Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/644

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PAUL


582


PAULA


various cities of Italy on matters concerning eccleei- astical jurisdiction and the relations between Church and State. The bitterest quarrel was with the proud Republic of Venire, which refused to acknowledge the exemption of the clergy from the jurisdiction of the civil courts and passed two laws obnoxious to the Ro- man Curia, the first forbidding the alienation of real property in favour of the clerg)-, the second demand- ing the approval of the civil power for the building of new cluirches. Paul demanded the repeal of these anti-clerical ordinances, and insisted that two clerics who had been committed to prison should be surren- dered to the ecclesiastical court. The dispute became daily more bitter and gradually developed into a broad discussion of the relative position of Church and State. What gave the quarrel a European importance


ENT OF Paul V


was the ability of the champions who entered the field on either side. For the claims of the Church stood Cardinals Baronius and Bellarmine; the cause of Venice was <lefended by the Servite Paolo Sarpi, a man of wonderful literary skill and a sworn enemy of the Roman Court. On 17 April, 1606, the pope pro- nounced sentence of excommunication against the doge. Senate, and (government collectively. He al- lowed a verj' short space for submission, after which he impo.sed an interdict on the city. The clergy had now^ to take sides for or against the pope. With the exception of the .Jesuits, the Theatines, and the Capu- chins, who were immediately expelled, the entire body of secular and regular clergj' held with the Government and continued to hold services, notwithstanding the interdict. The festival of Corpus Christi was cele- brated with unusual splendour, and Sarpi said Mass for the first time in years. The schism lasted about a year; and peace was patched up through the mediation of France and Spain. The Repubhc refused to repeal the obnoxious laws openly, but promised "to conduct itself with its accustomed piety". With these obscure words the pope was forced to be content; he removed the censures 22 March, 1607. The Thea- tines and Capuchins were permitted to return; an exception was made against the Jesuits.


The pope watched vigilantly over the interests of the Church in every nation. On 9 July, 1606, he wrote a friendly letter to James I of England to congrat\ilate him on his accession to the throne, and referred with grief to the plot recently made against- the life of the monarch. But he prays him not to make the innocent Catholics suffer for the crime of a few^ He promises to exhort all the Cathohcs of the realm to be submis- sive and loyal to their sovereign in all things not op- posed to the honour of God. ITnfortun.Ttely the oath of allegiance James demanded of his subjects con- tained clauses to which no Catholic could in con- science subscribe. It was solemnly condemned in two Briefs, 22 Sept., 1606, and 2.3 Aug., 1607. This con- demnation occasioned the bitter dissension between the party of the archpriest George Blackwell and the Catholics who submitted to the decision of the Holy See. In Austria the efforts of the pope were directed to healing the disputes among the Catholics and to giving moral and material aid to the Catholic Union. He survived the battle of Prague, which put an end to the short reign of the Calvinistic "winter-king".

Paul V was no more free from nepotism than the other pontiffs of that century. But if he seemed to show too many favours to his relatives, it must be said that they were capable men of blameless lives, and devoted their large revenues to the embellishment of Rome. Paul had the honour of putting the finishing touches to St. Peter's, which had been building for a century. He enriched the Vatican Library, was fond of art, and encouraged Guido Reni. He canonized St. Charles Borromeo and St. Frances of Rome. He beatified Sts. Ignatius Loyola, Francis Xavier, Philip Xeri, Theresa the Carmelite, Louis Bertrand, Thomas of Villanova, and Isidore of Madrid. During his pon- tificate a large number of new institutes for education and charity added new lustre to religion. His remains were placed in the magnificent Borghese chapel in St. Mary Major's, where his monument is universally admired.

Life, in Latin, by Bzovio, It. tr. in continuation of Platina, Vile dei Pontefici (Venice, 1730) ; see also von Ranke, History of the Popes in the Sixteenth, etc.. Centuries: VON Redmont, Gesck. der StadI Rom: Abtaud de Montor, History of the Popes (New York, 1S67).

James F. Loughmn. Paul, Regular Clerics of Saint. See Babna-

BITES.

Paula, S.\iNT,b. in Rome, 347; d. at Bethlehem, 404. She belonged to one of the first families of Rome. Left a widow in 379 at the age of 32 she became, through the influence of St. Marcella and her group, the model of Christian widows. In 382 took place her decisive meeting with St. Jerome, who had come to Rome with St. Epiphanius and Paulinus of Anti- och. These two bishops inspired her with an invinci- ble desire to follow the monastic life in the East. After their deiKirture from Rome and at the request of Marcella, Jerome gave readings from Holy Scripture before the group of patrician women among whom St. Paula held a position of honour. Paula was an ar- dent student. She and her daughter, Eustoehium, studied and mastered Hebrew perfectly. By their studies they aimed not so much to acquire knowledge, as a fuller acquaintance with Christian perfection.

She did not, however, neglect her domestic duties. A devoted mother, she married her daughter, Paulina (d. 395), to the senator Pammachius; Blesilla soon became a widow and died in 384. Of her two other daughters, Rufina died in 386, and Eustoehium ac- companied her mother to the Orient where she died in 419. Her son Toxotius, at first a pagan, but bap- tized in 38.5, married in 389 Lata, daughter of the pagan priest Albinus. Of this marriage was born Paula the Younger, who in 404 rejoined Eustoehium in the East and in 420 closed the eyes of St. Jerome. These arc the names which recur frequently in the