Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 10.djvu/761

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NAPOLEON


693


NAPOLEON


them of dealing with the Bourbons of the two Sicihes, then, one month later, he expelled fourteen other car- dinals from Rome because they were not native sub- jects of the pope. Cardinal Doria Pamphili, who had been appointed secretary of state, in February, ISOS, was also expelled by INlinllis; I'iiis \ II iiuw had with him only twenty-one cardinals, and (he papal (!uv- ernment was disorganized. He broke oil all diplo- matic relations with Napoleon, recalled Bayanne and Caprara from Paris, and uttered his protest in a con- sistorial allocution delivered in March. Napoleon, on his side, recalled Alquier from Rome. The strug- gle between pope and emperor was taking on a tragic character.

On 2 April Napoleon signed two decrees: one an- nexed to the Kingdom of Italy "in perpetuity" the Provinces of Urbino, Ancona, Macerata, and Came- rino; the other ordered all functionaries of the Court of Rome who were natives of the Kingdom of Italy to re- turn to that kingdom, under pain of confiscation of their property. Pius VII protested before all Europe against this decree, on 19 May, and, in an instruction addressed to the bishops of the provinces which Napo- leon was lopping off from his possessions, he denounced the religious "indifferentism" of the imperial Govern- ment, and forbade the faithful of those provinces to take the oath of allegiance to Napoleon or accept any offices from him. Miollis retaliated, 12 June, by driving Gavrielli, the new secretary of state, out of Rome. Pius VII then replaced Gavrielli with Cardi- nal Pacca, reputed an opponent of France; on 11 July he delivered a very spirited allocution, which, in spite of the imperial police, was circulated throughout Eu- rope ; and Pacca, on 24 August, directed a note against the institution of the "Civic Guard" — an idea re- cently conceived by Miollis — in which Miollis was compelling even the pope's soldiers to enroll. On 6 September, 1808, Miollis sent two officers to the Quir- inal to arrest Pacca; Pius VII interposed, declaring that they should not arrest Pacca without arresting the pope, and that in future the secretary of state should sleep at the Quirinal, which was closed to all the French.

The definitive execution of Napoleon's projects against the Holy See was retarded by the wars which occupied him during the year 1808. When he trans- ferred his brother Joseph from the Throne of Naples to that of Spain, Spain rose, and the English invaded Portugal. Dupont's capitulation, at Bavlen (20 July, 1808), and Junot's at Cintra (30 August, 1808), were painful reverses for French arms. Napoleon, having made an alliance with the tsar in the cele- brated inter\dew of Erfurt (27 September-14 October, 1808), hastened to Spain. There he found a people whose spirit of resistance was exasperated all the more because they believed themselves to be fighting for their liberty and the integrity of their faith as much as for their country. In November he gained the victo- ries of Burgos, Espinosa, Tudela, and Somo Sierra, and reopened the gates of Madrid for Joseph; on 21 Febru- ary Saragossa was taken by the French armies after an heroic resistance. A Fifth Coalition was formed against Napoleon: he returned from Spain and, rush- ing across Bavaria, bombarded and took Vienna (11- 13 May, 1809). On the day after the victory he de- voted some of his leisure hours to thinking about the pope.

For some time Murat, who in 180.8 had replaced Joseph as King of Naples, had been ready to support Miollis wlienever Napoleon should judge that the hour had come to incorporate Rome with the empire. On 17 May, 1809, Napoleon issued from Schilnbrunn two decrees in which, reproaching the popes for the ill use they had made of the donation of Charlemagne, his "august predecessor", he declared the Pontifical States annexed to the empire, and organized, under Miollis, a council extraordinary to administer them.


On 10 June Miollis had the Pontifical flag, which still floated over the castle of S. Angelo. lowered. Piue VII replied by having Rome i)!acarrled with a Bull ex- communicating Napoleon. W'hen the emperor re- ceived news of this (20 June) he wrote to Murat: "So the pope has aimed an excommunication against me. No more half measures; he is a raving lunatic who must be confined. Have Cardinal Pacca and other adlii-rcnfs of the pope arrested." In the night of 5-6 July, ISDli, Uadct, a general of gendarmerie, by the orders of Miollis, entered the Quirinal, arrested Piu3 VII and Pacca, gave them two hours to make their preparations, and took them away from Rome at four in the morning. Pius VII was taken to Savona, Pacca to Fenestrella. Meanwhile Napoleon, com- pleting the work of crushing Austria, had been the victor at Essling (21 May, 1809) and at Wagram (6 July, 1809), and the Peace of Vienna (1.5 October, 1809) put the finishing touch to the mutilation of Aus- tria by handing over Carniola, Croatia, and Friuli to France, at the same time obliging the Emperor Francis to recognize Joseph as King of Spain. The young German, Staps, who attempted to assassinate Napo- leon at Schonbrunn (13 October), died crying: "Long live Germany!"

Discusswns with the Captive Pius VII; Second Mar- riage; Ecclesiastical Cou7icils of 1809 and 1811.^ The conflict with his prisoner, the pope, was another embarrassment, a new source of anxiety to the em- peror. At lirst he took all possible steps to prevent the public from hearing of what had happened at Rome: the "Moniteur" made not the slightest allu- sion to it; the newspapers received orders to be silent. He also wished his excommunication to be ignored; the newspapers must be silent on this point also; but the Bull of Excommunication, secretly brought to Lyons, was circulated in France by members of the Congregation, a pious association, founded 2 Febru- ary, 1801, by Pere Delpuits, a former Jesuit. Alexis de Noailles and five other members of the Congrega- tion were arrested by the emperor's command, and his anger extended to all the religious orders. He wrote (12 September, 1809) to Bigot de Prcameneu, minister of public worship: " If on 1 October there are any missions or congregations still in France, I will hold you responsible." The celebrated Abbe Frays- sinous had to discontinue his sermons; the Lazarists dispersed; the Sulpicians were threatened. Napo- leon consulted Bigot de Preameneu as to the expe- diency of laying the Bull before the Council of State, but abstained from doing so.

It was not long, however, before he had to face an enormous difficulty: there were more than twenty bishoprics vacant, and Pius VII declared to Fesch, to Caprara, and to Maury that, so long as he was a pris- oner, so long as he could not communicate freely with his natural counsellors, the cardinals, he would not provide for the institution of the bishops. Thus the life of the Church of France was partially suspended. In November, 1809, Napoleon appointed an "ecclesi- astical council" to seek a solution of the difficulty. With Fesch as president, this council included as members Cardinal Maury, Barral, Archbishop of Tours, Duviiisin, Bishop of Nantes, Emery, Sujierior of S. .Sulpic-c, Bishops Canaveri of Vercelli, Bourlier of Evreux, Mannay of Treves, and the Barnabite Fon- tana. Bigot de Pr6ain(>neu, in the name of the em- peror, laid before the council sc\'cral sets of questions relatingto the affairs of Christendom in general, then to those of France, and lastly to those of Germany and Italy, and to the Bull of Excomiiiunication.

In the preamble to its replies, the council gave voice to a petition for the absolute liberty of the pope and the recall of the cardinals. It declared tliat if a gen- eral council were as.seml)led for the settlement of the religious (juestions then pending, the pope's presence at the council would be necessary, and that a national