Pitra, His Eminence Jean Baptiste

D.D., cardinal of the Roman-Catholic Church; b. at Champforgueil, near Autun, Aug. 31, 1812; was early consecrated; taught rhetoric in the seminary at Autun; entered the order of St. Benedict, and lived in the abbey of Solesme. There he devoted himself to historical research. In 1858 he was sent by the Pope to Ru ia to study the Slavic liturgy, and on his return was in the service of the Propaganda. On March 16, 1863, he was created a cardinal priest of the Holy Roman Church; in 1869 he became librarian of the Vatican; and in 1879 he was raised to the rank of cardinal bishop of Frascati. He is the author of Hisloire de Saint Leger, Paris, 1846; Vie du R. P. Lihermann, 1855, 2d ed. 1873; Spicilegium Soles mense, 1852-60, 5 vols, (a monumental work of immense value, as it is a treasure-house of hitherto unprinted documents relating to ecclesiastical history, the result of a visit to nearly all the great European libraries); Juris ecclesiastic i Grcecorum hist or i a et monumenla, Rome, 1864 Triodion kalanaclicon, 1879 (these two volumes are the result of four years journeys and of special study since 1858, when he was directed by the Pope to devote his attention to the ancient and modern canons of the Oriental churches); Hymnographie de I'Eglise grecque, 1867.