PISE
116
PISTOIA
Charles Con
NE Pise
Pise, Charles Constantine, priest, poet, and prose
writer, b. at Annapolis, Maryland, 22 Nov., ISOl; d.
at Brooklyn, New York, 26 ilay, 1866. He was edu-
cated at Georgetown College, and was for some time
a member of the Society of Jesus. He taught rhetoric
at Mount St. Mary's College, Enimitsburg, Md.,
where John Hughes, afterwards Archbishop of New
York, was among his pupils. In 1825 he was or-
dained to the priesthood and officiated for some time
at the cathedral in
Baltimore. He after-
wards served at St.
Patrick's church,
Washington, as as-
sistant pastor, and
while there was
elected (11 Dec,
1832) chaplain to the
United States Senate
— the only Cathohc
jiriest hitherto ap-
pointed to that office.
He was a personal
friend of President
Tyler. In 1848 he
became pastor of St.
Peter's Church, New
York; he had pre-
viously been assist ant
pastor in the same church under the vicar-general,
Dr. Powers. In 1849 he was appointed pastor of
St. Charles Borromeo's, Brooklyn, where he officiated
until his death. Dr. Pise wrote several works in
prose and verse, among them being "A History
of the Catholic Church" (5 vols., 1829), "Father
Rowland" (1829), "Aletheia, or Letters on the
Truth of the Catholic Doctrines" (1845), "St. Ig-
natius and His First Companions" (1845), "Chris-
tianity and the Church" (1850). His "Clara", a
poem of the fifteenth century, and "Montezuma' , a
drama, were never published. He contributed to the
magazine literature of the day, was a distinguished
lecturer and preacher, and a writer of Latin verse.
She.\. History of the Catholic Church in the United Slates, IV (New York, 1892). HenrT A. Brann.
Pisidia, a country in the southwestern part of Asia Minor, between the high Phrygian tableland and the maritime plain of Pamphilia. This district, formed by the lofty ridges of the western Taurus range, was in pre-Christian times the abode of stalwart, half- civilized, and unruly tribes, never entirely subdued. .\ncient writers describe them as a restless, plunder- loving population. St. Paul, no doubt, had in mind Pisidia, which he had traversed twice (Acts, xiii, 13-14: note here that, according to the more probable text, in the latter verse we should read " Pisidian Antioch"; xiv, 20-23), perhaps three times (.Acts, xvi, 6), when in II Cor., xi, 26, he mentions the "perils of waters" and "perils of robbers" he had confronted. Independent until 36 B. c, the Pisidians were then conquered by the Galatian king, Amyntas, and soon after, together with their conquerors, forced to acknowledge Roman suzerainty. Joined first to one province, then to another, it received a governor of its ow^n in 297 A. D. The principal cities were Cremna, Adada (the modern name of which, Kara Bavlo, preserves the memory of St. Paul), Serge, Ter- messos, Pednalissos, Sagalassos. Heaps of imposing ruins are all that is now left.
CoxYBEAHE AND HowsoN, The Life and Epistles of St. Paul (London, 1873); Focard, Saint Paul and His Missions, tr. Griffith (New York, 1894); Ramsay, Historical Geography of Asia Minor (London, 1890) ; Idem, The Church in the Roman Empire (London, 1894) ; Idem, Inscriptions en langue Pisidienne in Recue des Unitrrsitfs du Mi<li (1895), 353-60; Kiepert, Manuel de gtographie aneienne (French tr.. Paris, 1887); Lanc- KoaonaKl, Sladte Pamphyliens und Pi.iidiens (Vienna, 1892).
Charles L. Souvay.
Pistis, Sophia. See Gnosticism.
Pistoia, Synod of, held 18 to 28 September, 1786, by Scipio de' Ricci, Bishop of Pistoia and Prato. It marks the most daring effort ever made to secure for Jansenism and allied errors a foothold in Italy. Peter Leopold, created Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1763, emulated the example of his brother. Emperor Joseph II, in assuming to control religious affairs in his domain. Imbued with Regalism and Jansenism he extended a misguided zeal for reform to minutest details of discipline and worship. In two instructions of 2 August, 1785, and 26 January, 1786, he sent to each of the bishops of Tuscany a series of fifty-seven "points of view of His Royal Highness" on doctrinal, disciplinary, and liturgical matters, directing that dio- cesan synods be held every two years to enforce reform in the Church and "to restore to the bishops their native rights abusively usurped by the Roman Court ". Of the eighteen Tuscan bishops but three convoked the synod; and of these his only partisan was Scipio de' Ricci in whom he found a kindred spirit. Born in 1714 of an eminent family, de' Ricci gave early prom- ise of worth and eminence. Made Bishop of Pistoia and Prato, the most populous of the Tuscan dioceses, 19 June, 1780, he planned and energetically pursued, with the encouragement of Pius VI, the work of much- needed reform, but influenced by the times, his zeal came to be marked by reckless audacity. He con- demned devotion to the Sacred Heart, discouraged the use of relics and images, undervalued indulgences, im- provised liturgy, and founded a press for Jansenistic propaganda. On 31 July, 1786, de' Ricci, in convoking the synod, invoked the authority of Pius VI who had previously recommended a synod as the normal means of diocesan reform. \A'ith characteristic energy and prevision he prepared for the council by inviting from without his diocese, theologians and canonists noto- rious for Gallican and Jansenistic tendencies, and issued to his clergy pronouncements which reflected the dominant errors of the times. On 18 September, 1786, the synod was opened in the church of St. Leo- pold in Pistoia and continued through seven sessions until 28 September. De' Ricci presided, and at his right sat the royal commissioner, Giuseppe Paribeni, professor at the University of Pisa, and a regalist. The promoter was Pietro Tamburini, professor at the University of Pavia, conspicuous for his learning and for Jansenistic sympathies. At the opening session 234 members were present ; but at the fifth session 246 attended, of whom 180 were pastors, 13 canons, 12 chaplains, 28 simple priests of the .secular clergy, and 13 regulars. Of these many, including even the pro- moter, were extra-diocesans irregularly intruded by de' Ricci because of their sympathy with his designs. Several Pistorian priests were not invited while the clerg}' of Prato, where feeling against the bishop was particularly strong, was all but ignored.
The points proposed by the grand duke and the innovations of the bishop were discussed with warmth and no little acerbity. The Regalists pressed their audacity to heretical extremes, and evoked protests from the papal adherents. Though these objections led to some modifications, the propositions of Leopold were substantially accepted, the four Gallican Articles of the Assembly of the French Clergy of 1682 were adopted, and the reform programme of de' Ricci car- ried out virtually in its entirety. The theological opinions were strongly Jansenistic. Among the vaga- ries proposed were : the right of civil authority to create matrimonial impediments; the reduction of all religious orders to one body with a common habit and no perpetual vows; a vernacular liturgy with but one altar in a church etc. Two hundred and thirty-three members signed the acts in the final session of 28 September, when the synod adjourned intending to reconvene in the following April and September. In
