PIUS V. (S. Michael Ghisleri), born at Boschi or Bosco, in the diocese of Tortona, on the 17th of January 1504, was, according to Abbé de Choisy, son to a senator of Milan. He turned a Dominican friar. Paul IV. informed of his merit and virtue, gave him the bishopric of Sutri, created him cardinal in 1557, and made him inquisitor-general of the faith among the Milanese and in Lombardy; but the severity with which he exercised his office obliged him to quit that country. He was sent to Venice, where the ardour of his zeal met with still greater obstacles. Pius IV. added to the cardinal's hat the bishopric of Mondovi. After the death of that pontiff he was advanced to St Peter's chair in 1566. The Romans expressed but little joy at his coronation: he was very sensible of it, and said, "I hope they will be as sorry at my death as they are at my election;" but he was mistaken. Raised by his merit to the first ecclesiastical preferment in Christendom, he could not divest himself of the severity of his character; and the situation in which he found himself rendered, perhaps, that severity necessary. One of his first objects was to repress the luxury of the clergy, the pride of the cardinals, and
the licentious manners of the Romans. He caused the decrees of reformation enacted by the Council of Trent to be put in execution; he prohibited bull-baiting in the Circus; he expelled from Rome the women of the town; and allowed the cardinals to be prosecuted for their debts. The errors which overflowed the Christian world gave him great uneasiness. After having employed gentle and lenient measures in the reclaiming of heretics, he had recourse to severity, and some of them ended their days in the flames of the inquisition. He particularly displayed his zeal for the grandeur of the holy see in 1568, by ordaining that the bull In cœna domini, which was published at Rome every year on Maunday Thursday, and which Clement XIV. suppressed, should be published likewise throughout the whole church. That bull, the work of several sovereign pontiffs, principally regards the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical and civil power. It anathematizes those who appeal from the decrees of popes to a general council; those who favour the appellants; the universities which teach that the pope is subject to a general council; the princes who would restrain the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, or who exact contributions from the clergy. It was rejected by all the sovereign states, excepting a very few. In 1580, some bishops having endeavoured to introduce it into their dioceses, the parliament caused their temporalities to be seized upon, and declared those guilty of high treason who should imitate the fanaticism of those prelates. Pius V. for some time meditated an expedition against the Turks. He had the courage to make war on the Ottoman empire, by forming a league with the Venetians and Philip II. king of Spain. This was the first time that the standard of the two keys was seen displayed against the crescent. The naval armies came to an engagement, on the 7th of October 1571, in Lepanto bay, in which the confederate Christian princes obtained a signal victory over the Turks, who lost above 30,000 men, and near 200 galleys. This success was principally owing to the pope, who exhausted both his purse and person in fitting out that armament. He died of the gravel six months after, on the 30th of April 1572, aged 68. He repeated often, in the midst of his sufferings, "O Lord! increase my pains and my patience." His name will for ever adorn the list of Roman pontiffs. It is true, that his bull against Queen Elizabeth, and his other bull in favour of the inquisition, with his rigorous prosecution of heretics both in France and Ireland, prove that he had more zeal than sweetness in his temper; but in other respects he possessed the virtues of a saint and the qualities of a king. He was the model of the famous Sixtus Quintus, to whom he gave an example of amassing in a few years such savings as were sufficient to make the holy see be regarded as a formidable power. Sultan Selim, who had no greater enemy than this pope, caused public rejoicings to be made at Constantinople for his death during the space of three days. The pontificate of Pius is also celebrated for the condemnation of Baius, the extinction of the order of Humilites, and the reformation of that of the Cistercians. He was canonized by Clement XI. in 1712. There are extant several of his letters, printed at Anvers in 1640, in 4to. Felibian, in 1672, published his Life, translated from the Italian of Agatio di Somma; but we cannot vouch for the fidelity of the translation.
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Placenta. PIZARRO, FRANCIS, a celebrated Spanish general, the discoverer and conqueror of Peru, in conjunction with Diego Almagro, a Spanish navigator. They are both charged with horrid cruelties to the inhabitants; and they fell victims to their own ambition, jealousy, and avarice. Almagro revolting, was defeated and beheaded by Pizarro, who was assassinated by Almagro's friends in 1541. See PERU.