Excerpt from The Life of Pope Pius the Seventh

Two Cardinals, eye-witnesses of the highest credit, Consalvi in his Memoires, and Pacca in his Memorie Storiche, have supplied valuable materials for the following narrative: and the dry Histoire de Pie VII. by Artaud de Montor, is supplemented by d'Haussonville's late work of conspicuous merit, l'Eglise Romaine et le Premier Empire. The main staple of facts is drawn from these sources: the Author's task has been to weave out of them a life of the Pope in very moderate compass, but sufficient, it is hoped, to give a clear notion of the greatness of his Pontificate as well as the purity and delicacy of his personal character.

The picture, if I mistake not, is one of rare, almost unique interest. A simple Benedictine monk is placed by the Divine Providence on the Chair of Peter, when an universal deluge cast forth by the anti-Christian Revolution threatens to destroy the Church. At that moment rises a great warrior, a splendid genius, a remarkable legislator, who presumes that by setting himself at the head of the Revolution he can control and guide its forces.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.