PITTS
120
PITTS
he had free access to all the libraries of St. Petersburg
and Moscow. On his return he made an official visit
of the twenty Basilian monasteries of Gahcia at the
instance of tlie papal nuncio at \'ienna. After arrang-
ing his writings at the monasteries of Solesmes and
Liguge, he was called to Rome in August, 1S61, to con-
sult with the pope on the advisabihty of erecting at
the Propaganda a special department for Oriental
affairs and to make a personal report on his findings
in the libraries of Russia. Pitra was also chosen to
Bupervise the new edition of the Uturgical books of the
Greek Rite, which was being prepared by the Propa-
ganda. He was created cardinal on 16 March, 1S63,
with the titular church of St. Thomas in Parione. As
his residence he chose the palace of San Callisto where
he continued to live the simple life of a monk as far as
his new duties permitted.
On 23 Jan., 1869, he was appointed librarian of the Vatican. He drew up new and more liberal regula- tions for the use of the library and facilitated in every way access of scholars to the Vatican manu- scripts. Above all, however, he himself made diligent researches among the manuscripts and published many rare and valuable specimens in his "Ana- lecta" (see below). At the Vatican Council in 1S70, he ably maintained against the inopportunists that the Catholics of the ( ireek and Oriental Churches upheld the papal infallibility. After the accession of Leo XIII (,20 Feb., 1S78) he supervised the edition of a catalogue of the Vatican manuscripts, of which the first volume, "Codices Palatini Grseci", appeared in 1885 and was prefaced by Cardinal Pitra with a lauda- tory epistle addressed to Leo XIII. On 21 May, 1879, he was appointed Cardinal-Bishop of Frascati and for five years laboured incessantly for the welfare of his diocese, which had been greatly neglected. On 24 March, 1884, he was transferred to the episcopal See of Porto and Santa Rufina to which was annexed the dignity of subdc^an of the Sacred College. On 19 May, 188.5, Abb6 Bniuwers iiublished in the " Amstelbode", a Catholic journal of Belgium, a letter of Pitra, which the hostile press construed into an attack upon the policy of Leo XIII; but Pitra soon satisfied the Holy See of his filial devotion.
Cardinal Pitra was one of the most learned and pious members of the Sacred College. Besides being Librarian of the Holy Roman Church and member of various Roman congregations and cardinalitial com- missions, he was cardinal protector of the Cistercians, the Benedictine congregation of France, the Benedic- tine nuns of St. Cecilia at Solesmes and of Stanbrook in England, the Eudists, the Brothers of Christian schools, the Sisters of ]Mercy of St. Charles in Nancy, and the Sisters of the Atonement in Paris. The follow- ing are his literary productions : — ( 1 ) " Hist oire de Saint L^ger, ^veque d'.\utun et martyr, et de I'^gUse des Francs au Vile siecle" (Paris, 1846), one of the most complete monographs on the Church of the Franks during the seventh century ; (2) "La Hollande catho- lique" (Paris, Is.'iO), consisting mostly of letters con- cerning llolhuiil and its people, which he wrote while travelling in that country in 1849; (3) "Etudes sur la collection des Actes des Saints par les RR. PP. J^suites Bollandistes" (Paris, 1850), a complete history of the "Acta Sanctorum" of the Bollandists, preceded by a treatise on the hagiological collections up to the time of Rosweyde (d. 1629); (4) "SpicilegiumSolesmense" (4 vols., Paris, 1852-1858), a collection of hitherto unpublished works of Greek and Latin Fathers of the Church and other early ecclesiastical writers; (5) "Vie du P. Libermann" (Paris, 18.55; 2nd ed., 1872; 3rd ed., 1882), a very reliable life of the Venerable Paul Libermann, founder of the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Mary. Libermann had been a per- sonal acquaintance of Pitra; (6) "Juris ecclesiastici GriEcorum historia et monumenta" (2 vols., Rome, 1864-8), containing the canonical writings of the
Greeks from the so-called "Apostolic Constitutions"
to the "Nomocanon", generally ascribed to Photius.
\\'ith its learned introduction and its many notes and
comments, the work forms a complete historj' of
Byzantine law; (7) " Hymnographie de I'eglise
grecque" (Rome, 1867), a dissertation on Greek
hymnography, accompanied by numerous Greek
hymns in honour of Sts. Peter and Paul ; (8) " Analecta
sacra SpicilegioSolesmensiparata" (Svols.), a supple-
ment to "Spicilegium Solesmense". The first volume
(Paris, 1876) contains Greek hymns; the second
(Frascati, 1883), the third (Venice, 1883), and the
fourth (Paris, 1883) contain writings of ante-Nicene
Fathers; the fifth (Paris, 1888) is composed of writ-
ings of the Fathers and of a few pagan philosophers;
the seventh (Paris, 1891) contains writings bearing on
the canon law of the Greeks and was published posthu-
mously by Batt:indier, who had been Pitra's secretary;
the eiglitli (Monte Cassino, 1881) contains the writ-
ings of St. Ilildegard; the si.xth, which was to contain
Greek melodies, has not been published; (9) "Ana-
lecta novissima" (2 vols., Frascati, 1885-8), a second
supplement to "Spicilegium Solesmense". The first
volume contains a F'rench treatise on papal letters,
bullaria, catalogues of popes etc., and a hitherto un-
published treatise on Pope Vigilius by Dom Constant.
The second volume is devoted to writings of Odon
d'Ourscamp, Odon de Chateauroux, Jacques de Vitry,
and Bertrand de la Tour, four medieval French bishops
of Frascati; (10) "Sancti Romani cantica sacra"
(Rome, 1888), a collection of hymns written by
Romanos, the greatest Byzantine hymnodist. Pitra
presented this work to Leo XIII on the occasion of his
sacerdotal jubilee. In addition to these works Pi-
tra contributed numerous archaeological, theological,
historical, and other articles to various scientific pe-
riodicals of France.
Cabrol, Histoire du Cardinal Pitra, henediclin de la Congrega- tion de France (Paris, 1893), tr. into German by Bohler in Studienund Mitteilungen aus dem Benediktiner- und Cistercienser' Orden, XXVIII-XXX (Briinn, 1907-9); Battandier, ie car- dinal Jean-Baptiste Pitra, ^ique de Porto, hibliolhicaire de la Sainte Eglise romaine (Paris, 1896); Cabrol, Le Cardinal Pitra. Ses travaux et ses decouvertes in Science catholique (1889), tr. in The Lamp (1899) ; Bibliographie des Benedictines de la Congrigation de France (Paris, 1906), 120-31.
MlCH.\EL OtT.
Pitts, John, b. at Alton, Hampshire, 1560; d. at Liverdun, Lorraine, 17 Oct., 1616. He was edu- cated at Winchester and New College, Oxford, where he remained, 20 March, 1578-1580. He was admitted to the English College, Rome, 18 Oct., 1581, ordained priest 2 Slarch, 1588, became professor of rhetoric and Greek at the English College, Reims, proceeded M.A. and B.D. at Pont-i-Musson, Lic.D. at Treves (1592), and D.D. at Ingolstadt (1595). After holding a canonry at Verdun for two years he was appointed confessor and almoner to the Duchess of Cleves, and held this position for twelve years. After her death his former pupil, the Bishop of Toul, appointed him dean of Liverdun. His chief work is the " Relat ionum Hist oricarum de rebus Anglise ", of which only one part, "De Illustribus Anglice Scriptoribus", was published (Paris, 1619). The other sections, "De Regibus Anglian", "De Episcopis AngUfe", and "De Viris .\postolicis Anglia>", remained in MS. at Liver- dun. The "De Scriptoribus" is chiefly valuable for the notices of contemporary writers. On other points it must be used with caution, being largely compiled from the uncritical work of Bale. Pitts also published "Tractatus de legibus" (Trier, 1592); "Tractatus debeatitudine" (Ingolstadt, 1595); and " Libri sep- tem de peregrinatione" (Diisseldorf, 1604).
KiHBY. Annals of Winchester College (London. 1892); Foster. Alumni Oionienses (Oxford, 1891); Wood, Athena: Ozo7,iensea (London. 181.3-20); Dodd, Church Historg, II (Brussels. 1739); Kno.\, Douay Diaries (London. 1878) ; Foley. Records Eng. Prot. S. J., Ill, VI; GiLLOW. Bibl. Diet. Eng. Cath., s. v.
Edwin Burton.
