GAYSRUCK, KARL GAETAN. — Cardinal. Born 7 Aug. 1769 at Klagenfurt in Carinthia, died 19 Nov. 1846 at Milan. Son of Giovanni Giacomo G. and the Baroness Antonia dei Valvasori, the younger G. studied at the Theresianum Academy in Buda and at Salzburg, entered the ecclesiastical career, and was ordained priest in 1797.
Bishop of Derbe and coadjutor to the Bishop of Passau, after the secularization of that see he administered it from Kalham in the diocese of Linz, a charge entrusted to him by Emperor Francis I, who wished to transfer G. to Habsburg territories after the year in Passau to Bavaria. In 1816 G. was chosen by the sovereign as Archbishop of Milan, vacant since 1820, but canonical preconization occurred only on 16 March 1818. At the consistory of 27 Sept. 1844 Leo XII created G. cardinal with the title of S. Marco. He took part in the conclaves that elected Pius VIII and Gregory XVI, but did not arrive in time for that of June–July 1846. The assertion that G. in that conclave carried Austria’s vote for the election of Cardinal Mastai Ferretti is inaccurate, since Metternich intended to exclude only Bernetti from the scrutiny. As Archbishop of Milan he governed the vast diocese with ability, particularly concerned for the education of the younger clergy.
Silvio Furlani
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**GAZA** (Heb. ‘Azzāh, Ar. Ghazzah). — Canaanite city (Gen. 10:19; Deut. 2:23) in the southwest corner of Palestine, 4 km from the sea, on the sole road leading from Egypt into Syria. An important center of trade in wine, grain, spices, and from the remotest antiquity an object of contention among all the warlords disputing possession of Asia or Egypt.
Mentioned in proscription texts (Achtungstexte) of 1900 B.C., in the letters of Ta‘annek (15th cent.) and of el-Amarna, it was the metropolis of the Philistine pentapolis and the scene of Samson’s exploits, his triumph, and his death beneath the temple of the god Dagon (Judg. 16). Solomon (1 Kgs. 4:24) and later King Hezekiah (2 Kgs. 18:5) sought to consolidate Israelite rule there; yet Gaza was occupied in 734 by Tiglath-pileser III and remained tributary to the Assyrian kings. Occupied in 579 by Cambyses and in 322 by Alexander the Great, it was besieged in 145 by Jonathan (1 Macc. 11:61) and destroyed in 66 by Alexander Jannaeus (Flavius Josephus, Bell. Jud., I, 4, 3). It was rebuilt by Gabinius and, under Roman aegis, became a center of Hellenistic culture.
The inhabitants proved ill-disposed toward Christianity and converted only under the bishop, by virtue of the edict of Emperor Arcadius (401) that forbade pagan worship. On the ruins of the Marneion, through the zeal of Bishop Porphyrius and Empress Eudoxia, was erected the great church called the Eudoxian. Down to the mid-6th cent. it distinguished itself, under Christian humanist governance, in letters and monuments. Occupied in 634 by the Muslims, it was held in high esteem by them for the tomb of Hāshim, grandfather of Muḥammad, and as the birthplace of al-Shāfi‘ī, founder of the Sunni school.
In the time of the Crusaders it was entrusted to the Templars, but in 1187 it reverted to Muslim power.
Various archaeological soundings carried out in the northern sector of the hill on which the present city stands have revealed traces of occupation from the end of the second phase of the Bronze Age down to the Hellenistic period.