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The history of the popes, from the close of the middle ages : drawn ...

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l88 HISTORY OF THE POPES.<br />

questration was actually laid upon <strong>the</strong> diocese <strong>of</strong> Vaison,<br />

because <strong>the</strong> bishop <strong>of</strong> that city never visited his diocese.^<br />

<strong>The</strong> strict reformer did not give a thought to <strong>the</strong> fact that<br />

by <strong>the</strong>se orders his own court would be shorn <strong>of</strong> its splendours.<br />

<strong>The</strong> Cardinals received orders to send back at once to <strong>the</strong>ir<br />

posts those members <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir households who held benefices<br />

entaihng <strong>the</strong> care <strong>of</strong> souls, and also to go <strong>the</strong>mselves to <strong>the</strong>ir<br />

own sees. 2 <strong>The</strong> Pope had already told a hundred Spaniards<br />

at <strong>the</strong> court that <strong>the</strong>y must go back to <strong>the</strong>ir benefices. <strong>The</strong><br />

correspondent who reports this fact was <strong>of</strong> opinion that very<br />

soon <strong>the</strong> city would be half emptied <strong>of</strong> all important<br />

person<strong>ages</strong>.^<br />

Naturally such expressions must not be taken quite Hter-<br />

ally. Even a Pius V. could not eradicate an inveterate habit<br />

by words and exhortations alone, and accordingly in <strong>the</strong><br />

following year he began to take more stringent measures.<br />

Five or six parish priests, who had no business in Rome,<br />

1 *Avviso <strong>of</strong> November 9, 1566, Urb. 1040, p. 318, Vatican<br />

Library, According to a * report <strong>of</strong> Strozzi <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> same date<br />

(State Archives, Vienna) <strong>the</strong> bishop was deposed. <strong>The</strong> Bishop<br />

<strong>of</strong> Vaison in 1566 was Giacomo Cortesi, Patriarch <strong>of</strong> Alexandria,<br />

died 1570. His successor in <strong>the</strong> patriarchate was appointed<br />

November 8, 1570 (Moroni, LVII., 173). In 1569, Chisholm,<br />

<strong>the</strong> envoy <strong>of</strong> Mary Stuart, appears as Bishop <strong>of</strong> Vaison (Gams,<br />

648 ; Dictionary <strong>of</strong> National Biography, X., 262).<br />

" Consistory <strong>of</strong> September 6, 1566, according to <strong>the</strong> Diarium<br />

<strong>of</strong> Cardinal Farnese, in Laderchi, 1566, n. 63. *" Die lunae<br />

scilicet 13 ianuarii [1567] fuit consistorium sacretum, in quo<br />

inter alia S^^^^ d /^ hortatus fuit cardinales, quod mitterent<br />

eorum familiares habentes curam animarum ad earum curas<br />

quanto citius, quia volebat, quod omnes episcopi et curati in-<br />

dififerentur irent, etc. ;<br />

dixit etiam quod cardinales, qui poterant,<br />

irent ad eorum ecclesias simihter " (Firmanus, Diarium, p. 152,<br />

Papal Secret Archives). In <strong>the</strong> consistory <strong>of</strong> October 8, 1567,<br />

all prelates were again bidden to return to <strong>the</strong>ir churches<br />

(ibid.).<br />

^ *" Di modo che questa terra rimarra mezza dissoluta d'huomini<br />

di conditione." Avviso <strong>of</strong> December 8, 1566, Urb. 1040, p. 338,<br />

Vatican Library.

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