Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 6.djvu/425

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367

GALLITZIN


367


GALLITZIN


natural one, and not particularly safe. It is thought that the place owes its origin to the inhabitants of Gallipolis in Sicily. In 450, it was laid waste by the Vandals; in the days of St. Gregory the Great (590- 604) Ciallipolis belonged to the Roman Church. Dur- ing the Norman invasion it resisted stubbornly. Roger I gave it to his brother Bohemund, who had been made Prince of Tarentum ; thenceforth the city shared the lot of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Charles of Anjou besieged it in 1284 and destroyed it, driving the inhabitants from their homes; in 1327 Robert the Good gave them permission to return, within a short time the town again became prosperous. In 1429, the Turks disembarked there. In 1484, the Venetians, in order to force King Ferdinand to with- draw his troops from the pontifical states, blockaded the port with a fleet of 60 vessels. Despite the death of their leader, Giacomo Morello, they overcame the stubborn resistance of the citizens, and sacked the town ruthlessly. It was quickly restored; but in 1496, tlie Venetians, in revenge for the assistance given to Ferdinand II by the town, took possession of Galli- poli; even the French blockade in 1501 did not suc- ceed in driving them out. In 1509 Gallipoli was given back to the Kingdom of Naples, at that time under Spanish rule. A very remarkable feat of arms oc- curred in 1528 when 600 Gallipolitans routed an army of 4000 French infantry and 300 cavalry. The last blockade occurred in 1809 when the English attacked the place and were repulsed.

.\mong its famous citizens are: the painters Gio- vanni Andrea Coppola, Giovanni Domenica Catalano, Giuseppe Riliera (Spagnuoletto) ; the sculptor Ves- pasiano Genuino; the poets Giovanni Coppola, Bishop of Muro, and Onofrio Orlandini; the juriscon- sults Tomraaso Briganti (1762) and Filippo Briganti (1804); the physician and naturalist Giovanni Presta (1797). The earliest bishop we know of is one Bene- dict who lived in the days of St. Gregory the Great. The Greek Rite, which was introduced probably in the tenth century, remained in use until the year 1513. .\mong other bishops are: Melchisedech, present at the Second Council of Nicsea (787); Alessio Calce- donio (1493), one of Bessarion's disciples; Alfonso Herrera (1576), a generous and charitable man; Vin- cenzo Capece (1595), a man of remarkable holiness; Antonio Perez de la Lastra (1679), philosopher and theologian; Oronzio P'ilomarino (1701), a renowned theologian. The cathedral, built in 1629, has a fa- mous fagade; it is the work of Francesco Bischetini, and Scipione Lachibari. The frescoes of the cupola (martyrdom of St. Agatha) and on the walls are the work of Carlo Malinconico. The see is a suffragan of Otranto; it has 3 parishes and 20,100 souls, a convent of Carmelite nuns, arid a foundling hospital.

CippELLETTr, Le chiese d' Italia (1870), XXI, 327-31; Rav- enna, Memorie storiche di Gallipoli (Naples, 1838); Lenor- MANT. La Grande Grkce (Paris, ).

U. Benigni.

Gallitzin (or Golyzin), Adele Amalie, princess; b. at Berlin, 28 Aug., 1748; d. at Angelmodde, near Minister, Westphalia, 27 April, 1806. She was the daughter of the Prussian General Count von Schmet- tau, and educated in the Catholic faith, though she soon became estranged from her religion. In 1768, she married the Russian Prince Dimitry Alexejewitsch Gallitzin, who was under Catharine II ambassador at Paris, Turin and The Hague. In each of these capi- tals, the princess, thanks to her beauty and her emi- nent qualities of mind and heart, played a brilliant role. At the age of twenty-four she forsook society suddenly and devoted herself to the education of her children. She applied herself assiduously to the study of mathematics, classical philology, and philosophy under the noted philosopher Franz Hemsterhuis, who kindled her enthusiasm for Socratic-Platonic idealism, and later under the name of "Diokles" dedicated to


her the " Diotima ", his famous " Lettres aur I'ath^- isme". The educational reform introduced by Franz V. Furstenberg, Vicar-General of Miinster, induced her to take up her residence in the Westphalian capital. Here she soon became the centre of a set of intellectual men led by Fiirstenberg. This circle also included the gymnasia! teachers, (whom she incited to the deeper study of Plato), Overberg, the reformer of popular school education, Clemens Augustus von Droste-Vis- chering. Count Leopold von Stolberg, the profound philosopher Haniann, who was interred in her garden. The poet Claudius of the " Wandsbecker Bote" was also a familiar visitor, and Goethe numbered the hours passed by him in this circle among his most pleasant recollections. The reading of Sacred Scripture, neces- sitated by the religious education of her children, and her constant intercourse with noble ( 'atholic souls, led to her return to positive religious convictions. On 28 Aug., 1786, at the instance of Overberg, she ap- proached the tribunal of penance for the first time in many years. Soon after she made this zealous priest her chaplain. Under his influence, she underwent a complete change which affected all her surroundings. Her religious life took on a larger growth, and pro- duced the most admirable fruit. She became the centre of Catholic activity in'Miinster. In those revo- lutionary and godless times, she provided for the spread of religious writings, proved a support for the religious faith of many of her friends, and induced others, among them Count Stolberg, to make their peace with the Church. Her gentle charity assuaged the distress of many, and she readily and generously assisted poor and destitute priests. For extensive circles hers was a model of religious life, and her social activ- ity was for many a providential blessing. Portions of her correspondence and diaries were pulilished by Scheuter (Miinster, 1874-76) in three parts. This admirable lady was the mother of the well-known American missionary Prince Demetrius Gallitzin.

KATERKAMP.-DenftuJurrfifffteiVeTi avs dent Leben der Fiirstin Gal- litzin (Miinster, 1828); Galland, Die Fiirstin A. von Gallitzin und ihre Freunde (Cologne, ISSO).

Patricius Schlager.

Gallitzin, Demetrius Augustine, prince, priest, and missionary, b. at The Hague, Holland, 22 Decem- ber, 1770; d. at Loretto, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., 6 May, 1840. He was a scion of one of the oldest, wealthiest, and most illustrious families of Russia. His father, Prince Demetrius Gallitzin (d. 16 March, 1803), Russian ambassador to Holland at the time of his son's birth, had been previously for fourteen years Russian ambassador to France, and was an intimate acquaintance of Diderot, Voltaire, d'Alembert, and other rationalists of the day. Though nominally an Orthodox Russian, he accepted and openly professed the principles of an infidel philosophy. On 28 August, 1768, he married in Aachen the Countess Amalie, only daughter of the then celebrated Prussian Field-Mar- shal von Schmettau. Her mother. Baroness von Ruffert, being a Catholic, Amalie was baptized in the Catholic Church, but her religious education was neglected, and it was not until 1786 that she became a fervent Catholic, which she remained until her death, 27 April, 1806.

Little attention was paid to the religious education of Demetrius, who was born and baptized in the Greek Orthodox Church. In youth his most constant com- panion was Frederick William, son of William V, then reigning Stadtholder of the Netherlands. This friend- ship continued even after Frederick William became King of the Netherlands and Duke of Luxemburg as William I. Almost from his infancy the young prince was subjected to rigid discipline, and his intellectual faculties, trained by the best masters of the age, reached their fullest development. When about seventeen he became a sincere Catholic, and to please his mother, whose birth (1748), marriage (1768), and