attention of the famous Hildebrand, afterwards Pope Gregory VII. (A.D. 1073-A.D. 1085), and his efforts at reformation were not without a beneficial effect. [Sidenote: Heresies of the Albigenses] Early in the twelfth century the heretical sect of the Albigenses, whose doctrines resembled those of the ancient Manicheans, spread from the South of France into Italy, where they received the name of Paterini. [Sidenote: and Waldenses.] Both they and the kindred sect of the Waldenses came under the notice of Innocent III. (A.D. 1198-A.D. 1216). The Albigenses were exterminated with circumstances of great cruelty[1], but the {123} Waldenses survive to the present day in the valleys of Piedmont. [Sidenote: Evil effects of the residence at Avignon on the Italian Church.] The seventy years' residence of the Bishops of Rome at Avignon (A.D. 1305-A.D. 1376) was felt by the Church of Italy to be an injury and a great evil, and in the forty years' schism which followed the return of the chief pastor of the Italians to his own episcopal city (A.D. 1378-A.D. 1417), only the kingdom of the Two Sicilies sided with the anti-Popes. [Sidenote: Other depressing influences.] Meanwhile the 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. {124} Section 2. _The Church of France._ [Sidenote: Orthodoxy of the Franks.]