OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Giovanni Lorenzo Berti

From volume 2 of the work.
An Italian theologian, b. 28 May, 1696, at Sarravezza, Tuscany; d. 26 March, 1766, at Pisa. His parents were of the lower class. At the age of fifteen he entered the Augustinian order, and preached with success before he had attained his twenty-third year. He subsequently occupied important offices in his order, i.e. those of general secretary, prefect of the Angelica (the former valuable library of the Augustinians at Rome), general assistant. He first taught philosophy, then theology, at Sienna, Florence, Bologna, Padua, Rome, and finally (1748) became professor of ecclesiastical history at Pisa. He suffered, in 1762, a stroke of apoplexy which was repeated and eventually caused his death. His literary career was an agitated one. By order of Father Schiaffinatti, his Superior General, he wrote the extensive work "De Theologicis Disciplinis" (Rome, 1739-45), an exposition of the theological teaching of St. Augustine. The book, which appeared in several editions, was vehemently attacked by d'Ise de Saléon (who was successively Bishop of Agen, 1730-35, Bishop of Rodez, 1735-46, and Archbishop of Vienne, 1747-51) and by Languet de Gergy, Archbishop of Sens (1731-53). They accused Berti of Jansenism. In answer, the latter published: (1) "Augustinianum Systema de Gratiâ" (Rome, 1747; Munich, 1750); (2) "In Opusculum" (Leghorn, 1756). The accusations against Berti were submitted to the Roman authorities. Benedict XIV (1740-58) had his book examined and found its teaching sound. Besides other works published in this controversy, Berti wrote: (1) "Commentarius de Rebus gestis S. Augustini" (Venice, 1756); (2) "S. Augustini Quaestionum de Scientiâ,. . . .dilucidatio" (Pisa, 1756); (3) "De Haeresibus Trium Priorum Saeculorum" (Bassano, 1769); (4) "Historia Ecclesiastica" (Florence, 1753), an ecclesiastical history, which he later published in an abridged form (Pisa, 1760), and which, thus shortened, was frequently re-edited (recently at Turin, 1892).
N.A. WEBER
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Giovanni Lanfranco

From volume 8 of the work.
Also known as CAVALIERE GIOVANNI DI STEFANO.
Decorative painter, b. at Parma, 1581, d. in Rome, 1647. As a boy Lanfranro was a page at Piacenza in the service of Count Scotti, and developing a talent for drawing was placed by the count under Agostino Carracci, with whom he remained for some years, but before he was sixteen he had painted a picture of the Virgin and Saints, which was so much admired that it was considered worthy of being placed in the church of Sant' Agostino at Piacenza. On the death of Carracci, Lanfranco went to Rome and assisted Annibale Carracci in decorative work in the Farnese Gallery, in the Vatican, and in various Roman churches. By clever scheming, he was able to carry off a commission which had been promised to Domenichino, his great rival, who was born on the same day as himself, and exerting himself to the utmost of his ability to out-do his opponent, he executed in the cupola of Sant' Andrea della Valle his greatest work, representing the Virgin seated in the clouds, and distinguished by grandeur, daring, boldness of design, and masterly coloring. He was then attracted to Naples and was occupied for a couple of years in painting the cupola of San Gennaro, and in carrying out similar work in San Martino. Here again he was the rival of Domenichino, who was at work at the cupola of the treasury when he died, and Lanfranco was employed to finish the fresco, but he destroyed almost all the work of his great rival, excepting the decorations in the angles, and these still remain to prove that with the solitary exception of the cupola in Rome, Domenichino's work was far more accomplished than that of his persistent rival. After executing this work, he returned to Rome, where he spent the remainder of his life, and his productions pleased Urban VIII so much that he conferred upon him the honor of knighthood.
His works can be studied in Madrid, Florence, Paris, Vienna, and Dresden, as well as in the places already mentioned. He left behind him several fine etchings, and a few drawings.
BELLORI, Vite de' Pittori Scultori e Archetti Moderni (Rome, 1672), also a similar work on the artist (Rome, 1731), and his description of the Vatican (1751).
GEORGE CHARLES WILLIAMSON
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Giovanni Mario Crescimbeni

From volume 4 of the work.
Italian historian of literature, chronicler, and poet, b. in Macerata, 9 Oct., 1663; d. 8 March 1728. He was educated at Rome for the law, but gave most of his time to poetry and literature. In 1679 he was made doctor of laws, and in 1705 Clement XI named him canon of Santa Maria in Cosmedin. A few years later (1719) the same pontiff appointed him archpriest and in the same year he was ordained to the priesthood.
Crescimbeni composed tragedies and rime of various kinds, and translated into Italian verse two books of Lucan's "Pharsalia". His prose is superior to his verse, and it is especially as a literary critic that he is known. His special studies in Italian literature helped to pave the way for the general histories of that subject. His greatest work, "Dell' Istoria della volgar poesia" (6 vols., Rome, 1698), was one of the best productions of its kind and is still of considerable value. In it he treats of the origin and development of Italian poetry, appreciates the works of the one hundred chief Italian poets, arranges the poets in chronological order, and discusses the art and kinds of poetry. This huge work was followed in 1702 by the "Commentarii intorno alla sua Istoria della volgar poesia", in 5 volumes, which was at first undertaken to supersede the "Istoria"; but since this had met with such favour, the new work became a supplement to it.
Crescimbeni will also be remembered as one of the founders of the Academy of "Arcadia, conversatione di belle lettere", over which he presided from its foundation in 1690 to the time of his death. "Arcadia" was a kind of pastoral republic, whose members included the leading scholars and poets of Italy who strove to root out the perverted taste of the seventeenth century in matters of art and literature, and to introduce a simpler and more natural style into Italian prose and poetry. The society grew out of a somewhat similar society which had been patronized by Queen Christine of Sweden (d. 1689), who had taken up her residence in Rome. "Arcadia" grew in importance and numbers; "Colonies" were established in the principal Italian cities; and its influence extended even beyond the borders of Italy. The members assumed shepherds' names, and took as their device a Pan's pipes surrounded by laurels. (See ACADEMIES, ROMAN.)
The Life of Crescimbeni, with a list of his works edited and inedited, written by a contemporary, Francesco Mancurti, is in the final edition of the "Istoria" (Venice, 1730-1731), VI, 213 sq. This biographical article also gives much information on the history of the "Arcadia". The rime were edited in Rome in 1695, and more completely in 1723.
JOSEPH DUNN
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Giovanni Marliano da Nola

From volume 11 of the work.
Sculptor and architect, b., it is said, of a leather merchant named Giuseppe, at Nola, near Naples, 1488; d. 1558 (?). He studied under Agnolo Aniello Fiore and then went to Rome, being attracted by the fame of Michelangelo, whose work he studied closely. On his return to Naples he was employed in churches, palaces, and piazze. Among his works may be mentioned the monument of Galeazzo Pandono in S. Domenico (1514); the tombs of the three youths Jacopo, Ascanio and Sigismondo (who died of poison) in their family church of S. Severino (1516); various sculptures in the church of Monte Oliveto (1524), notably a fine group of the Mother and Child with infant St. John and, in the choir, tombs of Alphonsus II and Guerrero Origlia; in the church of S. Chiara, the simple and touching recumbent figure of the girl Antonia Gandino (1530). Outside of Italy the noble monument of the Spanish Duke of Cardona (about 1532) in the Franciscan church of Belpuch is among the best known. The decorations made by Nola for the reception of Emperor Charles V in Naples (1535) are still to be seen on the Porta Capuana. In 1537 he carved a beautiful standing Madonna and two Saints for the church of S. Domenico Maggiore. In 1553 the Spanish viceroy, Peter of Toledo, caused him to erect the mausoleum to himself and his wife in the church of S. Giacomo degli Spagnuoli. Further works of Nola's, also in Naples, are the Pieta and tomb of a child, Andrea Cicara, in the church of S. Severino; a Madonna della Misericordia in S. Pietro ad Aram; an altar-piece at S. Aniello, representing the Mother and Child seated on a crescent moon; and a fine set of wooden bas-reliefs depicting the life of Christ, in the sacristy of the Annunziata. Nola is one of the most justly lauded representatives of a rather poor school of Renaissance sculpture in Naples.
CICOGNARA, Storia della scultura (Venice, 1813); PERKINS, Italian Sculptors (London, 1868); LUBKE, History of Sculpture, tr. BURNETT (London, 1872).
M. L. Handley.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Giovanni Meli

From volume 10 of the work.
Sicilian poet, b. at Palermo, 4 March, 1740, d. 20 Dec., 1815. He was the son of a goldsmith of Spanish origin, and received his first education from the Jesuits. He afterwards studied natural science and medicine, and practised as a physician in the hamlet of Cinisi and later at Palermo itself, where for nineteen years he held the chair of chemistry at the university. Towards the end of his life he took minor orders. In childhood he had been let to poetry by reading Ariosto, and in poetical exposition founded relief from domestic unhappiness. His poems are written in the Sicilian dialect, and as a vernacular poet of this kind he has no rival in Italian literature. His longer works, "La Fata Galanti", "Don Chisciotti e Sanciu Panza", "L'origini di lu Munnu", are fantastic poems in ottava rima in imitation of Berni. The "Buccolica", eclogues and idylls of the four seasons of the year, is full of Sicilian colour, and has won him the title of "the modern Theocritus". Meli was a staunch supporter of the Bourbon regime, and among his lyrics "Anacreontiche" and "Odi", is an ode in honour of Nelson, which however, he is said to have suppressed after the latter's execution of the Neapolitan patriots. His last work, the "Favuli morali" is a collection of Esopian fables in verse with an underlying allegorical or satirical meaning.
Opere di GIOVANNI MELI (Palermo, 1857); La Buccolica, la Lirica, le Satire, e l'Elegie di GIOVANNI MELI ridotte dal sicilano in italiano da AGNOSTO GALLO (Salerno, 1858); NAVANTARI, Studio critico su Giovanni Meli (Palermo, 1904).
Edmund G. Gardner.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Giovanni Paolo Colonna

From volume 4 of the work.
Born at Bologna, 1637; died in the same city, 28 November, 1695. After studying under Agostino Fillipucci in his native city, Antonio Abbatini and Oragio Benevoli in Rome, Colonna became organist at the church of S. Apollinaris in the latter city. In 1659 he accepted the post of choir-master at the church of S. Petronio in Bologna. He not only was a charter member of the Accademia Filarmonica but founded a school of his own which has produced distinguished musicians, among them Giovanni Maria Buononcini. Colonna was one of the most noted church composers of the seventeenth century and has left a large number of works (masses, psalms, motets, litanies, antiphons, requiems, lamentations) for from one to eight voices with either organ or orchestra accompaniment. These compositions are but seldom performed at present, both on account of their not having the form or the spirit of the great period of church music, the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and because of the elaborate apparatus required for their performance.
RIEMANN, Musik Lexikon; ROCKSTRO, History of Music (New York, 1886); KORNMÜLLER, Kirchenmusikalisches Lexikon; WOOLDRIDGE, The Oxford History of Music (Oxford, 1901-05); GASPARI, Dei musicisti Bolognesi (Bologna, 1876-80).
JOSEPH OTTEN.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Pope Stephen (III) IV

From volume 14 of the work.
Stephen (III) IV, Pope, born about 720; died 1 or 3 August, 772. Paul I was not dead when trouble began about the election of his successor. Toto of Nepi with a body of Tuscans burst into Rome, and, despite the opposition of the primicerius Christopher, forcibly intruded his brother Constantine, a layman, into the chair of Peter (June, 767). In the spring of 768, however, Christopher and his son Sergius contrived to escape from the city, and with the aid of the Lombards deposed the usurper. They were also able to overthrow the monk Philip, whom some of their Lombard allies had clandestinely elected pope. By their efforts Stephen, a Sicilian, the son of Olivus, was at length canonically elected and consecrated (7 August, 768). He had been a Benedictine monk, and had been ordained priest by Pope Zachary. After his consecration the antipopes were treated with the greatest cruelty which, it seems to be generally allowed, Stephen was unable to hinder. To prevent the recurrence of such an election as that of Constantine, the Lateran council forbade laymen to be elected popes or to take part in their election for the future. Only cardinals were to be chosen popes (April, 769). Through Stephen's support the archdeacon Leo was enabled to hold the See of Ravenna against a lay intruder, and in turn through the support of the brothers Charlemagne and Carloman, Kings of the Franks, Stephen was able to recover some territories from the Lombards. But their king, Desiderius, managed to strike two serious blows at Stephen. He brought about a marriage between his daughter and Charlemagne, and in some mysterious manner effected the fall of the pope's chief ministers, Christopher and Sergius. He also allied himself with Paul Afiarta, Stephen's chamberlain, who practised great cruelties when the pope lay dying. Desiderius also brought about trouble in Istria by trying to cause a schism against the Patriarch of Grado, but Stephen defended the patriarch promising him even armed support if necessary. Stephen is honoured as saint in some Martyrologies.
For bibliography see STEPHEN (II) III, POPE.
Horace K. Mann.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Pope Stephen (IV) V

From volume 14 of the work.
(816-17)
Stephen (IV) V, Pope, date of birth unknown; died 24 Jan., 817. Stephen, the son of Marinus, was of the same noble Roman family which gave two other popes to the Church. During his youth he had been patronized by Hadrian I and Leo III, the latter of whom had ordained him deacon. His virtues were celebrated, and he was elected pope and consecrated immediately after Leo's death, about 22 June, 816. He at once caused the Romans to take an oath to the Emperor Louis the Pious as their suzerain, and he sent notice of his election to him. He then went to France and crowned Louis. From that benevolent prince he received a number of splendid presents, and with him renewed the pact or agreement that had already existed for some time between the Franks and the papacy. Whilst still in Gaul he granted the pallium to Theodulf of Orleans, one of the emperor's chief advisers. When returning to Rome he visited Ravenna, there exposing the sandals of Christ to the veneration of the faithful, and he brought back with him a number of exiles whom political reasons had sent into exile during the pontificate of Leo III. He was buried in St. Peter's.
Liber Pontificalis, ed. DUCHESNE, II, 49 sqq.; Lives of Louis the Pious and various annals in Mon. Germ. Hist.: Script., II; MANN, Lives of the Popes, II, 111 sqq.
Horace K. Mann.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Pope Stephen (IX) X

From volume 14 of the work.
Stephen (IX) X, Pope, born probably about the beginning of the eleventh century; died at Florence, 29 March, 1058. (Junian?) Frederick, destined to become Pope Stephen X, was the son of Gozelon, Duke of Lower Lorraine and of Junca, the daughter of Berengarius II, King of Italy. As he advanced in years he became as distinguished for character and learning as he was for his birth. It was seemingly whilst he was a canon of Liège that his cousin Leo IX met him and made him chancellor and librarian of the Roman Church (c. 1051). He accompanied Leo IX in his apostolic journeyings throughout Europe, and was sent by him on the famous embassy to Constantinople (1054) which terminated in the final separation of the Eastern and Western Churches. On his return from the East he was robbed by the Count of Teate, and, to avoid falling into the hands of the Emperor Henry III, the Black (who seems to have distrusted him as the brother of the rebellious Godfrey the Bearded, Duke of Lorraine), he became a monk at Monte Cassino (1055), and, after the death of the Emperor Henry, its abbot (1057). He was made cardinal-priest of St. Chrysogonus by Victor II, and, on the latter's death, he was freely chosen his successor, and consecrated on the following day (3 August, 1057). As pope, he carried on the work of reformation which had been inaugurated by St. Leo IX. To show how much he was in earnest, he at once made cardinals of both that zealous champion of reform, St. Peter Damian, and the quondam monk Humbert, his own uncompromising companion on the embassy to Constantinople. He also made no little use of Cardinal Hildebrand (afterwards St. Gregory VII), the soul of the reforming party. He sent him to Milan to effect an improvement in the morals of its clergy with instructions to proceed to Germany and to induce the regent, the empress-mother Agnes, to accept his election which had been made without any reference to her. It was further arranged that Hildebrand was then to go on to France. Stephen was preparing to reopen negotiations with the Greek Church, and to try to stop the advance of the Normans in southern Italy, when he died, exhorting the cardinals to await the return of Hildebrand before electing his successor. He was buried in the Church of St. Reparata.
Liber Pontificalis, II, 278, ed. DUCHESNE (Paris, 1892); De ortu et obitu just. cœnob. Cas., n. 58, ap. MAI, ScrIpt. Vet., VI, 278; P. L., CXLIII, U. ROBERT has put together all that is known of Stephen X in his Hist. du P. Etienne X (Brussels, 1892); MANN, Lives of the Popes in the Middle Ages, VI (London, 1910); 207 sq.
Horace K. Mann.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Pope Stephen (V) VI

From volume 14 of the work.
(885-91)
Date of birth unknown; died in Sept., 891. His father, Hadrian, who belonged to the Roman aristocracy, entrusted his education to his relative, Bishop Zachary, librarian of the Holy See. Stephen was created cardinal-priest of SS. Quattro Coronati by Marinus I, and his obvious holiness was the cause of his being chosen pope. He was consecrated in September, 885, without waiting for the imperial confirmation; but when Charles the Fat found with what unanimity he had been elected he let the matter rest. Stephen was called upon to face a famine caused by a drought and by locusts, and as the papal treasury was empty he had to fall back on his father's wealth to relieve the poor, to redeem captives, and to repair churches. To promote order he adopted Guido III, Count of Spoleto, "as his son" and crowned him Emperor (891). He also recognized Louis the Blind as King of Provence. As Aurelian, Archbishop of Lyons, would not consecrate Teutbold who had been canonically elected Bishop of Langres, Stephen himself consecrated him. He had also to oppose the arbitrary proceedings of the Archbishops of Bordeaux and Ravenna, and to resist the attacks which the Patriarch Photius made on the Roman See. His resistance was successful, and the Emperor Leo Sent the disturber into exile. When writing against Photius, he begged the emperor to send warships and soldiers to enable him to ward off the assaults of the Saracens. Stephen, who received many English pilgrims and envoys bringing Peterspence, was buried in the portico of the basilica of that Apostle.
Liber Pontificalis, II, 191 sqq., 226; Letters of STEPHEN in P. L., CXXIX, and LOWENFELD, Epp. Pont. Rom. (Leipzig, 1885), 35 sqq.; various annals in Mon. Germ. Hist.: Script., I; FRODOARD in ibid., XIII; DUCHESNE, The Beginnings of the Temporal Sovereignty of the Popes (London, 1907), 189, 194-5; MANN, Lives of the Popes, III, 367 sqq.
Horace K. Mann.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Jean-Baptiste Meilleur

From volume 10 of the work.
French Canadian physician and educator, b. at St. Laurent, P.Q., 9 May, 1796; d. 7 Dec., 1878. He studied the classics at the Sulpician college of Montreal, philosophy at Middlebury, N.H., and medicine at Castletown, Vt. He was one of the founders of the flourishing college of L'Assomption, P.Q. In 1834 he edited "L'Echo du pays" and was returned the same year to the Lower Canadian Parliament. He was the first superintendent of education for that province, an office which he held from 1842 to 1855. He assumed the arduous task of enforcing the educational law framed by the Act of Union of the two Canadas (1841), a law which, owing to prejudice and to undue political influence, was highly unpopular. Meilleur thoroughly organized the Department of Education, and witnessed, before retiring from office, the remarkable progress achieved by education, both primary and classical, thanks, in a great measure, to the generous and devoted co-operation of the clergy. Besides contributing to different periodicals, articles on education, agriculture, botany, and geology, and on medicine to the "Journal de médecine", he wrote textbooks on French and English grammar and correspondence, and on chemistry. His chief work is "Mémorial de l'Education" (1860), a history of education in Canada. He died the very day on which he was publicly to receive the insignia of Officer of Public Instruction of France.
MORGAN, Bibliotheca canadensis (Ottawa, 1867); CHAUVEAU, L'Instruction publique du Canada (Quebec, 1876); Le Courrier du Canada (Quebec, 1878).
LIONEL LINDSAY