the enemies * quarters , and appeared on the point of obtaining a signal victory , he was in fact walking over a mine which threatened his destruction . As a considerable part of the revenues of the Dominicans arise from exorbitant fees exacted from their converts , it is not to be wondered at , they should emnlov everv resource of churchmen ' s warfare to maintain so advantageous
a post ; and as there is ho corruption of men , however great , which does not seek to veil itself under the mantle of religion , the nuns were secretly instructed to profess a pious horror at the idea of submitting to any other authority than that of the general of their order , to whom they had sworn fidelity . Ricci was diligently represented by the emissaries of Rome as a feubverter of ecclesiastical discipline , an impious person , and even a Lutheran in disguise ; and as if the majesty of Heaven itself were directly
concerned in the issue , the sisters affected to stand immovable in super * natural extacies before the shrine of their patroness Saint , and prophecies were delivered of some undefined and terrible judgment about to be inflicted on the two cities of Pistoia and Prato , over which Ricci presided . Although a Catholic and superstitious , however , Ricci was not to be diverted by idle fears from an undertaking to persevere in which , at all hazards , he was prompted by duty and conscience . The prospect seemed less encouraging
from the circumstance that two of Ricci's predecessors , Atamamni and ijppoliti , had failed in a similar attempt . With respect to Pistoia , however , the prudence and mild firmness of Ricci at length prevailed . Two of the religieusesy who were the most outrageous in their conduct , being removed , the rest submitted to the authority of the bishop , received a chaplain and confessor appointed by him , and the prospect seemed opened of an effectual reformation * At Prato 9 where the disorders were greater , and the influence
of the Dominicans and Ex-Jesuits ( who * though the bitterest foes before , now united to oppose innovation ) being powerfully upheld by the nobility , whose daughters filled the convents of the former , and whose sons had been educated by the latter , the task which he had undertaken seemed hopeless . The Pope * who had only intended to make a show of yielding in order more firmly to establish his power , and had trusted to his inferior agents to fulfil his real designs , rather than to effectuate the letter of his instructions , seeing Ricci resolved to persevere , now changed his tone towards him . He had
hitherto shewn him distinguished marks of his favour , as a prudent man too intimately connected by relationship and interest with the Jesuits to take any decided steps against them , wnile his known attachment to the principles of the Jansenists made his advancement a seeming concession to the influence of that powerful and increasing party . But now that Ricci ' s real character began to develope itself , Pius VI . ( who had assumed the Pontifical sceptre through that dark influence which had caused it to drop so mysteriously from the hand of his predecessor ) addressed an angry brief to the
Bishop of Pistoia , filled with swelling words respecting the unlimited obedience due from bishops to the Holy See , harshly reproving his precipitancy in the reforms at Pistoia , and forbidding him to proceed further in those he had undertaken at Prato , and referring the whole matter to the Tuscan Inquisition , This tribunal still sat In Florence up to the year 1782 , but its terrible features , secrecy and the exclusive controul of priests , had been token away in the year 1724 , by the admission of three lay assessors ; and ft was now chiefl y important to the Holy See as swelling the list of its means of corruption , maintaining an imposing show of authority , . and furnishing a
Untitled Article
446 Memoir of Sctpio da Rivtn *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1828, page 446, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2562/page/14/
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