Scipione De’ Ricci
1741-1810. Bishop of Pistoia- Prato. A Florentine, he was influenced by Jansenism* in the Roman College, and while a student at Pisa encountered Gallicanism* and a rigid Augustinianism. Ordained in 1766, he became vice-general of the archdiocese of Florence (1775-80), and bishop of Pistoia- Prato in 1780, through Leopold I of Tuscany. He introduced severe disciplinary, liturgical, and doctrinal changes and enabled Jansenist writings to be published widely. In 1783 he founded a theological college at Prato, where lecturers were sympathetic with his views. He presided over the Synod of Pistoia* (1786), where his schismatic propositions brought his downfall. He resigned his diocese in 1791 and spent his final years in confinement in Rignana. His zeal for reform lacked proper training and culture, making his innovations dangerous and subject to political pressures.