Piacenza

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Diocese of Piacenza (Placentinensis)

Piacenza is adiocese in Emilia, centralItaly. The city is situated on the right of the Po, near its junction with the Trebbia, in an important strategic position. Agriculture is the chief industry. Thecathedral is of the ninth century; it was remodelled by Santa da Sambuceto and others (1122-1223) in beautiful Lombard style. The campanile, over 216 feet high, is surmounted by anangel, in brass; thecupola is a more recent part of the edifice; there are frescoes by Guercino and byMorazzone,Ludovico Carracci, Procaccino, and others. Its Cappella del Crocifisso has an arch withstatues ofNero and ofVespasian; the Cappella di S. Corrado has an admirable Madonna by Zitto di Tagliasacchi, and contained once a picture of St. Conrad byLanfranco, but it was taken toFrance. Among the churches is S. Antonio (fourth century), many times restored; until 877 it was thecathedral; in 1183 the preliminaries of the Peace of Constance were concluded in this church; here also arepaintings by Procaccino, Mulinaretto, Novoloni etc.; thesacristy contains a triptych with thegesta of S. Antonio. In thepastor's residence of S. Andrea there is an ancientmosaic. S. Bartolommeo, formerly a church of theJesuits, contains besides its beautifulpaintings two crucifixes, one very ancient, the otherdating from 1601. S. Francesco (1278) has beautiful columns, but has been disfigured by incongruous restorations; it contains a Pietà by Bernardo Castelli, a Madonna by Francia, and thetomb of the famousFranciscan, Francesco Mairone (1477). S. Giovanni in Canali (1220), formerly of theTemplars, and later of theDominicans, has also been disfigured by its restorations; it containsstatues ofPius V andBenedict XI, thetomb of the Scottifamily and of the physician Gulielmo da Saliceto. S. Savino (903) was restored several times and entirely transformed in the eighteenth century; formerly there was amonastery annexed to it; in its recent restorations,paintings of the fourteenth century were discovered, and also pillars and othersculptures of the original construction, as well asmosaics, a crucifix carved in wood, and other objects. Outside the city themonastery of the CassinesiBenedictines, S. Sisto, founded in 874 by Queen Angilberga, is a veritable sanctuary of art; the famous Sistine Madonna byRaphael, was first here, but was sold by themonks, to obtain funds for repairs. Santa Maria in Campagna contains a very ancientstatue in marble ofOur Lady, fourstatues in wood by Hermann Geernaert, andpaintings by Procaccino,Pordenone, Guercino, and others.

The Palazzo Ducale, a work ofVignola (1558), has since 1800 served as a barracks. The Palazzo Anguissola da Grazzano contains finepaintings. The Palazzo Brandini has a gallery ofpaintings by Correggio,Reni, Guercino, Andrea del Sarto, andMurillo. The Palazzo Landi containspaintings byVan Dyck. The Palazzo Palastrelli has alibrary of works on the history of Piacenza. Cardinal Alberoni established in this town a famous college. Its church haspaintings byPaolo Veronese,Guido Reni, and others. The Piazza de Cavalli has equestrianstatues of Alessandro and of Ranuccio I, Farnese, by Mocchi da Montevarchi.

Placentia, withCremona, was founded in 218 B. C., to hold in check the Gauls after their defeat near Clastidium. The Via Æmilia terminated there. Scipio, defeated near the Trebbia, retreated to this town. In 206 it was besieged in vain by Hasdrubal and burned by the Gauls in 200. There Emperor Otho defeated Vitellius (69) and thenAurelian was defeated by the Alamanni (271); there also Emperor Orestes was decapitated (467). The Lombards took possession of it, at the beginning of their invasion, and thereafter it remained in their power. From the ninth century the temporal power was in the hands of thebishops, until the twelfth century, when the town became a commune, governed by consuls, and later (1188), by a podestà. In thewars between the Lombard cities and with the emperors, Piacenza was an ally ofMilan, on account of itshatred ofCremona and of Pavia; wherefore it wasGuelph and a party to both of the Lombard leagues. Twice, Uberto Palavicino made himself lord of the city (1254 and 1261), but the free commune was re-established. From 1290 to 1313, Alberto Scotti was lord of Piacenza; his rule had many interruptions, as in 1308, by Guido della Torre ofMilan, in 1312, by Henry VII. The latter's vicar, Galeazzo Visconti, was expelled by the pontificallegate Bertrando del Poggetto (1322-35). In 1336 Piacenza came again under the rule of the dukes ofMilan; between 1404 and 1418 they were compelled to retake the city on various occasions. In 1447 there was a new attempt to re-establish independent government. The fortunes ofwar gave Piacenza to theHoly See in 1512; in 1545 it was united to the new Duchy ofParma. After the assassination of Pier Luigi Farnese, which occurred at Piacenza (1547), the city was occupied by the troops of the imperial governor ofMilan and was not restored to the Duchy ofParma for ten years. In 1746 the Austrians obtained a great victory there over the French andSpaniards, and in 1799 the Russians and Austrians defeated the French.Napoleon madeLebrun Duke of Piacenza.

St. Antonius, who is said to have belonged to the Theban Legion, sufferedmartyrdom at Piacenza, in the second or third century. The first knownbishop is St. Victor, present at theCouncil of Sardica (343); St. Savinus, present atAquileia (381), was probably the Savinus to whomSt. Ambrose wrote several letters. Otherbishops wereSt. Maurus, St. Flavianus, St. Majorianus (451). Whether the emperor of this name intended to becomeBishop of Piacenza is uncertain; he was not itsbishop, having been killed soon after his abdication. Joannes was a contemporary ofSt. Gregory the Great; Thomas (737) was very influential with King Luitprand; Podo (d. 839) washonoured with a metrical epitaph; Guido (904), a man of arms rather than of theChurch; Boso (940) freed himself from thejurisdiction of themetropolitan See ofRavenna (re-established byGregory V), and became theantipopeJohn XVI; Pietro (1031) was exiled toGermany by Conrad II; Dionisio was deposed in 1076 byGregory VII;St. Bonizo (1088), who had beenBishop of Sutri and a great supporter ofGregory VII, was killed in 1089; during the incumbency of Aldo (1096), Emilia was temporarily taken from thejurisdiction ofRavenna; Arduino (1118) founded the newcathedral; Ugo (1155), a nephew ofAnacletus II, was driven from hisdiocese by the schismatics; under Ardizzone (1192) and Grumerio (1199) grave contentions began between theclergy and the consuls, and Grumerio was driven from thediocese; Orlando da Cremona, O.P., was mortally wounded by a Catharist while preaching (1233); P. Alberto Pandoni (1243), an Augustinian; Pietro Filargo (1386) becamePope Alexander V; Pietro Maineri (1388) was formerly the physician of Galeazzo II; Branda Castiglione (1404) was a professor of law atPavia, and took part in the conciliabulum ofPisa and in theCouncil of Constance, and became acardinal; Alessio da Siregno (1412) was a famous preacher; Fabrizio Marliani (1476) was veryzealous for the reform ofmorals in theclergy and in the people; Cardinal Scaramuzza Trivulzio (1519); Catalano Trivulzio (1525); Cardinal Giovanni Bernardino Scotti (1559) was a very learnedTheatine; the Bl. Paolo Burali (1570), aTheatine, became acardinal; Cardinal Filippo Sega (1578); Alessandro Scappi (1627) wasobliged to leave the duchy for havingexcommunicated the duke, Odoardo; Alessandro Pisani's election (1766) was one of the causes of dissension with theHoly See; Stefano Fallot de Beaumont (1807) was present at the national council ofParis (1810). Bl. Corrado (d. atNoto in 1351) was from Piacenza. The councils of Piacenza were those of 1076 (concerning the schismatics againstGregory VII), 1090 (Urban II against theconcubinage of theclergy, and in favour of thecrusade), 1132 (Innocent II againstAnacletus II). There were tensynods under Bishop Marliani (1476-1508).

In 1582 thediocese was made a suffragan of Bologna; it is now immediately dependent upon theHoly See. It has 350parishes, with 310,000 inhabitants, 11religious houses for men, and 29 forwomen, 5educational establishments for male students, and 18 for girls, 1 daily paper, and 1 monthly periodical. Thediocese has a house of missionaries for emigrants established by the latebishop, Mgr. Scalabrini.

University of Piacenza

Piacenza was the first Italian city to apply for aBull erecting its town-schools into astudium generale, whichBull was granted byInnocent IV in 1248, and conferred all the usual privileges of otherstudia generalia; by it the power of giving degrees was vested in theBishop of Piacenza. But no practical work was done here until 1398, when Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Duke ofMilan and Pavia, refounded theuniversity in his capacity of Vicar of the Empire. TheUniversity of Pavia was suppressed, as he did not wish to have auniversity in either of his capitals. Gian Galeazzo liberally endowed Piacenza, organizing auniversity of jurists as well as auniversity of arts and medicine, each with an independentrector. Between 1398 and 1402 seventy-two salaried professors are recorded as having lectured, including not only the usual professors oftheology,law, medicine,philosophy, and grammar, but also the new chairs ofastrology, rhetoric,Dante, and Seneca. But this endeavour to establish a largeuniversity in a small town which had no natural influx of students was doomed to failure, and little or no work was done after Gian Galeazzo's death in 1402. In 1412 Pavia had itsuniversity restored, and the subjects of the duchy were forbidden to study elsewhere. Piacenza then obtained an unenviablenotoriety as a market for cheap degrees. This traffic was still flourishing in 1471, though no lectures had been given for sixty years. A college oflaw and acollege of arts and medicine, however, maintained a shadowy existence for many years later. Among the famous teachers at Piacenza may be named the jurist Placentinus, founder of the law-school atMontpellier (d. there 1192); and Baldus (b. 1327), the most famous jurist of his day (Muratori, "Rer. It. SS.", XX, 939).

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