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part05+-第46部分

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orders to search every wandering friar or other suspicious person



who might; by any possibility; bring in a forbidden missive; a



special patrol was kept; night and day; to prevent any posting of



the forbidden notices on walls or houses; any person receiving or



finding one was to take it immediately to the authorities; under



the severest penalties; and any person found concealing such



documents was to be punished by death。







At first some of the clergy were refractory。 The head of the



whole church establishment of Venice; the Patriarch himself; gave



signs of resistance; but the Senate at once silenced him。 Sundry



other bishops and high ecclesiastics made a show of opposition;



and they were placed in confinement。 One of them seeming



reluctant to conduct the usual church service; the Senate sent an



executioner to erect a gibbet before his door。 Another; having



asked that he be allowed to await some intimation from the Holy



Spirit; received answer that the Senate had already received



directions from the Holy Spirit to hang any person resisting



their decree。 The three religious orders which had showed most



oppositionJesuits; Theatins; and Capuchinswere in a



semi…polite manner virtually expelled from the Republic。'2'











'2' For interesting details regarding the departure of the



Jesuits; see Cornet; Paolo V。 e la Republica Veneta; pp。 277…279。











Not the least curious among the results of this state of things



was the war of pamphlets。 From Rome; Bologna; and other centres



of thought; even from Paris and Frankfort; polemic tractates



rained upon the Republic。 The vast majority of their authors were



on the side of the Vatican; and of this majority the leaders were



the two cardinals so eminent in learning and logic; Bellarmine



and Baronius; but; single…handed; Sarpi was; by general consent;



a match for the whole opposing force。'3'











'3' In the library of Cornell University are no less than nine



quartos filled with selected examples of these polemics on both



sides。











Of all the weapons then used; the most effective throughout



Europe was the solemn protest drawn by Sarpi and issued by the



Doge。 It was addressed nominally to the Venetian ecclesiastics;



but really to Christendom; and both as to matter and manner it



was Father Paul at his best。 It was weighty; lucid; pungent; and



deeply in earnest;in every part asserting fidelity to the



Church and loyalty to the papacy; but setting completely at



naught the main claim of Pope Paul: the Doge solemnly declaring



himself 〃a prince who; in temporal matters; recognizes no



superior save the Divine Majesty。〃







The victory of the friar soon began to be recognized far and



near。 Men called him by the name afterward so generally given



him;the 〃terribile frate。〃 The Vatican seemed paralyzed。 None



of its measures availed; and it was hurt; rather than helped; by



its efforts to pester and annoy Venice at various capitals。 At



Rome; it burned Father Paul's books and declared him



excommunicated; it even sought to punish his printer by putting



into the Index not only all works that he had ever printed; but



all that he might ever print。 At Vienna; the papal Nuncio thought



to score a point by declaring that he would not attend a certain



religious function in case the Venetian Ambassador should appear;



whereupon the Venetian announced that he had taken physic and



regretted that he could not be present;whereat all Europe



laughed。







Judicious friends in various European cabinets now urged both



parties to recede or to compromise。 France and Spain both



proffered their good offices。 The offer of France was finally



accepted; and the French Ambassador was kept running between the



Ducal Palace and the Vatican until people began laughing at him



also。 The emissaries of His Holiness begged hard that; at least;



appearances might be saved; that the Republic would undo some of



its measures before the interdict was removed; or at least would



seem to do so; and especially that it would withdraw its refusals



before the Pope withdrew his penalties。 All in vain。 The



Venetians insisted that they had committed no crime and had



nothing to retract。 The Vatican then urged that the Senate should



consent to receive absolution for its resistance to the Pope's



authority。 This the Senate steadily refused; it insisted; 〃Let



His Holiness put things as before; and we will put things as



before; as to his absolution; we do not need it or want it; to



receive it would be to acknowledge that we have been in the



wrong。〃 Even the last poor sop of all was refused: the Senate



would have no great 〃function〃 to celebrate the termination of



the interdict; they would not even go to the mass which Cardinal



Joyeuse celebrated on that occasion。 The only appearance of



concession which the Republic made was to give up the two



ecclesiastics to the French Ambassador as a matter of courtesy to



the French king; and when this was done; the Ambassador delivered



them to the Pope; but Venice especially reserved all the rights



she had exercised。 All the essential demands of the papacy were



refused; and thus was forever ended the papal power of laying an



interdict upon a city or a people。 From that incubus;



Christendom; thanks to Father Paul and to Venice; was at last and



forever free。







The Vatican did; indeed; try hard to keep its old claim in being。



A few years after its defeat by Fra Paolo; it endeavored to



reassert in Spain the same authority which had been so humbly



acknowledged there a few years before。 It was doubtless felt that



this most pious of all countries; which had previously been so



docile; and which had stood steadily by the Vatican against



Venice in the recent struggle; would again set an example of



submission。 Never was there a greater mistake: the Vatican



received from Spanish piety a humiliating refusal。







Next it tried the old weapons against the little government at



Turin。 For many generations the House of Savoy had been dutifully



submissive to religious control; nowhere out of Spain had heresy



been treated more cruelly; yet here; too; the Vatican claim was



spurned。 But the final humiliation took place some years later



under Urban VIII。;the same pontiff who wrecked papal



infallibility on Galileo's telescope。 He tried to enforce his



will on the state of Lucca; which; in the days of Pope Paul; had



submitted to the Vatican decrees abjectly; but that little



republic now seized the weapons which Sarpi had devised; and



drove the papal forces out of the field: the papal



excommunication was; even by this petty government; annulled in



Venetian fashion and even less respectfully。'1'











'1' The proofsand from Catholic sourcesthat it was the Pope



who condemned Galileo's doctrine of the earth's movement about



the sun; and not merely the Congregation of the Index; the



present writer has given in his History of the Warfare of Science



with Theology; vol。 i。 chap。 iii。











Thus the world learned how weak the Vatican hold had become。 Even



Pope Paul learned it; and; from being the most strenuous of



modern pontiffs; he became one of the most moderate in everything



save in the enrichment of his family。 Thus ended the last serious



effort to coerce a people by an interdict; and so; one might



suppose; would end the work of Father Paul。 Not so。 There was to



come a second chapter in his biography; more instructive;



perhaps; than the first;a chapter which has lasted until our



own day。                             A。 D。 White。











{February; 1904; number DLVI。} II。











The Venetian Republic showed itself duly grateful to Sarpi。 The



Senate offered him splendid presents and entitled him 〃Theologian



of Venice。〃 The presents he refused; but the title with its duty;



which was mainly to guard the Republic against the encroachments



of the Vatican; he accepted; and his life in the monastery of



Santa Fosca went on quietly; simply; laboriously; as before。 The



hatred now felt for him at Rome was unbounded。 It corresponded to



the gratitude at Venice。 Every one saw his danger; and he well



knew it。 Potentates were then wont to send assassins on long



errands; and the arm of the Vatican was especially far…reaching



and merciless。 It was the period when Pius V; the Pope whom the



Church afterwards proclaimed a saint; commissioned an assassin to



murder Queen Elizabeth。'1'











'1' This statement formerly led to violent denials by



ultramontane champions; but in 1870 it was made by Lord Acton; a



Roman Catholic; one of the most learned of modern historians; and



when it was angrily denied; he quietly cited the official life of



Pope Pius in the Acta  Sanctorum; published by the highest church



authority。 This was final; denial ceased; and the statement is no



longer questioned。 For other proofs in the line of Lord Acton's



citation; see Bellarmine's Selbstbiographie; cited in a previous



article; pp。 306; et seq。











But there was in Father Paul a trust in Providence akin to



fatalism。 Again and again he was warned; and among those who are



said to have advised him to be on his guard against papal



assassins was no less a personage than his greatest controversial



enemy;Cardinal Bellarmine。 It was believed by Sarpi's friends



that Bel
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