Passionei, Dojiinic. a learned Italian cardinal, was born of an ancient noble family at Fossmnbrone, in the duchy of Urbino, Dec. 2, 1082, and v.as educated in the Clementine College at Pome under the direction of To- masiandFontanini. In 1700 he went with Gualterio. the nuncio, to Paris, and. having passed two years in the French capital with the legate, he was sent in 1708 to La Haye as diplomatic agent of the pope. He was ap- pointed in 1712 to the Congress of Utrecht, and in 1714 to that of Paden. He formed ties of friendship with prince Eugene. On his return to Pome in 1715 he re- sumed his studies upon classical and ecclesiastical an- tiquity, and entered into an active correspondence with the principal learned men of Europe. Pope Innocent XIII made him titular archbishop of Ephesus. He was also the same year appointed nuncio to the Catholic cantons of Switzerland, and interposed in the debate which arose in 1725 between the bishop of Constance and the government of Lucerne regarding the deposition of a cure who had forbidden his parishioners to dance. Things went so far that Passionei removed his residence from Lucerne to Altorf, and a monitory letter, which must precede suspension, was issued against the council of Lucerne. Finally, by the interposition of the cardinal du Fleury, the affair was settled in 1727 by a favorable consideration of the claims of the Lucerne government. Passionei took exception to the arrangement, and did not return to Lucerne. In 1730 he was appointed nun- cio to the imperial court; recalled to Rome in 1738. he was created cardinal by pope Clement XII. In 1755 pope Benedict XIV appointed Passionei librarian of the Vatican, in which situation he promoted Dr. Kennicott's great undertaking by causing the Hebrew manuscripts to be collated for his use, and the Academy of Inscrip- tions and Belles-Lettres chose him in the same year one of its foreign associates. At the conclave of 1758 he ob- tained eighteen votes ; and but for his antipathy to tlie Jesuits, on which subject several extravagant anec- dotes are related, he might have been elected pope. He warmly opposed the canonization of cardinal Bellar- mine, and is said to have proscribed from his library all works written by Jesuits. He died near Rome July 5, 1761. His death was attributed to chagrin at signing the brief of condemnation issued against the ''Exposition of Christian Doctrine" by the Jansenist Mesengui (q. v.). Passionei had gathered in his villa at Frascati a rich col- lection of inscriptions and objects of antiquity. His books were published after his death by the Augustine monastery, and ailded to their fine library, which is styled the Angelica, and is one of the principal public libraries at Pome. His nephew, Benedict Passionei, published a volume containing all the Latin and (ireek inscriptions collected by the cardinal (Lucca, 17()5, fol.). We have of his works, ,4 da a])Ostolic(e leyationis Jlelce- ticcp (Zug, 1724; Pome, 1738, 4to) ; in which nothing is found concerning the contest of Passionei with the council of Lucerne: — Oratin fiinebris in Principem Eu- r/enium (Vienna, 1737; in Italian, Padua, 1737) : — Letters
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PASSIONISTS
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PASSOVER
ill cUfTerent collections, such as the Tempe Hilretica (vol. iv), ill the Commercium Epistolicuni of Utteiibach, etc. See Goiijet, Eloge du Cardinal Passionei (La Have, 17G3, r2mo); Galetti, Memo ire per la Vita dd Cardinal Passionei (Rome, 1762, 4to) ; Le Beau, Elotje du Car- dinal Passionei (in vol. xxxi of L' Ilistoire de VAcadimie des Inscriptions) ; Mortiri, Diet, llist.s. v.— Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, xxxix, 310 sq. See Hook, Eccles. Bioy. vol. vii, s. v.; Darling, Cyclop. Bibliog. vol. ii, s. v.
Passionists, Congregation of the, are regulated ckTgy i>r tlie society of the Holy Cross (q. v.) and Suffer- ings lift 'h rlst. Their purpose is made clear in the fourth vow on assuming membership — a most faiihful remem- brance of Christ's life and saving passion and death, and tlie promotion of his cause. The duty, then, of the Pas- siouists clearly is preaching and mission work. The founder of this congregation is Paulus Franciscus (cfc cri(ce) of Danni, born in 1G9-1: at Ovada, in Sardinia. Tlieir tirst house was founded in 1737 at Orbitello. Pope Pius VI acknowledged them in 1775. They now have a monaster}' at Rome, the mother-house of the congregation, do mission work in Bulgaria and Walla- chia (since 1782), and have settlements in Italy, Eng- land, Belgium, New Holland, and the United States. The Passionists wear a black habit, on the left breast of which is the badge — a heart surmounted by a white cross, and inscribed, " Jesu XR. passio" ( = passion of Jesus Christ). The " fathers" or priests, who strictly constitute the "congregation,"' act as missionaries, while the lay-brothers do the house -work, tailoring, shoe- making, carpenter-work, etc. The Passionists, accord- ing to Webster's Dictionary, " unite the mortified life of the Trappists with the activity and zeal of the Jesuits and Lazarists." The special object of the institute is to instil into men's minds by preaching, by example, and by devotional practices, a sense of the mercy and love of God as manifested in the passion of Christ. Hence the cross appears everywhere as their emblem, in their clnirches, in their halls, and in the courts and public places of their monasteries. A large crucifix, moreover, forms part of their very striking costume. They go barefooted, and practice many other personal austerities, rising at midnight to recite the canonical hours in the church ; and their ministerial work consists chiefly in holding what are called '• missions" wherever they are invited by the local clergy, in which sermons on the pa'ision of Christ, on sin, and on repentance, together V ith the hearing of confessions, hold the principal places. They have four establishments in this country. They have eight or nine priests, "with twenty-five students, lay-brothers and novices," at " Blessed Paul's Monas- tery," Birmingham (near Pittsburgh), Pa., where thej' have two churches. They have also at Carrollton (near Baltimore) a monastery, seven priests, six students of philosophy, and rive lay-brothers, and a church ; a mon- astery, with nine priests, six clerics, and three lay-broth- ers, and two churches at Dunkirk, N. Y. ; also a monas- tery, " St. Michael's Retreat," at West Iloboken, N. J. (opposite New York City). Passionist monasteries in th3 United States are intended to train priests for mis- sionary purposes, and to give assistance to pastors of such churches as need it, and to have a chapel always open for such as may need spiritual assistance or coun- sel. The order, though very old in tlie Church, was introduced into the United States about 1855 by Rev. Father O'Connor, S. J., then bishop of Pittsburgh, and now numbers nearly one hundred members. (J. H. W.)