Synod of Pistoia

Synod of Pistoia, a diocesan meeting held in 1786 that was important in the history of Jansenism, a nonorthodox, pessimistic, and rigoristic movement in the Roman Catholic church. The synod, presided over by Scipione de’ Ricci, bishop of Pistoia-Prato, and under the patronage of Peter Leopold, grand duke of Tuscany (later the Holy Roman emperor Leopold II), was aimed at a reform of the Tuscan church along the lines advocated by the Jansenists and the Gallicans, who sought to restrict the authority of the pope. The synod was attended by many priests who almost unanimously approved a series of decrees that were warmly approved by the grand duke and aroused the enthusiasm of Jansenists in many parts of Europe. At the insistence of Leopold, a national synod of Tuscan bishops then met at Florence (April 23, 1787); they, however, rejected the decrees of Pistoia. In 1794 Pope Pius VI condemned 85 propositions of Pistoia, and Ricci, who had resigned his see in 1790, subsequently recanted.