PLACE, CHARLES-PHILIPPE. - Cardinal, born Feb. 14, 1814 in Paris, died March 5, 1893 in Rennes.
(fot. Geb. fot. una.)
PIZZOLO, NICCOLÒ - Madonna in trono fra vari santi. Bassorilievo in terracotta dell'altare degli Eremitani - Padova.
He was initially a lawyer at the Court of Appeal in Paris and a diplomat. Ordained a priest, he served as director of the Minor Seminary of Orléans, and then of that of Paris.
Appointed Bishop of Marseille in 1866, on the eve of the Vatican Council, due to his Gallican tendencies he showed himself opposed to the definition of papal infallibility, whereupon the clergy, who were in favor of it, addressed a letter to the Pontiff complaining that "imperious circumstances seemed to compel the priests of the diocese of Marseille to maintain a silence very painful to their hearts." P., having learned of the letter, reprimanded the authors for having slandered him before the Holy See and for having appealed to the Pontiff other than through him. Once infallibility was proclaimed in the Council, the bishop addressed his diocesans on August 4, 1870, declaring that in order to preserve the peace of the Church and not fail in his duty, it was necessary that "the constitutions be welcomed by all his children with docility, respect, and submission." Upon the death of Card. De Bonald in 1870, the archbishopric of Lyon had been offered to P., but he refused it, and the attempts of the Archbishop of Paris, Guibert, to have him as a coadjutor were likewise in vain. On July 15, 1878, Leo XIII appointed him Archbishop of Rennes. The new archbishop reorganized his diocese ab imis, but his authoritarian character placed him in conflict with part of the clergy and of his diocesans in the so-called "Oratory affair." In the Consistory of June 7, 1886, he was created a cardinal. In April 1890 P. was in Rome, summoned by Leo XIII, who intended with his help to contribute to a clarification of the attitude of French Catholics toward the Third Republic.