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convenient reference for inconvenient plans of reform , corresponding to the " ordered to lie on this table" or " adjourned to this day six mdntlis , " of the British Bouse of Commons . To the complete frustration of R . ' s benevolent design , nothing seemed wanting but that he should be deserted by thg government , and with this he was threatened through the influence of the ministers , particularly Serrati , the Premier , who represented to the Grand Duke that the dispute with the
Pope was a personal matter with respect to Ricci alone , and that it would be prudent not uselessly to irritate the Holy Sfee , but to abandon him to his fate . Thus calumniated and undermined by the monks , opposed by the nobility * regarded as a heretic by the vulgar , forsaken by the ministry , and Fulminated against by the Pope , Ricci appealed to the protection of bis Sovereign in person , and strongly represented to hifii that both the friends and the enemies of reform considered the affair of Prato as a trial of strength , and that a defeat here would be fatal to all ulterior schemes of amelioration .
Peter Leopold , brother of the unfortunate Marie Antoinette and of Joseph IL , whom he afterwards succeeded on the throne of the Austrian empire , and who had assumed the government of the Tuscan States in the year 1765 , was a wise and benevolent Prince , had introduced many salutary reforms in the political state of his dominions , and , had he been surrounded by such men as Ricci , would , ere this , have remedied the more deeply rooted disorder Of the church . But , with the splendid exception of the
Senator Ruccellai , now dead , he had the misfortune to be served by ministers who were too short-sighted to enter into his views , and , being tampered with by the Court of Rome , were perpetually thwarting his benevolent intentions , and undermining in his favour the friends of effectual reform , in which they were frequently but too successful . On this occasion , however , persuaded
by the reasoning of Ricci , he acted with independence and energy . He wrote to Rome , complaining of the attempt made to elude the effect of the faculty already granted to Ricci , and demanded that it should not only be confirmed with respect to him , but extended to all the Tuscan bishops , that the convents in their respective dioceses might thenceforth be placed under their sole direction . He added , that if not conceded by the Court of Rome ,
he had a full right to execute this measure by virtue of his sovereign power . The Court of Rome hears reason when it is obliged to do so . Benedict XIV ., according to Ricci , once said in confidence to one of his courtiers , " Sovereigns , if they knew their own rights , would do many things Of their own accord , which it is prudent to grant when they condescend to ask them . " The spirited language of the Grand Duke had , for the present , its desired
effect ; and Ricci rejoiced to have been the means of extending to the whole of Tuscany those salutary reforms , of which he set the example in the diocese of Pistoia . His fame spread throughout Catholic Europe ; the Neapolitans manifested a desire to imitate the example of Tuscany ; and the minister of Spain procured from Ricci a detail of the proceedings with respect to the refractory convents , to serve as a model in the contemplated reforms in that country .
Thus armed with full powers for effecting his designed reforms , Ricci , instead of enjoying his triumph , as a man of less moral sensibility would have done , proceeded with mildness proportioned to his former firmness , endeavouring by every means consistent with his grand object to palliate this tremendous blow to the pride of the monks , and to conciliate the affection of those for whose spiritual interest * he was henceforth exclusively to
Untitled Article
Mettioit of Scipio de Ricci . 44 j
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1828, page 447, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2562/page/15/
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