In 1751 Picquet travelled round Lake Ontario to
gather into his mission as many Iroquois as possible,
and sueceeded in establishing 392 families at the
Presentation. In 1752 Mgr de Pontbriand, the last
French Bishop of Quebec, baptized 132 of them. A
banner, preserved in the church of Oka, perpetuates
the souvenir of this event, and the memory of the
fidelity of the Five Nations to the cause of France,
for, in the course of the Seven Years' War, it floated
side by side with the Fleur-de-lis on many a battle-
field. In 1753 Picquet went to France and presented
to the minister of the Navy a well-documented
memorandum concerning Canada, in which he
pointed out the best means for preserving that colony
for the French Crown. Hardly had he returned to
Canada (1754) when hostilities were resumed. He
directed his savages against the English, whom he
considered as much the enemies of Catholicism as of
France, and for six years accompanied them on their
expeditions and into the field of battle. "Abbe
Picquet was worth several regiments", said Governor
Duquesne of him. The English set a price on his
head. When all hope of the cause was lost, by the
order of his superiors who feared he might fall into
the hands of the English, Picquet returned to France,
passing thither through Louisiana (1760). He was
engaged in the ministry in Paris till 1772. He then
returned to his homeland, Bresse, and was named
canon of the cathedral of Bourg, where he died.
Lettres édifiantes et curieuses (Memoires des Indes), XXVI (Paris. 1783), 1–63; Gosselin, Le fondateur de la Presentation, l'abbé Picquet in Memoires et Comptes-rendus de la Société royate du Canada, XII, sect. 1 (1894); Bertrand, Bibliothèque sulpicienne ou Histoire litteraire de la Compagnie de Saini-Sulpice, I (Paris, 1900), 394–401; Chagny, Un defenseur de la Nouielle-France, François Picquet "le Canadien" (Lyons, 1911).
A. FOURNET.
Picts. See Scotland.
Pie, Louis-Edouard-Désiré, cardinal, b. at Pontgouin, Diocese of Chartres, 1815; d. at Angoulême, 1880. He studied at the Seminary of Chartres and at St. Sulpice, was ordained 1839, became Vicar- General of Chartres, 1844, and Bishop of Poitiers, 1849. He created many parishes, established in his seminary a canonical faculty of theology, founded for the missions of the diocese the Oblates of St. Hilary, and brought the Jesuits to Poitiers and the Benedictines to Solesmes and Liguge. To his initiative were largely due the resumption of the provincial synods in France, the promotion of St. Hilary's cultus, and the erection of the national shrine of the Sacred Heart at Montmartre. He is, however, best known for his opposition to modern errors, and his championship of the rights of the Church. Regarding as futile the compromises accepted by other Catholic leaders, he fought alike all philosophical theories and political arrangements that did not come up to the full traditional Christian standard. His stand in matters philosophical was indicated as early as 1854- 55 in two synodal instructions against "the errors of the present day and of philosophy".
In politics a staunch follower of the Comte de Chambord, he trusted but little the other regimes under which he lived. To Napoleon III, who had declared untimely certain measures suggested by the bishop, Pie said one day: "Sire, since the time has not come for Christ to reign, then the time has not come for government to last". Such was the vigour with which he stigmatized the imperial insincerity regarding the independence of the Papal States that he was denounced to both the Council of State and the Holy See. The former pronounced him guilty of abuse of power, but Cardinal Ant onelli valiantly stood by him. At the Vatican Council he did not sign the postulalion petitioning for the definition of papal in- fallibility, but once it was placed on the programme of the council, he proved one of the best exponents and defenders of it. As a reward for his loyal services, Leo XIII made him cardinal, 1879. Sincerely attached to his diocese, Mgr Pie had refused all offers of preferment: a seat in the National Assembly, the Archbishopric of Tours, and even the primatial See of Lyons. His works, full of doctrine and unction, were published serially during his lifetime at Poitiers, but were later collected into "Œuvres episcopales", 10 vols., Paris, s. d., and "Œuvres sacerdotales", 2 vols., Paris, s. d.
Baunard, Histoire du Cardinal Pie (Poitiers, 1893); Besse, Le Cardinal Pie, sa vie, son action religieuse et sociale (Paris. 1903) ; Veuillot-Crosnier, Le Cardinal Pie in Les Grandes figures Catholiques (Paris, 1895); La France Catholique (Paris, 1881); L'Episcopat français, 1803–1905 (Paris, 1907), s. v. Poitiers.
J. F. SOLLIER.
Piedmont (Ital. Piemonte), a part (compartimento) of northern Italy, bounded on the north by Switzerland, on the west by France, on the south by Liguria, and on the east by Lombardy. It includes the plain of the Upper Po, and the Alpine valleys that descend towards the plain from the south side of the Pennine Alps, from the east side of the Graiian and Cottian, and from the north side of the Maritime Alps. Its name, pedes montium, from which arose Pedimontium, came from its geographical position, enclosed on three sides by high mountains. At the present time it includes the four Italian provinces of Turin, Novara, Alessandria, and Cuneo. In the Middle Ages and in antiquity the country was important chiefly because it contained the passes over the Alps which led from Italy to Gaul. Until the beginning of the fourth century Christianity had made little progress. However, in the course of the fourth and fifth centuries Christianity spread rapidly among the people, now completely Romanized. The earliest episcopal sees were established in this era, namely Turin, Asti, and Aosta.
In the early Middle Ages various petty feudal states were formed in the Piedmontese country, the most important of which were the Marquessates of Ivrea, Suso, Saluzzo, Montferrat, and the Countship of Turin. The counts of Savoy early made successful attempts to establish their authority in this region. At the beginning of the eleventh century Aosta and the territory under its control belonged to Count Humbert I of Savoy. His son Oddo (Otto, d. 1060) married the Marchioness Adelaide of Turin, and in this way became possessed of the Marquessate of Susa, with the towns of Turin and Pinerolo, the foundation of the later Piedmont. After the death (1232) of Thomas I, Count of Savoy, this marquessate went to a younger branch, the descendants of Thomas II (d. 12.59), son of Thomas I; Amadeus V, son of Thomas II, is the ancestor of the present Italian royal family. These rulers called themselves Counts of Piedmont. On account of the position of their territories the Dukes of Savoy had a large share in the wars for supremacy in northern Italy. Besides extending their authority into Switzerland in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, they also gained new domains in Italy: the lordships of Vercelli, Asti, and Cava, and the feudal suzerainty over Montferrat. In the wars between the Emperor Charles V and Francis I of France, Duke Charles III (d. 1553) of Piedmont lost the greater part of his duchy. In the Peace of Cateau- Cambresis (1559), however, his son Emmanuel Phi- libert (d. 1580) regained nearly all of his father's possessions, anci obtained, in exchange for other ter- ritories, the Marquessate of Tenda and the Princi- pality of Oneglia.
Emmanuel Philibert's successor, Charles Emmanuel I (1580–1630), acquired the Marquessate of Saluzzo and a large part of Montferrat, which his son Victor Amadeus I (1630–37) was able to retain by conceding two other lordships to France. During the regency of the widow of Victor Amadeus I, the French Princess Christine, the influence of France in the Duchy of Savoy was greatly increased. Her son Charles Emman-
