ROME
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ROME
lished near the Vatican by Nicholas V, and allowed
the bodies of Jews and condemned infidels to be used
for the purposes of anatomical study. He also
established chairs of Hebrew and mathematics. A
mineralogical museum (the "Metalloteca", which
was after abandoned) was founded in the Vatican.
Under Gregory XIII adjunct chairs with salary at-
tached were established for the young doctors of
Rome, who might later become ordinary professors.
In that and the following centuries the professors of
theolog>' were generally the procurators general of
the various religious orders. Sixtus V granted 22,000
scudi to extinguish the debt encumbering the univer-
sity. He gave to the college of consistorial advocates
the exclusive right of electing the rector who, until
then, had been elected by the professors and the
students, and he instituted a congregation of car-
dinals, "Pro Universitate Studii Romani". At the
end of the sixteenth century the university began to
dechne, especially in the faculties of theology, philos-
ophy, and hterature. This was due in part to the
forrnidable concurrence of the Jesuits in their Col-
legio Romano, where the flower of the intellect of
the Society was engaged in teaching. Moreover,
Plato was the favoured master in the Sapienza, while
Aristotle was more generally followed elsewhere.
Among the distinguished professors in this century
besides those alreadv mentioned were Tommaso de
Vio, O.P., later the celebrated Cardinal Gaetano;
Domenico Jacovazzi ; Felice Peretti (Sixtus V) ; Marco
Antonio Muret, professor of law and elegant Latinist;
Bartolomeo Eustacchio, the famous anatomist.
In the seventeenth century the decline was rapid. Many of the professors had the privilege of lecturing only when they pleased; most of them were foreigners. The medical school alone continued to prosper owing to the labours of Cesalpino and Lancisi. The Ac- cademia dei Lincei promoted the study of the natural sciences and was honoured by Benedettino CastelU, the disciple and friend of Gahlei, and Andrea Argoli; later Vito Giordani the mathematician attracted many students. Only two jurisconsults of note are found during this century, Farinacci and Grav-ina. Giu.seppe Carpani brought the students together at his home to familiarize them with the practice of law. The most important event of the century occurred in 1660, under Alexander VII (1655-67), when the university buildings begun by Alexander VI (1492-1503) were complet<jd. Alexander VII established moreover the university library (the Alexandrine Library) by ob- taining from the Clerks Regular Minors of Urbania, whom he compensated by giving them permanently the chair of ethics, the pnnted books from the library of the Dukes of Urbino. In addition he founded six new chairs, among which was that of controversial church history, first filled by the Portuguese Fran- cesco Macedo. Innocent XI erected a fine anatomical hall. The most celebrated and relatively speaking most frequented schools were those of the Oriental languages. Under Innocent XII a move was made to suppress the university and assign the buildings to the Piarists for the free education of young boys. Fortunately the plan was not only not executed but rf«ult<^Ki in a radical reform and the introduction (1700) of a new regime which benefited in particular the faculty of law.
Clement XI purchased (170.3) with his private funds some fields on the Janiculum, where he estab- lishe<i a botanical garden, which soon became the most celebratfd in Europe through the labours of the brothers Trionfetti. Benedict XIV, who had bef;n a professfjr and rector of th(! university (1706- V.i), promulgaUid in 1744 n<'w regulations concerning especially the vacations, the order of examinations, and the sf;lection of fjrofessors, which was to be by competitive examination, whereas from the time f)f Innocent XII they were ordinarily appointed by the
pope. Another Edict (1748) dealt with the rights
and duties of the professors and established chairs of
chemistry, botany, and experimental physics. The
following chairs were then in existence: 6 of juris-
prudence; 6 of medicine; 15 of arts (including theol-
ogy). In 1778 the sciences were divided into five
classes: theology, 5 chairs; jurisprudence, 6; medicine,
9; philosophy and arts, 5; languages (Latin, Greek,
Arabic, Hebrew, Syriac). But a rector of that time
deplored the inertia of the professors and the laziness
of the students. Pius VII (1804) founded the min-
eralogical and natural history museum, and in 1806
a chair of veterinary science. From 1809 till 1813
the French system was in force. Leo XIII in 1824
established the Congregation of Studies, and gave it
CORTILK OF THE SaPIENZA
control of the universities in the pontifical state. Many professors at Rome as at Bologna had to resign their chairs on account of their political opinions, which resulted in the university failing to keep pace with the universities in other states, for instance, the chairs of public and commercial law were not founded till 1848; and that of political economy still later. Among the distinguished professors of the eighteenth century were the jurists, Fagnano, Renazzi (also the historian of the university), Petrocchi; the professors of medicine, Baglivi, Tozzi, Pascoli; the mathema- tician, Quartaroni ; the Syrian scholar, Assemani ; and Menzini and Fontanini the Htt6rateurs; in the nine- teenth century the Abbate Tortolini and Chelini, mathematicians. In 1870 there were 6 profcs.sors of theology, 8 of law, 2 of notarial art, 13 of medicine, 4 of pharmacy, 11 of surgery, 3 of veterinary science, 15 of philo.sophy and mathematics, 8 of Italian and classical philology, and 4 of Oriental languages. Under the new Government all the professors who refused to take the oath of allegiance! were dismissed, among those refusing being the entire theological staff. These alone then formed th(( pontifical university, which came to an end in 1S76.
The university is now under the control of the Italian Government and is called the Royal Univer-
