A “Second Counter-‐Reformation? Aspects of the Pontificate of Pius VI
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A “Second Counter-Reformation? Aspects of the pontificate of Pius VI reconsidered”. Davide Franco Jabes Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. University of York. Department of History. January 2011. Abstract Radical transformations came about in the Habsburg Empire and their satellite states during the 1780s, as the Emperor Joseph II embraced the Enlightened reforms and promoted ways in which laws and a new order could be spread. The main opposition towards this sovereign and his reforms came from the Catholic Church. In 1775, shortly after he was declared pope, Pius VI issued a bull (Inscrutabile divinae) which was at the same time an anti-Enlightenment manifesto and a warning towards any criticisms within the Church of Rome. In 1781, Joseph II reformed censorship, and in 1782, began a campaign to suppress monasteries belonging to contemplative orders and issued the Edict of Tolerance. In a short period of time, the subjects of the Empire had access to great scholarly works of seventeenth and eighteenth-century Europe. Under Joseph II the newly generated intellectual culture produced an amazing number of pamphlets, books, and journals/periodicals, the like of which had never been seen before in the Habsburg territories. Public debate on the state, religion, and society accompanied the flood of short tracts, bringing together a group of intellectuals in support of “Josephinism”. A strong counter-reform movement arose in answer to this reform action; the movement was represented by members of new diplomatic class endowed with greater powers, since they were announced as the pope’s direct representatives abroad. After the suppression of the Jesuit Order, the apostolic nunciatures and printed publications became the instruments of diffusion and control of the Catholic population. The increase in anti-Enlightenment publications and the recall of the community of the faithful back to the orthodoxy was the pretext for a series of measures against the Jews and catholic reformers. Therefore Rome 2 and Vienna became the centres of a battle whose main objective was the renewal of society or its negation. Compared to “orthodox” historiography and the main research into this topic which state Pius VI’s inadequacy when confronted by the reforms imposed by the Emperor, many of the documents consulted demonstrate a certain capacity on the part of the Church of Rome in not only resisting the wave of reforms introduced by the Hapsburg court, but also in successfully imposing its own political policy in the Italian peninsular at the same time. The answer from Pius VI led to a series of changes (among which, it should be remembered, the worsening status of the Jews and the end of Jansenism) which left lasting traces in the history of the Church, and even stronger in European history. 3 List of contents List of contents---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 Author's declaration--------------------------------------------------------------------- 6 Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7 1.1. Research methods and objectives-------------------------------------------------------- 9 Chapter 1 - Rome and Vienna------------------------------------------------------- 19 1.1. The “secular” role of the Church in the Catholic States----------------------------29 1.2. The Jews of Rome and the Holy See in the second half of the Eighteenth Century ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------30 1.3. The edict on the Jews and its consequences ------------------------------------------36 1.4. Pius VI, his political agenda ------------------------------------------------------------42 1.4. The beginnings ----------------------------------------------------------------------------51 1.5. Information concerning the pontificate of Pius VI between 1775 and 1787------59 1.6. The Pope: administrator and Reformer -----------------------------------------------62 1.7. The Church of Pius VI and publications-----------------------------------------------64 1.8. The briefs of Pius VI----------------------------------------------------------------------71 1.9. The reissue of the edict on the Jews----------------------------------------------------94 Chapter 2 - Josephinism and the pope’s visit to Vienna: 1781-1782.-------- 99 2.1. The Legacy of Maria Theresa. -------------------------------------------------------- 103 2.2. Limits of Theresian religious reformism: Maria Theresa and Joseph II. ------- 112 2.3. The Moravia case: Kaunitz and Maria Theresa. ----------------------------------- 115 2.4. The final misunderstandings between mother and son, the empress’s death and Joseph II’s first decrees on ecclesiastical matters.-------------------------------------- 117 2.5. Correspondence between the nunciatures and the Holy See.--------------------- 130 2.6. The papal journey to Vienna. --------------------------------------------------------- 130 2.7. Political consequences of the pope’s journey to Vienna.-------------------------- 160 2.8. Correspondence between the nuncios and the Holy See from 1782 – 1786 concerning imperial reforms. Vienna ----------------------------------------------------- 162 2.9. The Egisti affair and the Eybel case ------------------------------------------------- 170 Chapter 3 - The initial reactions of the Church of Rome against the Empire: 1782-1786.------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 182 3.1. Correspondence between the nunciatures and the Holy See --------------------- 185 3.2. The opening of new nunciatures: the German example --------------------------- 191 3.2.1 The nuncio Pacca arrives in Germany. The Ems Punctation---------------- 196 3.3. What is the Pope? The success in Europe of the pamphlet by the Viennese jurist Joseph Eybel and the response of the Holy Father-------------------------------------- 210 4 Chapter 4 - Zondadari’s short-lived nunciature: the rebellion of the seminarists of Leuven and the distribution of the brief Super Soliditate.-- 220 4.1. Zondadari: his ecclesiastical career from his period in Malta until his departure for Brussels ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 229 4.2. Zondadari’s long journey from Siena to Brussels: the nunciature’s documents in the Vatican Archives------------------------------------------------------------------------- 236 4.3. From various sources of news concerning the reforms “to be applied” in Austrian Flanders , to the news of the promulgation of the Imperial decrees------- 244 4.4. The general seminaries ---------------------------------------------------------------- 247 4.5. The papers of the nuncio Zondadari ------------------------------------------------- 253 4.6. Reactions to the expulsion of the Nuncio -------------------------------------------- 262 Conclusion ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 272 Bibliography --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 279 I – ARCHIVAL SOURCES------------------------------------------------------------------ 279 II – Printed sources-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 285 III – Secondary works, books--------------------------------------------------------------- 285 IV – secondary works Articles and chapters --------------------------------------------- 290 5 Author's declaration The work presented in this thesis has all been carried out by myself and has not been submitted previously for a degree at York or any other University. I hereby certify that no part of this thesis has been published or submitted for publication. 6 Introduction This thesis analyses some significant aspects the papacy of Pius VI (original name Giovannangelo Braschi, 1775-1799) that have been substantially overlooked in the secondary literature, in order to argue for a reappraisal of his papacy. The following analysis, revolves round three aspects of his policy. The first element is the exacerbation of the laws concerning the Jews subject to the jurisdiction of the Papal State. The extensive nature of these measures had the purpose of strictly preventing any contact between Jews and Catholics and, at the same time, strengthening the Catholic identity by discriminating the Jewish minority.1 Braschi clearly associated Hebraism with the greater diffusion and success of Enlightenment ideas. The second point takes into account the greater involvement in the Pope’s political actions of his nuncios and of the clergy directly under his control. The way this aspect developed after Pius VI’s pontificate also needs further consideration.2 The third point examines how the press supporting papal supremacy was supported and became stronger in order effectively to oppose Jansenistic ideas that the Viennese and pro-Jansenistic press supported.3 I here define the renewed attitude of closure and intolerance for the non- Catholic world under Pius VI’s pontificate in terms of a “second Counter- Reformation”. With this word I do not specifically refer to the discussions within the Christian world nor to the theological matters debated by the Counter- 1 Marina Caffiero, Legami pericolosi, Ebrei e cristiani tra eresia, libri proibiti e stregoneria (Torino, 2012), pp. 15 - 16. 2 Mario Rosa, Clero cattolico e società europea nell’età moderna (Bari, 2006), p. IX. 3 Patrizia Delpiano, Il governo della lettura, Chiesa e