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Bible Encyclopedias
Leopold II
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or of Germany (1790-1792) and I of Tuscany (1765-1790), the second son of Maria Theresa of Austria and her husband Francis of Lorraine, is noted in Church History for the part he took in the ecclesiastical affairs of Tuscany, which, after Maria Theresa had succeeded to the Austrian dominions, according to treaties, establishing the independence of Tuscany as a state separate from the hereditary states of Austria, devolved upon Leopold, his elder brother Joseph being the presumptive heir of the Austrian dominions. His principal reforms in Tuscany concerned the administration of justice and the discipline of the clergy in his dominions. By his "Motu proprio" in 1786, he promulgated a new criminal code, abolished torture and the pain of death, and established penitentiaries to reclaim offenders. In the ecclesiastical department, after having instituted various reforms, he actually, in July, 1782, abolished the Inquisition in Tuscany, and placed the monks and nuns of his dominions under the jurisdiction of the respective bishops. The discovery of licentious practices carried on in certain nunneries in the towns of Pistoja and Prato with the connivance of their monkish directors induced Leopold to investigate and reform the whole system of monastic discipline, and he entrusted Ricci, bishop of Pistoja, with full power for that purpose. This occasioned a long and angry controversy with the court of Rome, which pretended to have the sole cognizance of matters affecting individuals of the clergy and monastic orders. Leopoldi, however, carried his point, and the pope consented that the bishops of Tuscany should have the jurisdiction over the convents of their respective dioceses. Ricci, who had high notions of religious purity, and was by his enemies accused of Jansenism, attempted other reforms: he endeavored to enlighten the people as to the proper limits of image- worship and the invocation of saints; he suppressed certain relics which gave occasion to superstitious practices; he encouraged the spreading of religious works, and especially of the Gospel, among his flock; and, lastly, he assembled a diocesan council at Pistoja in September, 1786, in which he maintained the spiritual independence of the bishops.
He advocated the use of the liturgy in the oral language of the country, he exposed the abuse of indulgences, approved of the four articles of the Gallican Council of 1682, and, lastly, appealed to a national council as a legitimate and canonical means for terminating controversies. Several of Ricci's propositions were condemned by the pope in a bull as scandalous, rash, and injurious to the Holy See. Leopold supported Ricci, but he could not prevent his being annoyed in many ways, and at last he saw him forced to resign his charge. (For further details of this curious controversy, see Potter, Vie de Scipion de Ricci [Brussels, 1825, 3 vols. 8vo].) Leopold himself convoked a council at Florence of the bishops of Tuscany in 1787, and proposed to them fifty-seven articles concerning the reform of ecclesiastical discipline. He enforced residence of incumbents, and forbade pluralities; suppressed many convents, and distributed their revenues among the poor benefices, thus favoring the parochial clergy, and extending their jurisdiction, as he had supported and extended the jurisdiction of the bishops. He forbade the publication of the bulls and censures of Rome without the approbation of the government; he enjoined the ecclesiastical courts not to interfere with laymen in temporal matters, and restrained their jurisdiction to spiritual affairs only; and he subjected clergymen to the jurisdiction of the ordinary courts in all criminal cases. All these were considered in that age as very bold innovations for a Roman Catholic prince to undertake. (See RICCI).
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Leopold II'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/l/leopold-ii.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
