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

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ALESSANDRO SAULI. 23Q<br />

duties, he established a seminary, urged catechetical instruc-<br />

tion, and with incredible privations and labour carried out<br />

an episcopal visitation. Time after time he fell ill, as <strong>the</strong><br />

result <strong>of</strong> his toil in that pestilent climate, but he persevered<br />

none <strong>the</strong> less. In <strong>the</strong> most desolate part <strong>of</strong> his diocese, at<br />

Argagliola, his fellow workers deserted him, and left him alone<br />

at his post. Besides <strong>the</strong> duties <strong>of</strong> his episcopal <strong>of</strong>fice he under-<br />

took all <strong>the</strong> labours <strong>of</strong> a simple priest ; in <strong>the</strong> seminary he<br />

himself delivered <strong>the</strong> lectures, and on his journeys he himself<br />

taught <strong>the</strong> catechism, visited <strong>the</strong> sick and heard confessions.<br />

His influence over <strong>the</strong> people was so great that, in <strong>the</strong> quarrels<br />

which were always breaking out, he dared to throw himself<br />

between <strong>the</strong> combatants, in order to prevent <strong>the</strong> shedding<br />

<strong>of</strong> blood, and thus to obviate those consequences which, on<br />

account <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> appalling prevalence <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> vendetta, followed<br />

upon a marder. He continued his unwearied activities for<br />

more than twenty years, until Gregory XIV. in 1591 trans-<br />

lated him to <strong>the</strong> see <strong>of</strong> Pavia, where he died in <strong>the</strong> following<br />

year. Pius X. canonized him in 1904.<br />

Pius V. had his part in <strong>the</strong> reform <strong>of</strong> Corsica by addres.sing<br />

briefs <strong>of</strong> encouragement to Alessandro Sauli and <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r<br />

four bishops <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> island, in v/hich he strongly urged upon<br />

<strong>the</strong>m above all things <strong>the</strong> religious instruction <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> common<br />

people, <strong>the</strong> reform <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> clergy, and <strong>the</strong> strict observance<br />

<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Tridentine decrees.^ He exhorted <strong>the</strong> Republic <strong>of</strong><br />

Genoa to assist <strong>the</strong> Corsican bishops in <strong>the</strong>ir laborious task.^<br />

Just as Sauli, Uke <strong>the</strong> Pope himself, had come <strong>from</strong> a<br />

rehgious Order, so was it to fall to such bodies in <strong>the</strong> future<br />

to take an immense part in <strong>the</strong> renewal <strong>of</strong> ecclesiastical life.<br />

Pius V. fully realized <strong>the</strong> importance <strong>of</strong> this, and <strong>from</strong> this<br />

conviction sprang his anxiety to give back <strong>the</strong>ir full vigour<br />

to <strong>the</strong>se valuable instruments <strong>of</strong> reform.<br />

^ Briefs <strong>of</strong> May 4, 1569, onwards, in Laderchi, 1569, n. 81 seq.<br />

<strong>The</strong> Bishop <strong>of</strong> Sagona, Girolamo Leonio, received a special brief<br />

praising him for having worked with success for <strong>the</strong> establishment<br />

<strong>of</strong> peace. <strong>The</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r four briefs are in <strong>the</strong> same strain. For<br />

.Blessed Burali and Ribera see supra pp. 163, 222.<br />

•'Brief <strong>of</strong> May 4, 1569, in Laderchi, 1569, n. S3.

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