PITIGLIANO
119
PITRA
Pierre Pithou
From a contemporary portrait.
codified the legal customs into the form of laws. He
then proceeded to Basle, where he published Otto de
Freisingen's " Vie|de Frederic Barberoussc " and Warn-
f rid's " Historia Miscellanea ". After the Edict of Paci-
fication of 1570 he returned to France, escaped during
the Massacre of St. Bartholomew, and, in 1573, joined
the Catholic Church. In the struggles between the
future Henry IV and the League, he was an ardent ad-
herent of Henry; he collaborated in the production of
the "Satire Mcnippee", and being skilled in canon
law, iiiailc a study, in an anonymous letter published
in 1593, of the
right of the
French bishops to
absolve Henry IV
without consult-
ing the iiope. In
l.','.tllici)ul)li,slied
an epoch- mak-
ing work "Les li-
bertes de I'^glise
gallicane". For
the first time the
luaxims of Gal-
liranism were
really codified, in
eighty-three arti-
cles. The first
edition was ded-
icated to Henry
IV. The permis-
sion to publish
the edition of
1651 under Louis
XIV contains
these words:
Versailles "We wish toshow
our favour to a work of so great importance for the rights of our crown". Pithou's book was the basis of the Four Articles of 1682. D'Aguesseau declared that the book was "the palladium of France", President Renault, that "the maxims of Pithou have in a sense the force of laws". An edict of 1719, and a decree of the Parliament of Dauphin^ on 21 April, 1768, or- dered the enforcement of certain articles in Pithou's book, as if these eightj'-three articles were legal enact- ments. They were reprinted by Dupin in 1824.
Henry IV appointed Pithou procurator general of the Parfiament of Paris; but he soon resigned the post, preferring to return to his juristic and literary studies. He edited Salvian, Quintilian, Petronius, Phtedrus, the Capitularies of Charlemagne, and the "Cor- pus juris canonici". His brother Francois (1541- 1621), who became a Catholic in 1578, wrote in 1587 a treatise on " The greatness of the rights, and of the pre- eminence of the kings and the kingdom of France", and was distinguished for his fanatical hostility to the Jesuits. Pierre Pithou, more equitable, saved the Jesuits from some of the dangers that threatened them for a short time after the attempted assassination of Henry IV by Chatel.
Grosley, Vie de Pierre Pithou (Paris, 1756) ; Dupin, Libertea deVEgliseoallicane (Paris, 1824), preface.
Georges Goyau.
Pitigliano. See Sovana and Pitigliano, Dio- cese OF.
Pitoni, Joseph, musician, b. at Rieti, Perugia, Italy, 18 March, 1657; d. at Rome, 1 Feb., 1743, and buried in the church of San Marco, where he had been choirmaster, in the Pitoni family vault. His biog- raphy, by his pupil Girolamo Chiti, is in the library of the Corsini palace. At five years he began to study music at Rome. Not yet sixteen, he composed pieces which were sung in the church of the Holy Apostles. At that age he was in charge of the choir at Monte Ro- tondo; at seventeen at the Cathedral of Assisi. At twenty (1677) he returned to Rome, and was macslro
di cappella in many churches; in 1708 he was ap-
pointed director of St. John Lateran. In 1719 he be-
came choirmaster of St. Peter's, and remained in that
office for twenty-four years. In the Accademia di S.
Cecilia he was one of the four esaminalori dei maestri.
Pitoni acquired such a marvellous facility, that for his
compositions, which were of great musical value, he
could write every part separately, without making a
score. The number of his compositions, says Chiti, is
infinite. Many of them are written for three and four
choirs. He also began a Mass for twelve choirs; but
his advanced age did not allow him to finish it. He
left a work "Notizie dei maestri di Cappella si di
Roma die oltrainontani".
Dirli„n„ri, „f M,isir from liSO-lSSO (London, 1880); Eitner. (Ju(fl,;,/. ,!,..„. \1I 11902), 462-64;Baini, A/cmorie . . . diG.P. da Pnhslruia. 11 (Home, 1828), 55, nota 602, Ger. tr. Kandleb (Vienna, 1S34).
A. Walter.
Pitra, Jean-Baptiste-Fran^ois, cardinal, famous archa>ologist and theologian, b. 1 August, 1812, at Champforgeuil in the Department of Saone-ct-Loire, France; d. 9 Feb., 1889, in Rome. He was educated at Autun, ordained priest on 11 December, 1836, and occupied the chair of rhetoric at the -peiil seminaire of Autun from 1836 to 1841. From his early youth he manifested an indefatigable diligence which, combined with brilliint talents and a remarkable memory, made him one of the most learned men of his time. The first fruit of his scholarship was his decipherment, in 1839, of the fragments of a sepulchral monument, dis- covered in the cemetery of Saint-Pierre at Autun and known as the "Inscription of Autun". It probably dates back to the third century, was composed by a certain Pectorius and placed over the grave of his parents. The initials of the first five verses of the eleven-line inscription form the symbolical word I'x^i^s (fish), and the whole inscription is a splendid testi- mony of the early belief in baptism, the Holy Eucha- rist, prayer for the dead, communion of saints, and life everlasting. He published the inscription in "Spicile- gium Solesmense" (III, 554-64).
In 1840 Pitra applied to Abbot Gueranger of So- lesmes for admission into the Benedictine order but, to accommodate the Bishop of Autun, he remained an- other year as professor at the petit seminaire of Autun. Hefinally began his novitiateatSolesmeson 15 January, 1842, and made his profession on 10 February, 1843. A month later, he was appointed prior of St-Germain in Paris. During his sojourn there he was one of the chief collaborators of Abbe Migne in the latter's colos- sal " Cursus patrologia; " . Pitra drew up the list of the authors whose writings were to find a place in the work, and collaborated in the edition of the Greek writers up to Photius, and of the Latin up to Innocent III. At the same time he contributed extensively to the newly founded periodical "Auxihaire cathohque". In 1845 he had to break his connexion with the great work of Migne, owing to the financial difficulties of the priory of St-Germain, which finally had to be sold to satisfy the creditors. Pitra undertook a journey through Champagne, Burgundy, Lorraine, Alsace, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland, and England in the interests of his priory. At the same time he visited numerous libraries in these countries in search of un- published manuscripts bearing on the history of the early Christian Church. The fruits of his researches he gave to the world in his famous "Spicilegium So- lesmense" (see below).
His many great archaeological discoveries and his unusual acquaintance with whatever bore any relation to the Byzantine Church, induced Pius IX to send him on a scientific mission to the libraries of Russia in 1858. Before setting out on his journey he studied the manuscripts relative to Greek canon law, in tlic libra- ries of Rome and other Italian cities. In Uiissia, where he spent over seven months (July, 1859-March, 1860),
