Firomalli, Paolo, an Italian missionary, was born in 1591 or 1592 at Sidemo (Ulterior Calabria). Having embraced the rule of St. Dominic, he devoted himself to preaching, and was in 1628 called to Rome to teach philosophy in the monastery of La Minerva. Appointed in 1631 director of the missions of Major Armenia, he succeeded in gaining for the Catholic faith a number of schismatics and Eutychians, among the latter the pa- triarchs Cyriac and Moyse III. In 1637 he travelled through Georgia, and was twice sent to pacify in Polo- nia the uneasiness caused by the disputes of the Arme- nians. In 1642 he went to Persia, remaining there ten years, and then preached the Gospel in several parts of India. In 1654 he passed over to Africa, with a view of converting infidels, but was captured by Algerian pi- rates, who kept him prisoner for fourteen months. Ap- pointed archbishop of Naschivan (1655), he governed that Armenian Church to the close of 1664, when he was transferred to the episcopal see of Bisignano, in the kingdom of Naples. He died July 13, 1667, at Bisig- nano. He left Theanthropologia (Vienna, 1656, 8vo) : — Apologia de duplici natura Christi (ibid. 1656, 8vo) ; and sixteen works never printed, among which we may mention a Vocabulary and a Grammar of the Armenian language. — Hoefer, Nauv. Biog. Generale, xl, 308.
Pirot, Edmonde, a French theologian, was born Aug. 12, 1631, at Auxerre. He chose the clerical career, and having taken his degrees, the doctorate included, at the Sorbonne, he became a most successful professor of theology, a member of the chapter of Notre Dame de Paris, and at last chancellor. It was his regular busi- ness to examine the works and theses of theology. He interrogated Mme. Guyon, and undertook the censure of her doctrines. Fenelon gave him his Explication de Maximes des Saints to examine. He approved of it greatly, after some small changes, going even so far, it is said, as to call it a golden book; then, under the in- fluence of Bossuet, he took back his first decision, and wrote against the Explication a censure which was signed by sixty other doctors. He died at Paris Aug. 4, 1713. With the exception of a Latin speech pro- nounced in 1669, nothing of his exists in print; but some manuscript pamphlets are mentioned by contem- poraries.
A Jesuit of this name, Pirot (Georges), who was born in 1599 in the bishopric of Rennes, is the author of an Apologie des Casuistes contre les Calomnies des Janse- nistes (1657), a work condemned by Alexander VII and several bishops. He died Oct. 6, 1659. — Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, xl, 320.
Pisa, a city of Northern Italy, the recent capital of Tuscany, with a population of about 22,000, is noted in ecclesiastical history as the seat of several important Church councils.
I. The first council here {Concilium Pisawnn) was convoked by pope Innocent II in 1134, who presided at the head of a large assembly of the bishops of France, Germany, and Italy. St, Bernard assisted at their de- liberations. By this body the excommunication of the anti-pope Anacletus was renewed, together with his abettors. Several canons were published.
1. Directs that priests shall be separated from their wives, and nuns from their pretended husbands; and both parties put to penance.
6. Forbids, under pain of excommunication, to violate the sanctuary of a church or churchyard. See Labbe, Concil. x, 989.
II. But far more important was the council convened here March 25, 1409. Its object was the conciliation of the pope and anti-pope, and the ending of so dangerous a schism as then existed. It was proposed to judge be- tween the two competitors for the papacy, and elect one of them to the throne, or set both aside and choose a third party. The council was called under the protec- tion of king Charles VI of France, and was attended by the cardinals of both rivals to the papal chair — Bene- dict XIII (q. v.) and Gregory XII (q. v.). Benedict, by the advice of several bishops, sent seven legates to the council ; but Gregory, on the other hand, refused to appear either in person or by deputy, although sum- moned in due form. The assembly was one of the most august and numerous ever seen in the Church : there were present 22 cardinals; the Latin patriarchs of Al- exandria (Simon), Antioch (Wenceslaus), Jerusalem (Hugo), and Grade (Francis Lando) ; 12 archbishops were present in person, and 14 by their proctors ; 80 bishops, and the proctors of 102 absent; 87 abbots, and the proc- tors of 200 others; besides priors; generals of orders; the grand-master of Rhodes, with 16 commanders; the prior-general of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre; the deputy of the grand-master and Knights of the Teutonic Order; the deputies of the universities of Ox- ford, Cambridge, Paris, Florence, Cracow,Vienna, Prague, and many others; more than 300 doctors in theology; and ambassadors from the kings of England, France, Portugal, Bohemia, Sicily, Poland, and Cyprus; from the dukes of Burgundy, Brabant, etc.
The following was the action of each session of this council :
Session 1. The order of precedency to be observed by the members of the council was laid down.
Sess. 2. After the usual prayer and sermon, the arch- bishop of Pisa read the decree of Gregory X upon the procession of the Holy Spirit, to which the Greeks had agreed in the Council of Lyons, A.D. 1274, and the canon of Toledo relating to the proper order of ecclesiastical councils. After this the necessary officers were appoint- ed, the letter of convocation read, and the two rival popes summoned at the gates of the church ; no one, however, appearing for them.