PIRHING
108
PIRKHEIMER
quality always predominates. He was fond of peo-
pling his ruins with Callot-like figures, and " likeCallot
makes great use of the swelling line" (Hind). His
plates ultimately came into the possession of the pope.
Although not eminent as an architect he repaired
among other edifices the church of S. Maria del
Popolo, and the Priory of Malta, in which is a life-size
statue to his memory. Piranesi married a peasant,
and his children, Francesco and Laura, were of great
assistance to him towards the end of his laborious life.
Laura's touch strongly resembles that of her father.
He was decorated with the Order of Christ and was
made a member of the London Society of Antiquaries.
His works are: "Ro-
man Antiquities" (220 plates); Views of Rome (130plates) ; Antique Statues, Vases and Busts (350 plates) ; Magnifi- cence of the Romans (47 plates).
DEL.\BORDE,Zrfi Grarwre (tr. London. 1SS6): Hind. A Short History of En- graving and Etching (Lon- don, 1908): HUNEKEH, Promenades of an lmpr< — sionist (New York, 191li'.
Leigh Hunt.
PirhingTi Erxri- ctjs, b. at Sigarthin, near Passau, 1606; d. between 1678 and
1681. At the age of „ ,^. ^ ^.
twenty-two he en- ^'^"'""s ^^' ^'""
tered the Society of Jesus, where he gave instruction in the Sacred Sciences. He taught canon law and Scripture for twelve years at Dillingen, where he was still living in 1675. His "Jus canonicum in V libros Decretalium distributum" (5 vols., Dillingen, 1674- 77; 4 vols., Dillingen, 1722; 5 vols., Venice, 1759) marks a progress in canonical science in Germany, for al- though he maintains the classical divisions of the "Corpus Juris", he gives a complete and synthetic explanation of the canonical legislation of the matters which he treats. He published also, under the form of theses, seven pamphlets on the titles of the first book of the Decretals, which were resumed in his "Jus Canonicum"; and an "Apologia" against two ser- mons of the Protestant Balduinus (Ingolstadt, 1652; Munich, 1653). After his death one of his colleagues pubUshed a "Synopsis Pirhingana", or r&ume of his " Jus Canonicum " (Dillingen, 1695; Venice, 1711).
De B.tCKER-SoMMERVOGEL, BihUotheque des Icrivains de la C. de J. (LiJge, 1872). II, 1999; ScHnLTE, Die Gesch. der Quellen u. Literalur des kanonischen Rechls (Stuttgart, 1880), III, 143.
A. Van Hove.
Pirkhelmer, Charitas, Abbess of the Convent of St. Clara, of the Poor Clares, in Nuremberg, and sis- ter of the celebrated Humanist Willibald Pirkhelmer, b. in Nuremberg, 21 March, 1466; d. there 19 August, 1532. At the age of twelve she obtained a remarkable spiritual formation in the cloister of St. Clara. It is not known when she entered the religious life. She found a friend in Apollonia Tucher, whom her nephew, Christoph Scheurl, entitles "The crown of her convent, a mirror of virtue, a model of the sis- terhood," and who became prioress in 1494. She also, toward the end of the century, became a friend of the cousin of Apollonia, the provost, Sixtus Tucher. This friendship finds expression in thirty-four letters of Tucher addressed to the two nuns, treating principally of spiritual subjects and of the contemplative life.
Charitas, who in 1500 was a teacher and perhaps also mistress of novices, was chosen on 20 Decem- ber, 1503, as abbess. The first twenty years of her
tenure of office she passed in the peace of contemplative
life. She was able to read the Latin authors, and
thereby acquired a classic style. The works of
the Fathers of the Church, especially of St. Jerome,
were her favourite reading. In her studies her
brother Willibald was her guide and teacher. He
dedicated to her in 1513 his Latin translation of
Plutarch's Treatise "On the Delayed Vengeance of
the Deity" and praises in the preface her education
and love for study, against which Charitas, "more
disturbed than astonished", protested, claiming that
she was not a scholar, but only the friend of learned
men. In 1519 he dedicated to his sisters, Charitas
and Clara, who since
1494 had also been a PoorClare, the works of St. Fulgentius,and in l.")21 111- translated for thcni the sermons of St. (iregorj' of Xazianzus. Several of Pirkheiraer's hu- manist friends be- came acquainted with the highly cul- tivated abbess. Con- rad Celtes presented her with his edition of the works of the nun Hrotsvit (Ros- witha) of Gander- sheim, and his own poems, and, in a eu- logy, praises her as a rare adornment of oau.sia r.ranesi ^j^^ German Father-
land. Charitas thanked him, but advised him frankly to rise from the study of pagan writings to that of the Sacred Books, from earthly to heavenly pursuits. Christoph Scheurl dedicated to her in 1.506 his "L'tilitates missa?" (Uses of the Mass); in 1515 he published the letters of Tucher to Charitas and Apollonia. She was highly esteemed by Georg Spalatin, Kiliam Leib, Johannes Butzbach, and the celebrated painter, Diirer. But all the praise she re- ceived excited no pride in Charitas; she remained simple, affable, modest and independent, uniting in perfect harmony high education and deep piety. It was thus she resisted the severe temptations which hung over the last ten years of her life.
When the Lutheran doctrines were brought into Nuremberg, the peace of the convent ceased. Charitas had already made herself unpopular by a letter to Emser (1522) in which she thanked him for his valiant actions as "The Powerful Defender of the Christian Faith". Since 1524 the governor had sought to re- form the cloister and to acquire possession of its property. He assigned to the convent of the Poor Clares Lutheran preachers to whom the nuns were forced to listen. The acute and bigoted inspector, Nutzel, tirelessly renewed his attempts at perversion, while outside the people rioted, threw stones into the church and sang scandalous songs. Three nuns, at the request of their parents and in spite of their re- sistance, were taken out of the convent by violence. On the other hand Mclanchthon, during his residence in Nuremberg in 1525, was ver>' friendly to them, and the diminution of the persecution is attributable to him. Nevertheless, the convent was deprived of the care of souls, was highly taxed and, in fine, doomed to a slow death. With constant courage and resourceful superiority, Charit;i.s defended her rights against the attacksand wiles of the town-council, the abusive words of the preachers, and the shameful slanders of the peo- ple. Her memoirs illuminate this period of suffering as far as 152S. Her last experience of earthly happi- ness was the impressive celebration of her jubilee at
