"should like to hear a song." "I know several,” replied the abbot. "Do you also play some instrument?" added the Pope. "Do you know how to play the "guitar?" "Perfectly," continued the elected abbot, more and more enchanted at the interest that the Sovereign Pontiff appeared to take in his musical talent. But then Benedict all at once changing his manner and tone:-"What then," said he, "it is a vile buffoon who "aspires to become the venerable abbot of the monastery "of St. Paul!" and he dismissed Monozella from his presence.

Clement VI. (1342-1352), aided the Church's triumph by electing Charles of Luxemburg,

The Tribune Rienzi.

Disorder was at its height at Rome and in the States. of the Church. Rome became uninhabitable for peaceable people, it was almost transformed into a desert; the part which remained inhabited was no less desolate than the deserted parts; the streets were encumbered and obstructed by the debris of the ruined houses, the war towers and the palaces demolished during the strife of the rival factions. The basilicas, a little while ago so brilliant, were half ruined; the altars stripped, the religious ceremonies deprived of their majesty, no more pilgrims, no more travellers; everywhere brigands, everywhere assassins, thieves, and every kind of crime; justice was silent, the thief audacious and unpunished. Cupidity and recklessness completed the destruction of monuments respected even by the barbarians: the Roman nobles made a traffic of the antiquities of their town, they carried away the pillars, the statues, the basreliefs, the ornaments of the temples, of the palaces, of the mausoleums, each noble family had a quarter of its own, which it ransacked as a quarry. The Coliseum

seemed to be common property to be pillaged at will; the marble statues were converted into lime. The Romans then began to feel how much they had lost in losing the Pope. A deputation waited upon Clement VI. begging him to return to Rome. Among the members of the deputation was found the poet Petrarch, and a man then young, named Nicholas or Cola Gabrino, better known under the name of Rienzi, which is a popular diminutive of Lorenzo (Laurence), one of his christian names; he was the son of a poor carpenter, but had received a careful education; and was brought up in the study of pagan antiquity; Clement VI. had appointed him Apostolic Notary. Rienzi, whilst shedding tears, drew a touching picture of the desolation of Rome; but the deputation only begged the Pope to accept the titles of Senator and of Governor of the town, not as Pope, but as Lord Roger (the name he bore before his exaltation.) Clement VI. could not accept this disguised forfeit of his just title, he replied that he would establish his residence at Rome as soon as ever it seemed possible to him; but that the moment had not yet come. Rienzi came with a second deputation, which Clement VI. received with kindness, with the conditions of which, however, he was not better able to comply.

Then, Rienzi nourishing souvenirs of Pagan Rome, of which he made a curious mixture with Christian ideas, resolved to establish order by giving to Rome a new constitution which he called the good state (Buono Stato.) This constitution was proclaimed in the Capitol on May 20th, 1347. His eloquence, his tears, his energy transported his fellow-citizens. He received the titles of tribune and of liberator of Rome, with the power of Dictator. Rienzi governed with great vigour. He first banished the barons from Rome; commanded the bandits to be executed; and order and tranquillity were

restored. He had conceived the gigantic idea of uniting Italy into one vast republic, of which Rome should be the centre. Perugia and Arezzo submitted to him, whilst other towns were disposed to do so. Rienzi had moreover solicited the approbation of the Pope, who allowed things to be done, himself reserving the right of afterwards pronouncing a definitive sentence when he might deem it proper. Rienzi brought about his own ruin. Elated by success, he knew no bounds; the nobles of the country marched against Rome; the people tired of the liberator refused to arm themselves. Rienzi took refuge in the castle of Sant' Angelo, and fled from thence to Prague, where the Emperor Charles IV. resided (1384), who delivered him to the Pope. Clement VI. kept him prisoner.

Innocent VI. (1352-1362), found in the Cardinal Albornoz, who had distinguished himself as a statesman and a warrior under Alphonsus XI. of Castille, before entering into the ecclesiastical state, a clever and energetic minister, who re-established the pontifical authority in Italy. Rome always regretted the vain grandure of its past glory, and the name of Rienzi again became popular there. Albornoz counselled Innocent VI. to send him back thither, persuaded that the tribune would work his own ruin, which did happen Rienzi received in triumph at Rome, was massacre. there two months afterwards (1354). During this tim Albornoz destroyed successively all the petty tyrants who had risen up in the Marches of Ancona and in the Romagna; he retook Bologna, concluded, after numerous victories, treaties of submission and of peace with the principal lords of the country, and happily terminated the entire submission of the States of the Church (1361).

Return of the Popes to Rome.

Henceforth the Popes were able to return to Rome. Innocent VI. had not the time; Urban V. (1362-1370), who like Benedict XII., died in the odour of sanctity, realized the project which he had announced on ascending the Chair of St. Peter; he returned to Rome amid the acclamations of the people and of Italy (1367). Christendom appeared to wake after a long and horrible dream. The following year, the two Emperors of the East and West, John Paleologus and Charles IV. met together in Rome; the first had come to seek succour against the Turks, and swore fidelity to the Roman Church. The Pope made useless efforts to organise a Crusade; troubles recommenced in Italy, Urban V. returned to Avignon; the captivity of Babylon was not at an end (1370). But now it was at last to terminate; Gregory XI., nephew of Clement VI. (13701378), returned to Rome (1377), whither he had been called by the wishes of the Romans and the exhortations of St. Catherine of Siena, a humble virgin to whom Providence reserved a great work in the Church: but the Romans, always fickle and ungrateful, forced Gregory XI. to return to Avignon. Urban VI. remained at Rome (1378), but then the fatal schism began which divided the Church between two obediences.

§ II.-THE SAINTS DURING THE SOJOURN OF THE POPES

AT AVIGNON.

St. Catherine of Siena.

God never abandons his Church; we have just seen that several of the Popes of Avignon merited the veneration of the people by their sanctity. At the same time, saints continued to edify the world and to produce

fruits of virtue. Among these glorious figures particularly shines that of an humble virgin of Siena, who became the counsellor of the Popes. It was St. Catherine, of whom we have just spoken, and of whose life Pope Pius II., her compatriot, thus speaks, in the bull of canonisation published in 1461: "Catherine," says he, "born at Siena, of parents of humble condition, conse"crated herself to God, at an age when she could "scarcely know him. When only six years old, inspired "with a desire for solitude, she escaped from the town "and went to hide herself in a solitary grotto; but "a divine inspiration told her that she must return to "her parents' home. As soon as she learnt how to "recite the Angelical Salutation, she made it her practice "to kneel at each step, when she mounted the stair"case of the paternal house, in order to salute the "Mother of God. At the age of seven years, she vowed "her virginity to God. As a reward of this early "sacrifice, God favoured her with an admirable vision, "in which he appeared to her in all the grandeur of "his majesty, and revealed to her the most sublime "mysteries, of which it is not permitted to men to "speak. From that time the heart of the innocent "virgin was for ever sealed to all the pleasures of the "world.

"Some years later she cut off her hair, refused to "marry, and supported with joy all the injuries and contempt which this resolution brought upon her. But it "was only after long and lively opposition, that she re"ceived the habit of St. Dominic, which the sisters of "Penance wore. She was obliged for a long time before obtaining it, to fulfil in her father's house the office of a "servant, an employment which she was delighted to under"take, as she considered herself happy to appear thus "vile and contemptible in the eyes of the world. With "her father's consent, she gave abundant alms to the