constant warfare between the Guelphs and the
Ghibellines in Italy, the feuds between the different republics, the
worldliness and evil lives of too many of the Popes, and the luxury and
immorality which increased riches, consequent on increased commerce,
brought with them, had all tended to a state of things in which the
purifying influences of the Church as "the salt of the earth" were
sorely needed. [Sidenote: Desires for reformation.] Longings for a
reformation of men's lives and morals were smouldering in many breasts,
and in the city of Florence these hidden wishes were kindled into a
flame by the zeal and eloquence of the monk Girolamo Savonarola, who
however fell a victim to his zeal, A.D. 1498.

[Sidenote: Liturgy of the Italian Church.]

The ancient Liturgy of the Church of Italy was derived from one bearing
the name of St. Peter, and revised by St. Gregory, A.D. 590. This
Roman or Gregorian Liturgy, though with certain later additions, is
still in use throughout Italy, the only exception to this rule being
the cathedral and diocese of Milan, which still preserve a Liturgy
known as that of St. Ambrose, who was Bishop of Milan from A.D. 374 to
A.D. 397.

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Section 2. _The Church of France._

[Sidenote: Orthodoxy of the Franks.]

The Franks alone of all the barbarians who swept over Europe at the
time of the decay of the Western Empire, were Catholic from their first
conversion to Christianity; and to this circumstance the French kings
owed their title of Eldest Sons of the Church. It was by the influence
of a French princess, Bertha, the Christian wife of Ethelbert, king of
Kent, that St. Augustine and his companions were favourably received in
England; whilst another princess of the same race, Ingunda, who married
the son of the Visigoth king of Spain, is said to have brought about
the conversion of her husband from Arianism to the Catholic faith, by
her own constancy under persecution. [Sidenote: The Church under
Charlemagne.] During the reign of the Emperor Charlemagne (A.D.
768-A.D. 814), the French monasteries became seats of learning, and
amongst the learned men who assisted the Emperor in his efforts for the
religious and intellectual improvement of his people, may be mentioned
the English Alcuin, who held an honourable position at the French court
as the instructor and adviser of the monarch and his sons. [Sidenote:
The French Liturgy.] The Gallican Liturgy, a branch of the Primitive